Made For The Breaking [Magical Girl]

Asterium Entertainment Weekly: Your Guide to Fame
First on this week's Lightning Round: up-and comer ✧Kira✧Kira✧Hexxy✧! With her powerful yet sugar-sweet vocals and bad-girl attitude, can this candy-corn witch charm our interviewers?

Asterium Weekly:
So, Kira-Kira. How does it feel to be here on Asterium?

Kira-Kira:
Like I'm finally getting the recognition I deserve.

Asterium Weekly:
Quite the Spiteful answer you gave, there. And - is that an actual battle-axe you're carrying?

Kira-Kira:
I play all my best music on it. Nothing's like the power of real steel.

AW:
Most idols use just a bit less of it, though. Between that, the pointed hat, and the black-and-orange skirt, one could almost mistake you for a proper Witch.

KK:
Art's where your aesthetic takes you. For me, that means being goth as hell, and my fans understand that.

AW:
And yet we've heard your Academy record is suffering. Many wannabe Idols crack from the pressure long before making the top: what makes you different?

KK:
Nobody ever accused rock stars of being incredibly stable or sane: we're passionate people. So no, I'm not different, but I'm walking into this with my eyes open and my teeth bared.

AW:
If you want to be a rock star, why become an Idol?

KK:
Do you really think they're that different, in the end?

AW:
- We're almost out of time in this lightning round. Final question, Kira-Kira. Why the name?

KK:
Because I'm sparkly but also deadly. Next question.

AW:
- Uh, that's it. Thanks for being on the set, Kira-Kira.

KK:
That's ✧Kira✧Kira✧Hexxy✧ to you!

Verdict:
If Kira can rein in her rebellious side, we think she's got a future in the industry. Three Kiras out of four.

A User's Guide to Affinity
Ch. 1: The Basics
All mages possess an Affinity towards one of the five fundamental elements or archetypes: Love, Art, Spite, Duty, and Truth. This order is not arbitrary, as these Affinities have common characteristics with their neighbors in the cycle, with which they share a common virtue or value. (See Diagram 1.1.)


Affinities may be inborn, trained, or naturally developed, generally through emulation of a Mythic Archetype. A simple examination of these Archetypes suffices to explain why only women are capable of wielding magic: no man could ever be a true Princess, Idol, or Witch.

Ew. -✧

Most practicing mages take this to mean that only people with two X chromosomes can be mages, but I happen to know at least one counter-example. I don't actually know if GNC men are capable of using magic, as only cis women are accepted to AA in a student capacity, and the topic's considered settled in the current lit. Yes, one of the things they screened your DNA profile for was whether you had a Y chromosome. - Dec.

Wait, what the fuck? - ✧

"Vital importance of not wasting limited Academius resources." - Dec.

What a waste. - V.

You get used to it. - ❀

I hope not. - V.

Seriously, I'm still not over this. What the fuck? - ✧

This margin is getting
way too crowded. - V.

Yes. - ✧

Each Affinity has Prime Dominion over one of the five Aspects of Power, these being Secrets, Treasures, Familiars, Weapons, and Computers. (The last is a relatively new discovery, within the past century: before then Duty was considered to have no Prime Dominion.)

Each Affinity also has Secondary Dominion over the Aspects its neighbors possess. Thus, Duty gains Secondary Dominion over Weapons and Secrets, Spite gains Secondary Dominion over Computers and Familiars, etc. See Table 1.1 for a summary of this information.


What a poorly-designed textbook. Couldn't this have gone in that earlier diagram? - R.

Not to mention the author not actually explaining what Dominion means or does. - V.

Actually, odd thought - if we only know what four of the five Archetypes are, how do we even know Truth exists? - R.

Save us, December Morning-Glory, you're our only hope! - ✧

Dominion basically means you can invest your magic into something to enchant it. Treasure affinities can invest into things that are personally significant to them, Familiar affinities can shape their magic into sustained spirits or have them naturally occur, etc. - Dec.

So, what, you can store power by keeping a secret if you're a Truth mage? - ✧

Shhhh. - Dec.

What about my question? - R.

People can and do fall into archetypes by accident. I was born into Royalty and trained for Duty, but... - ❀

What's the difference between Prime and Secondary dominion? - R.

It's easier to invest into Prime. More natural, higher capacity. And the different Affinities flavor all their magic - you can't run things off Spite the same way you would off of Truth, it just doesn't work like that. - V.

Thank you! - R.

Anytime. - V.