Two hundred years ago, humanity had already spread out amongst the stars, populating far-off planets with sleeper ships travelling at a respectable fraction of the speed of light. These different colonies found themselves cut off, isolated from the rest of humanity, but they prospered.

One of these sleeper ships came across a planet that had already been inhabited, but then later abandoned. At first, the colonists worried that they had come to a planet already colonised by humans, but they discovered that there were still plenty of resources they could use.

The colonists discovered the body of an alien lifeform. While other colonies had already discovered nonsapient alien life, this one appeared to be a perfect match for the odd technology left behind by the previous . The body was dissected in hopes of learning about how life forms on other planets.

One of the dissection team, famed geneticist Elrick Weir, discovered an odd trait of the corpse. It seemed able to generate a strange form of energy, despite its lfie processes having been halted. Tracking down the source of this strange phenomenon, the team discovered what would later been termed the Weir Gene, a genetic sequence capable of producing energy from nothing.

Decades later, research into the Weir Gene bore fruit. It was discovered that the Weir Energy produced by the gene was capable of being harnessed to perform effects previously thought to be impossible - including faster-than-light travel. This new technology allowed the colonies to finally link up together, forming the Human Commonwealth of Planets.

The Commonwealth grew, spreading throughout the galaxy. Humans had the Weir Gene spliced into their genetic codes, allowing them to produce Weir Energy and perform miraculous feats through sheer willpower. It was discovered that the unique neural pathways required to perform this 'magic' were much easier to form for children than adults - those who started their training at early ages tended to have more flexibility with their abilities than adults.

Fifty years ago, tragedy struck. The original colony planet Doctor Weir had discovered the Weir Gene on was suddenly attacked, the entire surface sterilised with a powerful blast of energy. Members of the alien race, calling themselves 'Magos', appeared, informing humanity that for their sins, the Magos found themselves duty-bound to exterminate them.

The war has been long and brutal. Humanity has lost roughly a third of its colonised worlds to Magos attacks, and is barely able to fend them off. A new breed of combat has begun to emerge, fighting the Magos with their own tactics - fielding powerful Weir Users, or Mages, in deadly combat in the depths of space.