NemoTheSurvivor
Personified Salt Shaker
The Rise and Fall of Magic
History in Glade has been a constant cycle of admiration and fear for the mages. When magic first appeared, it was in the form of mythical beasts and evil sorcerers. Magic was considered a blight, and those showing magical potential were outcast from society (if an outcast came back claiming he/she was touched by a god – essentially a precursor of the Divine mage – they were allowed back into society as a priest/priestess). However, after one such outcast fought a gryphon, saving a town in the process, humans began to realize they could harness this magic as a weapon. A group of outcasts were gathered together with knights from many settlements, where they learned to focus their power in order to protect humans. Once the humans accepted magic as a gift and not a curse, the elves offered to help train the humans. The magical warriors successfully protected the capital from the legendary chimera known as Death Bringer, earning them the title of Mage.
Outcasts started joining these groups of mages, bringing with them the hatred of the society that first threw them out. Several elves also harbored xenophobic hatred for the human mages, believing that humans tainted magic. An attack on the King's life by rouge mages, followed by the slaughter of several towns by elvish separatists, jolted the populace. With fear of magic spreading like wildfire, many mages were executed. Those that lived were allowed to join the elves, as the mages could fight the elvish separatists without feeling remorse. In the following years, rouge mages and elves terrorized the country, as magic could devastate the non-magical knights.
Solace came in the form of a martyr. A half-elf mage known as Gregory of the Trees, in defense of the knights sent to arrest him, gave his life fighting a rouge mage. Gregory's sacrifice proved to the King that mages could harm and kill other mages. The humans sought out the elves, begging their mages to return to fight on behalf of the King. Hesitantly, the mages agreed, and joined the King's forces. Unable to handle the combined force of knights and mages, the rouge mages were defeated. With the threat dealt with, the King ordered his troops to assist his new allies, the elves, in their fight against the elvish separatists. The separatists were unable to stand for long against the combined might of Man and Elf, and soon the land returned to peace. Mages returned to their towers to resume their studies of magic.
In order to prevent history from repeating itself, the King ordered all mages to leave his forces, and to limit communication with the greater populace. His goal was to have mages form their own society, away from the humans who have shown them nothing but hatred. For the most part, it worked, as the mages formed Guilds and their own hierarchy. Mages became mythical, and their feats exaggerated.
This mythical reputation took a turn for the worse once the dwarfs started openly trading with humans, introducing them to platemail. With the knight's new armor, even the Cockatrice couldn't face an entire legion of men. Mages had no reason to leave their Guilds, and people had little reason to seek them out. As such, tales of mage's power turned into horror stories of what they could do if provoked. After several generations of peace in Glade, hatred festered into resentment. With less and less mages being born every year, and the general populace's distrust of the isolated mages growing, there are few times when the current queen of Glade, Queen Jacinta (pronounced "ha-seen-ta"), will call upon the mages. In every instance the mages have been called upon, it has been to hunt another mage.