Arcen Infection

"Once, we could light a fireplace with the snap of our fingers; now, if we snap our fingers and ask for a fire, it's probable that the entire house, if not the village, will burn to ash. What did we do to deserve such as this?"

— Ancient Signer, transcribed statement during the Arcen Inquisition

The Arcen Infection was the return of Arcen to Brandara. Between the Reclamation and the Return, all of the magical occurrences and spells on Brandara were fueled solely by Divinity; everything was ordered and perfect, nothing went awry unless the caster wasn't doing something right, and everyone was happy. When Arcen returned at the beginning of the Return, however, the Guardians were too busy fending off Arcen– preventing the destruction of all of Brandara– to fuel the magic, and Arcen stepped in to take that place.
Now, when people use Signures, they may or may not do as they once did; Arcen is not as ordered or as willing to be controlled as Divinity, and so sometimes, if the Signer isn't overly careful and timid about what they cast and how much power they demand, Arcen can turn a simple act into the catastrophe of the century.



The modification to magic is not the only awful change to occur at Arcen's return; the reanchoring of Arcen to Brandara by the monsters during the Return is believed to be the reason that the Lost turned into the Three People. Before this, there was one species with independent civilization, one kind of creature, but Arcen's fury at once again being trapped on Brandara raged and touched almost everything that existed on the planet, and the Guardians' belated response to His return could do little to reverse what was done.