Description
-
- To view this and other stories via the web, please visit the
- https://www.materiamagica.com/game-guide/the-world/history-and-politics **
History section of the Materia Magica website at
In days gone by, a medium-sized blue-green planet named Alyria existed, and continues to exist, in the northern quadrant of the galaxy of Sirchade. Orbiting the planet are the twin moons, Trigael and Marabah, which emit a form of energy best described as chaotic; saturating the world of Alyria in this power.
This affected life on Alyria, as all such things do. From the common roots of primal ancestry evolved several forms of life, which were known as Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, and Gnomes. As such things must be, these races discovered their differences and went their separate ways, with little or no mingling.
As self-discovery continued, overall intelligence grew. Humans were interested in exploration and discovery, and as such populated several landmasses. Dwarves were concerned with the heart of the world, and in the natural expression of stone, and as such delved deep underground. Elves and Halflings were quiet beings, preferring to follow the ways of nature and existed in the forests and glens. Gnomes were enthusiastic about kinetics and machines, and lived primarily near waterfalls, volcanoes, and other natural sources of energy.
With time, order developed from chaos. The separate races built towns, cities, and roads; selected leaders to guide them, each in their own way, loved, lived, and died, watched over by the twin moons that circled the planet daily.
One of the greatest discoveries of that time did not go to the Dwarves, who had become obsessed with the mining of precious metals and gems; it did not fall to the Halflings or Elves, who were perfectly content with nature and shunned change; nor did it fall to the Gnomes, although many of their machines were considered great discoveries in themselves.
The humans had discovered how to tap into the natural chaotic forces that flowed through every tree, every rock, every stream on Alyria. They called it Magick, and with it they were able to perform great feats of enterprise and construction. That is not, unfortunately, all it was used for. Everything must balance, and in time, Magicians were divided into three groups, depending on the way they used the forces that governed Magick. These groups were simply known as White, Grey, and Black.
White magicians were concerned with the loftier pursuits of self-discovery and pure-hearted results. Black magicians were concerned with control, and power, and how they could exert that over the other denizens of Alyria. Grey magicians drew from both sides of the spectrum to create a healthy, natural balance; and as such were closest with Nature, which can be heartless and cruel one moment and beautiful and generous the next.
As the races began to intermingle more, as transportation became more reliable and swifter, the Humans shared their knowledge of these occult mysteries with those who were interested, and so the world became a more orderly place. That is not to say there were not occasional wars and skirmishes, far from it. Yet the races existed together fairly peacefully for a long while, learning and exploring with each other.
From the Grey Wizards, a subgroup emerged, calling themselves Druids. These were the magicians who had felt closest to nature, who saw that life balances itself, and the wheel of fortune turns slowly but surely as it moves through all creation. Because the Druids were able to understand the natural processes surrounding them, they could encourage the natural fauna of Alyria to grow and develop into sentient beings.
One of their early experiments was an attempt to make a stronger race, one that would be close to nature, and respond to it, and yet intelligent enough to make its own decisions. They chose