Artifacts: History

Many millennia ago, humans gifted in magic crafted items known as Artifacts. They were etched with immense magical power and each one required the deaths of many people.     While most Artifacts were not instruments of war, some were. The most powerful peoples used their Artifacts to wage a war which nearly sterilized the planet. Many civilizations, including those waging the war, were entirely destroyed, and all were severely damaged. When the war finally ended, only thirteen Artifacts remained in the world.     The records of what follows are a mix of history and myth: An alliance comprising "people from every nation in every land" gathered as many of the remaining Artifacts as they could from their respective owners and sealed them in grand nulletite vaults which was sunk into the depths of the ocean so they could never be used again, along with very nearly the world's supply of the material necessary to create new Artifacts; in Idiarish, this material is called myrrh.     Nine of the known Artifacts (the Entombed Artifacts) were retrieved by this alliance, while the other four were sealed away by those who wished to keep them for their own gain, eventually lost over the generations. When they were eventually found, they were stored in places agreed to be both safe and neutral.     While the Artifacts and myrrh were either lost or sealed away, the records of their creation remained.