ACADEMY FACTION
“All secrets will be understood, and mastered, in time.”

• Aka: The Wizards, the Mages
• Associated colors: orange (saffron) and gold
• Worship: Wizards do not view the dragons as gods, merely as more powerful beings. With enough study and experimentation, they too will achieve the power of the dragons
• Core philosophy: “No Gods, no Masters. Knowledge is Power, Power is Freedom”. The universe is a puzzle to be solved… and the ends justify the means.
• Country / kingdom: the Silver Cities
• Capital city: Al-Safir, the Sky Dome
• Key symbols: the Silver Star, the Cross of Wisdom
• Description:
  
  The Academy wizards are proud seekers after knowledge and subjugators of the natural order. The Academy society is dedicated to wisdom and knowledge. The mages spend their lives studying and writing occult research studies. A senate of wizards, called The Circle of Nine, rules the Silver Cities, though each of the cities maintains a greater or lesser degree of independence. Citizens who are incapable of magic are essentially second class, with an ability to harness sorcerous power being the key to social and political advancement. Magic is taught in academies in the large cities, as hedge wizardry is frowned upon. These academies are formal places (much like Oxford or Cambridge in the real world) where which school you’re in means a great deal about what you will learn, how you learn it, and how the rest of your life plays out. Wizards tend to cluster into “schools” following the teachings of one great magus or another, and rivalries between schools are fierce.
  
  The wizards rule a people of servant creatures that have been either summoned or magically animated by them.

BRIEF HISTORY

Origins

0 YSD: The Revelation of the Seventh Dragon
Sar-Elam the first wizard reaches the conscience of the Dragon of Order who teaches him on the nature of matter and spirit and shows him the higher path of power. Enlightened by his new understanding, Sar-Elam becomes the Seventh Dragon.

62 YSD: The Schism of the Seven
Schism between the disciples of Sar-Elam, who can’t agree on the best way to follow the road laid down by the Seventh Dragon and, hopefully someday surpass him. Sar-Antor founds the Blind Brothers, a congregation of healers, seers and embalmers dedicated to the worship of Asha. Sar-Badon founds the Dragon Knights, a martial order disciplined in both body and mind.

The other disciples, led by Sar-Shazzar, the most gifted of them all, lead an exodus of wizards and like-minded humans to found the Seven Cities (the first kingdom of Magic) in the southern deserts.

330 YSD: 1st Eclipse - War of the Blood Moon
A total lunar eclipse provokes a massive rupture of the Demon Prison. The Demon Lords force their way out and raven across Elven lands. Caught by surprise, they are rapidly overwhelmed.

Called upon for assistance, the wizards of the Seven Cities send their forces into battle. They experiment with demon blood, which they inoculate into human slaves and criminals. The monstrous Orcs are created as a result. Bolstered by the Orc shock troops, the Alliance defeats the Demons. The Demon Lords are cast down, and the surviving demons banished back to their hellish prison.

In the wake of this second demon war, Orcs are re-settled in the Falcon Empire as well as the Seven Cities. They are not granted their freedom, but instead serve as indentured troops.

467-504 YSD: The Orc Crusades
Orcish rebellion in the Seven Cities, which spreads to Haven.

Rejecting their masters and the Dragon Gods, the Orcs declare themselves free.

In the Falcon Empire, Crusades are declared against the Orcs – attempts to subjugate them and convert them back to dragon worship. The fighting is brutal, and the Orcs are relentlessly driven back. Eventually, the unrepentant survivors flee wherever they can, including the deserts of the south, the steppes of the north-east and the Barrier Islands of the east.

A great storm sinks the Haven fleet that was prepared to follow the Orcs to their island refuge. The Falcon Emperor declares this a sign from the Dragons, and formally ends the Orcish Crusades.

512 YSD: Creation of the Beast-men
Beast-men (minotaurs, centaurs, harpies…) are created as servants, playthings, and guards in the Seven Cities. Their stated purpose is to replace the Orcs.

610-660 YSD: Rise of the Necromancers
The Necromancer presence grows until they are a powerful political force in the Seven Cities.

751-770 YSD: Purge of the Necromancers - Civil war in the Seven Cities
Jealous of the power acquired by the Necromancers, the Wizards of the Seven Cities initiate a large-scale persecution, ranging from the seizing of their properties, to banishment, to the spectacle of public executions. A long and gruesome civil war ensues. The ancient cities are destroyed and much of the land is rendered uninhabitable.

The modern ages

771 YSD: Foundation of the Silver League
Survivors of the Seven Cities establish the Silver League (the second kingdom of Magic) in the lands to the south. Necromancers flee east to the haunted valley of Heresh.

813-822 YSD: War of the Broken Staff
The Necromancers attempt to crush the newborn Silver League but the Wizards gain the upper hand and invade Heresh. The Necromancers are utterly defeated and their kingdom shattered.