The Cradle of Civilization

As the mortal races slowly left their ancestral tribal homes and began to intermingle, great cities were founded throughout the continent of Trast. A golden age of creation began, and the Three Doctrines became the common mantra. The great cities cared only for developing new magical technology and building upon themselves, not exploring into the rest of this wild world. Those people that disagreed with this mantra set out to settle new lands across the oceans, provided for by their home cities with no expectation of fealty.   Within Trast, research into the arcane proceeded with reckless abandon parallel to the development of technology. Over the course of a few hundred years, the melding of magic and machine rapidly evolved: the richest members of society were waited on by staffs of iron golems while other larger golems served as guardians, airships levitating on arcane crystals took to the skies and strengthened trade across the continent, fortresses were built upon wheeled platforms to patrol the lands, and a strictly controlled network of archways linked the largest of cities.   Those arcanists that grew too attached to their new wealth began searching for ways to prolong their lives and create new sources of profit. In secret they conferred with devils and demons, forging dark pacts to learn the secrets of the soul: how to extract souls, store them, and ways to use soul energy.