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Legacies: Living Magic

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Kristen Fae
4 min readNov 6, 2024

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Imagine magic as a sentient, symbiotic creature — dependent on a holder for its survival and growth. Song of the Fallen features that exact magic, and we call these entities “legacies.”

No one quite knows where legacies come from or how they attach to their first holders, but legacies are usually capable of a single, weak feat in their infancy. As they transfer holders over time, legacies grow in both strength and versatility of use. They’ve also been reported to form something like their own personalities.

For example, the Knowles’s heirloom legacy, once known as the most fearsome legacy in existence, likely appeared to its first host as a minor talent for manipulating the shape of shadows. In comparison, its final host, Maudiere Vebanne, was capable of creating swaths of darkness over a large area, wielding tangible shadows, transporting herself and other objects over large distances, and of course using “unmaking,” a skill unique to the infamous Heir of Unmaking.

The relationship between a legacy holder and their legacy is a simple one. The legacy draws its energy from the one who holds it and through its attachment to its holder, it slowly grows in knowledge, personality, and capability.

In return for this, the holder is capable of wielding the legacy’s talents as their own…

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Kristen Fae
Kristen Fae

Written by Kristen Fae

Part-time author. Full-time faerie wrapped in a mortal coil but not faking the whole "human" thing very well.