The Time of Terrors

The Time of Terrors is the name given by modern historians to the period in the history of Magicians' End between the second half of 3004 APC when the Moderators' Council was brought down and 3641 APC when the Second Popular Ascendancy was established.   It was an age dominated by a number of powerful maverick mages who ruled competing fiefdoms with little regard for the welfare of their subjects and it left a long stain of dishonour and distrust of arcane users behind when it came to an end.   There is a timeline for this age which can be accessed from the bottom of the page.  

The Fall of the Moderators' Council

  The discovery of Synaptic Unbinding Potion (aka SUP) at the Institute of Magical Analytics in 2964 APC was a long sought after goal which in retrospect can be seen as the cause of the final failure of the Moderators' Council. SUP was not only much more widely available and easier to obtain than Arcane Amplification Perfume (aka AAP) but it was more powerful and longer lasting. The unfortunate side effects that came with over use were not immediately apparent. Mages everywhere began to flex their mental muscles and to question the authority of the Moderators' Council, particularly beyond the shores of Tinturbean where there was considerable resentment of the power of the two dominant arcane schools at Quarowl and Greystow.   The greatly feared mage Zemdath Romuth (aka Zemdath the Terrible), was the one who caused the downfall of the Moderators' Council when he dissolved the Examination Board, both figuratively and literally.   Born into poverty in the quarrying district of Werdown in the far eastern city of Vrandakan, the young Zemdath was drawn into the criminal underworld where he developed a reputation for ruthless, even psychotic, violence. As an adult, he travelled to Tinturbean, where he established a smuggling network, sending illegal shipments of SUP from Quarowl to the eager mages of Myruthea. He was caught and sentenced to death by the Examination Board, but escaping from their clutches and the justice of the Final Examiners, he returned in 3004 APC to destroy them in the opening act of the Time of Terrors.    

The Owlblood come to Quarowl

  After Zemdath the Terrible became the Arch Baron of Quarowl he made changes at the Institute of Magical Analytics, removing the previous Arcane Chancellor and taking on the role himself. In this way he maintained control over the supply of Synaptic Unbinding Potion, but distributed the dangerous material more freely to mages of all lands than had ever been permitted before, often largely on a capricious whim.   Under the Moderators' Council, the construction of portals into other universes within the Discontinuum had been strictly prohibited. The shock occasioned by the secret building of the Green Eye had, in fact, been one of the major reasons for the formation of the Moderators' Council in the first place. Now that they had been swept aside there were no restrictions. In 3011 APC, Zemdath the Terrible opened the Noctaliyan Gate at Quarowl making a permanent link between Magicians' End and Noctaliya and allowing Owlblood warriors to migrate into the realm to form the Quarowl High Guard and act as his bodyguards.   The Noctaliyan Gate profoundly changed local politics and the politics of the wider world in more subtle ways. Zemdath Romuth was assasinated on 7th Tuzlle, 3027 APC by Edwardo Cantosquelos, the last of the Final Examiners but in this he was aided and abetted by Greld Ikri, the Strongest Talon from the Quarowl High Guard who turned against his master and helped to raise Orvith Highcroft to the position of Arch Baron in place of the unpredictable and psychotic monster who had overthrown the Moderators' Council.     For two centuries, the Noctaliyan Gate remained open, facilitating two way trade between Magicians' End and Noctaliya. During this time, Noctaliyan Diamonds and Tharan, a spice produced from the spores of Tharanilluminae arrived in Magicians' End, being traded for saranjum and phryne. This trade, and the dubious benefits of Synaptic Unbinding Potion, helped to keep Quarowl rich and the Owlblood established significant enclaves in and around the city which have persisted even to this day. In the popular imagination Quarowl and the Owlblood have become so closely associated that some people commonly imagine they always lived there and predate the city, whereas in fact, the foundation of the city dates back to the Puzzle Lords Directorate more than fifteen hundred years before any Owlblood set foot on Magicians' End.   The prosperity the Noctaliyan Gate had brought came to an abrupt end on 19th Tuzlle, 3387 APC, when it was destroyed in an uprising known as the Ruffling of the Feathers, a commercial struggle in which the narrow minded nationalism of Quarowl First was allied to the business interests of the Purple Party and culminated in an ugly civil war inside the city.   After this, Quarowl declined in importance and has never regained the power and influence it once wielded, even though it is now the capital of the Congress of Concerned Citizens.  

The Sisters of Vabatan

  On the continent of Punjuki, the notorious mage Clarise Vabatan began her career in the Court Circle of Katrapetch in 3060 APC. The interested reader can learn many of the details of her life and times, written in her infamously salacious diary.     Although it would take some time for her cult to flower, the mage eventually formed the secret society called the Sisters of Vabatan. Operating covertly at the beginning, they later became bolder and more demanding, imposing their own special brand of fear and horror on their victims, in sinister rituals which were conducted all the way to the end of the Time of Terrors. The image at the head of this article shows a raid conducted by the sisters, during the period when they operated at their most brazen.  

Golkin's Last Stand

  In the city of Greystow, the Free Union of Magical Scholars which had always opposed the Institute of Magical Analytics, found itself under threat whilst Zemdath the Terrible led their rivals. More than ever, it acted as a focus for discontented mages fleeing Quarowl. Analysts at the FUMS were the first to point out the disturbing symptoms that came with regular use of Synaptic Unbinding Potion and their leaders held out against its use, strongly favouring the tried and tested Arcane Amplification Perfume despite its reputation for relatively ineffective results compared with the newer substance.   During the 3090s, a group of cultists known as the Unbound began to preach a message that was explictly opposed to the restriction of Synaptic Unbinding Potion, claiming that its use was not merely a practical matter of strengthening arcane abilities but a spiritual one of opening the mind to a true enlightenment about the state of the world.   Matters came to a head in 3113 APC when a faction of disgrunted mages who were agitating for the FUMS to start production of SUP, allied with a secret cell of the Unbound and took on the Provost, Tobias Golkin, who was vehemently opposed to its use, in an incident that came to be called Golkin's Last Stand.     With the death of Tobias Golkin, production of Synaptic Unbinding Potion was brought to the Free Union of Magical Scholars and for the next twenty years or so it became even more widely available.   In 3192, the Unbound seized the primary manufacturing centres of SUP at the the Institute of Magical Analytics and the Free Union of Magical Scholars and appropriated the publically available supply for the exclusive use of their members. The shortage of SUP for other mages became known as the Synaptic Squeeze and it would ultimately provoke the Sisters of Vabatan into developing their own secret laboratory, a facility that was established by 3240 APC. By the middle of the 33rd century SUP was once again widely available.  

The Rise of the Tyrant Magicians

  As Synaptic Unbinding Potion empowered bold and unscrupulous mages throughout Magicians' End, there was a shift in the patterns of power. In previous millennia, dating as far back as the Sundering, mages had traditionally only acted as advisors to aristocrats and kings. Not since the Kingdom of Snowborne and the Trinity Moon Triple Enfolding, had arcane users taken the role of overt leadership which they now began to assume, by one means and another (with the arguable exception of the Arcane Supremacy which was relatively short lived and did not have global influence).   In some places, the shift was reasonably benign and little noticed. For example, the Fisher Kings and Queens of Nephatar had been bringing arcane blood into the line of their rulers for a long time, and it was not even considered surprising, when this fact came to be openly acknowledged.   In other places, power was seized in more bloody and brutal coups. In 3053 APC Jermon Verelfeth assumed control over the city of Zalgurim, becoming the second magical usurper to follow the precident that Zemdath the Terrible had set.   Historians argue that Katrapetch had been effectively taken over by stealth by Clarise Vabatan by the end of the same century. Highloft acknowledged the open control of Yun Chi Zhao and the Sisters of Vabatan when she became Lady Cultivator in 3117 APC. Klaractazum passed to magic wielding rulers in the later years of the 32nd century and by the time Pezulruth Veld took charge in Ralsimoor in the late 33rd century, all the major cities of Myruthea and the majority of the rest on other continents were governed by rulers who openly wielded dangerous arcane powers and eyed one another with envy and fear.  

Infamous Incidents in the Time of Terrors

  Some of the more notable of the many conflicts and atrocities which took place during the Time of Terrors are listed below in chronological order.  

3251 APC : The Poison Rapture

  In the summer of 3251 APC, the Poison Rapture broke out in the north east of Klokken Isle off the east coast of Myruthea. Caused by a reckless mage opening a portal to a dangerous jungle realm within the Fever Dream, the Poison Rapture killed many hundreds within range of the toxins which spread into Magicians' End and has left a legacy of dangerous mutated plants in the abandoned villages of the region, even to this day.  

3324 APC : The Battle of the Rising Deep

  The Battle of the Rising Deep was a pivotal conflict between Pezulruth Veld, the magician who had seized power in Ralsimoor and Queen Shellesha, the Fisher Queen of Nephatar. Pezulruth sought to gain control over the magical artefact known as the Net of Pruth, an heirloom of the Fisher Kings and Queens. Raising two malign Deep Sleepers from the ocean floor, he laid siege to Nephatar, but he was ultimately defeated by the defenders of the City of Fish.  

3376 APC : The Silent Thunder

  The war mage Herakaldyn Bell crafted the Silent Thunder as a superweapon which was deployed only once in the brief conflict between the short lived alliance known as the Wardens of the Central Plains and the city of Arginbury. The spell went badly wrong, failing to focus on the target and unleashing an unexpectedly silent wave of devastation which affected the invading Wardens far more badly than the city it was meant to humble.  

3497 APC : Emile's White Hunger

  Emile's White Hunger was a condition which was first seen in the city of Klaractazum. It was a side effect of an attempt by its ruler Emile Bontater (aka Bontater the Fat) to "protect" his subjects from famine during a siege by the armies of the general Kinrip Wulgg.  

3566 APC : Nonbedience

  Nonbedience was a spell crafted in the forges of the Free Union of Magical Scholars by sympathisers, and sent to aid rebels from the Tinturbean city of Tarris, in their efforts to overthrow the tyrant mage Calathon Blackheart. Unfortunately, although the spell succeeded in helping the locals to break free from some sinister compulsions which the evil mage had imposed on them and broke his power, it also had unfortunate long term side effects which may have been worse for everyone in the long run.  

3605 to 3618 APC : The Nightmare Callings

  The Nightmare Callings were a series of summoning dreams, used by a terrifying sect within the Sisters of Vabatan called the Life Farmers. More details about this horrifying tactic can be found within the later volumes of the Diary of Clarise Vabatan.  

The End of the Terrors

  In the year 3627 APC, a viral infection called the Nexorin Pathogen began to spread throughout Magicians' End. Also known informally as Sorcerer's Shackles, the disease had a curiously selective effect on mages who used Synaptic Unbinding Potion, permanently destroying their ability to perform magic in any form. As the pandemic spread, it transformed life and politics world-wide by curtailing the great powers of the mages who had dominated during the Time of Terrors. Following the discovery of the Diary of Clarise Vabatan many centuries later, it is now known that the disease was deliberately engineered by mages from the Free Union of Magical Scholars, something rumoured at the time but never confirmed by contemporary investigators. In any case, when the Second Popular Ascendancy assumed control of a much changed world in 3642 APC, it brought a final end to an era of chaos, confusion and terror which had demonstrated forever, the dangers of untrammeled power excercised by vain, jealous and utterly dominant magical users.