Age of Wonder
"Magic is a tool to serve man... Not a power to control it."
-Arch Bishop Varren, Order of the True Faith
"No lesser species will tell my race who is or is not to learn magic. No pompous man at an alter will order those with the gift we granted to slavery. I swear blood and fire on any who dare defy my order, or enslave magic. I'll destroy the Order of True Faith and any who follow their will."
-Malifex, Elder Great Wyrm and leader of the Order of the Dragon Knights
"Magic is new to anything that is not a dragon, and that scares people. I do not think making mages slaves will help anyone sleep better at night, but I sure as hell am not dedicating forces to a war over religious differences. Dragons at their back or not."
-Empress Kimiko Showa, Empire of the Eternal Sun
The World We Live in
For the last eight hundred years, the Empire of Man and the Elven Dominion have fought a brutal war for racial and religious supremacy. In the last hundred years, the Dominion has ceased open hostilities without explanation and the Empire has officially declared victory.
The Empire of Man
Despite the name, the Empire's citizens are not exclusively human. It is also populated by numerous halflings, a number of elves who disagree with the Dominion's methods, and scores of individuals from many other races.
The Empire is also the home of the Order of the True Faith, a religious organization that has declared magic to be a dangerous force to be strictly regulated. According to local religion, two thousand years ago when magic was new to the world, the gods Iomedae, Sarenrae, Desna, and Gorum chose mortal vessels to stand before evil mages lead by dragons who sought to bring about the end of the world. The Order of the True Faith was founded shortly after the victory of the Vessels with the goal of finding and containing all mages within the Empire. To this day it is mandated that all mages be sent to the Citadels in order to learn to control their ability. Even after their release, it is illegal for a mage to use magic except for the common good of man.
The Elven Dominion
The Dominion hail from a cluster of islands in the middle of the inner sea, and are shrouded in mystery. Thought the elven race as a hole have mastered magic, they still known nothing in comparison to the dragons who fought them. The Dominion had taken pride in this, and when the Order of True Faith, and Empire declared Magic a crime. They wasted no time declaring war.
Hearing of how the Empire and Order of True Faith treated those with magic. In many cases burning mages and sorcerers at the stake, or crucifixion they answered back almost in kind. The Drachii- Dark elves saw the Opportunity and quickly rallying the rest of there kin to enslave every race that was not elven. Going so far as to skin some humans to make them into leather for armor, and saddles to mount there fearless mounts known as Cold Ones... Drakes they ride into battle like other races ride horses.
The Dominion politically finds itself in a strange way. There are six islands that house there own species of elves who all specialize in one of the six schools of magic, and a center island where the cultures meld together. All species of elves come from the Islands known as
"-" except the Drachii... They hail from the Crown of the World. Where the wild men of the north live, and before the war were hated enemies of the Dominion. Thought there indulgent life style has found its way into the courts of the Dominion, and rules all other races with an iron fist treating them as lessers and play things.
The Empire of the Eternal Sun
A race of humans who find there situation a bit strange for the time being. They worship Irrori, the God of discipline, and physical perfection. This however dose not stop at marshal ability. It is extended to all things, and often the magic uses of there nation follow the tenets. Because of this a strange breed of warrior hails from this land, they are a perfect melding of magic, and marshal skill... Though little else is known of them.
Kemhet
A people who worship there own pantheon of gods, and who openly trade with the world. Though the world dose not often send caravans to the desert dwelling people as they have, to date, only one port city, and it is over one hundred miles one way to the next city in the desert. The war has also made trade with them difficult for all by the Elven people.
The Crown of the World
A land that is the true might makes right... Up on the Crown of the World men fight for control of everything to include but not limited to there women. They worship the gods of chaos. Khorne- the blood God, Nurgal- the tally man, and Tzeench- the whisper in the darkness. Each granting horrid powers, artifacts and weapons. It is here the Drachii make there home as the only "Civilized" people of the north. Here is where the worship of Slenesh- the Prince of pleasures and her teachings lead the Drachii to there new heights in depravity. Little is known to the outside worlds as those who seek to explore here find themselves on the receiving end of an axe, or enslaved for any number of uses.
The Dwarven Alliance
The dwarf race has fared well in the war, and has had almost no involvement. There natural wealth, and cunning minds have kept them from most of the fighting, and there willingness to trade with all those involved has bolstered there wealth. That wealth was then used to offer loans to kingdoms with horrid interest rates.
The Drachii attempted one raid on the Dwarven capital... The battle was short... The Drachii used Kobolds to tunnel into the Dwarven capital city Honor Hold, and found themselves emerging on a level of the massive city that was all barracks, and military infrastructure
... This did not end well for the assaulting forces. The battle was the largest the dwarfs fought in with a surface force and it lasted less than six hours.
The Wold Today
No one has seen a dragon for just over one thousand years, and the order of the dragon knights has been chalked up to nothing more than a myth for the majority of the world. This at one point would have been fighting words for any elf, but now most are in agreement that at the least the order is no more. The dragons have left the world- but no one knows why.
The Order of the True Faith has seen fit to build schools that function like glorified prison to teach mages to use only the magic approved by the Order. This has led to Mage covens hiding there members to study magic freely-and with out fear of the Order having to burn them at the stake for use of evil unsanctioned magic. Though the cuvens are often hunted by a well trained and skilled Inquesitonal branch of the church. Who's members zelatry is only matched by there cruelty- going as far in some cases as the publicly torture family members of suspected law braking mages to get them out of hiding.
The long peace of the eight Hundred Years' War has reopened trade a bit and allowed for people to move around and see more of the world again.
More to come.
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Age of Wonder:Heroes
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