@Bright_OpsUntil five decades or so ago, give or take, Chalez was a magocracy. Power rested with a select few sorcerers, who were appointed by their peers from each province of the country. They were the nation's debt facto strongest wielders of magic, and did not hesitate to display shows of force, to remind the commoners of their place. Chalez society greatly favored mages, while everyone else had little representation or opportunity for potential. This power structure lasted thousands of years, a period of time comparable to real-world antiquity up till the middle ages/early Renaissance.
In ancient times, Chalez was a predominantly elven state, with humans being akin to second-class citizens. That changed several hundred years ago, during the Tipping of the Scale, when a massive human uprising stormed the capital and declared equality over the bodies of several elven judiciaries. The incident, and several others over the years, gradually gave way to an even playing field for humans in society and politics. However, Chalez would continue to be a magocracy, albeit one where both elven and human mages could lord over the masses.
Just fifty years ago, the magocracy was finally overthrown by a coalition of underprivileged humans and elves. The sorcerer elite of the generation had become decadent and self-serving, ignoring the needs of the people and exploiting the labor of non-mages, or "mundanes." Years of this behavior had taken its toll on the patience of the mundane population, which decided to act. Many perished in the ensuing rebellion, but their numbers were too great for the smaller elite to handle. The sorcerer lords were tried and executed, along with many political bigwigs and their supporters.
The rebels founded the Chalezian Union, built on principles of technology and scientific progress. The movement's leaders vowed never to let magic control their nation again, banning mages from holding seats of political or military power. Many radical movements sprung up in the wake of the new government, discriminating against practitioners of magic. The Union took advantage of this fearmongering to expell many mages from Chalez, who were declared "threats to the state." Nowadays, propaganda continues to paint a negative picture of magic's role in Chalez's history, and known practitioners are ostracized by their peers.
In recent years, mages are less persecuted than they used to be, but are still banned from positions of power and limited in their studies. They are not permitted to practice offensive arts, only those used in some utility fashion are legal.
Racial discrimination is a thing of the past, but it has just given way to another prejudice.
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