Maraa the Terrible
In ancient times, humans, Faeries, and all other thinking beings lived on the continent of Tanzia together. Humans possessed majikal abilities which were passed down to their offpsring, friends, or relatives before death. This was done by the ritual of laying on hands. A mere thought and this majik — now referred to as “decisive majik” — could be worked. Mankind needed little technology for civilization, as a person’s majikal talents determined their trade, the basis for a complex economy.
Then, Maraa the Terrible, a human sorcerer, discovered a way to murder others and lay on his hands, stealing their majik for himself. With each murder he became more powerful, consolidating spells, until he became unstoppable.
In time, Maraa enslaved all free people into an empire. With his stolen powers came stolen life, for he gained the youth and vitality of those he killed, storing up years of life for himself.
Maraa erected a capital called Imortum, and there he created the “incarnate spells,” monsters that served him and watched his slaves. These living works of majik are called Servants of Maraa: minotaurs, scarecrows, dark hounds, spook hives, gargoyles, and worse.
As his empire grew, Maraa grasped another secret of sorcery: the hundrab deabscufa bog. Meaning “one hundred shadow hands” in the old tongue, it refers to a self-replicating spell. Once such a spell is cast, it performs its task, then multiplies. Maraa used the hundrab deabscufa bog art to weave spells that would keep creating his minions over and over.
But according to legend, Altaicans and Gremlins eventually worked together to defeat Maraa, sealing him in the Fissure — a cavern of stone deep in the earth — where he would be imprisoned until his years of stolen life ran out.
After the collapse of Maraa’s empire, the majik of humans was banned by the Altaica. The Reign of Maraa had been too terrible. Those whose majik had not been stolen by him died without passing their talents on, so that the last majikal powers of humans would be lost forever. Decisive majik, spells done by force of will, were lost.
Even with Maraa imprisoned, his monsters continued to spawn in Imortum. The once-captive races had their freedom, as long as they could make their territories and strongholds safe from the monsters. Most elected to stay and fight to take Tanzia back from the Servants.
The Tribe That Left
One group of humans and Faeries, however, set sail in hopes of discovering a new land to settle. Sometime during the ninth century, they reached the New World: the Cavendian Isles. There, without monsters, the pilgrims set themselves to building a new civilization. Without majik, they turned to technology for their survival. It started with waterwheels, windmills, and blacksmithing, but over the centuries, Cavendia entered an industrial revolution.
Now, Cavendians live in the warmth of gas lighting and heating. Universities train doctors and engineers. Newspapers are printed twice a day. Railroads cover the isles, and fortunes are made at the stock exchange. The age of machines is a time of optimism and constant invention.
A Tale of Majik & Technology
For nearly a thousand years of isolation, not a whisper has come from Tanzia. Steam ships have allowed Cavendia to discover new continents, such as Sutherbury and Whaler’s Vault. But the ancient continent remains forbidden.
Fears have arisen that technology may have developed in parallel on Tanzia. Have the humans and other races that remained defeated the Servants and prospered? Could they have developed steamships and mechanized guns? Could they have the means to make a conquest of Cavendia if they wished? The way forward has become clear to the Cavendian government: contact the Forbidden Land, before it contacts Cavendia.
Servants and dark majik might still rule Tanzia, but the sorcerer’s monsters were created before the advent of technology. The monsters could destroy men with spears and bows, but they weren’t meant to fight elephant guns and repeating rifles. A modern Cavendian from the Age of Machines would have a fighting chance against any ancient horror.
Two Heroes Are Made
The government needs to send brave and capable explorers to determine what has passed on Tanzia. They must discover what happened to the Gremlins, the Faeries, the Anurans, and the humans who stayed. Did they win the continent back, or were they overcome by Maraa’s Servants?
It is down to Ambassador Chadwick Yates and Commander Thurston Sharp to find out.