World Lore: Annix x BlindsideTex

[Annix]

A worldbuilding thread for our story. All names are placeholders to get the ball rolling.

[To be updated]

Important Events in World History

722 Golden Age: The Tragedy of Asux
A domestic attack by a mage kills over 200 civilians during a public celebration in Asux Court, a large square in the kingdom's capital.

723 Golden Age: Degree for the Restriction of Magic, by King Darsus II
King Darsus II issues a royal decree outlining the restriction of magic. The restrictions (which still permit healing magic and select other magics) are considered by many to be reasonable, although some discontent is sewn within pockets of academia and the magical community.

740 Golden Age: King Darsus Grows Sick
Prince Malik takes over certain royal duties for his father as representative.

741 Golden Age: Death of King Darsus II; Coronation of Prince Malik; Magic Outlawed
- King Darsus II, beloved by the people, dies at the hands of the very mage charged with healing him
- Prince Malik succeeds his father as king
- King Malik (commonly known by the mages as Mad Malik) outlaws all magic, punishable by death if convicted
- Anti-mage propaganda released by the Crown spreads rapidly throughout the kingdom

742-745 Golden Age: Daridic Order of Knights Established; Magic is Purged from the Kingdom
- Order of Daridic Knights is established
- Hundreds of mages are apprehended by the Daridic Order and executed

745-747 Golden Age: Holy Expansion
- Magic nearly entirely eradicated from kingdom. The few mages remaining live in-hiding on the fringes of society.
- King Malik begins expanding into the territory of abutting kingdoms, seeking to conquer and rule the continent. He justifies the expansion through his vision to eradicate magic from the world.
- He succeeds in overtaking one of the two neighboring kingdoms.

748 Golden Age: Plague
- A plague begins in the kingdom
- Significant % of the population dies
- King Malik continues his military expansion into a territory ruled by a queen, his army bolstered by conscriptions from the other kingdom he overtook in year 747.

749 Golden Age:
- A Daridic Knight is dispatched to investigate the whispers of a healer using magic
- Our story begins

 

[Annix]

Anti-Magic Propaganda

The doctrine claims that all mages draw their magic from demonic forces - whether the spell itself is malevolent or benign. Demonic forces occasionally bestow their power for benign uses in an attempt to establish an initial connection with the mage, with the end goal of eventually corrupting and even possessing them into dark magic.

In light of this doctrine, all mages pose a threat to the kingdom and are to be executed if found guilty of practicing magic.
[In reality, all suspects handed over to the king by the Daridic order are executed without trial]

Is the propaganda true? A half-truth? A misunderstanding? Or a blatant lie created to control the people? I don't know! It's up for the story to decide.

 

[Annix]

Daridic Order of Knights

(Singular: Daridic Knight)​

Established: 742 Golden Age by King Malik. So named after King Darsus II, who was murdered by means of dark magic.

Role: To seek out and apprehend suspected mages, who are then brought to the kingdom's capital for "trail".

Number of Knights in Order: ~30

Special Abilities:

• Magic dissipates on contact with skin
• Resistant to curses and dark magic
• Able to step through arcane shields and magical barriers
• Spoiler: Unrealized Ability

  Unrealized Ability: Resistant to the current plague (which was created through dark magic)

The means through which Daridic Knights have obtained this resistance is a closely guarded secret of the order. These abilities were gained at a heavy price.

Weapons and Combat:

• Mages are captured using bindings (chains, links, or cuffs) of made of ethereal steel. Ethereal steel is an alloy made from etherium, a rare mineral with magic-disrupting properties. A mage cannot cast magic while an ethereal binding is in place on their body.
• Daridic knights have extensive training in grappling and hand-to-hand combat.
• All Daridic knights are trained in the use of a bow. Their arrows are made of ethereal steel (and will disrupt a mage's ability to cast spells so long as the arrow remains lodged in their body).

Weaknesses:

• Due to their resistance to magic, they cannot be healed by magic
• Susceptible to elemental magic. They bruise, burn, and experience cold like anyone else.
  Spoiler: Explanation

  Explanation: Although the magical energy of elemental spells dissipates on contact, the heat, cold and momentum generated from these spells is a natural/physical output
• Kickback forces from spells apply

Appearance:

• Daridic Knights dress as common travelers, so as to blend in and not immediately alert potential mages. They have no particular uniform or heavy armor.

 

[Annix]

Aesthetic, Knight Character​

Character Notes

Age: Late twenties
Features: Dark brown, curly hair; dark eyes
Compared to aesthetic below: My character looks somewhat older, more hardened/taciturn, and hair should be even darker brown - close as I could find to my vision!

 

[Annix]

Unknown to the characters at the start of the story, the plague is magical origin. It originates from the royal mages of Queen Isolde, ruler of the Kingdom of Mercea.

"The queen could be looking to strategically destabilize the mad king's kingdom with the plague, knowing that without resorting to such magic her military defeat is all but assured. And without many mages remaining in the kingdom, mad king is powerless to stop it unless he surrenders (which he won't, his goal is to eradicate magic everywhere) or annihilate the Queendom (which he's trying to do even as the plague takes half his army). The queen's royal mages could include a character from the mad king's kingdom - someone who lost everything from the persecution, a jaded former subject out for blood." Hey - what happened to that mage accused of killing the king, anyway?…

 

[Annix]

Major Geography of the Continent

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