The completed journal made throughout all of Corvin’s endings. I thought it interesting, if somewhat frustrating, that all entries aren’t automatically unlocked at the end or even an option in the Extras, so I compiled them all in this guide for others like me who don’t like to see things unfinished.
Ultimate Guide to Corvin
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Corvin
Corvin Beltran – a Wizard I now go to school with. Still don’t know much about him, really. He’s kind of ditzy. And he has a creepy black grimoire that looks evil. Apparently normal people can’t see it. Or, at least, they can’t ‘pay attention’ to it from what Ally said. Whatever that means. Magic is weird.
Corvin wears glasses to keep himself from seeing…paranormal stuff? I don’t know what kind of stuff he wants to keep himself from seeing. He was kind of vague about it really. But apparently looking through glasses can either help one see the supernatural – or prevent it. Not sure why that would be the case, but it’s an interesting tidbit.
Corvin is something called a Pillar. They’re people who have some specific job or purpose in the supernatural community – presumably assigned by a higher power of some kind. Pillars have a special sort of immunity that exempts them from a lot of the rules other Cryptics have to follow.
The NPRA
The NPRA is the organization that handles paranormal stuff in the United States. The National Paranormal Regulation Agency or something. The local agency works sort of like a supernatural police department. They have several smaller departments within the organization which handle things like investigations and other things. Some students also intern there and help them out.
There are rules covering everything from how Cryptics interact with humans, to whether or not we can tell people about ourselves. A lot of the rules seem kind of vague. I don’t know how they enforce them – I don’t really want to find out either. Anyway, all Cryptics have to register so I assume they’ve already started some kind of file on me now. Bleh.
Faerie
Faerie is not just the name of a large and diverse species, but it’s also the name of their homeland. The exact location of Faerie is disputed and there are numerous ways to travel there from the real world. Some parts of Faerie have proper names, but ‘Faerie’ is the name for the entire world – though it’s still confusing since that’s also the names for the creatures that live there.
Spriggans are a type of Faerie sometimes associated with the Unseelie Court. They’re pretty ugly and can change their size at will – sometimes causing people to think they are the ghosts of giants. They’re not usually particularly nice and will play unpleasant pranks on humans they encounter.
Faerie rades are solemn processions held by a category of Faeries called ‘trouping Faeries.’ It’s a bit like a weird parade. Rades often follow specific paths called Faerie roads – some people think they follow leylines, specifically. They’re often observed riding east to west for some reason.
Faeries usually fall into one of two categories – ‘trouping Faeries’ or ‘solitary Faeries.’ Trouping Faeries then split into several different groups. But two of the more well known are the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Seelies are supposedly benevolent Faeries who like humans while the Unseelies are evil jerks who like to annoy and bully them.
A Cait Sidhe (cait shee) is a Faerie creature from Scottish folklore. A Cait Sidhe, or Cat Faerie, is a black cat with a white patch on its chest. Said to feed on the souls of humans (sometimes, specifically, children) Cait Sidhe are thought to be Witches who can transform into a cat nine times during the course of their lives. Hence the idea of cats having nine lives.
Certain numbers appear frequently in Faerie lore and seem to have special significance to Faeries. For instance, many stories involve going through three trials or seven trials to obtain a specific goal. Four is also a number you see sometimes. For instance, four leaf clovers are a symbol of luck and protection that can keep Faeries at bay.
Will-o-the-wisps are some kind of Fae creature…or phenomenon. It seems like it’s up for debate if they’re alive or not. In some stories they are harmless Faerie lights, but in others they are mischievous and will lead the unwary astray. Oh, yeah. And sometimes they’re evil. They lead you astray and feed off your life energy…as some Cryptics are wont to do, I suppose.
Certain types of plants are pretty odious to Faeries. They can even be used as protection against them – or be used to keep them at bay. These are usually referred to as Faerie banes. One of the most common is St. John’s wort which is a medicinal herb that’s been used since ancient times for a variety of purposes. Another is ‘broom’ – the plant that old fashioned brooms are made of.
Crimbils are a type of Changeling – that is, a Faeire that has been left in place of a stolen human child. There are numerous types of Changelings that appear in Faerie lore but the gist is that a child is stolen from a human household and taken to Faerie, but a Faerie of some kind is left in its place. There’s a lot of conflicting info about the how and why throughout Changeling lore.
Most of the recorded ways to send a Changeling back to Faerie and to return the stolen child are a bit…um…violent. In the sense that most of them involve murdering the Changeling by drowning them or burning them to death. That said, there are some slightly more humane methods involving trickery or being pure of heart – whatever that means. I guess Faeries find it difficult to manipulate or lie to someone who is just a decent person. Their weird Faerie morality, or whatever…
Tutelary Spirits
Tutelary spirits are spirits that are guardians of a specific place. Brownies (and an assortment of other hob goblins and Fae) are often placed in this category because of their tendency to guard specific locations or households.
Brownies are usually benevolent but it’s possible to anger them (just like with any other Fae.) Once angered, you can sometimes appease them with gifts and food. Just never give them clothes – apparently, that’s super offensive.
Magic
Magic overflow can apparently be felt as a physical sensation by magic creatures. It makes the entire body feel tingly and induces a serious case of the jitters – like having way too much coffee combined with a colony of ants crawling over the skin.
One of the oldest and simplest forms of magic is barrier magic meant to keep out nasty things. Symbol barriers usually involve some sort of physical object that repels evil creatures who find its presence odious or unpleasant.
Symbol wards have limited application due to the fact that they’re inherently weak and easy to bypass. Barries formed of magic energy can be ‘programmed’ to target specific creatures or can have a more general program that repels anything with ill intent. Magic barriers can be broken by creatures with stronger magic or with a stronger will than the caster.
Samhain
Samhain starts at Sundown on the last day of October. Don’t know much about it as a holiday beyond that it’s an old one that has pagan roots. But apparently Samhain starts up some kind of serious paranormal activity because of planetary alignment or the position of the earth in relation to the sun. It’s much worse than Halloween but they also overlap so…I don’t know. Weird times.
Non-corporeal Cryptics – that is, the ones that don’t have bodies, exist on different planes that can really only be perceived by people in tune with their ‘wavelength.’ It’s like being able to see different wavelengths of light that are outside the range of normal humans. Or something like that, I guess. Even other Cryptics are only sensitive to certain wavelengths. Which means some Cryptics are invisible to other Cryptics. It’s weird. Sometimes you can become attuned to new wavelengths if you frequently interact with creatures that exist on them.
Margaret is a ghost that lives at the top of the stairwell on the fourth floor. Rumer has it, she used to be a teacher and died on the premises. Which is kind of sad, really. Anyway, she stands there now and says hi to everyone who passes. I feel bad since I can’t see her, and I feel a little silly talking to someone I can’t really see or hear. It feels like just talking to a draft. Besides, Corvin told me about her, and I can never tell when he’s just pulling my leg.
Orai are a class of Cryptics that seem to be made of some kind of psychic energy. Orai start as part of a person – either their thoughts, dreams, or even their aura. They’re like pieces of a person’s soul that can separate from them and gain a sort of semi-awareness of self. They are somewhat troublesome and can absorb miasma becoming dangerous enough to attack and harm people.
Paranormal Research
The Sophia Athenaeum is the world’s largest collection of paranormal research material and literature. It’s basically a huge library, and everything in it is related to the paranormal community. It’s actually Sophia, Bulgaria! It’s so weird thinking that I travel to Europe every single time I walk through that door in the club room. Anyway, Vilos Ioveanu works there along with a few other mysterious people I’ve never met. It’s super creepy and I never see anyone else there. You’d think it would be busier, but I guess not??
Miasma is a type of negative energy. Miasma is sort of like the remnants of bad emotions and thoughts. These sorts of things slough off of people constantly, and they gather together in ‘pools’ anywhere that typically has lots of people. Because it’s made of negative things, it’s pretty dangerous and can cause all sorts of trouble if it gets absorbed by Cryptics of any kind. People who get infected with it can, apparently, die from it.
So traveling by door is a thing in this place. Which doesn’t sound all that mystical when I write it out. But in actuality, it’s literally a magic thing where a door acts as a portal between two places that aren’t connected. There are ‘stationary ports’ which are portals assigned to specific doors. Usually, they’re accessed by knocking on a connected door or speaking an incantation, then just stepping through it to the other location. There are also special keys that let you access any portal in the area from any door at all whether it’s magical or not – so long as the ports aren’t locked or restricted.
There are also keys that let you turn any surface into a ‘door’ that connects to the portal system in the area. With one of these, it doesn’t matter where you are, you can always access the portals and travel around conveniently. Apparently, though, they’re pretty difficult to come by.
Liminal spaces, in paranormal terms, are areas where the boundaries between this realm are thinner than normal. Because of this, it’s easy for things to cross into our realm at those spots – or for humans to cross into other realms. In practical terms, most liminal spaces are areas of transition like bridges or doorways. Or they’re areas that have no function of their own except to be passed through on your way somewhere else. Abandoned areas also tend to form liminal spaces. The concept is really vague and hard to explain. I guess the important thing to know is that they can be dangerous.
At certain times of the day the earth’s natural magic swells and increases. There are several periods of day where this occurs but the period of time that lasts from the stroke of midnight until the stroke of four is one very commonly associated with the supernatural. Three in the morning is when the magic cycle reaches its peak. It begins to decrease again after that. So, this is an important hour for all paranormal creatures.
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