Celus

The Mythic Age (Ancient History - ~2000 years)

When gods walked the foundries of creation, shaping Celus with divine hammer and arcane forge. They wove the fundamental laws of magic into reality itself—the Weave that would power civilizations yet unborn. Then, in their wisdom (or folly), they ascended beyond the mortal realm, leaving behind only their gifts: magic, prophecy, and the seeds of industry.

The Sundering (The Lost Millennium)

The continent of Arnaxia tore itself apart in cataclysmic upheaval. Whether divine punishment or natural disaster, none can say—the records burned with the old world. From the rubble rose Elarion and scattered territories, and mortals learned a bitter lesson: the gods were gone, and survival meant mastering the tools they'd left behind. Magic became science. Faith became engineering.

The Prophecy Wars (Year 1-724 of the Second Count)

The Age of Ideological Warfare.

The great Mage-Industrialists saw the Weave as the ultimate resource—something to be refined, harnessed, and mass-produced. Their Arcane Syndicates built gleaming metropolises powered by spell-engines and bound elementals, where magic flowed like electricity through magitech grids.

The faithful saw blasphemy. The Holy Orders—churches, temples, and divine militant organizations—preached that the Weave was sacred, the gods' final gift, not to be industrialized and commodified. For seven centuries, this cold war simmered.

Then came the Seventh Seal Prophecy (717 SC). Every oracle, every divine conduit, every god-touched prophet from every faith—good, evil, lawful, chaotic—received the same vision: A great corrupting force rises to seize the Weave itself. If unopposed, it will strangle all of Celus in its coils.

Year 718 SC: The Judgment War ignites.

The Holy Orders united for the first time in history—a crusade to cleanse Celus of the prophesied threat. They were certain: the Mage-Industrialists and their arcane exploitation had summoned this doom. Cities burned. Spell-factories were razed. Thousands died in the divine purges.

The desperate masses turned to darker powers. Covenant Syndicates—organized groups pledging service to powerful extraplanar entities—offered protection in exchange for influence. Devils made contracts. Fey lords granted boons. Ancient things stirred in forgotten places. The Arcane Syndicates and Covenant forces formed an alliance of necessity.

By 724 SC, Elarion was a wasteland of shattered spell-towers and bombed-out factories. Then came the terrible realization among the more thoughtful crusaders: What if WE are the threat? The prophecy spoke of a force that would grip the Weave in destruction—and nothing had devastated Celus like the Holy Orders' righteous war.

The crusade collapsed. The last divine fortress—the Radiant City—fell to siege.

The Current Era: The Covenant Age (Year 1-83 Post-Severance Count)

83 PSC. The year is now. The age of boundless horizons.

Elarion has rebuilt itself as a world of soaring ambition and frontier opportunity—a golden age of exploration powered by the greatest achievement of the post-war era: elemental airships.

The sky is no longer the limit—it's the highway.

Majestic vessels held aloft by bound air elementals and arcane engines cruise through cloud-highways, connecting distant cities in days rather than months. Sky-ports bustle with activity—merchant captains haggling over cargo manifests, adventurers booking passage to uncharted territories, privateers eyeing potential prizes. The distinctive hum of elemental cores and the snap of arcane-charged sails have become the sounds of progress.

This is the era of:

• Aerial frontier towns: Floating platforms and sky-docks established at strategic trade routes, some anchored to mountaintops, others drifting with the jet streams
• Uncharted territories: The Burn Zones and war-ravaged regions now represent opportunity—ruins to explore, lost magitech to recover, entire cities reclaimed from the wilderness
• The Skyward Guilds: Pilots, navigators, and sky-ship crews have formed prestigious organizations, their captains becoming folk heroes and celebrities
• Treasure hunters and relic-seekers: The Judgment War left behind powerful artifacts, forgotten spell-factories, and the tombs of fallen war-heroes—all waiting to be discovered
• New trade empires: The Covenant Syndicates compete for sky-trade dominance, sponsoring expeditions to distant lands, funding archaeological ventures, racing to unlock the secrets of pre-war magitech

The Covenant cities have transformed from desperate wartime alliances into thriving metropolises, each with its own character:

• Spell-factories now produce wonders instead of weapons
• Crystal broadcast towers play adventure serials about dashing sky-pirates
• The streets buzz with opportunities for those brave (or foolish) enough to chase them

Shadows Lay beneath the gleaming brass:

The Holy Orders still hide in the margins, whispering that the Covenants' patrons will demand their price

Some Burn Zones are "haunted" by things the war awoke

Whispers persist about the prophecy—was it truly fulfilled, or merely... postponed?

Not every airship returns from the frontier. Some vanish into storm-clouds and mystery

But these are concerns for another day. Right now, the sky-lanes are open, adventure calls from every horizon, and anyone with courage and a bit of coin can book passage to destiny.

The age of cowering in ruins is over. The age of soaring into legend has begun.