A Rilla and SmileyJaws collaboration project.
In the middle of the third age a new branch of power grew from the imperial tree that rules most of the lands in the known world. The name given to this fundamentally martial arm, the Ordo Arcana. A ministry of sorts charged with investigating secrets, mysteries and the arcane wherever it shows itself. Magick, a gift from the god Dybris, transformed society as people knew it for the better - at first. On the mainland dwarf, elf, gnome, human and troll alike came together to work in harmony. For centuries this unity remained mostly intact, however during the closing years of the second age the work of a trickster god would undo all that had been for as long as generations back could remember. This unnamed god brought with him an ideology. Taking human form he introduced the notion of using magick for personal gain and darker arts to the most adept. Using his ethereal influence to shape those dubbed worthy into instruments of a greater plan. What would happen next would bring a short lived but destructive era of chaos.
With a champion of every race, the trickster made sure his pawns ascertained positions of influence and power among their respective kin, these were usually advisers or head magicians and shamans of major settlements. Friendship between the different races began to fray like old rope as hunger for power grew among greedy leaders - or those who saw themselves fit to lead. Advances in the fields of magick and Alchemy gave the ability to produce giant constructs, warmachines among other great and terrible discoveries. Within a decade conflict had broken out once again, internal conflict within the uneasy alliances was almost always present in some shape or form. War raged for only thirty years but it was time enough to change the known world. Races became largely segregated, protective of their turf, peace agreements be damned, and much knowledge of many aspects was lost whether through life or loss of instruction. The period that ensued immediately after would go down in history as the dark days, but from the ashes arose a phoenix. A small band of warriors under one banner became an army and would within half a century sweep across most of civilized mainland and surrounding islands that made up the discovered world - placing it under imperial rule.
Around the same time as the founding of the Ordo Arcana, other changes were being made in the Empire. These would soon become clear as favorable, at least to some races of the Empire, others it became a nuisance which would soon evidently show itself as a sort of social culling of those deemed lesser; Trolls, Dwarves, Goblins and even Gnomes to name a few despised by a largely older, xenophobic and human council that stood at the forefront of the governing branch of the imperials.
It is the beginning of the fourth age, use of magick is scarcely seen in public for fear of retribution, the boogeymen of the Ordo Arcana, more than just a story mother's told naughty children. There are those who still practice the arcane of course, referred to as adepts, those who still have a link to the fountain of magic in the plane of Dybris - the most sensitive to it going on to becoming the greatest of wizards or magicians, even if in near secret.
Our tale begins in the town-stead of Aurora's End, a ragtag group of arms dealers and their adventures through the land, persecuted by the Ordo Arcana for their involvement in the distribution of knowledge of forgotten magicks. Plenty of political intrigue and seafaring antics await.
Notes-Races will be limited to a more classic selection (Human/Elf/Dwarf/Beastkin etc.),
-Inappropriate characters who do not fit the theme or tone will be rejected,
-This is the Advanced section, standards will be enforced,
-Two words; marvelous realism - fantastical events in an otherwise realistic setting. You're probably going to want to remember that,
-Expect more of that fluffy lore stuff in the OOC, this intcheck is solely to provide an overview and, you guessed it, gather interest.
Special thanks to @Rilla for agreeing to undertake this endeavor with me.
Mole