Magek Historia

The tale of Mineria and Renue starts in the kingdom of Phoenix.

At that time, mages were randomly born with the ability to freeze things, whose spells left a chill in the air. Most of them were from Phoenix, the land of fire.

The return of Magek is always an opposite force to what is used. A water mage will become dehydrated, an air mage runs out of breath, a fire mage finds themself becoming colder. An ice mage, as this kind would eventually be called, becomes warmer.

In the hottest part of Magek, becoming warmer quickly becomes a death sentence.

Eventually of course, all these ice mages banded together into a caravan, looking for somewhere safe to live. They moved West toward Ilva and the Moving Forest. They made a home there, a small village made of ice forms that never melted. They shared the burden of who kept them cold. It was a good place, a simple place.

Whether it was negligence that destroyed it or an attack from one somehow enraged at these people trying to make a comfortable life, the village was destroyed. The ice mages couldn’t rebuild.

One or two returned to Phoenix, as it was the only land they’d really known. Some moved to Avalon where a variety of mages already lived, so they could blend among the crowd. Some moved to Draconis, bonding with the healing blue dragons. Some even joined the ranks of the Minerians, though Mineria was no kingdom yet.

But one, perhaps others, but most importantly this one, moved deeper into the Moving Forest.

This maiden found a clearing turned black with barren ground, and a tower that was somehow pristine despite no one there to clean it. She climbed the steps of this tower, feeling something thrumming within, a power her kind were unaccustomed to.

As she entered the highest point of the tower she found something.

Some say it was a mirror. Some say it was the stones themselves. Some say it was the voice of the shadows.

“Your kind will never find a home on the continent of Magek,” the voice told her, “The heat will kill them, and besides, every inch of it is claimed by another kingdom.”

“Then where shall we go?” the maiden asked.

“Ask the sailors and dragon riders to find a place to build an island. You will form it from the depths.”

“How will we make it?” the maiden asked.

“Ask the Avalonians, they have learned of wizardry, and can learn the steps.”

“And what if we don’t have the power?”

“Ask all the others to lend their power. This will be a home for them too.”

“And what do we do if that’s not enough power?”

“Then,” the voice said, “You will come to me, and I will give it to you.”

So as the years went on, the maiden gathered her people. The sailors and dragon riders found the place for them to go. The Avalonians found the best way to make a stable island, and a bridge to get to it. The rest offered their power, and their power was not enough.

So the maiden returned to the tower, and whatever was in there changed her.

The maiden had been Phoenician. She had been dark, with curly hair and brown eyes. She had been plump, with rosy cheeks and freckles dotting her arms.

That maiden, now a mother and bride, died, so the Snow Queen could be born.

Her hair and skin turned a pale white. Her eyes became a sharp blue. Her freckles and the blush of her cheeks were gone. All fat on her bones became lean and gaunt.

She was terrifying, but she spoke with the same voice, now absent of all doubt and kindness. The ice mages had followed her this far, though, and they could not suffer turning back.

Mineria was originally a greeting, or more accurately, it’s what a greeting came to sound like over the centuries. One ship would call out and the other would answer something different based on the time of day. Don’t ask me, I never sailed.

These sailors came to be called Minerians for their strange greetings. They were not a kingdom, but they were a people. Nobody trusted a sailor that wasn’t Minerian, and they were always ready to expand their ranks.

Most Minerians, then as now, were Marin: Mages able to change themselves to have a tail, or tentacles, or some other limb that made them at home in the depths. They would often form gills as well so they could explore the depths without harm.

The best known of these, then as now, was Sea Green Elanorei.

Sea Green was the daughter of a great Feyrie and the captain of a Minerian vessel. She was a debt repaid for the captain saving the Feyrie’s life, for the captain wanted a child, but had never found anyone to share it with.

Though she learned enough from her Feyrie father to be called the Sea Witch, even taking his name at the end of hers, Sea Green was a Minerian first in heart.

She married a man named Ergre, the second son of Mineria’s “King” Rinjor. She inherited the king’s title when he passed, by his own commission. When she had a son, she named him for his grandfather, Rinjor.

But you probably already know this, you’ve heard the song.

What we all should bless our fates for, is that we never heard the ships break.

First, two walls of ice surrounded the continent of Magek, breaking several Minerian ships apart in their path, as they moved quickly, and did not check for who they might hit. The wall separated many more families.

The Minerians were not overly concerned, for they were enterprising people. They merely jumped onto the ice to swim over to an intact ship.

But nobody who jumped onto the ice made it to the other side, for as soon as they landed, they froze as all the magek, then all of the life, was sucked out of them until they shattered.

Next the Marin on the ships tried to move underwater, but the ice went all the way down. And if they touched it they shared the fate of the others.

As they couldn’t touch the ice, and there was no way around it, for it had already surrounded the seas around Magek, Sea Green led water mages to create a bridge over the wall. The bridge was slowly absorbed like the people of Mineria, but enough worked together to move everyone back inside the walls. When they finished, the wall was wider.

The Minerians considered it a victory for so many to have survived these horrors. They celebrated, knowing they would have to mourn in time, but Minerians always have to celebrate their victories, then as now.

Sea Green, as the king, had her ship in the middle of the festivities. By some miracle of fate, it was the only casualty to the bridge going from the shore to the island formed on the other side.

They scrambled to move everyone to the other ships. As was her duty, Sea Green insured she was the last one off. As was Ergre’s duty, he stayed by his wife’s side.

They both landed on the bridge. Ergre froze before Sea Green could push him off. Sea Green did not freeze.

The Feyrie who made Sea Green, her other father, was named Elanorei, but he was called something else. He was called Mordred, A Fey word that means one who should never have been born. In his case it means one who is not born. Every so often, a Feyrie appears without parents, and with immeasurable power.

Enough of her father’s power had passed to her that Sea Green’s magek didn’t drain fast enough for her life to be taken. So she walked on the bridge, coming to the island made by freezing the depths, with grand houses and even a palace formed from the ice, and eventually she found its creator.

Sea Green’s power fed the Snow Queen with every step, for if you haven’t guessed what she became, I must now tell you.

The Snow Queen was a dark mage: one who steals magek and life from others. Though she’d built the island for her people, there was none there but her, for ice mages were not immune to her power, and she had no control over it.

She did not know this until the dragons landed, their bodies turning into the materials for the Snow Queen’s architecture. To this day no dragons will go near Renue.

Sea Green did not know this. All she knew was that this woman had hurt her people, and killed her husband. She did not know why she wasn’t frozen.

I could describe the fight, but you know how it ends.

Sea Green’s sword was no match for the island of material the Snow Queen had about her, but whatever that creature in the tower made her, it did not allow her to kill the Sea Witch. Eventually they both came to the edge.

Sea Green saw everything was hopeless, and she saw the Snow Queen’s crown.

“Your descendants will hate each other, fighting for that crown on your head,” Sea Green cursed, “Until your blood and mine are the same.”

Then she fell back into the sea, never to be seen again. For this wasn’t just any curse, this was a curse of fate. When you force the threads of reality to comply to your will, there is always a price. Sea Green was no longer a mage, and no longer a Marin. The Ocean was no longer her home, but it was far safer than the Snow Queen’s island.

What Sea Green meant by her blood and the Snow Queen’s being the same is an excellent question. Their descendants both assume it means a child from both their families must be born. Some believe it meant their blood had to be spilled in the same place, and Sea Green jumped off just to make the curse unbreakable. Some believe that both families must lose their royal titles becoming commoners. It is not a question for me to answer.

Without their king to guide them, Mineria knew they weren’t safe. All of them moved to the shore, preparing to mourn those lost. They all shared a deep yearning in the wake of such destruction, a yearning for vengeance.

But first they needed a king.

Despite what you may expect, Minerians don’t believe that blood gives you the right to rule. It is power, or the fact those with more power will yield to you, that gives one the right.

Though announced as her father-in-law’s successor, Sea Green proved herself in combat before she earned her place. One representative from each fleet.

In the absence of ships, and as most of their land-bound membership returned to whence they came, they divided into tribes of the same kind. Each type of Marin, and one for the remaining land-bound. Each chose their representative.

I could list the representatives of each tribe, but you will inevitably ask about each of them before I get to the one you all know, for you know who won.

Rinjor, Sea Green’s son, represented the group of Marin sometimes called Scalies and sometimes called Merfolk. It wasn’t because he was strong, and if we’re being honest, it wasn’t because they thought he’d make the best leader, it was because he was the one they trusted to avenge them all.

When Rinjor took his victory, he had a plan. First they would go to the Forge where his Aunt Dusk Violet lived.

Dusk Violet wasn’t merely Sea Green’s half-sister (By Elanorei). Rinjor turned to her because she had fought a dark mage and won. You all know the story, I don’t have to tell you, but maybe I’ll tell it after this story is over.

Dusk Violet revealed the reason she was able to defeat the Dark Mage had nothing to do with being a lack-magek. If anything, that put her more at risk of death. Dusk Violet won because she had the right weapon.

Rinjor asked for the weapon, but she revealed that it wasn’t hers in the first place and had long since gone to who commissioned it. She said the Forge could build another weapon that could kill this Snow Queen, one designed with that end in mind, instead of having that ability by chance of all else it could do.

Rinjor agreed to whatever price was to be paid.

There are Seven weapons that have defeated dark mages.

The Nozhytsi are a pair of swords that together will slice through whatever their wielder wishes. Dark mages will not return to life from them. They are bound to a specific bloodline.

Excalibur counteracts any element it comes into contact with. It can be used to get close, and destroy a dark mage from the inside if stabbed through long enough. It will only obey one of a pure will.

The Archer Rings were designed for Spirit Mages. When aimed correctly, their arrows will damage the soul. In the case of dark mages, who do not have souls, it will sever their power from their body, leaving them a lifeless husk.

The Unbinding Ribbons are designed for healing. They will purge a curse from a single person, and dark magek is among the curses they will remove. Only a healer can wield them.

The twin daggers, once wielded by Merlin and Emrys, are one half spirit and one half solid. They must be wielded by two soulmates, and stabbed into a dark mage’s heart simultaneously. They are officially part of the Spirit King’s gifts.

The Heersing, a whip also designed for a spirit mage, grips onto Magek to move it around. It can hold the necessary magek away from a dark mage, defeating it by a war of attrition. It was also gifted to the Spirit King, but has since been lost.

Finally Rinjor’s Trident. It forces the magek out of anything it pierces into. It is purely destructive. A dark mage at its end would have all their power pushed out of them, killing their soulless body. It is now locked away, guarded by the Court Wizard of Mineria.

Rinjor took the Trident, able to immediately claim it as his own, as it understood he would bring it to its purpose.

He began with a simple test. He went to the bridge that united the Snow Queen’s island to the mainland and stabbed the bridge with all his rage.

Nothing happened. Everyone held their breaths, counting the seconds until Rinjor gave up. Then they heard the cracking. The break had started at the edge of the island, and it was quickly crumbling towards them. By the time a minute passed, the bridge was gone forever.

The Minerians cheered, sure their troubles were over, but Rinjor knew a greater battle lay ahead.

“We will not celebrate until the Snow Queen is dead!” he ordered. The Minerians obeyed their king.

With the waters open, the Minerians took one of their remaining ships and sailed for the island. Rinjor stood on the prow, ready for his moment to strike.

When they landed, Rinjor yelled to the empty space, “Snow Queen, you killed my mother, my father, and countless numbers of my people. I will have my vengeance. If not on you, then on your people’s new home!”

The ice mages had explained what they had attempted. They apologized for their leader. The Minerians forgave them, but Rinjor was ready to punish them for her actions if need be.

The Snow Queen was unimpressed with his boasts, but she came close enough to be heard.

“Come to my castle, and you may attempt to avenge them.”

The Snow Queen likely believed that Rinjor would either freeze, or offer her the same power his mother had.

Rinjor held his trident next to him, dragging the spokes on the ground. It was not enough to destroy the island, but it was enough to keep the Snow Queen’s power away from him.

Most storytellers say this was the first thing to frighten the Snow Queen, and the second was the look in Rinjor’s eyes.

Whether it is the absence of their souls, or the way they are accustomed to power coming naturally, or perhaps the spirit of whatever it is that creates them, Dark Mages are not usually brave in the face of things they can’t instantly destroy.

The Queen hid in the castle. Rinjor never let go of his trident as he searched.

I could describe every room and what he found, but there was nothing to find. As beautiful as the outside of the castle was, the inside was barren.

Of course he found the Snow Queen. Of course the Snow Queen died. Of course Renue solidified and no longer stole power from those who stood upon it. The question we still ask is the order.

When the Snow Queen’s body was found by her children, they claimed it was untouched. There was no sign of piercing. The Snows claim she gave up her power willingly, sacrificing herself for the sake of her people. No one else believes a dark mage would be so altruistic.

There are those who think the island lost its power before Rinjor stepped on. They believe that either the Snow Queen’s power was stabilizing as she became accustomed to it, or something far more frightening.

There are eight things that could kill a dark mage: Seven weapons, or another dark mage.

Some believe Rinjor had nothing to do with the Snow Queen’s fear.

“And what of Rinjor,” you ask. “He founded the kingdom of Mineria, did he not? How did that happen?”

Very easily, I tell you. Though the bridge had been destroyed, the Ice Walls around Magek had not. The Minerians realized they could spend their years destroying the wall, but where would they call home in the meantime?

The Minerians were primarily Marin by now, and even the land-bound among them weren’t quite so land-bound as that name implies. They began with settlements. Each tribe taking a place in the waters best suited for them.

Rinjor realized they needed a place to meet that wasn’t the beach, but they still built off of it.

Rinjor’s Castle would take a long time to become Elanorei Palace, but all things have to start somewhere. It was a less decorated place, with little but a throne and chamber for political discussion. Rinjor spent his nights with different tribes.

Rinjor was haunted by something. He never said what it was. Perhaps he hurt for the Snow Queen. Perhaps, if someone else killed her, he feared what he saw. Perhaps it was the deaths of his parents. Whatever the case may be, Rinjor never slept far from the trident, and he was distant from all he loved. He had heirs of course, but none would have considered him a father.

You see, Mineria’s founding was one of necessity, from pain. Mineria and Renue will forever be bound, but will they forever be the binds of hate between their rulers—For the Snows still rule Renue and the Elanoreis are still trusted with Mineria—or will these kingdoms become allies someday?