Timeline of Major Historical Events

Circa 400 B.E. - Elemental Lords first appear.

362 B.E. - The True Flame, an order of fire mages pledged to Logi, holds its first gathering. This is the first organization to dedicate its service to an elemental.

245 B.E. Tensions between two groups pledged to Geb, Dwarves and Elves, begin to rise.

243 B.E. - Dwarf-Elven Wars begin.

232 B.E. - Dwarf-Elven Wars end. The conflict solidifies a split between the two groups.

69 B.E. - Logi creates the first magical dynamo, which, while short-lived, are used by the True Flame to unleash unprecedented destruction with their fire magic.

67 B.E. - Dwarven engineers invent housing for magic dynamos, enabling them to persist indefinitely. They use the captured energy to power the first airship.

66 B.E. - Tensions rise between Earth and Wind; Aeolus's order perceives airships as an invasion into their domain.

65 B.E. - Geb fights Aeolus at the Azoth Highlands. This is the first direct involvement of the Elemental Lords in mortal wars, and is regarded as the "official" beginning of the Elementomachy.

49 B.E. - Logi and Leviathan clash in Kan-Abar. Logi's power forms the Kanian desert.

37 B.E. - The Etherium sweeps south from Ulund with a massive undead army. Raijin stops them. Logi and Raijin fight Hecate and Leviathan; the battle creates the Southeastern Wasteland.

23 B.E. - Geb attempts to defend the Dwarven empire at Tarun Gakth. The dwarves ask the elves for aid, but the elves ignore the call for help. Aeolus destroys the dwarven civilization with the help of Hyperion. In retaliation, Geb raises the volcano at Isle Imil, the eruption of which takes the floating Xile Islands out of the war for 5 years.

18 B.E. - Hyperion, Raijin, Logi, and Aeolus forge an alliance, claiming themselves the Greater Elements. Geb, Hecate, and Leviathan go to Erebus, and beg for his aid.

17 B.E. - Hyperion strikes Erebus directly, fearing his involvement in the war. Their clash creates the ring of mountains at what is now the Ring City.

16 B.E. - With his home destroyed, Erebus moves north, and clashes with Aeolus. The Wind Lord's power creates Windfury Valley.

2 B.E. - The magic-less space around Nelmar is created by a battle between Hecate and Raijin.

1 B.E. - At this time, all the Lesser Elemental Lords have been defeated but for Erebus.

0 A.E. - Erebus attacks all four of the Greater Elemental Lords, and the Elementomachy ends with the Mutual Annihilation Event. The release of energy carves out what is now Gateway Channel.

2 A.E. - The remnants of the Black hand march on Xile. The Sky-Sever is cast, almost completely destroying both the Black Hand and Aeolus's Order.

4 A.E. - All flying birds and many insects are extinct.

5 A.E. The chaos following the fall of the Elemental Lords intensifies. Many countries disintegrate entirely. Much technology and magical knowledge is lost in the scramble for both power and stability.

57 A.E. - The remaining angels of the Dawnflight found the Ring City.

61 A.E. - The remaining members of the True Flame found Kan-Abar.

67 A.E. - Archon is founded by the remnants of The Etherium.

71 A.E. - Heavensgate is founded.

102 A.E. - The Empire of the Light is formally united under the rule of the Ring City.

134 A.E. - Detson is founded by the remnants of the Stormcaller Council.

189 A.E. - The warlord Vahn Duman unites Temerland.

236-242 A.E. - First Archonian-Imperial War. Detson works against Archon and founds Kelvere.

245 A.E. - Vahn Duman dies. Temerland is caught in an extensive civil war and fractures into many smaller countries. It remains divided until the appearance of the Black Lady.

344-357 A.E. - Second Archonian-Imperial War. Kelvere expands its borders. Archon creates vampires, werewolves, and orcs, attempts to create magically-enhanced soldiers. On the verge of defeat, it rediscovered summoning techniques lost since the Elementomachy, bringing the war into an uneasy stalemate.

405 A.E. - The Flint family, descendents of Aeolus's Order, settle on the border between Archon and the Empire.

406-427 A.E. - Third Archonian-Imperial War.

504 A.E. - The Keystone of Atlantis is discovered in the Atlantean Swamps by Tilian Deva.

506 A.E. - Atlantis is founded.

559 A.E. - Yi Fang takes power in Archon.

561 A.E. - Archon unleashes the Spirit Blight on the Empire. Beginning of the 60-Years War.

574 A.E. - The Black Lady first consolidates her forces at Emire.

613 A.E. - Western Archon rebellion begins, lead by Sebastian Flint. The Black Lady effectively controls 2/3 of Temerland.

616 A.E. - The House of Flint establishes the country of Arland.

618 A.E. - The armistice between Archon and the Empire is signed, with both sides pledging to assist the other to stop the expanding forces of the Black Lady. End of the 60-Years War.

619 A.E. The Empire of the Light, Ulund, Arland, Kelvere, Imil, and Felnoir sign the Alliance of the Light, pledging themselves to mutual defense in the event of an attack.

620 A.E. - The Black Lady consolidates rule over all Temerland. It is renamed Vampiria.

621 A.E. - The Shadow War begins. The Empire and Archon preemptively strike Vampiria through Windfury Valley.

622 A.E. - The Black Lady's forces use summoning magic - previously monopolized by Archon - to bring the war to a stalemate.

647 A.E. - Archon uses mass summoning magic to counter the Lady's forces. The Lady raises an undead army in response. The two summoned armies meet north of Gaphold. The battle between the Black Lady and Sandalphon creates the Lady's Finger.

648 A.E. - Unsummoned demons pour from the Nether through the rip in space at the bottom of the Finger. Both armies work together to stem the tide and patch the breech.

650 A.E. - Both sides pledge not to use summoning magic in open warfare. Demonclaw and Gaphold are constructed.

653 A.E. - With both sides exhausted, large-scale hostilities cease without treaty or armistice. End of the Shadow War.

657 A.E. - The Alliance of the Light begins to rotate its garrisons in the Frontier. Each country, with Archon, donates troops to man the front lines.

669 A.E. - Construction finishes on The Wall, a defensive barrier capping Windfury Valley. The empire responds by building Wallfront, a military city near the entrance to the valley.

703 A.E. - Present day. Your story begins.

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Archon and the Empire - The Long Armistice

Any discussion of the prevailing tensions between these two great kingdoms is necessarily rooted in their founding...

You skim past a bit of introductory bits.

The foundation of the two major kingdoms of the first centuries after the Elementomachy was set by the deciding battles between the Hyperion's Host, Aeolus's Order, and the remnants of the Black Hand and the Spirit Union. In short order, the Black Hand and Aeolus's remaining knights destroyed one another; the one using the atmosphere itself as a last-ditch defense but ultimately causing the instability which still plagues airships to this day. The Sky-Severing ultimately dampened the long-distance influence of the Empire, perhaps, in the long run, allowing Archon to persist longer than it would have otherwise...

...you skim a bit more.

Today, Archon is a refuge for many mages, and they make no lawful discrimination between each element. This liberal policy has since been adopted by Kan-Abar, though more conservative factions such as the elves and imperial-aligned countries Arland and Uland remain staunchly opposed to blatant acts of undead animation and demon summoning, especially after the Nether-breech created by rampant summoning during the Shadow War. Archon relies on its magical might to maintain its long-decayed borders, and the threat of a magic-heavy war ensures that the Empire respects the armistice. Archon itself has grown more isolated over time, and concerns itself little with external politics aside from a token force donated to the frontier. The country and people focus more on self-improvement and fortification against what is seen as an inevitable attack by the Empire. Whether these concerns are justified remains to be seen.

Archon itself is ruled by a military council of their most powerful battlemages, currently headed by Archmage Yi Fang. Archmage Fang's rule flies in the face of his neighbors, as he himself is a lich and has been in power for several hundred years. His magical talent rivals that of individual angels; it can be observed that the Ring City often treads lightly around events in which he is involved, though they openly deny any cooperation or even regular contact. The only consistent communication between Archon and its neighbors are the occasional but inevitably ineffectual diplomatic meetings concerning the ongoing armistice.

The armistice capped the 60-Year War, a long series of smaller conflicts and spurts of fighting between the empire and Archon. Begun in 561 A.E. with the Archonian Spirit Blight, only two years after Yi Fang took power, skirmishes continued and spread into outright battle for positions of strength along the borders of the two countries. The response of the Empire and Ring City to the Blight itself - a more liberal acceptance of Earth and Water mages - ultimately spelled doom for Archon's greater kingdom.

A long unnoticed effect of the Sky-Sever was the lineage isolation of the empire's forests. After most birds went instinct due to the aggressive nature of the Sky-Sever, many species of trees that relied on avian creatures to spread their seeds rapidly regressed. The Blight took advantage of this lack of diversity in the stands and woods to fundamentally undermine the economy and livelihood of vast swaths of the empire.

The angelic response was simple, but effective. Over about a decade, during which the forests decayed nearly to the state of the southeastern wastelands, they consolidated and trained their latent Water and Earth mages, which had heretofore been suppressed and tightly controlled. The men and women of the two lesser elements transformed the Blighted forests into productive farmland, removing the trees and their disease altogether. Rather than fight the environmental attack, the angels accepted it and twisted it into an advantageous transition, and reduced their own social inflexibility regarding the lesser elements. This policy also helped bring a rising Atlantian city-state in the east under the widening wings of the Empire.

The new farmlands produced more food at less cost, fueling a population explosion over a generation and a half in the Empire and Archon. The increased population, in turn, increased competition between the two great combatants for territory and natural resources. The land Archon itself had Blighted was now the breadbasket of the world at large, and they felt compelled to risk resources trying to take it back. These major events formed the backing justifications for the 60-Year War, which continued for nearly five more decades.

In 613 A.E., Yi Fang was widely purported to have made himself into a lich to strengthen his magic and maintain his grip on internal Archon politics. While he did solidify his position, and his undeath remained officially unrecognized, public perception of him went from bad to worse. It proved the cue for the powerful Mage-Knight, Sebastian Flint, lead West Archon in a rebellion against its now undead king. The Lord Flint was descended from a notable lineage, including one of the few survivors of Aeolus's Order after the casting of the Sky-Sever. With the support of the Ring City, the House of Flint was successful and established the country of Arland.

With a new enemy on its flank, Archon was pressed into a corner. Yi Fang met with the angels and the new Lord of Arland in 618 A.E. at the city of Vischon. While the lich king refused an outright peace treaty, the rise of Vampiria helped push him into the armistice that has stood for 85 years.

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Keystone of Atlantis

The Keystone refers to the magical artifact discovered circa 504 A.E. by Tilian Deva, the founder of Atlantis. The Atlantians by tradition lived nomadic lives in their swampy homeland, and many still do - but the stone provided a means to purify and produce vast quantities of fresh water. Ironically, though the swamp holds large amounts of water, most of it was stagnant and undrinkable. The Keystone has allowed for the rapid development and success of the city of Atlantis, giving rise to a kingdom heavily reliant on water magic. The rise of a 'lesser element' just next-door to the Empire of the Light was met with heavy trepidation by the Ring City.

Despite early worries, Atlantis was consistently and insistingly benevolent. Early diplomatic missions arranged stable, profitable trade agreements, and it wasn't long before any noble worth his salt in Heavensgate had his kitchen stocked with rare spices and fruits from the Atlantian jungles. Atlantis maintained a carefully neutral position between Archon and the empire as long-unresolved tensions slowly developed into the 60-Year War.

The war itself forced Atlantis and the empire to set aside any remaining differences to combat the Blight, which, after chewing through the empire's forests, began to eat away at the edge of the Atlantian swamps. Atlantis turned into exactly what the empire needed - a bastion of water mages that could retrain the suppressed potential of the empire's magical core. This solidified friendly relationships between the two countries, and Atlantis continued to provide logistical support for the rest of the war.

Recently, the Deva 'Clan', as the houses of Atlantis still refer to themselves, have pioneered an innovative exchange program between its nobles and those of the empire to further reduce old tensions, as well as donating many mages to the Frontier in the ongoing war between the southern nations and Vampiria. These efforts have been effective in winning the tolerance of the Angelic Council and the friendship of the empire's population.

The origins of the Keystone itself are still unknown, and, while open and inviting on other matters, Atlantis keeps their artifact under a very close guard, permitting mages from neither Archon nor the empire to investigate its nature. However, it is - as noted by many top minds in the field - among the most powerful magical artifacts in the world, perhaps as powerful as several dynamos combined. Its powers are not limited to purification by any means, and though the vision of the first King Deva turned it into a constructive force, rather than a destructive one, the threat of its unleashed might keeps the Ring City wary.

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The Rise and Expansion of Vampiria

The story of the use of magic in search of a font of eternal life (as opposed to lich-dom) itself could fill a book; for our purposes, it will suffice to say that vampires were the accidental result of one such experiment gone awry. While the exact origin of this shadowy creature are unclear, they appeared soon after the begining of the Second Archonian-Imperial War, leading many experts to believe that they were at least in part an attempt to create magically-enhanced humans for battle.

Vampires have always been an elusive type of creature. While strong in the right conditions, and highly regenerative, they are exceptionally weak to most magic, especially Light. As they cannot survive in sunlight and rely on a constant supply of blood to live, their prolonged secrecy in human populations quickly becomes a problem. Furthermore, their high innate concentrations of spirit and shadow magic are easily detected by most mages, so Vampires proved no danger to civilization at large. With such clear weaknesses, a mage wouldn't easily fall prey to vampirism; either they would cure themselves of the disease before it overtook them, or they'd simply slay the creature outright.

Wild vampires themselves were long thought extinct for centuries - until the right conditions made them into something greater. It is commonly held that the Black Lady herself is the exception to the rule - a mage that was infected with vampirism, and was never cured. As such, she possesses the many strengths of the vampire, and all the light-resisting might of a powerful Shadow mage.

The name Temerland once described the region beyond the Valendrak peaks. Temerland is still known for its long, cold winters, and short but fierce summers. Competition for resources, mainly dependable, arable land, kept the whole region, itself a smattering of smaller countries, in a near constant state of warfare. Bogged down in the 60-Years War, the two great powers Archon and the Empire of the Light were too busy fighting to notice the Lady's growing influence in this northern region until it was too late to easily unseat her.

The Black Lady herself is a mystery. At some point in time, she arrived and settled in Emire, an outpost near the seas surrounding The Frozen Hand. Being frozen for the majority of the year, it was hardly a bustling port, and the Lady's magics in the isolated region quickly won her popular favor. A cult formed around her and her strong shadow magic, though the exact time-frames involved and to what extend she encouraged the events are still a matter of scholarly contention.

Coincidentally, the populace of the northernmost country in Temerland were tiring of prolonged conflict between themselves and their southern neighbor, as well as the steadily increasing tax rates demanded of them to pay for the war. When the old king died in 574 A.E., the power transition proved fatal to the ruling family. To consolidate his rule, the king's son tightened his grip on the populace by conscripting soldiers - taking young men that were desperately needed to break the frozen ground each spring to scrape enough from the land to pay their rising tithes. The resulting popular dissent propelled the Black Lady into a competing position of power in a matter of weeks, and she was quick to seize control.

Spurred on by the inner turmoil of its neighbor, three southern countries turned their attention north to hack off chunks of territory for themselves. The Black Lady's response was swift and brutal. Mages were few and far between in Temerland - both Archon and the Empire had extensive recruiting networks to cull them from the general population. The Lady's battle power was vastly unopposed, and the mages that did exist were quick to submit. By the time of Sebastian Flint's rebellion against Archon toward the end of the 60-Years War in 613 A.E., the Lady controlled nearly two-thirds of Temerland.

The remaining countries united against her, but it was at this time that the Lady unleashed a new and powerful strategy - that of turning her greatest generals and mages into vampires intentionally. With her magical protection, they were freed from most of the weaknesses of the vampire, excepting the need to avoid sunlight, which is purportedly a weakness even the Black Lady has not overcome. However, with these superhuman leaders commanding her armies, she quickly swept the rest of Temerland up into her control. It was during these final battles that the Lady's troops began flying a new flag of their own design, rather than the flags of the individual countries that were united under her rule. The Lady was quick to jump on the development, officially establishing the country of Vampiria in 620 A.E.

Six months later, the Empire and Archon would finally turn to face this new foe, and even the elves, quietly and peacefully isolated on their islands, would not be spared the ravages of the Shadow War.

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The Sky-Sever

The origins of the spell lie in the continued war fought directly after the Elementomachy, the final clash of the Elemental Lords themselves. Aeolus's Order, pressed back to their floating stronghold above where now lies the Great Forest, used this massive spell as a last-resort maneuver against the invading forces of the Black Hand, the remnants of Erebus's self-proclaimed army (as is noted elsewhere, Erebus had only limited interaction with even his own followers). The Black Hand had hoped to take the greatly reduced Order by surprise following the Mutual Annihilation Event, and capture the islands of Xile to function as a floating castle from which to attack. The Sky-Sever was wildly successful - but the backlash almost completely annihilated both the Order and the Hand.

The Sky-Sever can be compared to a magical dynamo, which is a stabilized magical singularity: a self-sustaining, self-contained feedback loop of magical energy. The Sky-Sever itself was a spell so strong that it literally turned the air above Venia into a permanent dynamo. Anything that attempts to fly - disconnected from the ground - for more than a minute or so is quickly attacked by winds capable of ripping apart solid steel. As such, much of an airship's power goes toward magical shielding, and the hull of airships has to be reinforced by adamantium to withstand the pressure. The name came from researcher groups out of Archon, aptly titled for its severing the denizens of Venia from access to the sky.

The core of the dynamo, the islands of Xile, are now surrounded by a sphere of hurricane-force winds miles wide. The magic itself is visible on clear days, high above the Great Forest. Attempts to reach the legendary isles and its rumored treasures and stores of knowledge have spanned attempts both mundane and magical. Such misadventures are as numerous as they are universally futile; not even the airships of the Ring City can near the cyclone without terrible consequence.

Following is a brief description of various experiments involving the spell, as well as the latest theories as to the sigil mechanics involved in its casting. It is commonly held that the spell was probably impossible without direct sacrifice of wind-mage souls to bring forth energy from the Nether, a variation of blood magic that is, today, forbidden.

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Nelmar

Nelmar is a unique place in the world. For 23 miles surrounding the core of the sprawling coastal city, magic does not work.

The nature of this irregularity in the world is clear; Nelmar is the site at which the Elemental Lord of Spirit, Hecate, was finally chased down by Raijin, the Elemental Lord of Lightning. After the Etherium was defeated in battle, Hecate fled, and was eventually pinned and brought low by the Lord of Lightning. The exact nature or even the results of their battle are unknown. It is commonly recognized that the Mutual Annihilation Event was the deciding end to the age of the Elementals, and so it is possible Hecate survived this conflict in at least some form.

Spiritual Magic is multifaceted. It deals with the mind and spirit, and is heavily related to summoning; its touch is light, highly functional, and extremely specialized. The Spirit mage often does not destroy his enemies as much as he corrupts and subverts them. Lightning magic lacks all of this subtlety. While it can deftly bend and control metals in the right hands, lightning is fast, explosive and destructive. Unlike the other elements, which oppose each other in magic as much as physical nature, Lightning and Spirit oppose each other in a more nuanced manner. This unique relationship among the elemental opposites is thought to be responsible for the literal destruction of magic in and around Nelmar.

Magic energy itself is channeled from the nether. Mages use spells - be it through chanted word, drawn sigils, or gesture - to bring forth and direct this energy. The clash of Lightning - purified destruction - with Spirit, the element with the greatest link to the nether itself through summoning magic - then can be more reconciled with the destruction of whatever mechanism of nature attaches the nether to our world. At Nelmar, this mechanism has been burned and bruised.

This theory is given credence by the fact that any mage that travels into Nelmar loses their magic forever. It is thought that their inner connection to the Nether is somehow damaged. Angels, however, have proved an exception to this rule; they can come and go without losing their gift. However, their spells still fail while they remain inside the dead region.

Many mages and alchemists have attempted to discern the nature of this breakage, but tuck on the outside of the ring, without their normal tools of investigation at their disposal, it has proven a difficult challenge. Only three have dared intentionally enter, and only at the end of their lives, for the sake of magical progress after their retirement.

No physical remnant of the break is evident. Magic spells cast into the break-zone from outside it unravel almost instantly. Summoned creatures vanish if they cross the boundary line, and animated undead fall as lifeless corpses once more. Not even the angels can wield their magic within the region of Nelmar.

A noted fire mage, Holden Fezt, writes on traveling into Nelmar with the angel Metatron:

"The barrier between Nelmar and the world is clearly marked - the paranoid mundane folk within have their little territory surrounded by a high, thick wall...upon entering, I could not so much as produce a spark. Whatever was in me that could produce magic was gone in an instant. I felt a sense of loss, then, profound loss. I did not expect it, at my age, but something in me still cared to see fire dance from finger to finger, that old exercise for younglings...it was what made me special, what made me unique - and it was dead, without so much as a whimper.

"But what happened to Metatron was more remarkable: his wings, which I had assumed were a permanent appendage, shrunk and vanished. The sigils on his steel casing, ever-glowing, faded and went dark. He himself took his helmet off and looked at it in wonder.

"I learned, then, why my friend always wore his seamless suit of armor. He was terribly, horribly scarred, skin marked as if twisted faces had arisen and wormed up through his skin. He has worn that armor for over 6 centuries, of course - so long that he didn't realize my surprise until he looked up. Realization passed over his features, and he smiled grimly. He replaced his helmet, which, even without magic, was still carefully molded to his features, and then related to me the awful disease cast upon him by the combined power of a Shadow and Earth mage during the Elementomachy. The angel Michael, that great healer, had halted its deadly progression, but even he could not reverse the external effects.

"I wonder, which is the more frightening? A world with magic, or a world without?"

The city itself is under the strict control of the empire, governed under the greater territory of Ulund. In the popular mind, Nelmar is famous for its mighty prison, Zaubstein, which holds some of the world's worst criminals, including mages who have abused their magic, as well as being the final stop of the Tri-Arena circuit. Below the hilltops on which the prison is situated rests a prosperous and booming metropolis. Many who prefer to live without magic have since immigrated within its territory; anti-magic sentiment runs high in the city.

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Notes on Ritual Summoning

Ritual summoning reduces the magical input and maintenance required by the mage. In exchange for a long period of preparation, great creatures can be summoned even by those will little raw magical power. Instant-summoning spells require strength of will and mana, so ritual summoning is a good starting point for any mage, regardless of natural talent.

A warning: ritual summoning should not be attempted alone. Any summoning circles should be checked and rechecked a MINIMUM of 5 times to ensure accuracy and safety. Unless experienced, do not summon demons with power or influence over mind or emotions; such demons will readily sieze any opportunity to make their summoner lower his defenses.

Ritual summoning consumes the reagents it requires. The summon in question can be maintained indefinitely, as long as the user has some mana remaining. Unlike normal summons, the presence of the creature does not continually drain mana. However, they do not take orders like normal summons, either. Their presence is governed instead by the command structure built into the summoning ring. The creature summoned will respond ONLY to this command structure - a potential weakness, when comparing ritual summoning to raw summoning.

Rituals, in short, must be constructed with the greatest caution. New mages SHOULD NOT deviate from tried-and-true ritual circles in any fashion, and any deviations to achieve new effects should ALWAYS be checked by another individual.

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Jen Fang's Diary, discovered in the workshop under Abigail's farmhouse:
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We've traveled far. I'm pretty sure this is the most obscure village in Kelvere. Yi Fang's agents will have trouble finding us. I used every trick in the book to conceal our path.

The townspeople have accepted us readily. I know some simple healing techniques, so blending in as a farmer and sometime apothecary should be simple. No one else here farms turnips, it'll be easy to story-up a bit about how they're healthy, or somesuch.

Zek'ata is nearly at nine months. I still can't believe the humanization worked. I love her so much...the woman who will bear my child.

If it's a boy, we've both agreed to Jonathan. If a girl, I want Laura, but she wants Abigail. I think that's a name for old witches, but she's really twisting my arm about it.
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Something's under this town. Zek'ata says she can feel it too...she wants us to keep our distance. My old scientific curiosity has tried to get the best of me, but I'm a family man, now. Such a thing is best left where it is, I think. Sealed and buried.

It was that curiosity that got me where I am now. It was that urge to keep pressing beyond limits, to cross lines that hadn't been crossed...never again.

Abigail is 5...she's positively glowing. Very popular amongst the other children, when she sees them.

I don't have the words to describe my happiness. I won't do anything that could disturb the peace I've scraped together for this child.
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A new pastor arrived from the seminary down outside Evinbrook, a man named Jonathan. He's some primitives of light magic about him. I've already taken the necessary precautions, and I'm not worried. Still, I'm glad Abigail's not a baby anymore. Her powers sparked up more than a bit when she got to crying. I'm tracking her condition carefully, as her mother is certainly unique, but other than a very strong bent for Spirit magic, she seems normal. Thank whatever gods there be for that.

Abby is strong...I think, when she's ten, I'll begin her training. Until then, asking her to keep it quiet, and safe, should be enough.
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Zek'ata has caught the plague, and now she's bedridden. She shouldn't have gone to the market. The turnips were getting boring, but Abby was fine. And now this.

I didn't think that was possible. The humanization gave her human weaknesses, too. I've raged at myself all day.

The spell controlling this thing is powerful. Exceedingly so. It's like nothing I've ever seen...old, old magic.

I've been feeling unwell. Achy, sniffling. There's no time to be angry. I've got to find a way to reverse it before it's too late. For now, I've told Abby to stay in the parlor room, and not to come in under any circumstances. She's a good girl...she cried, and that has never been pleasant for my ears, but in the end, she listened.

My lab sits before me. I've written enough. Time for work. I haven't done any serious research in some time...hope I've still got it.
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I think I've found it. I've modified an undeath spell...it should reject the magic that's killing us through sheer incompatibility. Sigils that cancel one another out. Normally, I'd try to rebalance the thing, but it's designed with that in mind. Every time I try to meet it, it changes, reacting to what I'm going. Casting more magic on top of it is risky, but it's all I can do.

Zek'ata is at death's door, and I'm getting closer...it's hard to think straight. I'll cast it on us both, tonight. And if there is a Light spirit watching over us all...I pray it has mercy on a Spirit mage, just this once.
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Scrawled on the inside cover:

"To Jen Fang, my dearest brother. Congratulations on your graduation from the Archonium. I have high hopes for you, and will continue to support your growth and happiness."

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The Zombie that could Talk

Once there was a zombie that could talk.
Though it still had trouble walking.
The zombie's name was Bob.

Bob remembered his former life as a normal human...
...and he decided that he no longer wanted to be a zombie. But,
Zombies can't die. So Bob decided to hack off his head and be done with it!

But Bob knew of a poisoned well that was hurting his town.
So before he died, he drank up all the poisoned water. And it didn't hurt him, because he was a zombie.

And he knew about a nasty wolf that was hurting the town's cattle.
So before he died, he went and killed the wolf, and left its pelt for his old family;
The wolf was afraid of a zombie, so he wasn't even hurt.

And Bob knew about some construction work that needed doing for a new family.
So, over several nights, he built five new houses, and a barn, and a fence for an entire new pasture!
Because, after all, zombies are very strong, and don't get tired.

And by the time he was done, the townsfolk cried out to Bob, "Bob, don't go! You're a good zombie!"

And Bob merely replied, "A good zombie is still a zombie. It's not right to live forever like this, moldy and smelly, so I have to go, though I love you, my town."

And so Bob took a sword from the town garrison, and walked to the graveyard, and hacked off his own head.
And his friends and family and neighbors mourned for his loss.

But even with time, they were always reminded of the zombie that could talk,
Because where Bob died, beautiful flowers grew every year.

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The Magic Turnip

Farmer Brown wanted to grow turnips, but his land wouldn't yield them.

His neighbors told him to dig up all the rocks, to till the soil, and preen the weeds, and use manure to restore the ground, or try growing other crops first, and to remove those old stumps from his field.

But that all sounded like too much to farmer Brown.

One day, a traveling alchemist passed through the town. Hoping he might have something to help, Farmer Brown asked the man for anything that could help a plant grow.

The old alchemist produced a bright-green tincture. "Perfected over many years." Farmer Brown reluctantly exchanged his coins for the potion, but the alchemist held it back at the last moment and raised a crooked finger. "I warn you now: this is strong. But one drop for an acre will net you a fair harvest. And make sure you put it in the dirt itself - nowhere else."

Farmer Brown nodded, and took the tincture - but he wasn't really listening. After all, he thought, surely a farmer knows best about how to grow crops.

He ran back to his farm, excited to test it as soon as possible. Of his many shriveled turnips, he had one he was proud of - one that wasn't quite so small and wilted. He popped the cork of the tincture. Briefly, he remembered what the alchemist had said - but surely it wouldn't hurt, just the first time. The fields really needed at lot of work. He let a good portion of the tincture splash over the turnip and soak into the ground, and then he went to bed, hoping to see results the next day.

When Farmer Brown woke, his bed felt funny. He glanced around - then bolted upright! A deep tangle of vines was everywhere! He rummaged for a knife after ripping the vines free of his dresser, hacked his way to the window, and gaped in awe. The turnip had grown into a gargantuan plant larger than his entire house, sprouting up out of the ground like a giant!

He hacked his way out into his fields, and just in time! The turnip slowly fell loose from the soil and toppled into his house, knocking it down in a pile of wood. He bushwhacked his way through his fields and ran back to town, and was just able to catch the alchemist as he was leaving. "Wait, good merchant, wait!"

Farmer Brown explained the situation. The alchemist sighed. "...I've a tincture to undo this problem. But it'll make the land unusable for a whole year."

"Anything that works! It already crushed my house, and the rest of my fields are a jungle!"

"For a fair price..."

Farmer Brown quickly handed over all the rest of his saved money, then guided the alchemist back to his fields, and hacked through the vines to the side of the giant turnip. The alchemist withdrew a blood-red tincture from his robes, and splashed the whole thing on the turnip.

Immediately, the rich color of the turnip turned to slate grey. The magic worked through the plant, through all the vines, turning it all the color of old stone. And then, in a puff of smoke, it all vanished. But Farmer Brown's fields were ruined, and his house was still a wreck.

"...is there anything you can do?" he asked the alchemist.

"No," the alchemist said. And he began to walk off. "You should know better than to think magic can substitute for hard work!"

And from then on, Farmer Brown was the hardest working farmer in the whole village; he slaved from sunup to sundown to rebuild his home and fix his fields. And the next year, his fields sprouted green with turnips.