Great Magic War
The War to Begin All Wars
CW: war, painful death, prejudice
A Discovery of Worlds
You want to know more about the war, huh? I guess I did too. It happened a long time ago, so there's a lot I don't know. But like everything else in this library, I'll tell you what I've pieced together.
A Discovery of Worlds
by ArtbreederLong, long ago, our ancestors were scattered across four planets: Milon, Qwen, Iyuth, and Nideon. Nideon and Iyuth were full of magic--wizards, pixies, dragons, the list goes on. But magic was rare on Milon and Qwen. Most of the time, people just didn't think it was real, kind of like Svene today. But sometimes, it was so obvious they had to believe. And when that happened, it frightened them.
So, Nideon and Iyuth hid themselves from their siblings. They used their magic to block signals from other planets and warned their children not to venture too close to the stars. But once you're told not to do something, it's hard to resist. Some curious astronomers wanted to know more about those worlds beyond and after years of searching, finally found them.
As you might imagine, Milon and Qwen weren't nearly as happy to see Nideon as Nideon was to see them. In fact, Milon had already tried to destroy the magic on Nideon once. Back then, a group of scrappy young wizards had defeated them using their own metal. But by now, any remnants of old spacefaring ships had long been destroyed, buried, and forgotten. Magic or no, they were at the mercy of a technologically superior force. (And considering how many wars had been waging on Milon, those folks had had a lot of practice and sunk a lot of resources into building their war machine specifically.)
Magic vs. Tehcnology
I can only imagine what the people of Nideon thought when they saw great ships landing on their planet like mythological monsters. And while Milon had superior weapons technology, the peoples of Nideon could call forth storms and suck the very air out of their enemies' lungs. With both sides confident the other would destroy them to the last man, the ensuing battle was brutal and bloody.
The same signal from Nideon that attracted Milon also brought Qwen and Iyuth out of slumber. Iyuth, having worried about this day from the beginning, brought new and powerful magics to Nideon. The stories say they could shrink ships and literally turn the tides. The people of Qwen were less certain where to stand, but most, fearful of what they didn't understand, joined Milon, as did a few Nideon nations that had fostered anti-magic beliefs in secret.
As the tide seemed to turn in favor of Milon and Qwen, leaders sought ways to evacuate the planet. Some people tried to steal ships. They were mostly shot down. Then someone suggested using magic to their advantage. A dangerous and risky plan was hatched to create magical transportation to another planet, with another sun, far from the war. There were stories that such things could be done, but no one to date had done them. But desperation is a friend of invention, and a transport system was created.
by Artbreeder
The Battle for Svene
by Artbreeder Since no one has used transportation magic since the war, we're not sure exactly how our ancestors arrived from Svene. (No, I haven't found any texts on it, and if I had, they would be old. And probably in a dead language.) The common theory is that they were able to build a portal somehow. And through trial and error, they found Svene, and for a brief time, were able to regroup.
No one knows, either, how the forces of Milon and Qwen found us. It would have taken a lot of energy to power a portal. And it would have had to be big. Nothing like that stays secret forever. My guess is that Milon found the portal and sent forces through after them. They could have come here in the ships, but there's no evidence of that.
The battle here was even more brutal. Refugees had little to defend themselves with but their magic and their wits. Milon's resources had also been wittled down by the trip, though they still carried a horrific piece of Nideon technology that could rip a person's magical gift out of them. It usually ripped out their life along with it. But the final straw for the refugee army was when they lost their transportation home. Probably they had no more energy to run that portal. Or it got destroyed in the war that was still raging on Nideon. Broken, bloodied, and stuck on this unknown planet, the magical army finally surrendered at Vina Outpost. Magic was outlawed, and any tools used to practice it were destroyed.
The Fracturing of Magic
The part they don't tell you about in school is that while that surrender was happening, a different group of leaders were quietly making plans to keep magic from dying out. There were twelve of them, who each had their own expertise. And while they probably would have preferred to stick together and share their knowledge with each other (remember, the refugees brought almost nothing with them, so word of mouth was about the only way anything was getting passed on), they decided that they would be safer if split up. They probably figured that with twleve different pockets of magic out there, someone would survive. Turns out, all of them did.
And that's the world we live in today. Those original twelve developed secret followings and found ways to hide in plain sight. Enough time passed that the official position shifted from magic being outlawed to magic being dead. Some people fantasize about a far-off past when wizards roamed the world, and many popular books these days center on such stories. Unless you're in on the secret, you probably don't realize that that so-called novel you're reading is actually true. More people are in on the secret than you might realize. But no one has forgotton those early days. The fear of another magic war keeps them silent. And just when the memory has faded enough to feel safe, some new group pops up to hunt down possible magic users and enforce centuries old laws against anything "unnatural." I think this is, above all, the reason Scavengers are so reviled by other magic-users. We are reckless and poor at disguising our work. We are the biggest threat to security. But I also believe that in a world so torn apart by fear and secrets, those who are courageous enough to share knowledge are our biggest hope.
by Artbreeder
Long, long ago, our ancestors were scattered across four planets: Milon, Qwen, Iyuth, and Nideon. Nideon and Iyuth were full of magic--wizards, pixies, dragons, the list goes on. But magic was rare on Milon and Qwen. Most of the time, people just didn't think it was real, kind of like Svene today. But sometimes, it was so obvious they had to believe. And when that happened, it frightened them.
So, Nideon and Iyuth hid themselves from their siblings. They used their magic to block signals from other planets and warned their children not to venture too close to the stars. But once you're told not to do something, it's hard to resist. Some curious astronomers wanted to know more about those worlds beyond and after years of searching, finally found them.
As you might imagine, Milon and Qwen weren't nearly as happy to see Nideon as Nideon was to see them. In fact, Milon had already tried to destroy the magic on Nideon once. Back then, a group of scrappy young wizards had defeated them using their own metal. But by now, any remnants of old spacefaring ships had long been destroyed, buried, and forgotten. Magic or no, they were at the mercy of a technologically superior force. (And considering how many wars had been waging on Milon, those folks had had a lot of practice and sunk a lot of resources into building their war machine specifically.)
I can only imagine what the people of Nideon thought when they saw great ships landing on their planet like mythological monsters. And while Milon had superior weapons technology, the peoples of Nideon could call forth storms and suck the very air out of their enemies' lungs. With both sides confident the other would destroy them to the last man, the ensuing battle was brutal and bloody.
The same signal from Nideon that attracted Milon also brought Qwen and Iyuth out of slumber. Iyuth, having worried about this day from the beginning, brought new and powerful magics to Nideon. The stories say they could shrink ships and literally turn the tides. The people of Qwen were less certain where to stand, but most, fearful of what they didn't understand, joined Milon, as did a few Nideon nations that had fostered anti-magic beliefs in secret.
As the tide seemed to turn in favor of Milon and Qwen, leaders sought ways to evacuate the planet. Some people tried to steal ships. They were mostly shot down. Then someone suggested using magic to their advantage. A dangerous and risky plan was hatched to create magical transportation to another planet, with another sun, far from the war. There were stories that such things could be done, but no one to date had done them. But desperation is a friend of invention, and a transport system was created.
by Artbreeder
The Battle for Svene
by Artbreeder Since no one has used transportation magic since the war, we're not sure exactly how our ancestors arrived from Svene. (No, I haven't found any texts on it, and if I had, they would be old. And probably in a dead language.) The common theory is that they were able to build a portal somehow. And through trial and error, they found Svene, and for a brief time, were able to regroup.
No one knows, either, how the forces of Milon and Qwen found us. It would have taken a lot of energy to power a portal. And it would have had to be big. Nothing like that stays secret forever. My guess is that Milon found the portal and sent forces through after them. They could have come here in the ships, but there's no evidence of that.
The battle here was even more brutal. Refugees had little to defend themselves with but their magic and their wits. Milon's resources had also been wittled down by the trip, though they still carried a horrific piece of Nideon technology that could rip a person's magical gift out of them. It usually ripped out their life along with it. But the final straw for the refugee army was when they lost their transportation home. Probably they had no more energy to run that portal. Or it got destroyed in the war that was still raging on Nideon. Broken, bloodied, and stuck on this unknown planet, the magical army finally surrendered at Vina Outpost. Magic was outlawed, and any tools used to practice it were destroyed.
The Fracturing of Magic
The part they don't tell you about in school is that while that surrender was happening, a different group of leaders were quietly making plans to keep magic from dying out. There were twelve of them, who each had their own expertise. And while they probably would have preferred to stick together and share their knowledge with each other (remember, the refugees brought almost nothing with them, so word of mouth was about the only way anything was getting passed on), they decided that they would be safer if split up. They probably figured that with twleve different pockets of magic out there, someone would survive. Turns out, all of them did.
And that's the world we live in today. Those original twelve developed secret followings and found ways to hide in plain sight. Enough time passed that the official position shifted from magic being outlawed to magic being dead. Some people fantasize about a far-off past when wizards roamed the world, and many popular books these days center on such stories. Unless you're in on the secret, you probably don't realize that that so-called novel you're reading is actually true. More people are in on the secret than you might realize. But no one has forgotton those early days. The fear of another magic war keeps them silent. And just when the memory has faded enough to feel safe, some new group pops up to hunt down possible magic users and enforce centuries old laws against anything "unnatural." I think this is, above all, the reason Scavengers are so reviled by other magic-users. We are reckless and poor at disguising our work. We are the biggest threat to security. But I also believe that in a world so torn apart by fear and secrets, those who are courageous enough to share knowledge are our biggest hope.
by Artbreeder
Since no one has used transportation magic since the war, we're not sure exactly how our ancestors arrived from Svene. (No, I haven't found any texts on it, and if I had, they would be old. And probably in a dead language.) The common theory is that they were able to build a portal somehow. And through trial and error, they found Svene, and for a brief time, were able to regroup.
No one knows, either, how the forces of Milon and Qwen found us. It would have taken a lot of energy to power a portal. And it would have had to be big. Nothing like that stays secret forever. My guess is that Milon found the portal and sent forces through after them. They could have come here in the ships, but there's no evidence of that.
The battle here was even more brutal. Refugees had little to defend themselves with but their magic and their wits. Milon's resources had also been wittled down by the trip, though they still carried a horrific piece of Nideon technology that could rip a person's magical gift out of them. It usually ripped out their life along with it. But the final straw for the refugee army was when they lost their transportation home. Probably they had no more energy to run that portal. Or it got destroyed in the war that was still raging on Nideon. Broken, bloodied, and stuck on this unknown planet, the magical army finally surrendered at Vina Outpost. Magic was outlawed, and any tools used to practice it were destroyed.
The part they don't tell you about in school is that while that surrender was happening, a different group of leaders were quietly making plans to keep magic from dying out. There were twelve of them, who each had their own expertise. And while they probably would have preferred to stick together and share their knowledge with each other (remember, the refugees brought almost nothing with them, so word of mouth was about the only way anything was getting passed on), they decided that they would be safer if split up. They probably figured that with twleve different pockets of magic out there, someone would survive. Turns out, all of them did.
And that's the world we live in today. Those original twelve developed secret followings and found ways to hide in plain sight. Enough time passed that the official position shifted from magic being outlawed to magic being dead. Some people fantasize about a far-off past when wizards roamed the world, and many popular books these days center on such stories. Unless you're in on the secret, you probably don't realize that that so-called novel you're reading is actually true. More people are in on the secret than you might realize. But no one has forgotton those early days. The fear of another magic war keeps them silent. And just when the memory has faded enough to feel safe, some new group pops up to hunt down possible magic users and enforce centuries old laws against anything "unnatural." I think this is, above all, the reason Scavengers are so reviled by other magic-users. We are reckless and poor at disguising our work. We are the biggest threat to security. But I also believe that in a world so torn apart by fear and secrets, those who are courageous enough to share knowledge are our biggest hope.
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