Societies
The history of the world splits roughly along three pillars of society: the States, the Wizards, and the Untethered — mystics, wanderers, and the spiritually active who answered to neither.
States
The Olden World
- Did not significantly use magic compared to the other two pillars
- Nature and threats held the competitive advantage; states and people were at a disadvantage
- Religious figures and mystics were common within communities; artifacts were locked down and kept safe, with rituals forming around the stronger relics
The Era of Containment
- Thrived as the magically enhanced threats and disruptions of the Olden World faded
- State-on-state rivalries and conflicts were commonplace
- Empires, kingdoms, and trade networks grew rapidly — most recorded history is from this period
- Some states commissioned replica relics from wizards, giving rise to sorcerers as a military and institutional class
- Religion remained central: temple hierarchies, shared rites, and relic-backed magic helped empower both rulers and institutions
Post-Lapse
- The political classes moved quickly to reassemble and adapt to the new reality
- Borders scrambled by the merge — formerly distant populations now share the same ground
- No massive upheaval or fighting within merged populations — perception folded with reality
- Merged territories often contain multiple overlapping religious traditions; states must accommodate, assimilate, or arbitrate between them
Wizards
The Olden World
- The first wizards emerged during this era
- Lived among freely available magic like everyone else, but the most ambitious began harvesting and stockpiling it from the environment
- Their hoarding gradually drained the world, ending the era
The Era of Containment
- Held most of the world’s magic through personal stockpiles — not for trade, but as leverage
- Found a minor new source among the stars; useful but not transformative
- Solitary or in small groups; limited interest in the wider world, though they still sought goods and services when needed
Post-Lapse
- Stockpiles took a hit; some broke in the chain reaction
- The spilled and new magic is up for grabs
The Untethered
Free-spirited practitioners, mystics, and spiritual communities who existed outside the structures of both wizards and states.
The Olden World
- A golden era for spiritual folk — magically enhanced artifacts were commonplace and rites formed naturally within the diffuse magic of the age
- Most communities had their own mystics; the distinction was not between spiritual and non-spiritual life, but between those who practiced and those who did not
The Era of Containment
- Drew power from artifacts and tradition
- Maintained ancient practices while the world around them grew predictable and secular
- Their artifacts dwindled over time as wizards broke them down to extract stored magic
- Largely unfit for and uninterested in common civilization — lived at the margins
- Their power depended on organizational coherence and continuity, not individual talent
Post-Lapse
- The fracture zones where magic returned are where their ways work best
- New artifacts can now form through rites and sustained practice — even though most practitioners do not understand the underlying mechanics that make this possible
- Old rites and relics carry renewed weight in places where the world is still settling