Magic in Canaan

Magic in Canaan exists in an unusual state in the New Age: real, but restricted and regarded with deep public suspicion across the continent's major nations. This suppression is not ancient policy: it is a response to the Millenia of Darkness, the thousand-year period when magic-wielding overlords dominated Canaan, feeding on the life-force of its peoples and maintaining their power through magical means. The memory of that era has made the three major nations of Canaan — the Arakcadian Congress, the Zilaphelian Kingdom, and the Veurim Empire — all treat magic with caution, though in very different ways and to very different degrees.

The world is not, however, a world without magic. The three major forests of Canaan — the Enchanted Forests, the Iridescent Woods, and the Shadowed Woods at the base of the Itumue Mountains — are widely described as places where magic remains prevalent. Some villages in the Destitute Lands show stronger magical presences than the settled territories of the major nations. And it is rumoured that the Veurim Empire has begun restoring magical practice, which would be a departure from the continental consensus.

Historical context

Magic's current suppression in Canaan is entirely a product of the Millenia of Darkness. During the Era of Prosperity, magic was present and practiced more openly as part of the world's natural order. The overlords who brought on the Millenia of Darkness rose to power specifically through magical means: they overthrew the king of the Great Empire in a massive spellcasting battle, enacted laws using magic to entrench their control, and, most significantly, fed off the literal life-force of others — a form of magical extraction that drained people of their capacity to resist.

When the overlords were finally overthrown — themselves defeated by an unlikely group of adventurers — the liberation did not produce a return to the free practice of magic. Instead, the association between magic and catastrophe was so powerful that the succeeding political traditions (the Xeamian Empire and Zawma Empire) both moved, in different ways, toward the management and restriction of magical practice. This policy has been inherited by all three of their successor states.

Old tellings hold that the greatest magic cannot be learned at all, only passed down: granted by a living forebearer, or inherited at their death. Whether any magic of that kind survives today is a matter for legend rather than record.

National positions

Each of the three major nations of Canaan has its own relationship with magic:

Madame Elspeth Tremzume, the First Speaker of Arakcadia, is rumoured to be one of the last wizards in the world, though she is said to have renounced all wizarding practice many centuries ago, long before taking up the continent's most powerful civic office.

Magical places

Magic has survived most robustly in places farthest from the major nations' institutional suppression:

Enchanted Forests — The forests on the western side of Canaan, extending to the base of the Itumue Mountains in their Shadowed Woods variant, are described as among the only places in Canaan where magic remains prevalent. The forest's density and isolation from human settlement have allowed magical activity to persist.

Iridescent Woods — The dense forest on the south mouth of Arakcadia Bay, stretching down toward Veurim, similarly maintains a magical character that the settled areas of the Mediata Savannah do not.

Destitute Lands villages — Some villages in the lawless south-east of Canaan show stronger magical presences than would be expected, particularly those associated with the forests.

Elven communities — The secluded Elven settlements of the forests retain a strong magical presence. Under long-standing historical agreements, the major nations have largely left magic within the forests alone rather than interfere with the Elven communities there. The nations ensure that any magic practised in the forests does not leave their bounds, and they continue to work with the Elves towards a more suppressed magic in the future. Entering the forests can be extremely dangerous.

The Xeamian Ruins — Local tales hold that something of earlier eras lingers in the ruins of the former Xeamian Empire east of Arakcadia, though Arakcadian scholars give such talk little weight.

See also

• Millenia of Darkness
• Enchanted Forests
• Iridescent Woods
• Veurim Empire