War of the Immortal Mages
The War of the Immortal Mages began with a discovery. In 1768 BVD a cabal of arcane scholars found immortality through a magical ritual. According to claims, the ritual bound a mortal's soul to the body permanently, in a way never seen before and beyond comparison with lichdom or life-extending spells: those who underwent it could not die, whatever befell them. It was so powerful that ten master wizards had to perform it together.1
An age of immortal wizards
At first the world, like the wizards, was well pleased with the outcome. Freed from the fear of death, the wizards pursued research that served themselves and all people, and completed with ease rituals that were expected to do their casters immense harm, working miracles without paying the price. Many historians liken this period to the Age of Priest-Kings. The immortal wizards became rulers over their lands and subjects and trained students, and most of the Archon Academy supported them.1
The war
In time some of the wizards realised how great a price they had paid and how absolute power had corrupted them. They were no longer human. To reverse the ritual they needed everyone who had originally taken part in it, and a bloody, destructive war broke out among the wizards. Their arcane battles shattered mountains, dried up lakes and razed cities. At last the High Church and the imperial nobility, weary of the madness, supported the repentant wizards and brought the long war to an end.1
Legacy
The period was so devastating that fear of magic and mages still lingers throughout the land, and for that reason Emperor Valigard IV declared the edict widely known as The Sanction. The true end of the immortal wizards is still unknown, for the events have been concealed.1
By a decision made after the war, the Archon Academy was isolated and set on a massive floating landmass in the north-west of the Lands of Exile, hovering above the Great Western Sea.2
Sealed. Break the seal to read it; it may spoil your game.
Notes
Sources
This article draws on:
Related articles
OrganisationArchon AcademyThe largest and most powerful school of magic in the realm, set on a floating island above the Great Western Sea, which every mage in the Empire must attend and which serves as both university and prison.OrganisationHigh ChurchThe religious power that stands above the temples of the Empire and binds them together, seated at the First Cathedral in Sanctuary and led by the Supreme Patriarch; its influence on people, wealth and politics is unmatched.EventThe SanctionThe imperial decree of 1203 BVD, issued by Emperor Valigard IV after the war of the immortal mages, that binds every mage to the Archon Academy and remains in effect today.CharacterEmperor Valigard IVThe emperor who declared the edict known as the Sanction, issued out of the lasting fear of magic left by the war of the immortal mages.RegionLands of ExileThe northern lands of Caligran where the ancient races took refuge after the Desolation, with the Empire at their heart, a harsh world of rare magic, scarce learning, many faiths and dangerous wilds.EventVictory DayThe battle outside Marble City where the Grand Alliance and the Order of Chain defeated the Heralds of the Dark One. It ended the Third Age, and the calendar records every date before or after it.EventBattle for the Lion’s TeethThe clash in the Valley of Lion's Teeth in which a hundred legionaries under Gustavius held back a goblinoid horde of twelve thousand until the Legion arrived, breaking the Crusade of Miraak Var Trask.EventCrusade of Miraak Var TraskThe campaign of the hobgoblin chief Miraak Var Trask, who united countless goblinoid clans across the Eastern Provinces until his horde was broken at the Lion's Teeth.EventThe Skolpa ScourgeThe four years of raids led from 212 AVD by the Fran warlord Skolpa of the White Stag clan, which reached the Great Western Sea before the IV. Legion crushed his army on the border of the free ports.EventThe Underdark CampaignEmperor Conrad II's invasion of the underdark in 151 AVD, also called the Dauntless Crusade, which answered years of drow raids, destroyed three drow cities and earned him the title Conqueror.