User:PanSola/The hidden history behind the One Year War and the Exodus

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It's been said that history is written by the winners. Sometimes, however, it is also erased by the winners. After Veresh's Nightfall, a new generation of winners has emerged, writing their history. I would like to take this privilege as a winner to explore a different segment of history, a segment which those we call Gods erased when they won a war hidden from our knowledge.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Gandara archives, Prince Mehtu the Wise and the entire staff of Holdings of Chokhin, the Great Library of Kryta, the Imperial Archives of Cantha, the Order of the Sunspears, the Order of Whispers, the Order of the Sky, and the Sea of Sorrows Scuba Diving Guild. Each of them has kindly allowed me access to ancient manuscripts (or fragments of) in their possession to piece together what truly happened eleven hundred years ago.

I do not claim everything I write here is fully accurate. There's too little primary sources that survived from that era, and many often contradict each other or cannot be deciphered. I simply do what I can to put forth a coherent picture. Only the Goddess of Truth would ever know what really went on.

- Sourea of Vabbi, independent scholar

Margonites: The Original
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The script for the award-winning Norgu's Nightfall is on sale! The standard edition is 100 gold, and the Vellum-bound edition is just 500 gold! Also look out for the author's signing event in Honur Hill at the end of the year! The old Margonites were an highly advanced seafaring civilization. They had extensive knowledge of astronomy and mathematics, second only to the Custodians. They even independently developed the study of ethereal numbers (they called it "imaginary numbers") before magic and ether were bestowed upon the world! A number of mathematical theorems and astronomical claims from ancient Margonite texts are still being studied by the Order of the Sky even today. These knowledge gave the old Margonites an upperhand in the open sea, and their fleet controled the Unending Ocean without contest.

It should not be surprising then, that just as we Vabbians are devoted to Mistress Lyssa and the House zu Heltzer pays patronage to Dwayna, that the Margonites should be devoted to the then-God of Water and Knowledge, Abaddon.

Magic: The Bestowing
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Clearance sale! Novelization of Summertime for Bokka, a GPVIWW nominee, is only 20 gold per copy! Offer only available at the Makuun Publishing Guild headquarters. After the Custodians have retreated from the world of men, and became forgotten, the Margonites were left unchallenged as the most advanced civilization. Since their sole concern was the sea, the Margonites only established scattered colonies along the coasts of Elona, without challenging the rules of the land-based kingdoms and empires of that era.

Being the most advanced civilization led the Margonites yearn for an even loftier goal. That's right, they attempted Ascension, much as our own hero Turai Ossa had done at the peak of his glory. The Margonites set sail for the Crystal Sea, the precursor of today's Crystal Desert. In the shallower regions of the sea, the Margonites took the greater of their ships that would have stranded in the sand, and erected mighty towers out of them, hoping to climb their way into the heavens and achieve Ascension.

Unfortunately, the Margonites did not realize that Ascension is achieved by overcoming trials to prove one's worthiness, as opposed to physically climbing their way to the heavens. The gods sent their trusty servants, the Forgotten Ones, to test the Margonites.

Perhaps the Margonites were crippled by the loss of converting the greatest ships in their fleet into towers. Perhaps they were caught off guard. Perhaps their advance civilization was simply still not a match against the wisdom and knowledge held by the Forgotten Ones. In any event, the Margonites were overwhelmed and scattered, and for each direction a surviving group of Margonites scatter to, two fleets of Forgotten warships pursued. The Margonites who sailed for their homeports simply ended up leading the Forgotten to there, so that even those who stayed behind and did not attempt Ascension became involved in the gods' trial.

Jadoth was one Margonite who lost his home to the Forgotten, and ended up sailing into the Crystal Sea for refuge. As all the original Margonites had already been chased away, that was perhaps indeed the safest place any Margonite could hope to hide. Unfortunately, it was still not safe enough. On the fifty-first day into his hiding, the Forgotten fleets discovered him. In absolute despair and hopelessness, he called upon the patron god of his people, Abaddon, to grant him the power to smite his enemies.

Abaddon Jadoth' his prayers, and granted him magic powerful enough to overcome the fleet of Forgotten warships. Jadoth was the first of Abaddon's Chosen, and was later regarded to be the first of the real Margonites (not only was he a follower of Abaddon, but Abaddon also acknowledged him). Jadoth's bretherns soon also received Abaddon's gift. The new Margonites, with there powerful magic, were able to resist and beat back the Forgotten. However, not understanding the purpose behind the trial the gods set for them, the Margonites lost interest in Ascension, and instead reveled in the magical powers their Lord Abaddon bestowed upon them.

The One Year War
After Abaddon granted magic to the Margonites, the other gods were worried that the balance of power might be destroyed. The other gods pressured Abaddon to make magic also available to the other sentient races in the world, so that all may benefit.

Abaddon was very displeased with the other gods busting into his domain (as he also became the God of Magic), but could not withstand against the pressure of the other five gods. To protest and to spite the other gods, Abaddon handed out the gift of magic without discretion: from the Forgotten to the barely sentient, from wise rulers and selfless healers to ambitious bandits and murderous lunatics.

While the balance of power was preserved as no race or nation had an upperhand in magic, the result was not determent, but rather mutual destruction. The overly ambitious and the fanatic do not worry themselves with the potential of retaliations, they just need to strike hard and fast. Families, factions, nations, and races with blood feuds cared not for their own causalities, as long as their could strike a blow at their sworn enemies. Soon skirmishes, battles, and outright slaughters of devastating magnitudes erupted throughout the world.

Within a year, the human race found themselves on the brink of total annihilation. The other races were not faring much better either. And so it came to pass that King Doric made the long journey to Arah, and asked the gods to intervene, less all became destroyed. Dwayna took pity on the weak, Balthazar was enraged at the dishonorable slaughter taking place, Melandru was saddened by the desolation wrought by terrible magic battles, and Grenth was grouchy with the sudden explosive increase of workload he had to deal with. Abaddon argued that the mortals should live (or die) with the consequences of their own actions. Mistress Lyssa furrowed her brow, stared into the south east, lost in thought.

In the end, against the dissent of Abaddon, the council of gods decided to divide up the power of magic. The gods gathered up all the magic in the world, trapped it inside a tall stone, and smashed it into five pieces. Four of the pieces embodied the four different schools of magic: aggression, denial, destruction, and preservation. The fifth piece is a keystone, required to reassemble the other four. The powers of magic still emanate from those stones, but the powers are divided, and nowhere as powerful as before. This event was also known as the Great Magic Nerf. The stones were furthermore sealed with the blood of King Doric, then they were dropped off into a volcano named after the disgruntled god of magic, Abaddon.

With the devastating power of magic greatly diminished, the pace of war slowed significantly, often reaching a stalemate. Soon fighting ceased almost world wide (except for occasional minor skirmishes), and what became known as the One Year War was considered to have ended.

Margonites: The Next Generation
Before the Exodus, on the shores of the Crystal Sea in northern Elona, there was a pocket of water, a bay of sorts, that had some mystic properties. The details were lost to time, but the Pocket, as it was called, was a very spiritual place, and the old Margonites constructed a temple dedicated to the six gods there.

After the gods forced Abaddon to share the gift of magic, Abaddon gathered the Margonites at the Pocket, and presented himself as a victim of the other five gods. Abaddon told his followers that the other gods feared the Margonites might weild their powerful magic against the other civilizations in the world, and if the Margonites achieved world dominance they would then be able to threaten the gods. And so, Abaddon said, the gods ordered him to share the gift of magic, originally intended as a special gift to the Margonites, with all the unworthy civilizations in the world. While the Margonites of that era lacked ambition of conquests and expansionism, they were proud and their ego easily inflated, and felt slightly by the other 5 gods after hearing what Abaddon had to say.

During the One Year War, the Margonites kept a low profile, and stayed out of direct conflict with their neighbors. Most of the time they just sailed away when somebody came looking for trouble, and quietly return to their homes when the enemy left to fight someone else. They bade their time and savored their strength, in preparation for an upcoming conflict prophesized by their Lord Abaddon.

The Margonites no longer had an upper edge in the use of magic. Additionally, the god of knowledge had a good idea of how the metagame of the world would soon be balanced. He instructed the Margonites to stop depending on magic, but to train their bodies instead. Then beginning with Jadoth, he began giving the physically trained Margonites a new gift: fusing their flesh with the essence of the Mists that crystallized in the Pocket, and transforming them into a new race! Not all Margonites were strong enough to survive the process, but those who did gained tremendous power with their new bodies. This marked the beginning of a totally new generation of Margonites, redrawing a distinction after magic were granted to other sentient beings in the world.

The War in the Pocket
After King Doric made his petition in Arah, Abaddon was summoned back for council. And while the other gods overruled his objection against splitting the schools of magic, everything was actually going according to Abaddon's plan.