InsanEleven
King Allyn the Autistic
The Gunpowder Revolution
First discovered as a byproduct of alchemical reactions, gunpowder used to be under control of the mages for decades and discarded as little more than a convenient firestarter sold to courts and nobles. Rare and high-priced at that time as no means of mass producing had been created or was even looked for, but this changed around the turn of the year 454. A naval company researching means of magical protection instead found it easier to just fire balls of lead instead, and soon after this weapon was implemented the demand for gunpowder rose immensely. A destructive weapon accessible to most with a bit of money; free of inherited powers such as magic.
With the stigma of gunpowder being a simple party trick still living amongst most scholarly mages, it was a sudden awakening when within a decade gunpowder had turned into a powerful force. From boarded cannons to hand cannons to guns happened so quick it even took most normal people a moment to get used to the sudden power they held in their hands. In a last attempt to save their face mages started trying to use their political power to get gunpowder and guns regulated over concerns of misuse of such simple, nearly costless means of power.
Instead their arguments of normal humans not knowing how to use power, of concerns of misuse and disturbance fell upon the wrong ears the wrong way. By 482 tensions that had suddenly and fiercely built up came to their literally explosive end. The largest war the continent had ever seen broke out, from brother against brother to nation against nation; mage against gunman. What started as a resistance against the oppression of mages, aiming for equal power for everyone with guns as their great saviour turned in a decade long war. And as often happens, by the end of this war none really knew what they were fighting for anymore, bloodshed rampant in any field.
Gunwielding governments misused their newfound power to instead get small towns to walk with them, using fear to keep them in, while mages turned against one another as to who was to blame for this. One said religion the other culture the other their own arrogance, none was really clear on the what and how. The only thing truly known is that afterwards the continent had forever been torn into the Old World and the New World. Yet even this divide wasn't as clear cut as the names made out; some new world countries coming to a grinding halt with the loss of the knowledge of the mages, while other old world countries thrive on mages that learnt to accommodate to the new technologies.
Yet even other things had stirred, forgotten in the background while the war raged on the foreground. Dark creatures that before had been kept in check attracted to the smell of blood, the taste of despair and the twinge of hatred wafting around freely. Demons, undead, were-ones, corpse eaters... not to speak of the disease and corruption that grew in the shadows. And even now in 513 these continue to thrive on the devastation wrought, either by them or humans. The good ideals of few having turned into the nightmares of many.