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World Building- History and Society
Aug. 25th, 2013 01:45 pmGeography
The planet which the story is set is quite similar to Earth, but is quite a bit bigger with several additional continents. The human population is close to ten billion. Most countries of the real Earth have an equivalent. In general places are named after famous people from our world that had something to do with that equivalent location. This is entirely a stylistic choice.
When magic is sealed, the world is about one and a half times the size of Earth. When magic is unsealed, the planet is about four times the size of Earth, with numerous locations that cannot possibly exist without the assistance of magic. In either case, gravity is no different to the real world. When magic is unsealed, the world is constantly expanding at a slow rate.
Ancient History
Magic has been in existence since the Stone Age, in a primitive form. Proto-Mages emerged in a single tribe. Possessing power that made them near invincible in a world where they were the only ones with magic, the Primordial Age began as they separated, took control of various other tribes and spread huge amounts of unregulated magic around the world that lead to the creation of the first mystical creatures. In a hundred years, the planet was covered in magic. Several of the Proto-Mages succeeded in transcending their physical limits and became the first of the Earth Bound Gods, entirely by accident.
The Primordial Age gave way to the Mage Age once society developed. Mages, aggressive and territorial, began to war against one another, becoming the undisputed rulers of humankind and the world. Without any exception, all nations and societies were completely ruled by a small number of Mages. Typically less than a hundred Mages could easily dominate tens of millions of humans. Every generation or so the world was plunged into a new war between the ruling Mages, often for no reason more than a desire for domination or to prove their superiority. Although not always tyrants, all Mage rulers were dictators. Although not always mistreated, all humans were property. The unrestrained magic released into the world continually added land, sea and sky, containing entities emerging from the imaginations of mankind.
This age lasted for several hundred thousand years. Uncountable wars were fought. Although the world underwent numerous revolutions, exchanging rulers and nations shifting control, it still ultimately remained the same. Mages developed and refined themselves, only ensuring more devastation from their actions.
The Mage Age ended thanks to two siblings, the twin siblings of the current most powerful Mage in the world. The common belief was that their battle for supremacy between one another somehow damaged reality, erasing magic from the world. All Mages became ordinary humans, the world shrunk and all the dictators of the world were suddenly powerless. In truth, the siblings had come together to seal magic for a specific purpose. The last surviving original Earth Bound God, named Solomon, gaining a share of that original magic that had propagated with the death of its peers, had intended to destroy the world and start again. Creating the Seal on Earth, the Seal on Heaven and the Seal on Hell, the Solomon was locked away, and with it all magic.
Thus began the Human Age. The cultural leaders of all the remaining humans gathered and it was decided. Countries and races united together, without prejudice or old grudges that had been caused by their Mage rulers. Three thousand years of peace began. Not a single war was waged in that time. Although nations continued to exist, they were only of cultural and geographic significance as a global government was established; the Human Union.
The world was however not completely devoid of magic. A group of exceptionally powerful Mages, lead by one of the siblings that had sealed magic, succeeded in secluding themselves in a valley that was not affected by the seals. Suchandra, the only remaining Mage nation, was a secret to the world but magic itself was certainly not forgotten.
Modern History
In the year HA (Human Age) 2962 the current Queen of Suchandra began a plan to restore magic to the world, to allow Mages to take their rightful place as the rulers of humanity under one, singular monarch. Due to her own astounding magical power, when she stepped outside of the valley the sudden increase on what the seal needed to suppress caused a crack within it. She had critically wounded herself in the process, but the seal now allowed Mages of Suchandra (excluding herself) to walk the human world, with greatly reduced power. Each one was sent out to find sealed Mages, especially ones likely to be violent, and activate their power. Usually they were then left to their own devices, because the goal was not presently unification but finding the Seal of Earth. Whenever magic was used, the seal would work to prevent it and draw the magic to itself. With the crack, there was a middle ground it could not suppress. It could still prevent Mages from naturally gaining their powers in the first place, and it could place a cap on the power any Mage could have, but between those two points it was useless.
By the time of HA 2985, the Queen was dead, but left behind a son. His fate was planned by the Queen; his incredible power would be split into seven bodies, his rainbow coloured soul being separated into a single colour each. The seven would each be sent to experience different lives to learn how best to rule. Cloning seven bodies, the process went awry. The original child retained fifty percent of the impossibly enormous power, resulting in eight princes; seven of roughly seven percent of the power and one with half. The plan continued, with the seven 'brothers' sent out into the world and the 'original' remaining in the Valley.
The plan proceeded with minimal complications. The activated Mages organized themselves in a sense, remaining hidden for the sake of convenience but battling each other for the right to control territory. However, they were unable to go completely unnoticed and the International Sorcery Control Commission was formed in secret. ISCC (pronounced 'ice') was founded by George Brussels, the first Mage to actively work for the Human Union.
In the year HA 2999, the city of Elphinstone was discerned to likely house the Seal on Earth. This city happened to be the one Feda had been ruling singularly for the past ten years. Over the course of the year, eight Mages united and protected the city as they unravelled the mystery of the plot to control the seal. A short while into HA 3000 the eight Mages, including Feda as the final member, prevented the seal from falling into the wrong hands by having the leader of the group absorb it into their body. The eight experienced a retaliation in the form of gigantic meteor that contained a supremely powerful monster, which they successfully and publicly destroyed before it could destroy the city. That marked the beginning of the New Mage Age (NMA).
Over the following ten years, ISCC went public and began to regulate the magical side of the world as a part of the Human Union. Roughly 30% of the world's population were now Mages or Human Type Monsters, with numerous long ago sealed locations emerging and containing some beings that had been in a state of stasis for three thousand years.
The original party of eight Mages had gone their separate ways over those ten years, but were once again drawn into the schemes of the Mages from Suchandra. Now split into two factions, the Black Crown lead by the seven brothers and the White Crown lead by the original, the two groups were simultaneously searching for the Seal of Hell, the Seal of Heaven and the Mage that had the Seal of Earth, whilst working to further their goals of world domination by manipulating the masses via hidden schemes. The leader of the original party, working for the ISCC, was made the head of the a task force to curtail the two Crowns. Along the way recruiting many to the cause, the original members of their party were picked up again one by one.
Over the course of a year, they successfully defeated both the White and Black crowns, despite huge setbacks such as ISCC's collapse when its founder converted to the Black Crown. Becoming the Human's Crown, the leader of the party lead them to victory even against the almighty true form of the crowns, having recombined after their defeat. In that battle, the seven supporters died to complete their tasks, leaving the leader alone to seal Solomon away again on the moon. The leader remained on the moon, to be a distant guardian.
The planet which the story is set is quite similar to Earth, but is quite a bit bigger with several additional continents. The human population is close to ten billion. Most countries of the real Earth have an equivalent. In general places are named after famous people from our world that had something to do with that equivalent location. This is entirely a stylistic choice.
When magic is sealed, the world is about one and a half times the size of Earth. When magic is unsealed, the planet is about four times the size of Earth, with numerous locations that cannot possibly exist without the assistance of magic. In either case, gravity is no different to the real world. When magic is unsealed, the world is constantly expanding at a slow rate.
Ancient History
Magic has been in existence since the Stone Age, in a primitive form. Proto-Mages emerged in a single tribe. Possessing power that made them near invincible in a world where they were the only ones with magic, the Primordial Age began as they separated, took control of various other tribes and spread huge amounts of unregulated magic around the world that lead to the creation of the first mystical creatures. In a hundred years, the planet was covered in magic. Several of the Proto-Mages succeeded in transcending their physical limits and became the first of the Earth Bound Gods, entirely by accident.
The Primordial Age gave way to the Mage Age once society developed. Mages, aggressive and territorial, began to war against one another, becoming the undisputed rulers of humankind and the world. Without any exception, all nations and societies were completely ruled by a small number of Mages. Typically less than a hundred Mages could easily dominate tens of millions of humans. Every generation or so the world was plunged into a new war between the ruling Mages, often for no reason more than a desire for domination or to prove their superiority. Although not always tyrants, all Mage rulers were dictators. Although not always mistreated, all humans were property. The unrestrained magic released into the world continually added land, sea and sky, containing entities emerging from the imaginations of mankind.
This age lasted for several hundred thousand years. Uncountable wars were fought. Although the world underwent numerous revolutions, exchanging rulers and nations shifting control, it still ultimately remained the same. Mages developed and refined themselves, only ensuring more devastation from their actions.
The Mage Age ended thanks to two siblings, the twin siblings of the current most powerful Mage in the world. The common belief was that their battle for supremacy between one another somehow damaged reality, erasing magic from the world. All Mages became ordinary humans, the world shrunk and all the dictators of the world were suddenly powerless. In truth, the siblings had come together to seal magic for a specific purpose. The last surviving original Earth Bound God, named Solomon, gaining a share of that original magic that had propagated with the death of its peers, had intended to destroy the world and start again. Creating the Seal on Earth, the Seal on Heaven and the Seal on Hell, the Solomon was locked away, and with it all magic.
Thus began the Human Age. The cultural leaders of all the remaining humans gathered and it was decided. Countries and races united together, without prejudice or old grudges that had been caused by their Mage rulers. Three thousand years of peace began. Not a single war was waged in that time. Although nations continued to exist, they were only of cultural and geographic significance as a global government was established; the Human Union.
The world was however not completely devoid of magic. A group of exceptionally powerful Mages, lead by one of the siblings that had sealed magic, succeeded in secluding themselves in a valley that was not affected by the seals. Suchandra, the only remaining Mage nation, was a secret to the world but magic itself was certainly not forgotten.
Modern History
In the year HA (Human Age) 2962 the current Queen of Suchandra began a plan to restore magic to the world, to allow Mages to take their rightful place as the rulers of humanity under one, singular monarch. Due to her own astounding magical power, when she stepped outside of the valley the sudden increase on what the seal needed to suppress caused a crack within it. She had critically wounded herself in the process, but the seal now allowed Mages of Suchandra (excluding herself) to walk the human world, with greatly reduced power. Each one was sent out to find sealed Mages, especially ones likely to be violent, and activate their power. Usually they were then left to their own devices, because the goal was not presently unification but finding the Seal of Earth. Whenever magic was used, the seal would work to prevent it and draw the magic to itself. With the crack, there was a middle ground it could not suppress. It could still prevent Mages from naturally gaining their powers in the first place, and it could place a cap on the power any Mage could have, but between those two points it was useless.
By the time of HA 2985, the Queen was dead, but left behind a son. His fate was planned by the Queen; his incredible power would be split into seven bodies, his rainbow coloured soul being separated into a single colour each. The seven would each be sent to experience different lives to learn how best to rule. Cloning seven bodies, the process went awry. The original child retained fifty percent of the impossibly enormous power, resulting in eight princes; seven of roughly seven percent of the power and one with half. The plan continued, with the seven 'brothers' sent out into the world and the 'original' remaining in the Valley.
The plan proceeded with minimal complications. The activated Mages organized themselves in a sense, remaining hidden for the sake of convenience but battling each other for the right to control territory. However, they were unable to go completely unnoticed and the International Sorcery Control Commission was formed in secret. ISCC (pronounced 'ice') was founded by George Brussels, the first Mage to actively work for the Human Union.
In the year HA 2999, the city of Elphinstone was discerned to likely house the Seal on Earth. This city happened to be the one Feda had been ruling singularly for the past ten years. Over the course of the year, eight Mages united and protected the city as they unravelled the mystery of the plot to control the seal. A short while into HA 3000 the eight Mages, including Feda as the final member, prevented the seal from falling into the wrong hands by having the leader of the group absorb it into their body. The eight experienced a retaliation in the form of gigantic meteor that contained a supremely powerful monster, which they successfully and publicly destroyed before it could destroy the city. That marked the beginning of the New Mage Age (NMA).
Over the following ten years, ISCC went public and began to regulate the magical side of the world as a part of the Human Union. Roughly 30% of the world's population were now Mages or Human Type Monsters, with numerous long ago sealed locations emerging and containing some beings that had been in a state of stasis for three thousand years.
The original party of eight Mages had gone their separate ways over those ten years, but were once again drawn into the schemes of the Mages from Suchandra. Now split into two factions, the Black Crown lead by the seven brothers and the White Crown lead by the original, the two groups were simultaneously searching for the Seal of Hell, the Seal of Heaven and the Mage that had the Seal of Earth, whilst working to further their goals of world domination by manipulating the masses via hidden schemes. The leader of the original party, working for the ISCC, was made the head of the a task force to curtail the two Crowns. Along the way recruiting many to the cause, the original members of their party were picked up again one by one.
Over the course of a year, they successfully defeated both the White and Black crowns, despite huge setbacks such as ISCC's collapse when its founder converted to the Black Crown. Becoming the Human's Crown, the leader of the party lead them to victory even against the almighty true form of the crowns, having recombined after their defeat. In that battle, the seven supporters died to complete their tasks, leaving the leader alone to seal Solomon away again on the moon. The leader remained on the moon, to be a distant guardian.
