Age of Sorcia

Era of Man / Second Age / ~550-900 SA
In the centuries that followed the establishment of the wizard city-state Sorcia, its power only grew across Valdemar. Monopolizing the critical pass between Heart Vale and the Storm Coast gave the Sorcians great wealth, and their influence spread to all the provinces. Towering spires rose above the city scape, and magical academies were created around what are known today as the various “Schools of Magic”. Many wizards today credit these years as the golden age of magic for humanity, where ancient secrets were rediscovered and new heights of magic were reached. As the power of Sorcia rose, so did the collective concern and worry from the other human kingdoms of Valdemar. Smaller wizard rebellions and uprising became more and more common outside of Sorcia, and these kingdoms worried that Sorcia would use those events as pretexts for invasion and ‘liberation’ of the suffering wizards.

Around 850 SA these tensions reached a boiling point as the various kingdoms across the continent feared the wizard city state would conquer them all. All out war was inevitable and erupted and spread quickly. When Sorcia was first attacked, they responded with many times the force and became emboldened, attacking and razing cities and kingdoms around their nation. Soon, there existed a region of devastation for many hundreds of miles in all directions from the borders of Sorcia. Not long after, even as the assaults against the wizard city stopped, Sorcia continued to lay waste to armies and cities of those that had opposed them. It looked as if the fears of the Valdemari kingdoms would come true. Then, the wood elves came to the rescue of humanity, and joined forces against what was perceived as the greedy and irresponsible wizards of Sorcia, using their power to conquer instead of protect.

The combined forces of the remaining human armies and wood elves pushed back the Sorcian forces. The magic battles caused terrible destruction, but once their wizards were occupied, the tired and less trained mercenary armies of Sorcia faltered against the more well trained armies they opposed. As their forces were pushed all the way back to the city of Sorcia itself, the wizards enacted one last act of defiance. They conducted a powerful ritual meant to gather great magical power to unleash against their foes, or perhaps shield their city, but instead it drained all the life from the environment, rendering the surrounding area a cold desert where nothing lives. The energy collected was indeed unleashed, but in a terrible explosion that left what was once Sorcia a great crater at the center of the newly named Sorcian Desert.

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