✨Origin

Reality was made from a single source of energy. An elder race inhabited the land and wielded the energy. Their most power mage wanted to find what was beyond the source of that energy. The mage crafted an amulet which shielded the wearer from overwhelming energy and traveled through the astral plane to the source of creation. When the mage attempted to reach into the fountain of creation the amulet momentarily reflected that energy back.

The resulting reaction broke the underlying energy into three streams. The first flowed into the cosmos and became the magic of nature. It creates the planes, brings life to nature, and fuels the arcane.
The second flowed into the mage, tearing into their spirit and taking root in their connection to other beings. It took the power the mage held within and spread it into every being in the realm. It became holy energy which is shared by every living being. Holy energy comes from connection, manifesting it requires large numbers of beings all pouring their tiny portion into something greater.
The final stream became trapped in the amulet and in doing so shattered the artifact across all creation. Traces of that material were deposited across the existing planes. The dampening properties of the artifact altered the stream and the resulting material. The material retained the ability to dampen the energy of creation and as a result it interferes with magic, though holy energy is unaffected.

The fracturing also sent a shockwave through reality. Massive quakes shook the land and entire oceans were displaced. The beasts and monsters of the land which survived were driven mad by the split. The wilds became deadly at a time when the elder race was at their weakest.

💥 After the Breaking

With their connection to the energy of origin lost, the elder race searched for new sources of power. Magic was the most familiar but accessing it was inconsistent and did not come as easily. Holy magic requires numbers and there weren’t enough left to access that pool of power. Material was easy to find but entirely foreign and attempts to integrate magic and material failed.

The first discovery was that holy energy acted as a balancing force between magic and material. After implanting or injecting the material creatures were able to access both sources of power. Simple creatures weren’t able to adapt to the energy and it tore their bodies apart whereas intelligent creatures either died or went mad. Eventually they turned to lizards who’s adaptability and simple intelligence was the perfect balance.

As the experiments continued and the lizards grew some of the population became weary and began to protest. The cities split into two factions, those that thought the lizards were the key to safety and those that thought they would eventually turn on their creators.

The larger faction, the group against the lizards, turned to holy magic. The pooled their shared energy and build massive storage and amplification systems under their cities. The few that showed excessive skill in holy and magic were given unfettered access to these energy pools. This eventually turned them into Avatars, with powers bordering on that of a demi-god.

The lizards continued to grow more and more complex. Eventually they became large enough for a single creature to wrap it’s body around an entire city. These lizards with their crystal, metal, and scale bodies eventually grew wings to transport themselves faster and were given a new name, Dragon.

In order to support the dragons a massive complex was built to mine, refine, and experiment with the material. This became the center of power for the faction and it’s presence a source of conflict for the Avatars.

⚔️ The War

The mine was bringing up so much material that it was beginning to affect the cities of the Avatars. Skirmishes broke out and turned into battles. The battles continued and escalated into an outright war for survival.

Eventually the Avatars attacked the mine, with the intention of destroying it. The dragons left their cities to defend the mine, but as mighty as they were simply too many Avatars. Fearing defeat the Dragons left the fight and flew to the cities of the Avatars. There the slaughtered every creature they could find. With each death the Avatars lost a tiny part of their power.

The Avatars realized what had happened and realized that they would lose the war. If they left their armies wouldn’t have enough magic to overcome the dampening effects, if they stayed then the Avatars would slowly lose their strength. The Avatars decided that the only option was one final push to destroy the lab. They would consume all the energy they had left and melt the entire complex into the bedrock.

What they didn’t know is that hiding in the heart of the complex was the secret to it’s ability to produce vast amounts of material. At the core was a tiny sliver of crystal encased in a bed of woven mithril. That shard was the only remaining piece of the artifact that split the energy of creation.

The Avatars drew every last ounce of holy and magic they had. They drew from the troops, from the land itself, and reached into the laylines which connected the planes. They used that energy to draw directly from the astral plane and bound it into a single column of blinding fury.

Though it had been dormant after it’s destruction the massive amounts of energy re-awoke the artifact. The crystal tried to divert the energy as it had been created to do but the fragment was simply incapable of it’s original design. Instead it acted as a lens and focused all that energy down to a single point inside itself.

For a brief moment, less than the heartbeat of a hummingbird, the singular energy of creation was re-created. Without the structure of the astral plane that energy became unbound and tore out through reality. The armies fighting nearby were instantly destroyed and for miles in each direction the ground was turned to magma.

The explosion destroyed the bodies of the avatars but the energy of creation sustained their spirits, etching their souls into substance of the realm. It also echoed through the dragon with the same effect as the initial breaking. The dragons went mad. They destroyed the cities of the Avatars, they turned on their master, and each other. Some say every dragon died that day, others say they tunneled deep into the ground to the border of the plane of earth and plane of shadow.

As the artifact shard burned up it leaked it’s energy back into the matieral, but in doing so combined with the holy energy of the Avatars. In that moment the material changed and took on some qualities of life. If it is left on it’s own it slowly grows and spreads, like moss slipping into the cracks of a rock. It reacts to the will of creatures. If solidified and shaped properly it can be made to generate energy. The explosion drove the material below ground but over the course of milenia it slowly spread underneath the entire realm.

With the cities destroyed civilization fell apart. The elder race once again lost it’s sources of power and survived any way they could. How the groups survived changed them into the founding races. The modern races are the descendents of those people.

🌓 Present

A small number of large cities have been established which are mostly safe from the larger threats. Depending on the culture the area around can be somewhat safe.

In most cultures your political power is based on your ability with magic. Magic is something you are born with but is not hereditary and manifests randomly. Only those with magic hold power and those without have little influence. Entire “houses” can cease to exist when their Matron/Patron dies.

A small few of the most powerful are able to enter a shared Dream, allowing some vision into the future. This group has absolute control over civilization. Because of the Dream, scattered cities are now stable. The area around them is safe from huge threats, though clever creatures are able slip through.

The ruins of the elder empires contain structures and artifacts built to channel, store, and harness energy. This attracts stronger creatures who feed off the residual energy left in the machines or from the remaining artifacts. Promises of treasure and magic also attracts adventures and fortune seekers.

The races have recently re-discovered the material energy source. It can be used by anyone willing to train making power accessible to any. A democratic military-industrial complex has formed around mining the substance. The material also has the effect of suppressing magic, which the council of dreamers despises. The council believe the material will disrupt the dream, meaning there’s once again tension between those with magic and those with material.