Year 50: Through methods long since lost, various humans gained the abilities to manipulate fire and water, becoming the first of mages. They organized themselves into the clans of Fire and Water to systematically develop magic and train their newer members. Later in each clan, three distinct ways of using its element emerged, causing the clan to divide into three. Thus a total of six clans formed: Molten Depths, Blazing Sands, Ashen Woods, Frozen Peak, Spirit Ocean, and Dead Swamp.

Year 100: The clans often fought and quarreled with one another, until a single mage, stronger than all others at the time, defeated all of the clan leaders in single combat. And so Alyssa Deepheart of Spirit Ocean became the first Great Mage, leader of all mages in the world and the final authority on all conflicts beyond the boundary of a single clan. From then on, whenever the Great Mage passed away, stepped down, or lost the position for any reason, a massive tournament would be held, where the winner became the next Great Mage. And so the clans enjoyed a period of tenuous peace.

Year 140: Six mysterious mages, one from each clan, spent years visiting numerous famous mages in all of the clans. After they were done, they gathered together to create the Book of Mages, a magical tome that recorded the names and clans of the one hundred mages that they found to be the strongest in the world. The Book took the world by storm, reigniting competitive urges that had been present since the clans’ earliest days. Mages challenged one another frequently to improve their rankings in the Book, and whoever ranked number one was respected almost as much as the Great Mage, when the rank wasn’t taken by the Great Mage altogether.

Year 204: The Great Mage at the time, Caius Thornweave of Dead Swamp, had allowed himself to grow complacent and his magical powers dull, in old age. Many in the world no longer respected him, leading to the time of wide-scale civil unrest known as the Chaotic Period. The clan leader of Dead Swamp, Adrian Corpsedusk, was angered that Thornweave would not pass the mantle of the Great Mage to him. Plotting together with the clan leader of Blazing Sands, Edward Battlebeard, and the clan leader of Ashen Woods, Lorelei Treefire, the three assassinated the Great Mage, and forced a new Great Mage tournament to take place. Though those who still supported Thornweave’s legacy, led by Wilson Steelblaze of Molten Depths, fought the usurpers valiantly, in the end it was Battlebeard who was able to take the Great Mage’s title for himself.

Year 210: Battlebeard had proven to be a brutal, sociopathic madman who cared for little more than power. Gathering a group of mages loyal to him, he formed the Black Robes, a ruthless army dedicated to eradicating anyone who dared to so much as speak ill of the Great Mage. With the Great Mage so occupied and uncaring of other problems, conflicts between clans ran rampant, and crime was commonplace. This period of lawlessness and strife was known as the Dark Times. Those who would not stand for Battlebeard’s tyranny banded together to form a rebellion, calling themselves the White Robes.

Year 221: From the depths of obscurity emerged Theoden Frostlight of Frozen Peak, a genius mage of practically unrivaled power and skill. With his strength and conviction, Frostlight recruited countless mages of all clans to the White Robes’ cause, became their leader, and defeated the Black Robes in one final decisive battle, before killing Battlebeard and taking the title of Great Mage as his own. Under the rule of the new Great Mage and his White Robe followers, the world entered the Era of Peace, and Frostlight became known as the Legendary Mage.

Year 258: Due to Frostlight having brought mages of all clans together to end the Dark Times, intermingling among clans became much tighter and more widespread, leading to a number of mages learning magic from multiple clans, not just their own. However, this soon allowed certain unscrupulous mages to impersonate various clans, eventually leading to a massive war that nearly split the clans apart. In the end the White Robes were able to restore order through sheer military force, but the sheer carnage wrought led to Frostlight stepping down from the position of Great Mage in weariness. From then on, the Great Mage was elected via public vote, instead of a tournament, as the White Robes did not want another power-hungry madman like Battlebeard in power.

Year 293: To prevent another tragedy like the Clan Wars from occurring, the White Robes’ rule gradually became ever more stringent and dogmatic. Each clan fiercely protected its own unique magic from mages of other clans, and those who learned magic from multiple clans were charged with the crime of apostasy, punishable by immediate execution. Those who sympathized with apostates were heavily stigmatized, and the White Robes made sure that their lives were less than pleasant. Open criticism was forbidden, but people secretly called this the Age of Austerity.

Year 306: The apostates and various other outlaws, long since persecuted by the White Robe government, banded together to form their own rebel group, led by Kieran Ashmelt, the highest-ranked mage in the Book of Mages. As propaganda, the White Robes labeled this rebel group as a resurgence of the Black Robes back during the Dark Times. The rebels gladly appropriated this name, as a symbol of their stand against the White Robes, whom they saw as a twisted caricature of its original righteous self. However, the Black Robes had its own extremists and heartless criminals, some of them seeking a world of complete anarchy where they could kill and pillage to their hearts’ content.

Year 312: The Black Robes had been rapidly gaining supporters in the past years, and now controls some notable portion of the world. They’ve created their own pseudo-clan of Rising Steam, and combined the magic of fire and water to create magically steam-powered technologies. The White Robes had been in a state of cold war with them throughout, and the current Great Mage, Lucius Crystalsoul of Frozen Peak, plans to invade and destroy the rebels once and for all. It is at this time of uncertainty that the game begins, where the players’ actions will shape the course of history.

Molten Depths: Mages of the Molten Depths clan manipulate magma and molten metal, as well as earthen materials to limited extents. Their magic tends to be slow, but incredibly heavy-hitting and powerful, while boasting solid defense as well. The clan’s specialties are smithing, transmutation, and imbuing magical properties into solid materials.

Blazing Sands: Mages of the Blazing Sands clan manipulate heat and sunlight, as well as wind and sand to limited extents. Their magic tends to be blazing fast and relentless in its numerous and overwhelming assaults, but lacks defense. The clan’s specialty is the manipulation and storage of high amounts of energy.

Ashen Woods: Mages of the Ashen Woods clan manipulate fire and smoke infused with dark and sinister magic, as well as wood and ashes to limited extents. Their magic tends to lack the overt destructive power of other fire clans, but curses victims with various debilitating effects. The clan’s specialty is the use of dark magic to corrupt other magical effects.

Frozen Peak: Mages of the Frozen Peaks clan manipulate ice and snow, as well as coldness and air to limited extents. Their magic possesses a fair balance of offensive power, defense, and the ability to disable enemies via freezing. The clan’s specialty is the magical cryopreservation of substances and effects.

Spirit Ocean: Mages of the Spirit Ocean clan manipulate seawater infused with flowing mana, as well as raw magical energy to limited extents. While their offense is the weakest of all clans, their defense is unrivaled, capable of blocking and disrupting most forms of attack. The clan’s specialty is the delicate manipulation of intricate mana flows.

Dead Swamp: Mages of the Dead Swamp clan manipulate water with poison dissolved within, as well as chemicals and plant matter to limited extents. Their venomous magic kills enemies slowly, or afflicts excruciating diseases that makes enemies wish they were dead. The clan’s specialty is the mixture of potions and other magical liquids.

Rising Steam: Not a true clan per se, mages of the Rising Steam pseudo-clan are all apostates who have forsaken the mastery of a single clan’s magic for the ability to combine multiple clans’ magic into something new. Due to the wide variety of magic that its members possess, this “clan” doesn’t have much in the way of general tendencies or specialties, except perhaps the steam-powered technologies that were recently invented by combining fire and water magic.

White Robes: The White Robes are the current ruling government of the world, led by the Great Mage Lucius Crystalsoul of Frozen Peak. Their primary purpose is to maintain societal stability and peace among the clans, but in the past decades this once-noble goal had been corrupted into something much more authoritarian. To ensure that past tragedies do not repeat themselves, the White Robes do not hesitate to use censorship, propaganda, and outright military oppression in extreme cases to maintain their rule. After all, to live a safe and harmonious life, certain freedoms must be sacrificed. The most harshly punished crime in the White Robes’ regime is apostasy, the learning of magic from clans other than one’s own, and it is enforced with an iron fist. Members of the White Robes including genuinely compassionate and well-meaning souls, as well as aspiring tyrants who wish to absolutely control every last aspect of the public and private lives of their subjects.

Black Robes: The Black Robes are a group of rebels opposed to the White Robes, whom they see as oppressive and must be removed from power. It was formed and is being led by Kieran Ashmelt, an Ashen Woods apostate who currently ranks number one in the Book of Mages. Being formed out of mostly apostates and other outlaws, the Black Robes advocate freedom, the freedom to learn and do as one wishes. If certain safeties must be compromised to attain this freedom, then so be it. The Black Robes do not currently have enough power to engage in open warfare against the White Robes, but are still strong and influential enough that the White Robes have not yet had any opportunities to eliminate them without suffering unacceptable losses. What they lack in power, the Black Robes make up for it in resourcefulness and flexibility, relying on guerilla warfare and underground activities to keep the White Robes on their toes. Members of the Black Robes include well-intentioned freedom fighters, but also psychopathic criminals who want an utterly lawless world where strength is the only thing that matters.