Academy of Knowledge/Library/Restricted/Fairytales
The worn leather book seems obviously rebound, and somehow to lurk on the desk rather then rest. Through a great effort of will you manage to force yourself to open the odd tome only to find the beginning penned in a strange hand.....
Philippe's Fairytales
Penned by Philippe d'Montnab
Preface:
Year 4 Month 8
With my recient successes in Avamar and abroad I find myself board to distraction. So on the advice of the head librarian here at the Academy I've decided to compile some of the older texts on the last Age into a series of Histories and one or two manuals on magic, or witchcraft as these primitives call it. Of course I'm not putting such an effort into this as any gift to the younger generations but because it will be damn amusing to see how screwed up the world has become since those days and I could use a good laugh. Besides this could prove a useful tome for training my generals come the founding of my Dark Empire.
Year 4 Month 9
Among their many failings the people of this world have yet to develop a standard calendar for referencing the passage of years, or more specifically they've lost the old one. Either way this makes it extremely difficult to speak of the past to any level of detail.
Year 4 Month 10
Another difficulty that has arisen, the primitive language of these people lack the words needed to properly describe much of the information I've gathered. I shall make due as I can but have decided to include some runes where their chicken scratch fails completely.
Brief History of the Age of Magic
Due to problems I've listed elsewhere the history of this world can be divided into Ages and possibly generations of peasants, but little else. Thus I've decided to term the last Age as the Age of Magic while the one I now find myself suffering through is the Age of Strife.
As is to be expected, little knowledge has survived from the Age of Magic and what the witch hunters have missed is hardly worth the parchment but still it provides some insight into the world today.
The earliest records remaining speak of a time, which I've dubbed the Lost Age, before the Age of Magic. During these twilight days it appears the people of the world lived in relative harmony; probably because what kingdoms existed were too small to engage in warfare, though the texts indicate that it was because mortals wanted for nothing. An excerpt from an old journal depict a few crude pictograms taken off a ruin wall from about the right Age revealing a series of 'rituals' which, to the untrained, would appear to be primitive religious ceremonies enacted by both elves, humans and a third unknown race. Of course once I analyzed the images it became quite clear that this would be the first documented case of mortals using magic. Further analysis of the scattered records reveal hints about various 'blessed' individuals who could speak on behalf of the gods, though the examples given are characteristic of a people's first stumbling attempts at the higher sciences.
With no set instant to divide the transition between Ages it is difficult to pinpoint when things shifted but it becomes increasingly clear that as time wore on magic became more commonplace. Fueled by magic, civilization prospered across the world and not surprisingly as populations increased true kingdoms started to takes shape. Doubtlessly these proto countries used a simplistic system of governance, revolving around the primitive spell weavers of the day but unfortunately no exact records exist and one can only infer based on the history of my own people, which is thankfully far more detailed.
The records are conflicted about which nation first rose to prominence in those days, which is not surprising since each would be isolated from the others, but through careful cross referencing it becomes obvious that seven kingdoms rose at about the same time: Fontan, Ibladesh, Isadril, Itorunt, Oligarch, Perdan, and Sirion. Even the most uneducated peasant should realize the significance of those names since they are all kingdoms of power and influence in the present Age. Possibly due to the continual importance of these kingdoms throughout history there is a far larger collection of texts detailing their people's perspective then many other areas and to save time I've decided to reproduce them here:
East Island
The northern parts of the east island are living in the power-triangle of Perdan, Oligarch and Sirion. Especially Perdan and Oligarch have had stressed relations as long as anyone can remember and are in a constant state of cold, and sometimes not so cold, war.
The north is dominated by vast grasslands and plains, and borders on large forests and mountain ranges to the south and east. The very north is only sparsely inhabited, and the small island to the north is empty except for some pirate havens.
To the south, Isadril and Ibladesh control the island, with Itorunt trying to establish a third center of power.
The southern part of the island is much more densely populated and smaller in size, replacing the grasslands of the north with dense forests.
The east island is also home to the Magic Spring and Akesh Temple, two locations of great historical and current importance, as well as Castle Ubent, an ancient and extensive stronghold. To the far east, Fontan has little contact with the rest of the world, much like Lukon to the west.
Finally, there is a volcanic island to the north-west of the island that appeared only recently, possibly due to an underwater eruption of the very vulcano that marks it today. The island is uninhabited and largely unexplored.
Perdan
entered: 11.8.2000
last update: 11.8.2000
The city and country of Perdan are under strong Mages' Guild control and have been for quite some time now. This is mostly interesting because Perdan is, as the name implies, the sole source of Perdan Minerals.
Not too long ago, the Perdan King has been killed under mysterious circumstances, at the same time that the local Mages' Guild library was burned. A new king was quickly put on the throne by the Mages' Guild.
Perdan has uneasy relations with it's neighbors, and has gone to war with them several times during the past century.
Oligarch
entered: 11.8.2000
last update: 11.8.2000
The northern neighbor of Perdan is living under a strict military regime. While it has all traits of a dictatorship, the strong military alignment has enabled Oligarch to withstand Perdan attacks several times, even though the aggressive neighbor is almost three times as large in both land size and people.
Magic Spring
entered: 11.8.2000
last update: 11.8.2000
This is one of only two known locations of the mystical Water of Life, and the second location is known only to some senior Spellcasters.
The Spring is located in a cave at the side of one of the larger mountains, with only one path granting access to the site.
Recent owners have built some structures around the Spring, including a complete house close to the cave entrance.
Fontan
entered: 11.8.2000
last update: 11.8.2000
The easternmost city of the known world is a quite, peaceful place. Protected from all serious enemies by far grasslands and extensive woods, Fontan has only a small army to defend itself against occasional bandit attacks. The city itself is well-off, mostly because the coast is so rich with fish that fishing is considered too easy to be a "real" occupation.
Unfortunately as one can plainly see the tattered remnants of ancient documents are sorely lacking in content but still paint an interesting picture of how things have changed since the beginning.
As an aside one can notice that Perdan and Oligarch have, since the writing of this text, become allies; Fontan is now far more war-like then their fishing ancestors; the kingdom of Isidril is no more, and Envora is a tourist attraction. Now most of the texts are useless to even the most insightful scholar, detailing such riveting things as fishing cycles, various bureaucratic documents and ruler proclamations, but among the deluge of mundane data there are hints of the real power of the Age.
Chief among them is the mention of this elusive “Mage Guild” in the histories of Perdan. The reason this is significant is that it indicates that the number of [the symbol here is alien but seems to say, {magically inclined}] people was large enough at this time to warrant a structured organization. This is very important because it indicates a total magical population with enough density to encourage communication, and someone with enough power to lend order. Now for the mundanes that do not understand the significance of this level of structure I will explain. The base unite of magic in a society where such things are unusual is ‘one’, one spell, one style of casting, one order, one [the symbol here is alien but seems to say, {magical individual}]. Those with magic are very often a solitary group who do not play well with others of their kind since all during their formative period they were as onto gods compared to their compatriots. So the level of community needed to form a guild indicates that the [the symbol here is alien but seems to say, {magically inclined}] were unable to space themselves out across the land. Such a confinement would not be ideal, and so it would take a considerable amount of effort to create a guild-like community. I can only theorize who was the head of this organization but they must have been quite powerful indeed to hammer so many of their colleagues into a cohesive organization. Analysis of the rest of the texts reveal little about the other nations, it is possible that they didn’t have the same number of gifted and thus didn’t develop a community or possibly whom ever was in charge wasn’t so assured of their power to publicly admit it. Either way it is unlikely that this Mage Guild existed completely alone and all of this leads quite naturally to my next discovery, things did not last.
With such a strained set of conditions it is no surprise that the gifted began to play the political game with in their respective organizations. At first it was probably harmless enough, as various individuals began to jockey for positions of power and importance within the guild, creating a hierarchy with a complexity far beyond the simple feudal system the mundanes use to this day. Eventually however the game would have become more violent, the stakes raised each time, until the conflict escalated.
It is impossible to identify the when it all began, but one can infer that the spark was probably two or more individuals who felt that they were more able to lead the guild then the present master. The assassination attempt would have set off a domino effect of greater or lesser degrees depending on how fractured the guild was into ‘allegiances’. Assuming the Mage Guild to be the most powerful, the worst-case scenario is if the guild sat exactly in half and with the usurps having aid from beyond the guild. This would mean that the usurp’s forces would then have an almost fair chance, especially if the master was actually neutralized. The resulting battle would have done a great deal of damage to the [the symbol here is alien but seems to say, {magical atmosphere}] with effects visible in to even the mundanes. Depending on exactly what happened the various terrible events listed in religious texts could be this fateful day.
The next level of chaos where the guild split into a multitude of smaller groups, or councils, would have less impact on the physical world initially but there would be little chance of things stabilizing in the long run. Without the controlling effects of the guild itself the various councils would quickly enter conflict with the others over matters of principles and ideals, as mortals are wont to do, but also over magical practices.
The last way things could have occurred are where the guild shatters completely and not even shards remain. With each individual now on his own and answering only to those stronger than themselves, mundane society would have little hope to survive the magical battles and loss of infrastructure.
Regardless of the exact level of dissolution there is one irrevocable conclusion: Mage War. The history of my people provides little material to analyze this eventuality, however I am in luck; the kingdom north of us experienced an identical situation not too long ago and are, if nothing else, meticulous recorders of history.
The premise is simple, why settle for being one among many gifted men and women when you can instead exist as a god, alone. Think of it, the power to shape the world however you wish at your finger tips and the only ones who can stop you are the others like you. Why would you share with them when it is clearly your birthright to lead? Easy to see how things would have escalated is it not? Ironically the guild, which had provided order and prosperity, was now the main source of chaos since the common bonds and practices taught by the guild made the fighting more dangerous. The battles themselves would have taken place over a wide range of battlegrounds and conditions, many of which no mundane could even begin to comprehend. But the result would be the same in the end, more and more weaker spell weavers would be defeated and slain by their betters and the stakes would continue to rise for those who remained. Steadily the spell weavers would find their numbers reduced, with the rate of young bloods rising to the ranks being far exceeded by the number of dead. After the initial furious battles, with high casualties among the weak, there would probably have been a period of uneasy peace.
With violent death coming to the would be gods those who remained found themselves confronted by the possibility of their own deaths from any direction. With even the slightest mistake results in unexpected death, the survivors would experience an increasing sense of paranoia as their opponents’ fall, which in turn would cause an escalation in defenses. Thus during this time of fearful peace the various survivors would have looked to their own safety, developing defenses and fortresses, much like Castle Ubent. This period would result in the deaths of the careless and the trusting, but it is the next phase that will truly bring about the end of the Age.
It is now, with all the spell weavers hiding from their peers that the real game would begin. With conventional assaults no longer being an option, requiring so much resources that the victor would be slain by outside parties, intrigue only dreamed of in the minds of mundanes or even early spell weaver would begin. The dance of promises and plots would have slain any who couldn’t match the steps, or refused to take part. The death toll would mount and the complexity of the plots rise until the survivors would be locked in an intricate stalemate of power where one mis-step would result in instant destruction. So close were the survivors to each other that any advantage, no matter how small, would tip the balance of power in their favour, and it is here that our tale comes to the present.
The world has moved on and what was has changed into what is. The mundanes have forgotten the spell weavers, their exploits regaled to tales of myth and fancy. The records of those times have been meticulously removed from the annals of history, while the effects of their magic pointedly ignored. In no other land would people be so accepting of the miracles that surround them every day by mundane standards; the most grievous wounds are healed in days, the most aged noble still fighting on as strong as ever, the languages and even coins all being the same no matter how far you travel. It took considerable effort and resources to acquire the limited information you see enclosed in these few volume, the Inquisition proved to be as determined as they were ineffective at halting my efforts and so you have the privilege of reading this.
In closing to this painfully brief summary of the fall of the world into ruin and barbarism I will say that no where in my search did I see any mention of the end to the war. There is not one scrap of knowledge that relates the sudden shift of the spell weavers from prominence to myth, and considering my own problems during my exploration of the Astrum Woods and Castle Ubent, as well as the global enchantment, I don’t think the war has ended at all. I think that those few spell weavers that remain, sitting high in the heavens or deep in the hells, or where ever it is they have decided to hide themselves, are still fighting their war. However they are not calling upon their power for fear of tipping the balance out of their favour instead they are using mundanes as toy soldiers. A fitting end to such pointless civilizations really.
The book closes with a snap as soon as you finish the last word, nearly taking your finger with it.
