Back? # **Welcome to Itraviel!** The Itraviel Chronicles is a collection of interweaving storylines, all centered on the faraway world of Itraviel and its inhabitants. I like to describe it as ‘The story of a world, from its beginning to its end…’ Itraviel is your typical fantasy world - everyone has supernatural powers, and the world itself is populated by mages, monsters, demons, and gods. But, with the help of magic, Itravien technology has always been on par with - and in some cases, far exceeding - that of modern day Earth. (Modern-day Earth itself also plays a huge part in this story.) If you’re looking for magical hijinks, powerful heroes and villains, royalty (that actually does something), found family, the power of love and friendship, and characters building their own lives how they want to live, then this world is for you. Some plotlines related to Stars of Hope are: **Stolen Roses:** An exiled princess framed for the murder of her family winds up at a hidden town ruled by a demon, and must work with a cursed guard, a disgraced potionmaker, and twin werewolves to clear her name and regain her birthright. **The Heroes of Justaea:** A dance teacher looking for a little magic in her everyday life winds up on an otherworldly quest to help a magical prince save his kingdom from certain doom. **Mistvale Mysteries:** In the aftermath of the Genesis Event, where certain humans developed Itravien magic, a battle rages in the shadows between those who want to bring peace with their powers, and those who think they should rule with an iron fist… **Théatre de L’Étrange:** Ten artistic friends bring their individual talents to make music and other content together - all while hiding their status as some of the most important heroes of the magical world. *All these stories (and more) intersect in many ways, weaving a storyline that (spoiler alert) lasts from Itraviel’s birth to its inevitable, often-delayed apocalypse.* *You don’t need to know much about these stories to enjoy Stars of Hope - the story itself should get you up to speed!* **Some setting notes:** The story mostly takes place in the city of Mistvale – it’s a fictional version of my real-life home city, but with a new name inspired by its near-constant fogbanks. Timewise, it’s set in December of 2019 – mostly because that’s when I took my own trip to Florida. The only parts actually taking place on the faraway planet happen in what is essentially a fancy, magical airport terminal. However, some good things to know are: Itraviens don’t physically age the same way we do. They grow up normally, but stop anywhere from their late twenties to early fifties. They also cannot die of old age – anything else, however, is still on the table. Thanks to factors like a smaller population and magic-powered innovations, Itraviel has had technology equal to – and often far surpassing – Earth’s, for a lot longer than Earth itself. It also has a lot of improvements in logistical issues like trade, transport, and quality-of-life – again, mostly owing to the magic that every resident of the planet can use. It’s not known to everyone, but Itravien goods and services are traded with Earth, and vice-versa. The two planets became connected because of the Genesis Event – when a meteorite of Itravien origin crash-landed on Earth and began spreading the magic it contained to humans. The Genesis Event caused a lot of problems, but we’ll touch on that in the story itself. Itraviel is composed of the Sixteen Kingdoms. Each of those kingdoms has a monarchy, but their power can range anywhere from complete to basically in-name-only. For reference, among our cast, Mirina (and secretly, Pyx) is the Princess of Elacanta, while Mercury is the Prince of Justaea!