Triplets, by Stephen Tigner

Story name: Triplets
Author: Stephen Tigner
Publication date: June 13, 1999 (TSA-Talk); revised April 14, 2000 (TSA-Talk)

Date: unknown, 706 CR
Location: Metamor Keep

Overview

Triplet brothers Colin, Drake, and Myeshia join the Keep to learn to control their magic.

+ Story info - Spoilers!

Summary

Colin, Drake, and Myeshia are three identical triplets who all have magic powers, but no control over them. Every time they enter a town, they cause mayhem and are chased out by the townspeople. Finally, a village mage who has already heard about them, tells them to head north and seek a wizard named Ross, who might be powerful enough to teach them. Along the way, they find out that Ross lives in a place with three curses, and was changed into a woman by one of the curses. The triplets decide that learning to control their magic is worth any curse.

They arrive at Metamor Keep, where the guards tell them that Rois has been expecting them. The triplets are surprised that Rois is a centauress. She shows them their rooms and begins their training, where Myeshia, Colin, and Drake fall back on old habits.

As they continue training, each falls to a curse one by one. Drake grows red scales and gradually becomes a dragon morph, Myeshia grows breasts and becomes a woman, and Colin loses his height and becomes a child of 14. In time, all three are taught not just how to control their magic, but also how to control their curses.

In the end, Myeshia changes her name to Aisha. The three of them show of what they have learned to each other. Rois makes a surprise visit, pleased with what she sees, and suggests that they are now ready for physical training.

Characters

Main characters:

• Colin: One of three identical triplets, he becomes a child morph. Prior to the Keep, he had trouble with mental magic. Water and air elements are his specialties.
  • He is 4 feet tall, 6 feet before the curse.
• Drake: One of three identical triplets, he becomes a dragon morph. Prior to the Keep he had trouble with fire magic. Fire and earth elements are his specialties.
  • He is 7 feet tall, 6 feet before the curse. His scales are red.
• Myeshia / Aisha: One of three identical triplets. Before the keep, he struggled with the ice element. She is talented in tech and ice elements.
  • She is 6 feet tall, the same as before the curse, with a muscular build. She has red hair down to her waist, and large breasts.

Supporting:

• Rois: A mage and centauress at Metamor Keep, a female gendermorph. She teaches the triplets magic, and helps Myeshia come to terms with her sex change.
  • Before the Curse, she was known as Ross, and still is to the wizards down south.
  • She has large breasts, and braided red hair down to her knees.

Minor characters:

• A female guard at the Keep gate, who has been expecting them.
• The guard's superior officer, a male child morph.
• Saroth: A dragon morph. He teaches Drake how to shift forms.
• Hough: A child morph. He teaches Colin how to shift in age.

Cameo:

• Dog morphs in the Keep hallways.

Rois's Magic

• In Rois's school of magic, magic is created by "weaving" different threads of elements together into spells, which can then be tied off from the caster, and then released. At least one of these threads must be life. There are seven elements:

red	fire
blue	water
green	ice
black	earth
white	air
brown	tech
purple	life

• Grabbing at these threads of magic seems to be instinctual; it is more difficult to learn how to limit one's grasp of them.
• Magic sight, or "second sight", does not require any magic to use.
• Aisha's rain spell uses 2 water threads, 2 tech threads, 1 fire thread, and 1 life thread.
• Colin's puppy illusion uses 2 air threads, 2 ice threads, and 1 life thread.
• Drake's stone-carving spell uses air and earth threads, with 1 thread of life.

Story Connections

• The magic system here was created by A.K.Giganotosaurus for his unfinished story "Leonius".

Points of Interest

• Of the three curses, the triplets, especially Drake, fear the animal curse most.

Behind the Scenes

• The original version differed from the revised version in a few minor ways:
  • The original magic system did not have ice, tech, or life as elements. Instead it had "spirit" and "healing" elements. Mixed-element spells no longer required a particular element; instead, it is healing magic that cannot be cast on its own, but requires another element for casting.
  • Myeshia/Aisha specialized in water and air magic, rather than ice and tech. Colin specialized in spirit and healing.
  • Drake reacted much more strongly to his change, locking himself in his room for a full day. Pascal was mentioned, apparently able to identify dragon scales based on a description.
  • Myeshia also took longer to recover from his/her change. Colin, incidentally, reacted just as nonchalantly.
  • The original version had brief descriptions of the triplets' final changes, but lacked the detailed scenes the revision has. Myeshia still got advice from Rois on accepting the change, but in less detail. Drake and Colin did not meet with Saroth or Hough.
  • The ingredients of the triplets' last spells differ as well.