On Tieflings and Magic

The following is an excerpt of chapter 17 from one of Ritilak Fugasa's earliest books, "Uncommon Ancestries under a Common Flag," which delves into the lesser-known ancestries that live in Emaniquora.

Though readers of my book no doubt are knowledgable in our nation's sordid history involving magic and daemon-touched creatures, it is nonetheless important to acknowledge our past. I have thus included an excerpt from one of the old texts, written just after Loras' Demise on the Plains of Ilythyra (See Ilythyrian Sea.) In the chaotic years that followed and the scramble to stabilize and solidify the fledgling government that Loras had begun to form, the author of this most illumifying tome has been lost and much of the entirety of the text disappeared. We now retain only fragments. It has been passed down through oral tradition, immortalized in many a song, and told as a bedtime story to young children. What follows is an excerpt from one of the longer spans of text that remains from the original copy that the author was graciously allowed to view by special permission from the Council of Six:

"...So it was that in those days of yore magic flowed in the veins of the people just as water pours from the Mighty Ansklere. Great deeds and heroics were wrought in the power weilded by those who could grasp it. Nations rose and fell and rose again with the use of magic. It was not until the Emperor Loras Hamonet saw how this power was abused - that those who could practice magic found themselves far wealthier, far more powerful, and far above the masses in gilded towers than those who could not use magic - that the seeds of change began to sprout.



They without the power suffered in dirt-filled homes, wearing rags - tatters and eating food unfit for the trough...if they ate at all. Loras saw this tragedy and wept for those without the power, as he himself suffered under the rule of overpowered magic. In time, Loras became strong enough to help the nations of this continent, restoring balance to those whose banners were replaced by the tri-star of peace. However, the daemon-touched one, she of the blue skin, the mage of the south, the usurper....Thydona Ezohr, longed to keep her power.



In secret, behind the walls of Ilythyra, the city she built with power, she spent 7 score years building her army, plotting, and scheming for a way to overthrow Loras. When the Benevelant one, the peacekeeper, the great uniter, father of the nation, Emperor Loras came to offer a treaty of peace under a banner of snow white, he was greeted with the calamity that claimed the lives of him and his retinue....but also of her. The force of the magic used was said to be felt as far as the frozen halls of Olfyra itself.

As such, from that moment and ever forward, those who bear the horned blood of the usurper have been named as those "Touched by Thydona." Those who dare practice magic have been named "Thydonites." For so they shall be named after that sinister one, for they dare attempt to amass power with their selfishness and greed by using magic."

Such terms as "Touched by Thydona" and "Thydonites" are somewhat outdated in our modern times. In my vast and expansive travels I have only encountered their use in the smallest hamlets or by the most frantic zealots of anti-magic teachings. That is not to say that magic users can be entirely trusted (but really, can anyone be trusted?) Their history and legacy is well documented and it would do us well to learn the history of both magic and non-magic users alike.

Artist Unknown (attr. Ulrin Oshtilo, but this is contested by Art Historians), "Untitled (Beam of Ilythyra)," Oil on Canvas, 50 in x 75 in, 0 A.U. Currently housed in the National Museum of Emaniquora in Lorisen.

"An artistic rendition in bright oil paints of the beam of light that was put forth when the armies of Loras, Loras himself, and Thydona Ezohr were evaporated. The Plains of Ilythyra were gone, replaced by a vast inland sea. The tall, smooth walls of Ilythyra remained untouched and the city then stood on an island. It has ever since remained a sovereign nation. This striking work is thought to have been rendered by the famed Athelian artist Ulrin Oshtilo, however, this attribution is contested as there are very few surviving works by her after 40 B.U."
Description given by the Curator of Pre-Unity Arts, Inez Jordana