The Red Wizards of the Wasted West

The origins of the Red Wizards are lost to history. Some accounts say their conclave was formed by Elemental Genies during the start of the Arcane Wars around 1800 K.E., at the beginning of the Age of Magic, which brought about the repulsion of the Demon Lords and the retreat of the Old Gods, the fragmentation of the Khorian Empire, and the founding of the great states of Nuria and Barcella in the South and North respectively.
Along with Dwarven Elementalists, they defeated Tiamat and the last dragons of the West, which had already been nearly wiped out in the Wyrm Wars of the Age of Dragons, and they were instrumental in the resistance against Letherite incursions into Rothenia at the start of the Age of Ascendants. They held influence in the cities of Tyr and Lankhmar (where for a while they held a brutal magocracy), and gradually acquired a reputation for intimidation and corruption, political intrigue, slaving and demonology.
In the third century of the Nurian Era, the Red Wizards countered the expansionist manoeuvres of the Seven Cities with a devastating squall of sorcery that left the once fertile lands ravaged, parched and blasted. To this day, little grows in the Wasted West and magic is either subject to strange and unexpected effects, or nullified entirely.
The Red Wizards were largely blamed for the Wrath of Demons during the sixth century, when a rift formed in the wilderness of Eastern Yore that allowed passage from the Abyss. They were, however, also instrumental in the closing of the portal. It is also rumoured that the Red Wizards were in league with Morgau during the first Ghoul Incursions, and that they enabled the forces of Orcus to gain foothold in the City State of Tsar, leading eventually to its desolation.
They sided with the line of Arcady in its violent split from Barcella, and are thought even to this day to be plotting behind the scenes in order to regain their former position of power in Yore. In reality, it seems more likely that a few individuals are hatching such plots, while the majority are absorbed in their arcane studies and experiments.
The Kingdom of Yore emerged from the civil wars in Arcady that followed the Great Darkness and saw the throne of Feirgotha fall in the eighth century. By the fourteenth century, Old Barcella, Akados and the Nurian Borderlands were all absorbed into the dominion of Bard's Gate, along with the City State of Zobeck. A tenuous peace followed, during which time King Eghan led a purge of old factions and clandestine sects of influence and prestige. Through a campaign of slander and propaganda, and unavoidable violence, he drove out the remaining conclave of Red Wizards, who sought shelter in the bandit lands of the Wasted West. Some founded their own petty baronies, known nowadays as the Sundered Kingdoms; others went to work as advisors and sages for the caliphs and sultans of Al-Amlak.
The Red Wizards still have a strong association with Elemental magic, and some are even said to have Genie blood in their veins, although their remit is wide and many indulge in open secrecy in the darker arts of necromancy and summoning.