There are old tales that saturate the history books with stories of the power and of the might of the age of blood; when savagery and brutality was the way of life and there was nothing so eloquent as the power of the Source. Then there was only the power of the Blood Pits of the Skagriagaard, the alchemy of the Zoranethi, the mysticism of the Giant Kin and the Glamour of the Fae. There was war and chaos and anarchy and then the Void came seeking words of power that had been lost to its unknown master. Those words are, if pre history is to be believed, the power to shape worlds and to master the building blocks of all magics. It is also known that these words or words closely akin to them were carved into the comet that blazed its way across the sky and came to impact the crust of this world in the deep wilds of Helgath where Eaölfheim prospered. When that most great and glorious of events embraced the world so too did our ancient power and from it all power that spreads across Daer Akmir today. So the comet was named after the power that it created, the power that gave life to the world that we now inhabit, that created the races of the world and birthed the Empires and the Kingdoms of this great civilisation. It was called the Source Comet.
The source Comet represented Magic long forgotten from another time and another age where it was referred to as the Nexus. With it came hidden secrets and beings from some dystopian place, some oppressors some oppressed and they spilled over into the world. Their power was dubbed the Arcane and was nothing like we had ever seen before; it dwarfed all other forms and realms with its strength and ability to change reality around it. However this power lasted but mere moments from histories point of view as the Gillieabad Spirits, so free roaming for so long, bound themselves to places of power to neutralise this strength. To the Earth Tribes it was the ultimate sacrifice, to the beings of the Nexus it was an act of war but to those that were to come later it was a gift that could not be over looked. The power Arcane was greatly diminished and it was a power that could never truly be mastered by those inhabitants of the world however the Source of all magic to come was left behind and that was ours to take.
For many years after the arrival of the comet early mages tried to master the power that now saturated this world. Many become extremely proficient in its art but these were spirited away by the Arcanists that arrived with the Nexu; The Kaytaar. It took many years for the College of Sourcery or Council of Magic as it was then to form under the guidance of the Kurt Nagerson whose impressive power in the realm of the Sourcerer led him to become an Emperor of the three Kingdoms (as was back then). During this time the mysterious Kaytaar had established themselves as a force in the world but where once, in their home world, they were eternal, they were made mortal by the forces of Vaklam. To counter this problem they undertook a task to locate the legendary Zoranethi, the Sea Tribe who had mastered the arts of transmogrification of the body and the soul. When they found them they used their terrible power to enslave them, a move that would haunt them in aeons to come. Together they caused the collapse of the Gillieabads power in the Forests of the Chosen, stole the second moon from the Sky and created the Shadowed Lands where they would come to dwell.
Here in the Shadowed lands the leader of the Kaytaar; who was named Thaddeus although the truth of his name was a hidden thing, built a great city known as the City of Staves. The Kaytaar had all arrived carrying blackened or rotted staves headed with ever moving skulls and it is for this that it was named. Here, it is known, that he created laboratories and slave pens and set about, using the Zoranethi as those indentured folk, creating the power of the Dark Fae Men, a name that would become bastardised down to Daemen or Daemon before too long. The creation of such monstrosities is still, in many ways, a mystery to even the most learned of the Fae A’ Ryn but what can be swiftly spoken of is that these Daemons were the binding of the essence of captured Fae with some deplorable force. The Daemons that were created in those early days were of deeply melanic magics and far overwhelm any efforts in days that spread after. These first offerings became the hosts to the Kaytaar and the Daemons that followed; their armies. The Shadowed Lands became home to myriad creatures and Thaddeus now styled Sarkith turned his eyes towards the Source rich lands of Daer Akmir as he sought to expand his power base.
As this occurred early Sourcerers under the guidance of Kurt Nagerson learnt some of the magics that would became a mainstay in driving them back. However Nagerson soon retired to the safety of the Council and along with Kyranry and Ithyarn they formed the College of Sourcery and began the extermination of Daemonkind. Here, here in these ancient halls is found the secrets of the oldest forms of Magics known to the races of Vaklam, the original secrets revealed to us by the most famous of Mages. The first Sourcerers were sponsored in the days of the three kingdoms by King Banais, King
Gaharak and King Thiryk and from these first three sponsors sprang forth all other forms of magic throughout the known lands: Focus was founded by Kalarin who was a great Sourceress descended from the first of the Cavaliers, who were then an order of Sourcerers themselves, the Tanak. Through the establishment of the Council of Magic the earliest and some of the greatest of our order were born although some turned almost instinctively to the Dark Arts. And let us not forget the enigmatic brothers Ithyarn and Kyranry, trained by Nagerson forged from field of battle came two of the most fearsome Sourcerers to have ever lived. So as Sourcery developed and the new brands of magic entered their infancy the backdrop for the Sourcery was formed and the direction of the College became irrevocably intertwined with the fate of Daer Akmir.
As the Colleges developed the Daemons of the Shadowed Lands created strange portals of Brass and Iron to step between their created world and our own. Each journey was made to establish the early base of Power that Sarkith held but also fuelled the power of lesser Daemons that would one day rise to challenge him. Raids against the Basin were made to steal away folk gifted with the art as well as any Fae that lived among the people of the six Duchies. The early Sourcerers directed their potential and their power against the Daemons but soon discovered that they were particularly protected from the magics that they had learnt. Nagerson recalled his people and swift development of anti daemonic magics began; even at this very basic stage it was soon clear that the only way to attack this corrupted form of the Source was for some of the College members to embrace it. This led them down the right path; new techniques gifted them with the powers of the Daemons whilst inducing only slight corruptions in the Sourcerers themselves. This rise in corruption also took them down the path that would lead to the development of the rites and rituals of purification that are still used now to remove the Daemonic essence even though this leaves the body weakened.
The wars that followed were terrible and are well chronicled in history but these were the defining moments for what was Nagerson College, at the time. In the greatest parts of those wars the Daemons were cowed before the might of the Colleges and we liberated from them many of their secrets, learnt much of their past and gathered the strength to oppose them in great number in the futures to come. Their darkest however was to see the Daemons overwhelm their positions as the corruptive magics used turned even the most Daemon hating Sourcerers into one of their oppositions number. Yes, the Daemons were driven from the realms but during their tenure they had gained many followers who hungered for the power that they offered. Perhaps the most prominent of these dark moments was when Nagerson himself pursued Sarkith into the Shadowlands, Nagerson was already incredibly corrupted, having refused to cleanse himself until after the battles end. It would be long till he was seen again. Over the years that were to follow the war would be constant, most often it would occur behind the scenes but whenever a force chose to attack Daer Akmir the Daemons would often be involved, sometimes whispering from the darkness, others directly in control but always with their armies marching.
As Daemons grew and the Colleges produced their powers so did the followers of Nagerson, Ithyarn and others come to power so the Royal Basin changed. Kings rose and fell, civil war occurred and the Sourcerers of the burgeoning orders were called upon to support various factions. Through unity comes strength. It was Ithyarn, the Warrior Mage who showed us how to fight against those that would weaken the Sourcerous powerbase and seek to remove the authority and respect that we so rightly deserve and it was Kyranry that showed us that through the control of the raw power of the Source Comet we could enforce that power and solve the problems that the Kingdom, then Empire and now Kingdom face once more. These two houses, under direction from Quinn Shadowreaver, a Zumatakan who was more a director of power than a controller of it, erected their towers in the new capital of Maryat and at his encouragement promoted several younger Sourcerers who were exploring various aspects of the Sourcerous arts. Under the light of this new period of expansion and learning a cloud came; it was now that Kurt Nagerson returned to the Royal Basin, after untold years in the Shadowlands and constructed the tower of Fae’A’Ryn.
The return of Nagerson was not the homecoming many had expected, a shadow was clearly cast over the man, although many said that what came through the portal was no man and he was hidden away inside the Tower of Kyranry during his own towers construction. This slender piece was built above a cavernous chamber that was long in its outfitting although few commented on the cyclopean chains and eldritch signs that were gathered there its purposed was clear in that some form of confine was being created. According to the forbidden archives, or what has been spoken of them, some form of mask was prepared for Nagerson and once donned he vanished into the depths of his tower once it was finished and was not seen by the general public of the College again, indeed no record of his further activity, nor his death or any sightings are mentioned after this time. Even his closest advisors could not speak of what happened to him on that day because they too had disappeared, presumably with their leader. The actions of the mighty Kurt Nagerson were to change the face of the College for ever and what followed defined the nature of the entire facility, giving it a chilling and sinister face to the public that remains to this day.
It took no more than ten years for the experimentation within the Fae’A’Ryn Tower to give the College a new way to enhance and strengthen their control over Sourcery. As daemon kind began to spread their way across the Shadowlands and insinuate their way into the realm of Vaklam so the College finally mastered the skills needed to combat them. It was the Sourcerers of Fae’A’Ryn that learnt how to create the artefacts of power that could store daemonic essence; they learnt how to use these souls to enhance their mastery over Source energies, how much they could channel and store. It was the order of Fae’A’Ryn that allowed all Sourcerers to tap into the very being of Daemon Kind, tear apart their very souls and channel that power into the Sourcerer themselves and grant them the power of the Daemon itself. It was also the Fae’A’Ryn that caused the dependence that we have found upon the Daemon Souls and to suffer the corruptions that they bring with them. Gone were the days of uncontrolled advancement, now we had the power to direct the corruption and decide where and how much power we drew from.
Throughout the history of the Basin we have stood as clear and present protectors against the corruptions of the Shadowed Lands. Our attitudes change from College to College; Fae’A’Ryn will certainly kill all in a township suspected of Daemon worship and then burn it to the ground whereas the order of Kyranry would seek out the corruption and destroy those involved. This, coupled with the rise of the Colleges of the Far Planes changed matters a great deal: Our power had to make room for those that had travelled to other planes and the potential of war was strong again upon the breeze but once more it was Quinn Shadowreaver that stepped in and formed the College of Controlling Power. This group was made up by the Archmages and similar that commanded the various colleges and led to as period of stability. The CoCP soon became one of the most powerful political groups, standing off frequently against the clergy. However its superior organisation and its unbreakable consolidation has allowed it to become the closest advisor to the Crown. The wisest choice and decision for all involved.
Over the years the College has grown, behind its great Iron Doors; new orders have been founded to stand alongside its brethren; The Orders of Nov and of Thurid Quek, both bringing new dimensions to the College and its ways. It has produced some of the finest powers that have stood between the darkness and the light and has been instrumental time and again in the defence of the Royal Basin and the development of new powers that have made this country great. It’s immensity of protective might is such that the College has been renamed Morrigun College in honour of the young Sourcerer Valek Morrigun: This Sourcerer gave his life during the battle of Soul Anchor to prevent the Red Sultan, a force whose like of power had na’er been felt before from remaking the world in his image. Though he stood alongside the like of Dieron the Blessed, Skafflock and King Quintus Lionsgold himself this neophyte of the way did his duty and ensured that all of us draw breath to this day. Now under the leadership of the Makeross Kross the College goes on in strength, its knowledge hidden from all but the worthy, the true guardians of Sourcerous power, the other Houses mere infants in our Shadow. We guard the Void.
Holly Goodall
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