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Age of Culture
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Though the mighty Empires of the previous Age had fallen, they were replaced by
many smaller nations and city-states built upon the ruins and remnants of what had
gone before.
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As time passed, neighboring lands that had once been similar due to the homogenizing
effects of being part of the same nation started to drift apart in terms of customs
and traditions. Local practices became more pronounced, and regions developed traits
that made them recognizably distinct.
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New social mores and belief structures spang up. Apparel became more varied. Cuisine
became identifying elements of an area. In short, culture began to develop in parrallel
with the forming of many new lands.
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Wars were still fought as well of course as nations struggled to define themselves
and their boundaries, but on a smaller scale than the vast struggles of the previous
Age.
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The Machtig-Baelvolkerung, the people who had inadvertantly caused the collapse
of the previous Age, took control of the subcontinent they call the Vold by
pushing the vast majority of the native Korvashi to the north and west.
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Most of the fleeing Korvashi crossed the western lands of what had been Undari and
took shelter in the Dregga Mountains, but after their Machtig pusuers returned to
the Vold many flowed back down into the lowlands and took parts of what had been
Undar for their own. Other tribes of Korvashi slowly pushed down into the Blasted
Lands created by the Witchlords of Vorgaa's demise, claiming them as their own.
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The Machtig distilled into the Nine Great Clans of the Herodi, Raevoring, Wundvolding,
Faendradi, Jagrling, Ulthferen, Hengsting, Huarthmunn, and Pargori. The warlike
Herodi controlled the Machtig more often than not, and periodically led Machtig
hordes in all directions taking on all comers, and repulsing occasional invasions
from other nations.
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Vorgaa itself collapsed into the nations of Folgetova, Ieshali, Sorvanoth, Dolano,
Banderlan, Nosh, Zarifin, Jarval-Beah, Lanolyan, and Quiria, with as internecine
a set of rivalrys, alliances, coups, and sudden powershifts as found at any point
in history.
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The Karkallian Confederacy was eventually dissolved formally, but had effectively
been ended by the destruction of the tribesmen's great enemy, the Witchlords, and
the tribes returned to a more primitive existance of hunting and gathering, with
occasional inter-tribal warfare.
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Undar collapsed into Allishan, Landroth, Hurishol, Orithain, Andelvai, Orgorosh,
Arvanis, Famor, Akosa, and Vei-Da and suffered greatly to raids and predation from
all their many neighbors for two millenia.
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Zha'ir dissolved into Upinthia, Tinsha, Corlania, Forvish, Sor-Zorul, Ord, and the
city-states of Alut, Lod, Suth, Afarvel, and Borui. Sor-Zorul and Ord were allies
throughout this period and came close to merging at certain points via marriage,
but Tinsha, Corlania, and Forvish fought so many skirmishes with one another that
no one bothered keeping count after the first couple of hundred years..
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Ullu'shu'ra was split asunder by the Cataclysm, with portions left isolated by natural
disaster froming into Sys'an'sriss, and Lrss'ur'a. Survivors of the lost island
nation of Aruthol carved out pieces of what had been Ullu'shu'ra for themselves
along the northern coast, founding the city-states of Bor'dush, Villima, and Zishka.
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Bloody and bitter conflict between the lizard folk and the humans of those cities
occured at various points, and more cordial relationships with trade and alliance
occured at others.
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Even the isolated island nation of Hortash fell apart into four seperate nations;
Jros, Hargeth, Givinas, and Andrethi.
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The most distinguishing characterisitic of this era is that after the dust had settled
from the collapse of the previous Age, a period of relative stability ensued. No
major new powers came to be, no new world-changing religions sprung up, no new Magic
of major note was developed. This was an era of refinement, wherein nations defined
themselves, existing beliefs were upheld, and the status quo was subtly maintained.
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Magic was still in use during this Age, but was relatively scarce. With the great
Thanomancers and Necromancers having been generally wiped out and the most powerful
Witchlords killed, three of the most powerful forms of Magic from the Age of Expansion
were either lost or greatly diminished.
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The Riftmagi of Zha'ir still practiced their craft, as did the Spellweavers of the
Northmen, the Machtig continued to practice their various forms of Elemental Magic,
and various forms of Witchcraft, including Sortilege, Spellbinding, and Hexcasting,
continued to be practiced in the lands that had been Vorgaa.
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In the lands formed from the breaking of Vorgaa is a nation called Ieshali. Ieshali
is a fuedal monarchy composed of four Duchies and a Principality; one of the four
Duchies is called Turantom after it's seat, the city of Turant.
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Turant was renknowned as one of the major learning places for Witchcraft in the
days of the Witchlords of Vorgaa, and also featured the great fortress of the Witchlord
Weramar. This fortress was made into a University after Weramar's death, and weathered
the ensuing two millenia handily, turning out some of the best practitioners of
Witchcraft of the Age.
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One of these students of Turant was the Warlock Daelon Thar, who according to the
diaries of his instructors was deemed to be either mad or brilliant, or both. With
what appeared to be a natural genius and understanding of magic Daelon is reputed
to have been a voracious learner, studying every text and reference he could get
his hand on, and even going so far as to learn not only Magecraft but also Stregari
and Spellbinding.
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After his graduation, the multitalented Warlock claimed the title of Trimegistus
for himself, which was a title not taken since the passsing of the Witchlord Roune
the Trimegistus almost a millenia prior.
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A recognized master of all the ancient arts of the Vorgaa, Daelon announced his
intention to travel the world to learn more Magic and set out with a handful of
companions; passing into the lands to the east Daelon was eventually believed dead
by those who knew him. When he returned to Turant an older and wiser man almost
two decades later he had the knowing of strange and unusual magics.
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He claimed he had studied the ways of manipulating the elements from Machtig Obermancers,
how to summon things from the beyond from the Zha'irian Riftmagi, and even managed
to learn the secrets of the great enemies of the Witchlords, the Spellweavers. It
was rumored that he also tracked down a practitioner of Necromancy, and learned
some magic from at least one Haelfinan as well, but Daelon himself never made any
such claim.
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Unsatisfied to know more of Magic than any man then living, Daelon took a position
as an instructor at the University of Turant, and began working on a new theory
of Magic which could explain how all the disparate systems of Magic he had studied
could all function. He sought to find a common denominator to them all. He first
developed a system of symbols to describe magic; according to his Diaries he did
this because he found it difficult to refer to the various concepts he was attempting
to correlate on paper as there was no unified means of expressing concepts from
the various Magic styles.
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This system of symbols proved to be interesting to Daelon as a thing unto itself
rather than a means to an end, so he ended up spending the better part of three
decades extending and refining it. As he created symbols, he also named them and
eventually put sound to them. Finally he realized that pronunciation of the symbols
could serve as a memory aid for the proper conceptualization of the Magical effect
that the symbols were supposed to describe.
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Experimenting with some of his Witchcraft students at the University, he discovered
that he could train them to bring a Magical effect into being simply by pronouncing
and conceptualizing the symbols. The Magical effect desired was brought into being
as a potential by the describing of the effect, and the final incantation (spoken
or mental) of the symbols could trigger the potential into an actuality.
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Excited, Daelon applied his new perception into the idea of Magic as being merely
an expression of the willpower of the Magic User, regardless of the trappings, and
developed the idea that by categorizing Magic by what it did rather than how it
was done, and removing all the various belief systems surrounding the usage of Magic
regarding why and how it works , he could express a standardized system of Magic
via the use of formulae only.
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To Daelon's advanced perception it was clear that this process was just an absraction
allowing the mind of a Magic User to will reality to bend, but to lesser folk the
formulae themselves were seen to be the means to an end.
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Daelon developed and taught his theory over the course of the next century (Daelon
used Magic to extend his lifespan as is common with practitioners of Witchcraft).
Soon students of Daelon were much in demand as instructors at other institutions
of Magical instruction throughout the lands which had once been Vorgaa. And thus
Wizardry was born.
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What Daelon did not realize was that the unrestricted manipulation of Magic that
he esposed was very similar to the power weilded by the ancient Haelfinan Willcrafters
of old, and taps into the same wellspring of energy as that which fuels the Great
Caul. Thus, quite unintentionally, the use of Wizardry weakens the barrier which
protects the world from the powerful extra-dimensional beings that had once
nearly destroyed the world in their endless struggles against one another.
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Seemingly by coincidence, several "Holy" men emerged in various localities
in the final half of this transitional period, seemingly "touched by the gods"
and imbued with deific power with which to work "miracles". Several new
religions and reinterpretation of old ones sprang up around such people and started
to gain followings.
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The creation and spread of this new form of Magic was so significant that it signaled
the end of one Age and the begining of a new one wherein Magic will be much more
prevalent and potent, and extra-dimensional entities once again meddle in
the affairs of the mortal world.
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