The Dispossesion

Before the current age as it is known, beings from other planes walked the world freely and with great ease. Countries knelt beneath the sway of celestial and fiend alike, and fey lords held court where they willed. Regardless of the heights a mortal achieved, they would always be second to whatever being currently held power over their land. Millions existed on the whim of these interplanar beings; whole countries still lie in waste to this day, laid low by an insulted demigod or destroyed in a conflict not their own. Time and again the world's magic users rose in revolt, and each time they were slain, or worse, made example of. The people of the world bowed their heads in despair and resignation. Until the Eight Keys, that is.  

As Thestren Ilain grew in power, others near his strength joined him as his inner circle; seven of them, to be exact. Each of the eight represented the height of ability in their chosen school of magic, drawn from all over the plane and unrivaled throughout it. And together, they conspired to sever the links between worlds. Together, they would wrest control of this plane for mortals, for good.

 

Where the conflict truly began is difficult to pinpoint; when the eight first struck, they did so without warning, felling several previously undefeated celestials and fiends in rapid succession. The people of these newly liberated lands rallied behind them, beginning the war in earnest. This pattern would continue throughout its entirety. By the war's end, many lands would lie wasted or simply devoid of its people, slain in conflict with gods. It would end with an expulsion and sealing, a masterwork of the Eight, the greatest feat of magic in recorded history.

 

Their power united, the Eight gathered together at the stones of Yllwen. Through means unknown, they channeled their strength into the very connections of the plane that bound it to others. The effort was not without cost, destroying several of them in the process, and devastating certain lands closer to planar gateways. Nevertheless, they succeeded; the connections between the material plane and others were severed, and all interplanar beings residing on the material plane banished or destroyed.

 

The world would come to loathe the Eight, resulting in their own destruction. To this day many of the lands decimated by their actions have yet to fully recover. Regardless of public reception, the The Dispossession, as it came to be known, truly succeeded. To this day no major invasion or occurences of interplanar activity have appeared. The Weir, as their seal between worlds is called, seems to weaken, however: more occurences of interplanar gates and arrivals have been appearing. As the world braces for a conflict that seems inevitable, a growing number look to the Eight as examples and some form of, perhaps, salvation.