The Arcanum Wars (AR-CANE-UM)

"If you can stop a storm from destroying crops or stop a landslide from wiping out a village, shouldn't you? Of course, my brothers! Arcanum is not to be feared, it is a tool to be used."
-Darim Longraven, moments before his execution

The Arcanum Wars are the name given to almost 100 years of worldwide conflict that touched every corner of Creation. It was the single most divisive and destructive period of history since the Cataclysm of The Shattered. Individual battles and campaigns are numerous and will need to be treated elsewhere. What follows here is an overview of the major arc.
All of The Races of The Eight  discovered Arcanum on their own and used it in their own way. The Lasskyr built their canals and the Voy Diurne unleashed experiments that haunt Palan Voyd to this day. But after The Eight were revealed to each other by the Lasskyr Age of Exploration, Arcanum was turned almost exclusively towards militarism, either offense or defense. As more and more was discovered, especially at the hands of the Tormangi, it became more obvious that Arcanum was capable of destruction on a massive scale. It was that notion that unleashed the Arcanum Wars. If it couldn't be controlled, it had to be destroyed.
The race to mine more and more Arcanum sent wave after wave of military expeditions into The Shattered. As a result, the Tormangi became very good at mining it first and using it defensively in naval warfare. The other powers, notably the Rennon and the Lasskyr, soon developed trading relationships with various Tormangi clans in order to continue their supply.
Since Arcanum largely amplifies imagination and willpower to create physical effects, the Lasskyr began to craft the boldest and most destructive spells. The Rennon  were most adept at pure brute force spellcasting but their limited creativity made them easy to counter. The San and the Malkin each added their own cunning to larger and larger spell effects. Battlefields increasingly became grindhouses of magical surprises that chewed up armies and laid waste to countrysides.
There were some lulls in the war as all the sides licked their wounds and tried to come up with new strategies. But these were typically short lived and just allowed for shifting alliances and greater surprise attacks. It was late in the war when a secret council was formed by representatives from all the peoples of The Eight to discuss how to stop the destruction before there was nothing left of Creation. It was this council that formed the foundation of what became the Arcanum Guild .
The council, which took years to even assemble due to widespread distrust, knew that they needed to change their thinking on Arcanum. If it couldn't be destroyed, it had to be controlled. This led to two major initiatives. First, The Tormangi traders had to be blockaded and prevented from freely transporting Arcanum to the rest of the world. Second, all known Arcanum stockpiles had to be placed in the control of an independent organization dedicated to controlling its use. The Rennon and Lasskyr made up most of the Tormangi blockade. The council itself made contact with the weary governments of the time and forged the necessary agreements and enforcement mechanisms.
The timing was right for change all across the face of Creation. The Arcanum Guild would control magic, The Order of the Eight  would control the hearts of the peoples through religion, and The Chain  would scour the world looking for subversives. From the destructive fires of war came an uneasy stability and peace that lasts to this day.

Conflict Type

War