The Kingdom of Magnus

The Kingdom of Magnus is a kingdom in name only. While they have a monarchy, they consist of only one city, Magnus. As the second city ever founded, this city is unique among the first civilizations. It is the only one not founded with the help of the gods.

The monarchy itself is not passed down by bloodlines but by achievement. It would be more accurate to call them a magocracy as all of the rulers, and the citizens themselves, are magic users.

The kingdom was founded by the archwizard Magnus after he had succeeded in containing The Abomination. He directed his students to begin construction of fortifications in the year 2182. The original purpose of the buildings were to maintain containment of The Abomination at all cost. As such, the original buildings were defensive structures along with magical laboratories. This design was kept for most of the cities history.

For several years the settlement was kept small and hidden. The increase in their magical power combined with the search for materials drew attention. They came into conflict with the giants that lived in the area.

The giants took offense that little people were stealing from them, while the people of Magnus did not like the giants eating other little people. The mages of Magnus started striking against the giants in an attempt to protect the smaller races in the area. These attacks were extremely successful in driving the giants back. This made them a beacon for the other races and a refuge. This led them to quickly grow in size and power, rivaling even Abbas.

Archmage Magnus died in the fall 2253, fifty-one years after the founding of the city. The exact date of his death is unknown as he was on an expedition at the time. His chief apprentice Liam became the next ruler, starting a tradition that would last the city's entire life. Archmage Liam's first act was to name the city after his mentor.

The next two centuries saw Magnus continue it's rise in power. Expanding it's magical power and knowledge as well as it's physical size, Magnus became a beacon in the world for knowledge of the arcane. The leaders of Magnus never forgot the purpose of the city: containing The Abomination. Throughout the city's entire history it's one goal was always pursued. Most of the citizens never knew why magical research was the driving force of the city. They only knew that it kept them safe.

The rest of the continent at the time was quite dangerous. The giants were still the most powerful empire of the land. Their constant war against the dragons kept them distracted from the smaller races, giving others an opportunity.

The main problem was a burgeoning kingdom of minotaurs. This was not an immediate concern for Magnus, as the minotaurs were far to the south east. However, their numbers quickly grew as it seemed an entire civilization was migrating. Within two generations they had a dozen settlements and had even started raids against the giants.

There was also the problem of the giants slaves. These were a mix of races, mostly orc or goblinoid, that were used for gathering materials. Most slaves were used in the mines where they lived and died. A few were sent out to the rest of the land to forage other materials. These slaves did not care where the materials came from and would raid any one other than giants.

There were also elven and dwarven nations near Magnus. These two were not hostile but were not friendly either. They regarded Magnus as an annoying neighbor more than anything else.

The year 2503, over three hundred and twenty years after the founding, is when Magnus' troubles began. There was one type of magic that the mages of Magnus had never been able to figure out: Rune magic, the magic of the giants. In an attempt to gain access to this magic, the current arch mage sent an expedition into the giants lands. This expedition was successful and managed to bring back several examples as well as an instruction manual an creating runes. However, the theft was noticed. The storm giants finally took notice of the small race beneath their feet.

The response of the giants was slow by most peoples standards. Because it took years the Arch mage thought that the mission was unnoticed. Seven years after there was a sharp increase in raids by the giants slaves. Hill and stone giants followed shortly after, marking the first time a giant had been seen around Magnus in almost two centuries. The soldiers and mages of the city easily defeated the early attacks, but the numbers kept increasing. Eventually these attacks began to take their toll on the city draining resources and people. Ten years later fire and frost giants started to attack.

These attacks were unlike anything that the city had faced before. Hill giants are dumb brutes while stone giants are loners, so none of their attacks were organized. The fire giants presented a unified military force armed with powerful magic items. The frost giants excell at ranged attacks while leading armies of orcs and goblins. These forces challenged Magnus like never before. Despite early successes, the city was slowly pushed back. Five years after entering war the fire giants laid siege to Magnus.

The city of Magnus lasted longer than anyone outside the city thought it would. Over two centuries of magical research combined with experience in living on a hostile continent gave them a hardiness and ingenuity that the giants underestimated. The city also had a teleportation system around the world that was used for trade. This allowed them to bring in supplies and reinforcements circumventing the siege. In fact the siege itself only occurred due to several blunders by the current Archmage, Stephan. While being a brilliant researcher and mage, he was not brilliant at war. The reason that the city did not fall in the first year of the siege was that Stephan died in the first battle of the siege. This paved the way for the greatest Archmage, Queen Kalfis

Under her leadership the giants were held off for twenty years. She led her forces to victory many times, crushing the giants time and time again. Many scholars believe that if the storm giants had not gotten involved that Magnus would still stand.

When the storm giants showed up it was the end for Magnus. Queen Kalfis knew this and enacted her last plan. The army of the city comited a last stand while the citizens were evacuated through the teleportation system. Most of the knowledge of the city was also sent with them. Kalfis and the most loyal members of her army headed underground to stop the giants from finding The Abomination. Throughout this entire war the leaders of the city had never forgotten their purpose, containing The Abomination. No record exists about the fate of Kalfis or her forces.

In the year 2545 the giants razed Magnus. Nothing remains of it not even the stones. They used their magic to remove any trace of the city.