Rise of the Sorcerer Kings

Meanwhile, other mageborn observed that not only were their sorcerous abilities passed down to their children, the spells they could cast were as well. These resourceful mageborn families craved greater power, and so sought out advantageous pairings. Great dynasties emerged with scions who could cast spells such as scorching ray, fireball, and wall of fire, while another emerged with powers such as lightning bolt, wind wall, and chain lightning. Nevertheless, this was an imperfect process, and most sorcerers were still vexed by their wild magic. Centuries later, in the southern shadow of the Drakeclaw Mountains, the leaders of eight sorcerous families found the perfect means to harness the chaotic magic plaguing their households. By joining their lineages with dragons, they learned they could bolster and refine the magic coursing through their blood. While it took several successive generations of careful matchmaking, eventually the inborn arcane power of their offspring was utterly unmatched. Children were born bristling with crackling energy and magical flames, and by puberty could weave spells that their great-grandparents could barely muster after a lifetime of experience. Some could compel a legion of soldiers to obey their will with a mere whisper, while others could render armies into ashes in an instant. These impudent and rash youths saw no reason for patience or discipline when their ancestry had bestowed them with such innate mastery, and seized the reins of power from their forebears. The foremost among these mighty spellcasters set about conquering the continent with destructive magical wars which scarred the land. Since arcane magical abilities are an inheritable genetic trait, these new mage-lords and their favored thralls passed down both political and magical power to their heirs. The Arcane Empire was born. While history calls the masters of the Arcane Empire the sorcerer-kings, during their own time, they called themselves gods and ruled over their people accordingly. Fearing that others could rise with powers to rival their own, the sorcerer-kings suppressed the faith of the Old Gods, jealously hoarded arcane lore, and demanded other spellcasters submit to them as vassals. They treated those without arcane power as little more than serfs and chattel. In time, they turned to darker pacts with fiendish beings to maintain their grip on power. Many powerful magical artifacts in the world were forged and great monuments rose as terrible as tyrants built their wicked empire with blood and magic.

Fall of the Sorcerer Kings

During the darkest days of the Arcane Empire, a warlord in service to the sorcerer-kings turned against their wicked ways. Called to righteousness by heavenly angels, Saint Tarna became the First Paladin. She slew Sorcerer-King Ulban V and warred for twelve years against his heir, Xandor XIII. She ultimately gave her life to defeat his demonic army. Although Xandor’s successor, Calstryx VII, tortured and executed many of Saint Tarna’s followers, they could not suppress her holy teachings. The clerics and paladins of the Sacred Flame spread a new religion of hope and light to long-oppressed people crying out for freedom and justice. While the reign of the sorcerer-kings did not immediately end with Saint Tarna’s campaign, her deeds ushered in the decline of the Arcane Empire. Indeed, the sorcerer-kings had become decadent and indulgent despots after centuries of magic-fueled inbreeding. Over three hundred years of rebellion, unrest, and conflict, territories once held firmly in the sorcerer-kings’ grip seceded from their empire and won their hard-fought independ ence. The Nightmare City of Nox fell to the Faith of the Sacred Flame and was reborn as the Holy City of Lumen, and the last of the sorcerer-kings fled the continent for distant lands.