The Maelstrom

This is intended to exist in the same world as the Nazarian alliance, and this week I may flesh out that world a little. For the moment, I'll refer to the world as Iroas, after the Greek word for hero. The Nazarian posts will be updated with the new tags. In the meantime, enjoy this bit that totally isn't ripping off Serenity in any way.

Long ago, there was a brilliant Enchanter. Celebrated in his city, he contributed many potent magics that helped his home become the most prosperous city in all the world. And yet, he was still troubled. Despite all the good things he had created, there was still crime and corruption. It was with this in mind that he set out on his greatest quest: To cure the mind of its compulsion for chaos.

It was many years before he believed he had the answer, a powerful enchantment that he believed would eliminate all emotion from those subjected to it, and would instill a compulsion to spread this peace. Bringing it to the attention of his king, he convinced the nobles that it may be the solution to all their problems. In the beginning, it seemed to work. The nobles provided him with the most dangerous dissidents they had captured, and it eliminated their violent urges. Emboldened by this early success, he did not realize the mistake he had made - all of his subjects were mages, like himself. It was only when the enchantment was released into the general populace that they discovered how terrible it truly was. When it was spread to a magic user, it worked exactly as planned, creating docile, peaceful people who worked to the betterment of all. Those who had no magical aptitude reacted in the opposite way, becoming violent and destructive, but still seeking to spread their enchantment. What was worse, the magic was twisted under their control, giving them the ability to stir emotions to insane levels and destroy minds with a touch.

To this day, the city is a twisted shell of what it once was, housing a legion of lunatics and madmen that only venture forth occasionally to spread their chaos across the land.

It was in the worst of the violence that consumed the city that the Enchanter realized his folly. Gathering all his apprentices and colleagues, they worked day and night to create a way to turn the tide of destruction. It was after many days of work that they finally thought up a plan, as the city burned around them. They reasoned that, if they could not save those already infected, they would have to simply kill them all, but it was difficult to battle creatures that could manipulate your emotions to such potent effect. Thus they created a new, even more potent version of the original enchantment. Instead of destroying all negative emotions, which had proven ineffective against the Maelstrom’s emotion control abilities, it would erase all emotion from the target, leaving only cold logic and reason behind.

    Not willing to leave this to chance as they had before, their first experiment was performed on a lowly servant, without any trace of magical talent. Unlike before, this was a rousing success, and the servant became capable of raw magical manipulation on the level of the greatest of archmages. This turned out to be their undoing. While none truly know what happened that day, it is believed that the servant infected all those in the castle with this new enchantment. The Soulless then made their first decision: the city was lost, and there was no point in continuing the fight. With magic on a scale not seen before or since, they moved the entire castle to an isolated island. From there they have launched several raids on the main land, always looking to capture elves unharmed. It is clear that they are building an army, but no one knows their final purpose.