Chapter Text
Magic had been around, swirling in the planet’s core, before there was land for trees to grow. It made everything. Spread its fingers up to create mountains, stretching out to create valleys, and gently whispering to create life.
The first of which were the Eridians. Visually, they were quite simple. Rock of various colors and sizes, and so deeply connected to the planet that they were the origin of harnessing magic. Life started fairly simple. Eridians were the start of it all. The first societies, languages, and understandings of magic all came from them. And as other species evolved alongside, things were peaceful. The Eridians were kind enough to teach the new species of squishy, bald, leaky apes how to harness the world around them.
Things worked for a while. Humans began to form their own groups and make new things to make life easier. For a few thousand years, humans co-existed with the world, using magic to make things easier for themselves and those around them. Living in large family groups known as Covens. Now the first ever coven can’t truly be known. But by the time they were recording history, the largest and oldest recorded Coven was the Coven of Eden. A prideful group. There was no way of telling if they were truly the first Coven, but dear lord they claim to be. What started out as a group with a focus of agriculture and nurturing the land grew to become boastful. Making large claims about how their wild magic was the purest in the land. How this tree they nurtured, the “First Tree”, was the true origin of magic. Was it a magic tree? Yes. At least in the sense that it had magic flowing through it, and just helped accelerate healing if you drank the sap. But their claim was that it was the first organic piece of magic. The first thing that ever grew.
By the point where the Coven of Eden’s boasting was becoming a problem with some of the other Covens, Eridians had withdrawn. Humans had lost their use for their mentors, so the connection began to fade. There wasn’t any large war between the two species. It was a slow, gradual migration. Eridians began to move underground, living in environments of concentrated magic. As time passed, humans and Eridians couldn’t really coexist. As magic became less about nurturing each other and the Earth, and more about personal gain and building up one’s strength to dick over opposing Covens, their magic became…weaker. And as Eridians took time to live closer to the earth and focus more on the survival of their own, their own magic grew. It got to the point where the raw magic pulsing through an Eridian could harm a human at bare contact. Rumors spread of incidents where an Eridian would wander out, come across a human in need, and as the Eridian would try to take the child out of the river, or prop of the old woman who fell, the direct contact caused issues. Skin would bloom with moss and flowers, but illness would fade. Crystals would sprout, but the broken leg would mend. But this of course scared people.
Eventually, even the concept of Covens started to fade. As groups became larger, and started to settle into permanent settlements, the connection to the Earth and to each other faded. Magic was becoming rarer. Not impossible, but instead of every human or 1 in 3 having abilities, it was closer to 1 in 10. Years ago, Covens were well known to feud with each other. But in this new age, descendants of the Coven of Sami, originally a coastal Coven known for fishing and keeping their respective ecosystem in balance, lived in cities and towns with descendants of the Coven of Berg, an olden Coven who used to live in the highest, driest peaks. But going back 10 generations, the two were so violently opposed together that blood was shed leading back to some minor squabble from 10 more generations back. So, in all the societal progression, Covens dissolving to coexist in towns and cities, there weren’t the worries of “we have to keep these two Covens separated at the next feast”, issues of who stole whose runes for growing radish, and the classic “no daughter of mine will marry someone from Eden” anymore. 5 large cities had since formed around the continent, with wild magic Covens being harder and harder to come across.
The most magic heavy and prestigious, was Northkeep. The years of forest magic and silly melodic stone mentors were long gone. Sure, the city was advanced, and huge, but compared to the strength of a magic human when they first mastered the skill, things were…down. For centuries, it was customary for spellcasting to be done with the left arm, since it was linked to one’s heart. But as people evolved, society was made, and the creeping, shadowy grasp of new-age magical capitalism set in, that changed. As issues arose with Covens not wanting to conform and assimilate into “civilized society”, to the point where fearmongering against them was common. Small things about how they’re savage and unrefined grew into stories about them being dangerous. In an attempt to regulate magic within the city, lies were spread about how dangerous it was to use raw, wild magic. The promotion of magic infused artifacts was pushed as a way to diffuse magic safely out from your body. Of course, that wasn’t true. The end goal was to separate themselves from wild magic and Covens as much as they could.
Everything had to be as advanced yet sanitized as it could be. Magic was no longer something passed down by family members like cherished recipes, but was something taught in school, with a curriculum. To teach how to use their artifacts and how to find your special little corner of magic so you can become the hyper-individualist, corporate worker that your city needs. Promoted by the premier magic school in the city, and hell, the world, Northkeep University. All of it funded by a council of mages. A band of dorks in blood-red robes that acted as a fucked up school admin, and a fucked up government. They were so far divorced from the origins of magic that society was built to make magic something only the rich and powerful could truly use. To make the average person’s magic be nothing more than something that could help with dishes, or could be trained for a specific career to have for the rest of your life. While the Mages got to diffuse their magic into smaller things like rings and arm cuffs.
Everything was precariously balanced on a stack of lies, misinformation, and blissful ignorance. Issues had happened in the past. People question the validity of the University, the need for artifacts. And instead of, of course, addressing the issue because that would mean they had to admit fault, they would put on some bullshit pageantry. It started with holidays, festivals. Small things to give people an excuse to drink and party, and ignore the original issue. Then that wasn’t enough.
So they introduce the Knights. Magic-using warriors. War wasn’t all too common, so they were less there to fight and die miles from home, and more to prance around in plumed helmets and be showered by patriotic love. They act as guards most of the time when they’re not being boosted on pedestals. Sometimes, there have been cases of special hunts, monsters in the woods that they’re sent after, or knights being disgraced and forced to go out questing to regain their honor. But it was seen as a “way out” to aspiring magicians. They could join training, be knighted, and be gifted gauntlets. Gauntlets that dampened less magic, and allowed you to get a leg up, be praised, be recognized.
But then the monsters truly came. Creatures like Unicorns, Jackalopes, general vague Fae, Merfolk, those types of creatures were common. Evolved alongside humans, and although rare, it meant that seeing one wasn’t usually cause for concern. Knights had gone out on quests and hunts for your casual Werewolf or Dragon often enough. But then sightings of odd, humanoid creatures began to crop up around outer villages close to Northkeep. Men with bloody antlers and stumbling on hooves. A wolf, missing patches of fur, and when killed by some farmer, it was found to have nearly human organs. Creature after creature. Nothing seemed to be the same. No two of these new monsters were ever exactly alike. People grew suspicious, and Knights were being sent out more and more often on disgrace quests. So they needed a new distraction. In a time of uncertainty, the people needed a pillar of hope. And what better way to quell the panicking population with someone who they could rely on to protect them, but would keep things docile.
A man. News spread about a new Knight. Most Knights started training at 16, but he started at 13. If there was a Knight equivalent of a queen bee, royal jelly and all. Simon. None of the common people had seen him yet, but the hype built around his debut and the protection he’d bring was exciting to the people. People grew attached to the idea of a shining savior of the city. The Knights were a big deal, but the idea of this new stronger prodigy had the city buzzing with hope. But even then, things couldn’t last. Sad news shook the city when it broke that he went missing. The story was, it was his final trial before he could become publicly knighted. A beast had been spotted in the waters outside of Lakeport, a bustling shipping town, and he’d been tasked to keep the people safe and take it down. But he never returned. There were other Knights with him, but none made it back. Townspeople reported watching a flash of red light, the other Knights toppling into the water, and Simon being dragged off by the monster to the old lighthouse.
Lakeport now lays empty, Northkeep’s panic is at an all time high, and the monsters are more frequent. It’s gotten to the point where laws had to be passed to ensure that citizens, no matter how strong they thought their magic was, had to stay away. “For their own safety”.