Introduction to the world of magical maths

Short book synopsis
A royal mathematician gets noticed by the king and dragged into deadly court politics, which makes it harder for her to hide her chronic pain in a world that look down on disabilities.

Meta

Genre

Romantic Fantasy, High Fantasy.

Location

A powerful kingdom set in a secondary world.

Unique selling point

Explore a world where power and the science and mathematics supporting it are revered and witness the consequences for its inhabitants.

Setting the scene

The world

Set in a prosperous and powerful kingdom that sees itself as leading the rest of the continent in magical military and civilian technology, art, fashion, and literature among many other things. While it has several rivals, this view is not too far from reality. At least currently. Such matters change quickly if a country cannot keep up with the constant advances.
The country is ruled by a powerful king who is generally popular and considered to be a good ruler. He nevertheless faces opposition and coups attempts as everyone is willing to to try their chance. Indeed, power is seen as primordial in the country, and surely, anyone able to seize the throne has proven that they have the necessary capacities to lead the country.
Another consequences of this worship of power is that individuals with disabilities are seen as weak magically, since people consider that powerful magic can cure any disability. Such individuals are looked upon with pity or derision. While there is no official discrimination against them, this prejudice affects their life and place in society.

by Ksenia Yakovleva on Unsplash

Magic

Everyone posses some raw magic in their body, however usage of it is limited. It is indeed difficult to get it to rise out of the body and focus in enough quantity, let alone to get it to take the right shape to cast a spell. To overcome those limitations, people use artefacts, rituals, or potions. Therefore the creations of and access to those is of paramount importance and determine the power and fate of individuals and nations.
As such, all the people involved in this work have a very elevated status in society. Mathematicians are especially valued. Young children are tested early for their arithmetic skills, and particularly gifted ones are enrolled in special programs. The best, able to to incredibly complicated calculations wholly in their head and in mere seconds, end up working directly under the king. Others, who are excellent but not natural prodigy, work in royal manufactures and offices, their proximity to the court linked to the prestige of the specific post.

Runic geometry, a branch of mathematics by Gerd Altmann on Pixabay

Characters

The king

He is extremely clever and seems to be talented and achieve everything he sets is mind on. He can be very charming when he wants to, but also very demanding and controlling. He knows how to manipulate people around him and the country, which makes him a very popular king. He has also been lucky to be successful in war and to have brought back economical prosperity over the country, always good factors in being well-liked.
In addition to the traditional sciences, he highly values the arts, and in particular literature. He is known to be a patron of several acclaimed and lesser known novelists. While it is not openly discussed, there are many rumours that he often meets artists while under a disguise. This is, of course, seen as a prime opportunity to find him away from his guards and kill him...

The king by prometeus on DepositPhotos

MC

She is a mathematician working in a very prestigious job in offices at the royal court. As she is not a prodigy, so she will not be able to progress farther in her career. While being slightly bitter about this out of principle, she is resigned to it and well satisfied with her own prestigious job which has the benefice of the comfort of not directly interacting with the king of his court.
She has chronic pain, but has kept it hidden as this would have likely prevented her from reaching this stage of her career. However, she fears that it is getting worse. Her mother is suffering from a similar but much more advanced condition, and MC has seen how she has been treated because of it.
In her free time, MC is a writer, and she has achieved mild success with her stories depicting rivalries among royal mathematicians in time of war. She writes under a pen name, but she does not protect her identity as if it were a state secret. As such, it is unsurprising that someone decided she would be the perfect bet to lure the king in a trap...

MC by petrograd99 on DepositPhotos

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