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“History can be a fickle thing. Evidence disappears over time, perspectives change over time, and new records are unearthed all the time. The Gifts many of us are endowed with makes this all the more complicated. How many Mindspeech conversations have gone unrecorded? How often has Empathy caused someone to sit and write about another’s condition? How frequently has Healing allowed victims to survive and tell of fatal stories? How, after all, does the Bardic gift make the retelling of histories into something you relive?”
“Perhaps the most pressing question is: How often do these factors lead to revolutionary changes in the scope and fate of a Kingdom like ours?”
“Hear me, then, and learn of how magic returned to the Kingdom of Valdemar.”
“It is an known fact that the first King of Valdemar, Kordas, was a powerful Mage, for magic was essential to how he established his Kingdom. While little is known of his life, with what is being uncovered at the archives on a daily basis, there is always something new to learn about him.”
“Valdemar’s heirs all had various Gifts of their own, often powerful ones. Many of them had a gift known as Mage-Gift, which allows those who possess it to interact with the forces of the life energy surrounding them. This energy is used to fuel an incalculably numerous amount of possible spells, from simply illuminating an area to changing weather patterns. Many of the earliest roads surrounding Haven were made with Mage-crafted materials, and have lasted the test of a millenia-and-a-half of weathering and continual use.”
“Mage-Gift had always been taken quite seriously in Valdemar, but with the blessings that the Gods provided to the Kingdom with the arrival of the Companions, it became clear that any Mage who wielded authority within the Kingdom must also be a Herald. There could be no nobility with unrestricted access to Magecraft, nor hireling sorcerers out to make a living off of other peoples’ misery. It is said there were records kept of any Mage entering the Kingdom.”
“It is also known that during the reign of King Randale, beginning in 798 AF, that the very last Herald-Mage, the vaunted Vanyel Ashkevron, faced an enemy so great that it had single-handedly culled Mage-Gift from much of the Kingdom. As recorded in Bard Stefan’s song Magic’s Price, Vanyel was indeed victorious, but at the cost of his life, leaving no one to help Valdemar maintain its knowledge of magecraft.”
“Thanks to An’desha of the Plains, we know this enemy called himself Leareth. This name was a conceit on a Tayledras word for ‘darkness,’ for this foe had been called dozens of other names throughout more than two thousand years of malfeasance. A further record on...Ma’ar...Will have to wait until another day, but suffice it to understand that his ilk is extraordinarily dangerous.”
“Understanding that dangerous potential is essential towards understanding how Vanyel’s dying breath had changed Valdemar for more than five centuries.”
“As a Herald, I am broadly forbidden from being dishonest - it is, after all these years, not in my nature. When she was working on calming the Mage Storms, Princess Elspeth learned secrets of the past, including the nature of the many spells Vanyel had enchanted our Kingdom with. One of them was a bargain with air elementals, who promised they would watch any Mage who entered the kingdom and report them to a Herald-Mage. This led to a phenomenon where Mages were stalked by Vrondi, even driven mad, as demonstrated in the famous song by Bard Stefan, ‘Vrondi’s Eyes.’”
“Another, a decision made surely as Vanyel was on the verge of death, created a fogginess in the recollection of anyone who was deliberating over Mage-Gift, or magic in general.”
“Any suggestion of magic being used after Vanyel’s passing was rendered dismissable to those who lived within Valdemar. It was thought that Mind-Magic, the type most Heralds have used for as long as the Kingdom stood, was the only sort which existed. This fogginess even manifested in rooms within the palace at Haven, itself, being forgotten. In fact, when Prince Ancar’s perfidy unleashed magic upon Valdemar once more, it was difficult for Princess Elspeth to research because she was so influenced by Vanyel’s magic that she constantly forgot what she’d read and misplaced her notes.”
“Yet, as we know, Mage-Gift was never truly gone from Valdemar. After all, Kordas Valdemar’s line and its myriad cadet houses such as the unfortunate Orthallen family, carried the potential for the Gift. This was likely how Princess Elspeth inherited hers. Others, such as the Ashkevrons, had it as well - after all, Vanyel was not the only Herald-Mage from the Ashkevron family. Most concretely, we know this because many Heralds turned out to be Mage-Gifted, as well.”
“When Prince Ancar of Hardorn waged his war against Valdemar, there were many who wondered how we could possibly face a threat so endlessly adaptive as magic, especially when any Mages who Valdemar might have hired from abroad were driven away by the spying Vrondi. Part of the solution came from hiring foreign mercenaries who were experienced with finding non-magical solutions to magical problems, such as the Skybolts, but the greatest part came with a boon the likes of which we may never encounter again.”
“Princess Elspeth set forth on a journey much like many others had been tasked with. She made haste towards the south-west, towards the Dhorisha Plains. She eventually made contact with the K’Shenya clan of Tayledras, where she met her lifebonded, the Adept-class Mage Darkwind, and learned the arts of magic, becoming the first Herald-Mage in centuries. She repeatedly squared off with the same foe who Vanyel had defeated so long ago, now going by the name Mornelithe Falconsbane, who later served as a coerced ally of Prince Ancar’s. Most of all, however, Princess Elspeth brought her knowledge of Mage-Gift back home.”
“A historian shouldn’t insert themselves too deeply into their work, but I’m afraid, in this case, I must. I lived thirty-eight years thinking I was simply a Mindspeaker, with such power as to amplify the Mindspeech of others I was in close contact with. It turned out that I had a minor gift to accompany my Mindspeech: Mage-Gift. I am, at best a Journeyman, but I was a Herald before I was a Herald-Mage, and my Mindspeech is still my greater gift.”
“It was only through working with an ancient device called a Teleson, that I learned how to implant my Mindspeech into gemstones, audible to any who choose to listen. I trust this knowledge will serve you well, as I assure you, it is not an inexpensive or leisurely hobby.”
“At any rate, the return of magic was revealed to be hardly more than a recognition of magic for what it was.”
“With the Mage-Gifted among the Heralds identified and properly trained, the decision was made to pull down Vanyel’s spell of forgetfulness. It was then possible for the people of Valdemar to engage with the very idea that magic, as the ancient tales told of, was still and always a dominant force in this world. This later proved to be of great value during the Mage Storms, when un-Gifted Valdemaran artificers working out of The Compass Rose managed to discover many new rules to how magic worked.”
“But the Mage Storms are a tale for another day. Until such a time as I may speak with you again, wind to thy wings.”