A Short History of the Mages

the City of Mages

The known history¹ of the race of mages is a strange and interesting one, with many highs and lows. The first writings about mages come to Elothninian scholars by way of the Elvo-Felintark empire, about 4,000 years ago. These writings describe mages much as they are today: solitary wanderers with immense magic power. There are accounts of certain mages who wandered through a number of towns, and others who served as highly regarded advisors to some Elvo-Felintark emperors, but little of their interactions with one another are revealed in these writings.

Around 2,000 years ago (roughly 1,000 years before the establishment of Elothnin), an event occurred which gave great insight into the character of the race of mages. A group of powerful mages, concerned at the dwindling numbers of their race and the lack of an established homeland, came together and established a great city to be the home of mages, and act referred to as the Unification of Mages. The city (whose name has been lost to all but those who can read the old magi writings) is situated in the area that adjoins the San-Kesh Desert, the Dark Lands, and the Brovnajian Steppes, as this area was as yet unclaimed and easily accessible to mages spread throughout the land.

In its early days, this city is described in Felintark writings as a magnificent walled metropolis, full of hanging gardens, settled over a glittering underground lake. The buildings of the city were constructed of powerful magic, and their fine details and resplendent beauty remains unmarred by the passage of time. The city was initially inhabited by thousands of mages, who had gathered there to live together and bring about a prophesied golden age of magic.

For a time, the mages did live peacefully together, but historians suspect that somewhere near the beginning of King Otellian's establishment of Elothnin tensions arose between the more powerful mages. Mages, as most know, are not particularly affiliative in most regards and many speculate that their inherently withdrawn nature and prickly disposition naturally limited the amount of time that a large group of mages could live together in harmony.

However, the next chapter of this strange tale is a dark one. Instead of peacefully parting ways and regarding the City of Mages as a grand, but failed, experiment, the tensions fractured the population into factions, loosely based on their magical abilities. The factions, each of which thought the grandeur and beauty of the city was due to their abilities, fought over who had the most right to remain in the walled city at the dissolution of the Unification of Mages. What started as a political war of words soon broke into an all-too-real war which nearly decimated the mage population. No clear victor emerged from the Mages' War and the factions separated. Magi tradition holds that mages refuse to enter the city, now a bustiling trade metropolis nestled bewteen the Brovnajian Steppes and the Elvo-Felintark Empire, citing its terrible place in their history.

A note on the composition of these various factions, and where they scattered to, can hopefully shed light on the magical nature of this strange, reclusive race. It is generally held that mages are beings with great a great ability to control and manipulate the elements, but are not skilled in the other two classes of magic. Magi lore explains that there are five essential elements that exist in the universe - earth, air, fire, water and aether.

The first four elements, which make up all tangible aspects of the world around us, but are distinct and separate from one another. Mages believe that these four elements are actually two diametrically opposed pairs (earth and air, fire and water) constantly engaged in warfare wih each other. The fifth element, aether, is the most important element because it tames the other four and brings them into harmony with one another. Mages point out that their own bodies, tied to the earth, but warm, and sustained by air and water, cannot function without the unifying influence of aether. Mages, being creatures of aether, and given the gift of intelligence, are able to use use their aether to control the elements around them.

Modern magicologists and folklorists believe the magi concept of aether most directly relates to magic, and that this explains a common mage belief that all sentient beings can unlock their magical potential with the proper guidance - which, of course, they cannot provide because of their grumpy temperaments. Mages typically show a strong affinity towards one of the four elements, with basic proficiency regarding the others. Some legendary mages, such as the Old Man, show affinities for multiple elements, but this is said to be very rare.

The factions that which were the downfall of the City of Mages were most likely drawn along the lines of elemental affinities. After the dissolution, the four factions split and loosely claimed certain territories as their dominions. Fire mages went north, into the San-Kesh Desert, where they interact occasionally with the tinker elves and felintarks. Air mages wander the high elevations of the Klevarcht mountains. Earth mages tend to retreat deep into the Erkenheld Forest, dwelling near the fabled walking trees or the Green Woman, and water mages generally reside in the Pokelocken and the islands to the south of Elothnin. Occasionally, water mages will venture up to the Great Land Sea, but given the density of the population there, rarely stay for long.

As a rule, mages adhere to these loosely drawn lines, but sometimes mages will take up positions, such as advisors to rulers, which draw them into another faction's territory. This is usually not a problem, but can sometime cause friction should mages of opposing factions serve together on the same council.