The Haan Study, An Introduction

These pages feature chapter one of ‘’The Haan Study’’ which is a collection of chapters found in the back of the main volumes of The Eferian Day series. The chapter is subjected to change until the first publication of The Eferian Dawn volume one.

Latest edit done: 2024-02-15

The Haan Study Chapter One

An Introduction and Terminology Explanation to the Baseline Concepts and Ideas behind The Eferian Day’s Magic System

The First Scroll: Introduction

There is a problem.

Or rather: there is a question in a lacking thought when filled will not only provide a livelier world to grounded, imaginary lands. But also, to give the ability to explain a subject to its fullest in turn increasing the chances of expanding areas made harder by the continuous need for excuses. For its the curiosity driving the creative mind forward. And through the discussion of the fundamental ideas of what magic is and how it comes to form can new ideas get constructed form it.

The core idea of Haan is to explore a detailed version of the nature and origins of a fantasy world’s magical nature as well as its bases within a made-up reality. To give an in-depth view on how such powers and abilities would function and preform in practice rather then a mystical ‘‘anything is possible because it is magic’‘ mindset.

To do this, three key rules need to be understood before one can go further into these thought exercises.

The first rule is that these concepts and ideas are based in a theory within a theory. The Haan system, or any type of magic system in general, lacks one of the most important aspects of the real world: the ability to experiment and test the theories in practice. An idea has no value if it can’t be brought into practice. It can make sense and be correct on paper. But still be unviable to function in real-life. What needs to be understood is that regardless of how well the concept is written down, the abilities of it will always remain unknown because it can’t be tested in a physical world.

The second rule is the understanding of imagination. The ideas presented in the Haan system are not law across all fantasy worlds everywhere. But rather, the system acts as a bridge between the knowledge of how the system function and are there to help the reader gain a deeper sense of danger and tension in the stories the system is being used in.

And the third rule is the continuance of discovery.

All concepts and ideas presented in The Haan Study chapters are not set in stone. New ideas and thinking patterns come up as time passes. Just like any other subject in real-life. An idea presented now can be disregarded or dismissed in the future on the account of a better explanation made to be more accurate to other concepts in the system. Ideas spoken of in these chapters are there to serve as building blocks to further construct better and more in-depth magic systems. Including the Haan system.

When the key rules are brought into place, one can begin to wonder why these elaborate magic systems even exist at all. Fantasy worlds have gone thousands of years within human history without the need for further explanation. While its true that imaginary worlds do not need in-depth explanations to gain good storytelling, the ability of such a system do more then just serve as a mental puzzle solving game.

By knowing the basic functions of how the nature of magic forms and works, the greater the chances of creating new ideas and concepts from them. An example of this, to illustrate the point, is to imagine the steam engine to be a concept a writer creates as an invention for the Fantasy species in a world where water does not exist.

By having the concept of the steam engine without the knowledge of how steam works —  or even what it is — the writer will have great difficulties giving the invention plausible attributes by the lack of grounded functions. And therefore, will overlook aspects which makes it a plausible idea from the start. How would the writer know that steam is hot or becomes pressurised when confined in sealed spaces if the idea of water does not exist whatsoever?

By having the knowledge of water as the foundation, the writer can then use it as the building block for not only the concept of the steam engine. But also, as the baseline for many other creations using steam into the story as well. This example brings it back to one of the key rules: the lack of experimentation and testing in a practical world. Steam engines exist in real-life. And therefore, can be tested and seen how it works.

This is not the case for magic. It can’t be tested.

This chapter will go through the baseline ideas behind what the Haan system is and how it works. Though it should be noted that the topics featured in this chapter will be written about in greater detail later. Many of which having their own dedicated chapters going through each topic more in-depth. This introduction chapter is meant to gain a general and broad understanding on how the Haan system works and the bases for its construction.

And, to make it easier to follow.