prologue

Magic can do anything; it can build anything, destroy anything. There's a catch though. You can only specialise in certain types and have no choice in what they are. This is believed to be due to the fact that magic is passed down through blood. The rarer the magic you inherit, the less control of other magic types you have. However, the use of magic and the fact that so many complex magic types exist lead to what we call the mage war. A free for all that resulted in the deaths of thousands upon thousands of lives.

There were four main causes to the death and destruction; Four mages. Their names are lost, through time we have forgotten them. Their deeds, however, will remain as lessons in our society. Two were brothers; One with the power to create electrical charges, usually manipulated in a way that stopped the heart of his enemies. Due to this and the loss of his real name, legends call him Heartstop. This name became the centre of sorrow and terror in the years after the war.

The second brother was given no name, his powers distinctive enough. His magic manifested in a way that allowed him to manipulate the very atoms of our beings, the particles that make us. He could make people disappear, moving and shifting their atoms until there was no longer a person left. A hand motion could erase your existence. It has been a mystery as to whether it was a painful death or not ever since. With no bodies to count it is unclear how many he killed but it is known how he died; A shot of pure, unfiltered magical energy.

The third was perhaps mostly to blame for the war; A unique mage with two strong abilities. It is almost unheard of to have more than one specific ability. Any mage with a low-level specification in magic can perform the basics of another specification, however, a mage with a rare or strong ability can only specify in that ability. This third mage found themselves with two rare abilities; Construction and time manipulation. This mage created the weapons used in the war as well as the planets left behind after the war.

The last mage was perhaps the most feared, and definitely the most remembered.  A woman who created illusions so strong they could become real. It was common for her to drive her enemies mad, many were seen clawing their own eyes out in an attempt to stop whatever she had forced upon them. She tended not to kill directly, favouring madness and suicide over direct murder. If you were unlucky enough to come across her but lucky enough to survive the chances where she would leave you with a gift; A stone that changed your friends to enemies, many ended up killing those they loved.

The existence of these four mages is doubted now, thousands of years after the war. The war itself, however, has moulded the lives of every mage in existence.

The mages of the war were against those around them and thousands of others. Alliances eventually broke and war crimes became common, everyone was out for themselves.

The realisation of just how destructive this war could really be led to chaos, chaos led to creation. A branch of magic called creation magic, the one exploited by one of the great mages, was used to construct weapons and items of power intended to aid in the ending of the war; Creation mages became valuable. It was, in fact, three creation mages that saw just how dangerous and destructive this war truly was. They watched the powerful conquer and fight where the weak were slaughtered in their homes; even those with harmless and somewhat unfortunate gifts such as cutlery bending were killed despite their innocence. 

The three creation mages watched this war spread for years before realising they could do something. Joining their magic together they managed to create a new home for all magic users; A universe where no one could come under magical harm and dangerous magic was restricted and controlled. This universe was home to four planets, all joined together by a carefully crafted and organised system that meant all four planets must either rely on each other or perish.

All survivors of the war were sent to this universe and split between the planets. These survivors were then given work and laws that they had to abide by; their magic was almost completely forbidden if it was considered powerful or dangerous.  Unfortunately, some of the planets became dangerous and overrun with non-magical incidence that had yet to become illegal. Gangs and Mobs began to spread and take control and life became dangerous with entire families being slaughtered for their war crimes.