I also wrote up a very rough summary of the lore in this world for the players of my in-person game. Feel free to read it if you'd like an idea of how the history/religion/politics all play together in this setting without having to do all the reading I did. Feel free to ask questions.


[hider=Drakkenheim History in Brief]
Basically, a long time ago (a thousand years plus), the world was ruled by incredibly talented sorcerers who had crossed their bloodlines with dragons. They set themselves up as gods and outlawed magic use by anyone but themselves. They were oppressive tyrants. This time in history was known as the time of the Sorcerer Kings. 

Eventually these kings had a warlord of theirs rise up against them. She was a woman named Tarna who was said to be chosen by The Sacred Flame (the faceless/nameless god of a new, lawful good monotheistic religion). Her mission was to put an end to the Sorcerer Kings. Because Tara had been known as a ruthless warlord, but was turned into a holy warrior, she received the title of “The First Paladin” and her redemption story lended itself to the creed of the Sacred Flame which is that “any light, no matter how small, can lead a soul out of darkness.“

Tarna was martyred and sainted after a 12 year rebellion against the sorcerer kings. After which the people of the continent (where Drakkenheim is based) rose up in repeated rebellions that eventually led to the Sorcerer Kings losing their grip on power and fleeing the continent across the sea to unknown lands. The continent then split into the regions/countries known today, united most strongly by their shared religion of the Sacred Flame which had been instrumental in bringing about the demise of the sorcerer kings. The “old gods” while still worshipped by a few, are mostly fringe and archaic deities who have fallen silent towards mortals…if they ever spoke at all.

Fast forward to several hundred years ago.

The Scared Flame is a dominant force on the continent and their new “pope” has started issuing edicts to hunt down and oppress all mageborn children in fear of a time when the Sorcerer kings might return to power. In response, a secret society of adult mages banded together forming what would later be called “The Amethyst Academy” to protect mageborn children from identification and oppression. This secret society waged political and eventually open war with the church of The Sacred Flame until, finally, after 4 decades the two sides settled on a treaty and new set of laws called “The Edicts of Lumen”. These edicts were a series of compromises between mages, the church, and the common (magicless) man meant to balance power between them without oppression of any one side. 

The edicts of Lumen keep any mageborn person from holding lands or noble title. The edicts allow the Amethyst Academey to take charge of all (incredibly rare) mageborn children and train them in magic until adulthood when they are released back into society (usually as noble advisors).

The balance of power between the church and the Amethyst Academy is tenuous, in danger of tipping at any given time. Both sides are seen to be hypocritical and underhanded in the way they treat the spirit of the Edicts of Lumen…constantly threatening to take over at the other’s expense.
[/hider]