Thirty years have passed since the War of the Empire with the Dark Ones ended. Many things have changed beyond recognition.
Emperor Enric is dead, representatives of the Empire failed to agree on a new successor, Silverie died a year before him, and unfortunately, they did not have children.
Larger cities are turning back to self-government.
The once united Empire is slowly beginning to fall apart again. Everyone for themselves.
The self-governing military group, known as the Wardens of Magic or Mage Watch, grew in size during Enric's reign. Their headquarters are in every major city, they're rumoured to have higher privileges in the Empire than the Imperial Guard itself, and their ranks have grown considerably. Only the high warden knows the real total number of wardens, but it is expected to be thousands of members. With their gained privileges, no state authority is superior to them, no one restricts or controls them, perhaps the only one who can measure with them is the early Gregorian, now renamed Imperial army.
The chaos that occurred after Enric's death, are even they unable to control.
After the Wardens emerged, anyone who had any magical ability, whether it was a candle ignition or wound healing, had to be immediately taken to one of the secret centres known among civilians as "magic school" or "schools of magic".
Most magicians or "mages", according to the wardens' dictionary, as are collectively called people with magical abilities, rather call these places as "dungeons" or "pits".
Obviously, some of the mages ceased to enjoy it, and the first resistance began to emerge. However, these attempts for the freedom of mages were severely punished, torture and executions were no exception. Thanks to the potions that the wardens were pasting on their weapons and armour, that weakened the magical abilities, the rebellious mages were soon destroyed. Later, the mages resorted to hiring all sorts of mercenaries to protect them. The most powerful and feared magicians above all are the necromancers and the strange kind of dark mages. Not the original Dark mages of the Forbidden Territory. The name is derived from them, it is the original art of the Dark Sorcerers, which a handful of very talented magicians have learned. How they did it, is a mystery even for the wardens.
Even the best wardens fear such magicians, it's said that they are drawing their magical power from an alternative source, and the wardens' potions don't work on them. Another worrying fact is that almost nothing is known about the capabilities of these dark wizards, except that they are the strongest of all known. No one survived the clash with the dark mage, or the mage did not. Fortunately, the presence of dark magicians, at least according to the wardens, is absolutely exceptional.
But now a cult of dark magic has come to the surface. The resistance of rebellious magicians of all abilities, which even several dark magicians allegedly command. Their numbers are unknown, they have begun their war for independence. They plunder villages, threaten cities and spread terror throughout the Empire. They are even said to be daring to attack "schools of magic" and accept mages that were closed there. To this day, only a few attacks have been officially confirmed, one of which, according to the wardens, was a successful one.
Mage Watch officers vigorously reject all their demands and embark on open war with the cult.
The Empire is in the hands of these two factions.
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