The ultimate Arcane Elemental Academy series cheat sheet

Confused by all the terms, places, and jargon in Arcane Elemental Academy? Don’t fear. This cheat sheet will answer all your questions. 

World of Xadis? Kenborne? Nation of Etharia? Seven-rune combo? Am I scratching the surface? Everything I mentioned could confuse newcomers, and seasoned vets of Arcane Elemental Academy may need a refresher or two if they pick up the free prequel, Arcane Awakenings, and check it out again and again.

Let’s keep it simple and start with the places. They’re not the most relevant to the series, but if you’re racking your brain and trying to remember just what the hell the series’ fictional world’s called, you’ll thank fate this cheat sheet exists.

Talking about Xadis, Kenborne, and Etharia

Xadis is the world I set this series in. It’s not much different from our own, except Elementals and elemental magic exist. Heck, I’d even map the world the same way as our own, with four (sometimes five) oceans and seven continents.

Kenborne’s Yote Diamondback’s hometown, and it doubles as the name of her elite prep middle school for Elementals. It’s where she first learns to hone her powers before the series kicks off.

Etharia is Yote’s home nation. It’s no different from the United States: A global superpower with a deep state, shadow government, and corporate arms of the state attached. Like the U.S., they boast a hawkish foreign policy that fuels endless war. Unlike in my other works, though, this is mere background info and not the series’ main plot point.

The Northern Region

While you won’t catch the Northern Region in Arcane Awakenings, it’s the main setting in The Arcane Prophecy. Think of the Northern Region as almost like something you’d see in the Midwestern United States, and I used my home state of Ohio as the model, even if it’s not the northernmost state in the Continental U.S.

Arcane Elemental Academy, the series’ namesake, isn’t Hogwarts. It’s a high school campus featuring 32 schools and their corresponding apartment suites. Since market-based education’s the theme here, each school pertains to a certain type of student’s learning ability, style, and personality.

Aurora Village is where the academy sits, located on the village’s edge. I modeled Aurora after my hometown of Wintersville, Ohio. Think of a place that has one main street, with residential areas branching off it, and multiple roadways that lead to the vast countryside. It’s picturesque in the fall, Christmas card-like in the winter, and bustling in the spring and summer.

The Forest is privately owned, but a place that welcomes Arcane’s students thanks to its vast system of trails. It’s always well-maintained, and most students use it for hiking, leisure, and running, but it has some nuances, as Yote will find out.

Whether it’s the academy itself, Aurora, or the forest, this is where all the big plot points live in Arcane Elemental Academy, starting in Book I. And the stakes raise from there.

What about those rune combos?

Each rune in the Elder Futhark corresponds to a different element; some to multiple elements. But don’t worry, I won’t give you exposition on which rune corresponds to what.

Instead, I like using different rune combos that’ll unleash either an air, water, earth, or fire attack through visualization and hand gestures. With the runes used and the subsequent maneuver, you’ll know which element(s) they line up with.

But the combos might slip you up.

Single-rune combos are the fastest and easiest. They enable the user to perform a simple task, like visualizing a Tiwaz rune for clean air, or a Laguz rune covering one’s tracks in the snow.

Three-rune combos call for more advanced movements. Say one needs to light a sustainable fire or defend themselves with an air maneuver, they’ll call on a three-rune combo. Most teenagers can perform them once they reach the so-called high school level.

Five-rune combos are also common, and you’ll see them in The Arcane Prophecy. These are good for throwing solid attacks that’ll hurt an opponent in a duel. But they won’t overpower more advanced Elementals who can perform seven, nine, eleven, and even thirteen-rune combos.

Seven-rune combos are as good as it gets in The Arcane Prophecy. Seven runes correspond to one element, or multiple, depending on how advanced the Elemental is. And they’re strong enough to create powerful rings of fire, or hydro blasts that’ll knock an opponent out.

Nine, eleven, and thirteen-rune combos build on the seven-runes. But you won’t see them until at least Book III in the series, when Yote and Company get more advanced in their elemental control.

Ready to see some combos live?

Luckily for you, I got the first three chapters of The Arcane Prophecy ready to roll in case you wanted to see what these rune combos look like in live action.

Check them out, and get to know Yote, her sister Jett, and how tough their father is on them, despite their young ages.

And make sure you save this page. It’ll come in handy when the story gets deeper.