A spade is the mark no one wants, yet so many are cursed to live with.
An arrow is the mark everyone would prefer, yet as they grow, they realize it's not all it's talked up to be.
A spade means one is condemned to a life in Tenebris.
An arrow means one is condemned to a life in Luceat.
It's not something you earn or do anything to get. It's not a choice or based on where a person is born. It's all luck.
Every time a child is born, they're taken to the council, who rule from Luceat but make the rules for everyone. They run a brain scan and pick and choose the qualities they like from the child. If the child proves to be acceptable, they're given to a family in Luceat and marked with the arrow.
It's a sign of superiority and strength. The arrow symbolizes how respected they are and how they are in charge.
Now, if a child's scan offers results that are less desirable to the council, they're marked with the spade.
Marked and told they're weak and inferior before they can barely open their eyes.
If marked with the spade, the child becomes a Tenebrian. They're sent to Tenebris and not given to a family. The council leaves the babies at the gate to be claimed, so four out of five times, the babies don't survive because they're not wanted.
The resources and desire to care for a child in Tenebris are limited, yet every now and then a child is taken and raised. The reason people don't take the children is because, more often than not, it's not actually their child. It's sheer luck if a mother manages to get her baby back, as they're all mixed up when they go to the council.
That's among the only times the worlds are collided. Every few months, the women from both lands are sent to the council and are tested. If too many are pregnant, they force the Tenebrian mothers to terminate their pregnancies.
The worlds don't collide often, but when they do, the only conversation is the Lucantians bad mouthing the Tenebrians behind their backs.
However, with the two places being separated by a wall, it's near impossible to have real interactions.
Not that either wants to anyway. The Tenebrians learn that the Lucantians are stuck up and hate them for existing, whereas the Lucantians are taught that the Tenebrians are savages and want to kill all of them.
The worlds have never openly collided and the council never wants it to be that way. They enjoy the separation and knowing that they have control over their people and the mistreated Tenebrians.
They're not meant to collide.
Life doesn't always go as planned.
