The Ascensionists were a loosely collected group of arcane practitioners mostly in and around
Candala but found across the mainlands who, having reached the pinnacles of their arcane research, wished to use it to ascend themselves to an artificial godhood. When the last of the Gods began to retreat from the mortal world following the Third Sundering and everyone was trying to deal with the aftermath of the Sundering, the Ascensionists took advantage to put their theories into practice. Preying on the growing desperation of the people of the
Little Countries, many of them succeeded in their plans over the following decades, spreading further destruction and chaos through the struggling continents.
Rise
As they gathered people to their causes, many Ascensionists managed to finish their ascensions and purport themselves as New Gods for the new world. The fact that their rise had required working their followers to death for resources or straight up slaughtering them for sacrifices was something they tried to hide or gloss over. These 'New Gods' included Moros of Dreams, Weisor of Winter, Sanor of Secrets, Valros of Undeath and Talos of Chaos, all of whom used mortal sacrifices to fuel their ascensions. The fact that many of these were domains or responsibilities held by existing Gods did not seem to matter to them. In total, eleven Ascensionists succeeded and another seven were killed or captured before they could manage it.
Fall
Their reigns of power and ego could not be allowed to continue, and the battered countries turned their attention to felling them where they could. Most people who tried to stand against them would be obliterated, but many of their magic-users in the region had been killed in the Sundering or were Ascensionists themselves. Many of them were killed by professional adventurers working together, and even then a number of those were killed or maimed in the attempts.
Ezran Godhunter earnt her name from killing or aiding in the killing of approximately five of them, dedicating her life to bringing them all down, though few people outside of
Anvulmar are aware it was the same person. Between the first successful Ascension and the last to be slain, tens of thousands of people are thought to have been killed directly or indirectly by them, and a period of ninety four years passed.
Aftermath
Despite them being slain, the effects of the Ascensionists brief stint in power are still felt today. Many magical bloodlines were wiped out, and the Ascensionists' arcane knowledge was wiped out by themselves to prevent others using it or by followers of the
Glowing Scribe, whose buried temples filled with seized relics of the Ascensionists' can sometimes be found and are full of deadly traps and guards. In Candala, magic that is not Gifted is still very rare, and even that is not too commonplace as many Gods considered it a danger with the
Ancient Enemy not destroyed, simply imprisoned, and many people still wary from the stories of the Ascensionists to accept deals with other beings. The Little Countries remain in a state of chaos, with Cults,
Bandit-Lords and mercenary militias ruling over much of them.
