The Vengeance
Of Mages 

by LeliBug Vaeda

History

DESTINY

THE Mortal Realm OF
FAEH'RRON

Faeh'rron is a small world densely populated with Magika. 

The largest mass of land is known as The Borderlands - so named because of the many Kingdoms and Lands which border each other across it. Surrounding The Borderlands are masses of small islands - the Reef Islands, and on the other side of the islands are various smaller masses of land with other interests and have little to do with The Borderlands.

At the centre of Borderlands are the lands of Aurigalon and Elyy - once upon a time this was where the most powerful Magika lay, where the fault lines intersected and pulsed with immense power.

Aurigalon was once the most powerful land of Magika, sitting in the centre of those Magika fault lines that run far beneath Faeron's entire land masses. The Grand Mages of Cariadau were born here, and ruled from here, beneath the protection of the Great Guardian Ddraiigau. 

MAGES

Mages were the most important creatures of Faeron and protected the non-Magika population - known as the People - with their lives, and helped them with surviving in a world of Magika. Mages were born with Magika in their blood and were gifted with at least one of the Six Elements of Magika:  Fire, Water, Wind, Spirit, Nature, and Pure Magika. Traditionally, Mages would be gifted with one specialist Element - some were gifted with two, or even three. The High Sorceresses tend to have more, but only the Grand Mage and the See'er were able to harness the power of all six. 

The Mages were ruled by High Sorceress. These extremely powerful and gifted Mages ran their own Covens, where young Mages were taken to learn about their gift, their history, and how to use and hone their powers. The High Sorceresses also had direct contact with the Divinities of Nehfadiau - the creators and rulers of all - either themselves or via the Elders: the High Sorceresses and Grand Mages who had crossed the Veil to the Realm of Elysium, who were Elder Guides and had direct contact with the Divinities. 

THE GRAND MAGE

The ruler of all Mages was the Grand Mage of Cariadau, traditionally known as the Queen of Mages. She lived in Aurigalon, the land at the epicentre of the Magika fault lines, within the Glades of Cariadau - the vast and dense forest that once extended over most of the land. 

The Grand Mage is born of a long linage of powerful Mages. Each Grand Mage chooses her own successor as her Apprentice Acolyte - waiting as long as it requires for a suitable exceptional Mage-child to be born - and begins their training when they are very young. The Apprentice Acolyte is intensively trained to harness the powerful Magika in their blood, until the point they are ready to be tested. If they succeed, and prove themselves indeed worthy of becoming the next Grand Mage, they are bequeathed the Sacred Stone of Serendipity and immediately become the next Grand Mage.

The Sacred Stone of Serendipity is a vessel of all Magika throughout Faeron. A large spherical dark ball of immense power, it crackles and pulsates sparks and streaks of colourful Magika, and shares that enormous power with the Grand Mage. This Stone enables the Grand Mage to be the ultimate protector of all Faeron, turning her into a humanised embodiment of pure Magika through the Power of Will, at which point she is no longer human. The Grand Mage is virtually an immortal being, unable to be harmed by any usual means, such as weapons or illnesses. Her lifespan is dictated by the Stone itself and her own natural ageing process - although this is greatly affected by the Stone's power. The only possible harm that can come to a Grand Mage is by Magika equal or greater than her own. Nowhere in the history of Faeron has this ever been see, and each Grand Mage has lived a long an prosperous life spanning several centuries each. 

One other Mage stands alongside the Grand Mage as the protector of Mages and the People. The See'er is the Queen's guide, confident, and advisor, blessed with the power of psychic telepathy. The See'er uses powerful Magika runes, the Elphinstones, to see into the past, present, and the future - and also has the ability to link minds with other Mages so they too can see what she can see within the power of the Elphinstones. Once her mind is linked with another Mage's, a permanent channel is opened up between their minds which can be opened and closed at the will of the See'er. She has almost equal Magika to the Grand Mage, and also has the ability to use all Six Elements of Magika. 

THE UNITED REALMS OF EALL'WYYE

Faeron was always a historically peaceful Realm. However, the People decided to take rulership of the lands for themselves, eager to take control of Faeron for themselves. They began wars, fighting each other in lengthy and bloody battles to gain rulership over settlements and land. The Mages retreated from the battles, allowing the warring People to fight each other - their only battle was with Cythraulian and Chthonian and they were not willing to fight the People to rule their own lands.  Eall'wyye 

The People continued to fight each other for their own kingdoms, invading lands and settlements for their own gain, each successful leader of their army coming to call themselves a king of the land they had just stolen, once they  had enough of it to be deemed a kingdom. One such challenger, however, was about to change the history of Faeron for all time. Known simply as The Conqueror, this man appeared to be made out from pure evil. He swiftly brought in a powerful army from distant lands, and swept into the land of Aurigalon, leaving nothing but a path of bloody destruction in his wake. Aurigalon had always been avoided when any attempt to claim and conquer land had been previously made, as this was the land of the Grand Mage and Great Guardian Ddraiigau. No one else had previously dared lay claim to it... But The Conqueror came and destroyed it.

He laid siege to the Mages in a long, horrific and tragic war that lasted too many years. The Grand Mage and Guardian Ddraiigau fought and protected the best they could - but the sheer number of The Conqueror's army proved too much for them. Mages were slaughtered en masse, until what few where left were those who fled and hid in dense forests or in the mountainous regions of the Aeiira'Cad. The Grand Mage, unable to be maimed or killed, was taken prisoner and kept hidden away, locked in a secret underground dungeon which had been constructed from the safety warrens the Mages had built for themselves beneath the Glades of Cariadau. 

To ensure his stand as the ruling master of the land, The Conqueror destroyed most of the Glades of Cariadau, and built his own castle in the heart of what once was the land of the Mages. The castle spent years being built, and the start of the first new Age was born along with it - with each subsequent Age based on the length of rule of each monarch. The Conqueror took his place as the first King of Aurigalon, ruling from the ornately palatial, lavishly-styled, and impenetrable fortress he called his Palace Castle. He ruled with evil and created nothing but impoverished subjects and despair, creating one ultimate law that would grip the kingdom with a cold iron fist for Eras to come - that Magika was now classed as a Dark Archane Art and was banished from the land. Being a Mage was a punishable offence, the sentence being death. Leniency meant being kept in the dungeons beneath the Palace Castle for life. Magika was to be no more within Aurigalon.

With this ultimate destruction of Aurigalon by The Conquerer, Faeron's Magika weakened and waned. Without the fault lines being powerfully activated by the Magika used by the Mages, they were rendered weaker than they once were. Without the power of Magika running through the land, the Great Guardian Ddraiigau ceased to exist - their lives depended on the Magika that ran within the fault lines, and without it they came to become nothing but a long-forgotten legend.

It was long suspected by the Mages that The Conqueror was indoctrinated and lead by Cythraulian, the Daemon Prince of the Underworld Chthonian, brought to bring that exact destruction of Magika within the most powerful land, and the weakening of the fault lines throughout the Realm. It was written in The Tales of the Witches of the Forest of the surviving Mages' suspicions, as they saw the fall of their once-beautiful land to a dark dictator. As their lives and existence changed forever, the Mages continued to write their history and disguised it as a set of faery stories for children, hoping it would be read and they would be remembered. Volume after volume was written over the Eras (defined as a one hundred year period in Faeron) and were indeed read by children as bedtime stories. Mage children born in secret were told of its invaluable place in the history of Aurigalon and its Mages. but no one else outside of the Mages knew of its true purpose. 

Reactive wars spread after the conquering of Aurigalon, making life even more difficult for the few survivors of the land. The other rulers and kings continued attempting to overthrow other kingdoms of the Borderlands for complete power. The Conqueror continued to wage war on neighbouring kingdoms to overthrow their leaders and take their land for his own

As an attempt to try and retain balance between the new monarchs, and to heal the harsh rifts with the original rules of Faeron, the Mages, the Treaty of Ellwye was slowly melded, until true peace was settled between the warring lands. They then established themselves as the United Realms of Ellwye, and in unison they all retained universal and equal power over Faeron. Distant lands who had no interest in joining the wars remained on the fringes, but started trading and travelling within the new established Realms, which were now real kingdoms, who supported Mages and monarchy ruling together - with the exception of Aurigalon, despite it being the key kingdom within the Treaty. 

The Peace Treaty of the United Realms of Ellwye has now been in place for almost one hundred Eras. The Borderlands have been relatively peaceful within that time, with the monarchs of each kingdom working together to create the best existence for their subjects as possible. Each year, all monarchs attend a summit within the Kingdom of Elyy, spending many days discussing the politics, economies, societies, and other relevant matters to their own and the other kingdoms. The monarchs are all on amicable terms, ensure their heirs are also on good terms with each other, and are even continuously invited to the other palaces and kingdoms on state visits for their entire family to see what each kingdom is like. For now, Faeron is certainly a relatively pleasant place to live, particularly given its bloodied, warring history, and the monarchs work hard to ensure that they keep it that way.