Prologue
The Footholds of Gloria by Samwell T. Utheran, penned in the 32nd Year of the Age of Gold
Excerpt taken from Chapter 2 “Origins” which spans Pages 21 and 22
Before the scribes could write, the people of this land passed down their history through tales of the tongue. Multiple generations passed down words of their forefathers to children in hopes they too would one day do the very same. No one knows exactly how far back the land dates, but through these tales we have come to understand where our humble beginnings came from.
Besides a strong sense of legacy, the oldest Glorians also had one other everlasting tradition: their arcane connection. All magics pull their power from a well, with the user acting as a conduit and shaping the magic to their needs for survival, luxury and protection. Blood Born were the most abundant users during the early days, Mages who could naturally manifest arcane energy rather than draw from a source. Today we now know that Blood Born still depend on the existence of arcane energy, as it is tethered to their bodies similar to lifeforce and is bestowed usually via a magical creature. Elder tales tell of pacts with dragons and even faerie, that have long since dwindled in number, blessing humanoids with these special traits. Because of dilution over many generations, not every child of a Blood Born Mage line is guaranteed to have the potential to wield this type of magic.
After the Blood Born came Enchanter Mages and Prophets. An Enchanter or Enchantress adapted themselves to draw magic through study and practice to replicate the results of Blood Born. What started as an experiment soon allowed standard folk to utilize the same arcane essence after studying and mastering its properties. Prophets are definitely the fewest in number of the Magic Circle, being gifted access to divine magic through devotion to god. The powers that the Pantheon gives vary slightly depending on the particular entity but always are always holy in nature. The Prophets tended to stick to one of two roles, either taking the route of an Overseer or the role of the Guardian. Both work towards the greater good and spreading the righteousness of their god wherever they walk.
For centuries, the balance of the Magic Circle has lead to prosperity for the nation. Unfortunately magic has also been the center of devastation. The strict magical constrictions tend to weed out mages with ill intentions for the Circlet to deal with. Although there is a fourth Mage within the circle that no one likes to talk about, as they always bring great destruction whenever they surface: Warlocks. No one truly knows where they come from or how they get their powers, as no one has ever had the chance to question one before. The only Warlock to last as Warlock Zandu who brought about the Age of Shadows for 20 years in between the Age of Birth and the Age of Silver and even then, very little records survived that tyranny. There is so little we know about them and men tend to fear what they do not understand.