0.1 Preface

It is impossible to understand the state of the modern Empire without understanding the Sages, and the world they hail from.

What credible source exist, and the far and few between collected transcriptions of the First Sage tell us that there was advanced civilization on the surface of Oord long before recorded history. Great cities of gleaming metal and glass, and more humans than even this current, most prosperous era.

It's not clear exactly what prototypic form of magic this civilization utilized, but at some point a disaster of impossible scale affected their civilization, mutating magic into the form it exists in today. Society fell^[1], and humanity was reduced to an inarguably lower state of existence, bands of hunters and scavengers roaming the wastes of civilization.

Evidence seems to indicate most early forms of society after the fall revolved around the rare few who had learned to practice Alchemy or Witchcraft. Technology remained scare for centuries, at minimum, with only oral tradition to carry this history of the world that came before.

Master-disciple practices of alchemy passed knowledge down, refining methods of materia and ascendence from base principles, only to be lost to happenstance or rivalry. Ritual covens worshipped the first demons, just as likely to harness the fell creatures as to be violently destroyed by them.

It was in this dark age that the First Sage ascended, attaining immortality via the first transcendent method of self-alchemy. Over the coming centuries, the accumulating knowledge of the First Sage and his attendant faction pulled humanity out of the dark age, reconstructing some measure of stability.

Centuries passed, and it slowly became clear that the ascendance of the First Sage was not simply a matter of simply superior alchemical knowledge and luck, but something deeper. As the written language sprouted anew and generations passed, the First Sage grew distant from their society. They were inarguably above other humans, vastly greater in knowledge, possessing a physical form that could bend tungsten and withstand lava. The affliction that could most harm them was apathy.

Eventually, one of the fractured civilizations descending from the First Sage's country produced a second alchemic immortal. For a time, the Second Sage too elevated civilization, codifying the 17 elements of alchemy^[2] and constructing many great artifacts to ease the material burden of the still largely-barren landscape of the world...

...Even 3 millennia beyond the era of the Second Sage, only Seven Alchemical Sages exist. Although the Sages are beyond humanity in most ways, it is said their minds are still starkly mortal. They are no more above loneliness than any of us, and their lack of peers only alienates them more.

It is for this reason that the Seventh Sage issued the Ascendance Dictate, a comprehensive plan to manipulate the world in an effort to create as many new sages as possible. With the support of the Second and Fifth Sages, the world was largely united under the banner of the New Ascendant Alchemic Empire.

It is still impossible to tell what makes one capable of refining oneself into an immortal, but commonalities are clear between the Sages that exist. Every Sage was educated, even before they became an immortal. Every Sage lived a relatively stable life, with ascendancies seeming to come closer together as quality of civilization improved, with the obvious exception of the Sixth Era. All ascendancies came in times of peace. Every Sage was a leader or figure of societal importance, though many argue whether this is merely a result of other common qualities.

In short, the way to best encourage the qualities that seem to make a Sage is to ensure thorough education for all in science and alchemy, elevate the standard of life as much as possible, ensure world peace, and provide a path for those who excel in alchemy into government. And of course, make sure there are as many people as possible to give yourself more chances.

The darker side of the Dictate is a tale that has been slowly playing out over the ages, the slow ostracization of the Other Magic. Though the Orthopraxy of today barely resembles the demon-calling Witchcraft of ages past, it simply cannot compete in industrial scale against Alchemy. With the release of the Omnes Alchemica, the Seventh Sage's personal self-alchemy guide making it easy to pass the first few and powerful stages of alchemical enhancement, each year there are fewer and fewer practicing or aspiring Praetors.

We live in what is most probably the closest thing to a utopia that has ever existed in the history of Oord, and yet- and yet! We would be truly remiss to not acknowledge the cost that this bears on culture and tradition, on important things that maybe shouldn't just be relics of the past.

All of what we are is the whim of person of incredible power, and maybe that means something.

- Lecture given by Martin Bakal, Tenured Professor of History at Bayfront City College

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