I have no idea if anyone wants to read this. It's not really in a story format and is pretty cut and dry. This is my backstory and game timeline for my current save. I had it sketched out but wanted to fill in some blanks created by new material, so I've been working on it. Someone might find it interesting, and maybe helpful if you're following my game or my stories. Anyway, it's here if you want to read it.
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Reference Backstory and Game Timeline
Backstory
Ancient Times and Origins of Magic
In early times, humans and other nature beings lived comfortably together in the Sim World. Human-like species included imps, elves, gnomes, finfolk, Yeti, and others, along with unique non-human species, such as sea creatures, dragons and unicorns. None of these beings possessed magic, yet.
Separated from the human world, secreted away in another dimension, was Arcanum, the land of The Arcane. Powerful, magical energy permeated the Arcane world, and the Arcane, themselves, were masters of its power.
The Arcane: These beings were human-like but were not human. Magical energy flowed through them and was the source of their lives, relationships and society. The Arcane engaged in relationships through their psychic energies, and so were asexual. Reproduction required a long process of psychic union. In appearance, the Arcane were androgynous, reflecting their nature. They were usually slight of build, of average height, with soft features that reflected both masculine and feminine characteristics. Their delicate appearance disguised the power that dwelt within, and their eyes held a faint glimmer of magic energy that intensified to a glow when they cast magic.
Arcanum: The world the Arcane lived in was a celebration of their own achievement in harmony with nature. Flower stalks and buds, vine tendrils, insect wings, and other delicate and sinuous natural objects were woven into their architecture and art, melding with the symbols of their supernatural powers.
Lifestyle: The Arcane were social with deep connections through their psychic bonds. As connections deepened, group relationships formed, such as psychic friendships, and deeper relationships could progress to bonding. An intensely paired bonding would establish a bond mate and could produce a child. Children were raised, not only by the parents, but by the community at large.
The War with The Shadowland: At some point in history, the protective barrier around Arcanum was breached by the Shadows, a violent supernatural race from another dimension, and a war ensued. While the Arcane were able to drive the Shadows back to their world and restore the barrier, Arcanum suffered damage and the number of its citizens was greatly diminished. Although humans didn't know it, this barrier also protected their world from the Shadows. Since the barrier required magic to sustain it, the decline in Arcane numbers coupled with their slow rate of reproduction meant that magic needed to be disseminated into areas outside of Arcanum. So, the Arcane created a portal into the human Sim World.
The First Magic Age
Arcane “travelers” went into the Sim world to share limited magic with those who were receptive to it. Even though they were androgynous, the Arcane could present as male or female, if needed. In sim mythology, these travelers are referred to as wizards, enchanters, wise women, shaman, kahuna, etc in recognition of their mystical skills. Finfolk who could receive magic became merfolk. Imps became fairies. Humans became nature mages, alchemists or spellcasters, depending on their skills. Over time, these newly minted magical beings began to develop societies and customs of their own, centering on their magical gifts. As the use of magic increased, the barrier protecting the worlds was strengthened. Eventually, the Arcane allowed the most promising spellcasters to come through the portal to Arcanum to study directly with them. Spellcasters began to emulate some of the Arcane culture, art and style and incorporated it into their own.
The First Purge
Humans who could not receive the gift of magic began to see their own influence dwindling as the use of magic grew. Fear began to grip them, and they violently struck out at all magic beings, especially spellcasters and The Arcane. Many were killed during the purge, and the numbers of the remaining Arcane became critical. The violence resulted in magic beings retreating into their own “lands” for protection, with some spellcaster families hiding their skills for generations as humans asserted their dominance. Higher ranking spellcasters continued to train at Arcanum but began to dream of a more advanced magic that would allow them to resist the violence of the humans. On their own and with little guidance from what was left of The Arcane, their efforts backfired. Their attempts at Untamed Magic managed to create vampires, and in their attempt to protect themselves from the vampires, they became mooncasters and wound up creating werewolves. The vampires settled in Forgotten Hollow, which humans began using as a dumping ground for all cursed beings. Werewolves mostly stayed in Moonwood Mill, where the spellcasters that became mooncasters had originally lived. Realizing that they were not going to be successful, the rest of the spellcasters retreated to Glimmerbrook and the ruins of Arcanum, closing the portal to all but a select few.
Morgyn Ember: Knowing that they were now a dying race, The Arcane began to plan for the survival of Full Magic as they hoped for just one more of their kind to be born. After centuries of human dominance with magic in hiding, the last of the Arcane arrived to the Ember bond mates. The child was named Morgyn, a name that could be used whether they chose to present as male or female. During a very energy intensive rite, the infant was imbued with immortality and all of the power of The Arcane. At that same time, every tome of high-level magic was sealed away, to only be opened by Morgyn as the child gained ever increasing power and self-control. The vastness of Arcane magic would live or die with Morgyn Ember.
The Arcane trusted their most precious possession to Oberon Lazuli, a member of the Curators, an interdimensional race who used their knowledge of time and dimensional space to help direct the world's outcomes. Oberon placed Morgyn in the foster care of a nomadic family with nature magic, the Romas. Morgyn grew up traveling the world and gaining knowledge about humans until his powers manifested in his teenage years. He then spent a few years in Mooncrest, a magic sanctuary city. There he met and befriended other magical beings, including lifelong friends Musette and Eldon, a fairy and wood elf. Eventually, he found his way to Glimmerbrook and “The Magic Realm” as Arcanum was now called. Oberon continued to provide protection and mentoring as Morgyn's own people had faded out of existence.
On arrival at The Magic Realm, Morgyn immediately proved to be an outstanding student. He did not hesitate to tackle Untamed Magic, with Tess Dyer, the Sage of Untamed, becoming his direct mentor. Once he had mastered that, he moved on to all other branches of magic, easily mastering them, as well.
When Sages Tess, Keisha and Ethern chose to retire, Morgyn and his classmates, L. Faba and Simeon Silversweater, were named as their replacements. For quite a few years, they mentored a very select group of spellcasters in the ruins of Arcanum, thus secretly keeping the magic alive.
(This is where my first game began. The following events resulted from my original game play with Morgyn.)
The Magic Renaissance
During the years that Morgyn was serving as Sage of Untamed Magic, the children and grandchildren of spellcasters that had gone underground during the purge began to reclaim their heritage. With no governmental support, a youth movement began on high school and college campuses with the goal to identify and train a new generation of spellcasters and open up the world to enable them to use magic freely.
Nikki Song, a young spellcaster activist, and Jace Holder, a young computer programmer, met in their freshman year of college. Jace was smitten with the beautiful Nikki and became an immediate supporter of her cause. Nikki was training with Simeon Silversweater at The Magic Realm and sometimes acted as Morgyn's assistant. With Simeon's help, Jace wrote an adventure video game called “Realm of Magic” that featured the digital versions of the actual Sages as guides. The game was able to identify latent spellcaster traits and wound up starting many new spellcasters on the road to discovering basic skills. Realm of Magic was an instant success, with RoM clubs and cosplay groups springing up all over the world.
With the Spellcaster movement out in the open and gaining traction, social and political support began to shift in the favor of Magic. President Alex Moyer declared a national Magic Heritage Day, communities began restoring areas that had been previously inhabited by magic beings, and all magic beings began to mingle freely with the human populations again. Moyer called her program the Renaissance of Magic. For several years, Arcane Chic was considered the “cool” fashion look.
Unfortunately, in the next election cycle, magic friendly Alex Moyer lost to anti-magic Ron Bragg, thus ushering in the Second Magic Purge.
The Second Purge and Shadow Intrusions
Ron Bragg won his election with the assistance of a group of Sixam aliens hiding out in Oasis Springs and Strangerville. The planet Sixam isn't usually a threat, but these aliens were the descendants of an exploration group that crashed and were never rescued. They had lived several generations in disguise and were eager to take their own place among the people. A petition for inclusion in President Moyer's Renaissance Program had been denied, because President Moyer felt adding aliens to the mix at this time was a step too far for the public.
The Sixams, perhaps under the influence of “Mother,” decided to back Bragg by providing access to alien technology. Using mass hypnosis techniques and a lot of misinformation, Bragg was able to convince people who had just been celebrating Spellcaster Chic that magic was a threat to their existence. He won the election, and thus began a second purge of magic beings, who once again retreated to their own lands. Bounties were placed on the heads of the most well-known magics, including Nikki and Jace, The Sages, and especially Morgyn Ember.
As magic was repressed, the world began to experience intrusions of The Shadows into the human world. The intrusions threatened everyone and everything and caused a great deal of panic among the people. Bragg tried to blame the magics, and for a time, the public believed him. Many powerful people, however, were beginning to see that something else had to be done. Under public pressure, Bragg offered reconciliation to the magics by sending an offer to The Magic Realm. When the offer proved to be nothing more than a ruse, L Faba, Simeon and Morgyn went on the run to protect the integrity of The Magic Realm. Bragg pursued them using Sixam tracking and energy blocking technology.
After a particularly strong intrusion in Sulani that claimed the lives of L Faba and Simeon, many influential people pointed out that the intrusions were not being caused by the magics but were the result of the magic weakening. The realization that persecuting magic beings was endangering everyone became more prevalent.
Alex Moyer was able to win re-election in the next cycle, running on a pro-magic platform to shore up the magic barrier and shut down the intrusions. Once she gained office, she enlisted the help of Morgyn and the magic beings to recharge the barrier, thus ending the threat from The Shadows.
Betrayal and Final Withdrawal
The magic beings were happy that Alex Moyer was once again president, but Bragg still had a great deal of influence. He threatened to eliminate magic in his own way and mobilized para-military magic hunters that trained in the desert and staged violent responses to anything having to do with magic. Moyer's attempts to restart the Magic Renaissance were often met with violent confrontations and magic beings felt that they had targets on their backs.
Morgyn's mentor and former Sage of the Untamed, Tess Dyer had stepped in to act as an ambassador between the magic world and the human one. She worked with Alex Moyer in an attempt to bring a peaceful resolution to the violence that Bragg continued to foment. But, when President Moyer sided with the Sixams in a conflict with the spellcasters, it was decided that magic beings could not co-exist with humans. The solution was the formation of The Myst.
The Myst
The Myst was created by an agreement among the areas of the world that had the most magic representation. The human government had no say in its formation. A Fact-Finding Committee was established to determine which regions might be interested in becoming part of an independent, magic centered land. Glimmerbrook and the adjacent villages of Henford on Bagley and Copperdale seemed a given, as was Silvan Glade and Mooncrest. Granite Falls' woodlands were fairy and elf residences, but the park was open to human travelers, which needed consideration. Sulani and San Myshuno were heavily human, but magic friendly. Forgotten Hollow was not in consideration. Moonwood Mill did not apply.
The Fact-Finding Committee recommended Glimmerbrook, HoB, Copperdale, Silvan Glade, Granite Falls and Mooncrest for immediate inclusion, with Sulani and San Myshuno to be decided by residential vote. In the end, Sulani decided to become a full part of the new land, with San Myshuno choosing to become a neutral zone.
A Formation Committee established a governing system and put it in place. Each region would have it's own elected representation in the Mystic Assembly, which was overseen by the Council of All Magic. Because of their great experience, the three former Sages, Tess, Keisha and Ethren, were appointed as the first Council, with Morgyn acting as a fourth advisory member.
With a working government and a signed alliance between the regions, all magics were notified of the deadline to apply for admission. Applications were processed, and within a relatively short time, all those who wanted to live there were migrated to the new world and those who did not want to stay were relocated to the human world. The decision was made to allow new applications or re-applications once a year.
With Morgyn and the Council of All Magic presiding, Arcane Magic was used to seal the land of the magics and permanently separate it from the human world behind an impenetrable wall of vapor. And, thus The Myst, and my current save, was born.
