Magus Non Gratus
Mages studied the arcane to unlock secrets of the universe... and gain power over anyone they deemed unworthy. But they became architects of their own destruction.
in-development
Knowledge is the only power
Arcane science was supposed to usher in a new era of prosperity through technology. But instead, mages consolidated the benefits into their citadels.
All other forms of magic were banned.
Harmony with the earth deemed unnatural.
Veneration of deities blasphemous.
Innate talents called abominations.
Even mages who dared stray from the rulership of the Academy were subject to the harsh punishments of the Mage Hunters: anti-magic enforcers who maintained obedience by violence.
Pride comes before the fall Uplift
The shockwave reduced nearly every building and tree to clouds of matchsticks for a day’s journey in every direction. Survivors were limited to those sleeping in the lee of any stone walls that happened not to collapse. What they found at the epicenter was not a crater, but a cliff. The earth under the Academy and much of the surrounding capitol thrust skyward with such force and speed as to render in an instant every structure rubble, every living thing an unrecognizable heap of flesh.
Fracture and Factions
The Mage Hunters who remained attempted to maintain control. A campaign of inquisition sought to pin blame on known dissidents. But factions formed among the populous that were all too happy to consider the Uplift a self-inflicted annihilation: justice for generations of oppression. However, plenty of non-mages had met their end in the catastrophe as well - laborers and servants and merchants in the destroyed capitol who outnumbered the mages at the Academy. Roaming militias sought to ensure that any mage sympathizers were held responsible for those lives lost. Mages were to be exterminated on sight.