World History

Ancient History

A thousand years ago, the world was a very different and darker place. Magic was a powerful force, and legend has it that powerful mages ruled from twisted fortresses, aided by pacts with dark powers. Inhuman and monstrous magical beings known as “elementals” walked the world, terrorising humanity.

A group of adventurers changed the world and ended this tyranny by performing an epic feat known as the Sealing, largely cutting off the mortal realm from the elemental. Magic greatly faded, and science grew to fill the gap. As the new world was built, the world before became obscured in myth.

Recorded History

After the Sealing, humanity built a new world and the old world was lost in myth. Nations rose and fell as they usually do. The known world surrounding Clare is currently dominated by two great powers - the Venucci Republics and Austral Enclaves.

Clare was the northernmost satellite of the Enclaves, but due to its relatively temperate climes, conservative Enclave culture chafed. It was heavily traded with and invested in by the Venucci, and encouraged to break away and assert independence, which it did roughly 20 years ago. Clare was expected to join the Republics, but rejected membership in favour of neutrality, and has followed a policy of playing both sides to its advantage. Due to the importance of Clare as a strategic location, both powers have guaranteed the independence of Clare should the other try to take it by force, so Clare has been declared a demilitarized zone and acts as a buffer between the two larger nations.

Recent Events

In the last few months, strange things have been happening. Thaumaturgy and alchemy have started misfiring in spectacular ways. Strange lights have been seen in forests, and odd creatures have been spotted in isolated locations. It seems that the Sealing is weakening and magic is getting stronger again.

The Clare ruling council has commissioned a task force to investigate the recent strange happenings. Well, technically it’s the second time they’ve done this, a previous attempt branching out of the watch and military ended poorly and the Council won’t talk about it, but rumour has it it was something to do with “rigid thinking and practices”. As such, the council has decided to open up recruitment to more diverse individuals, and has put out an open call for those with appropriate skills.