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Iroh · Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:44 am Post subject: The D'haran Wars

The D'Haran War

The Lands of the New World

Ever since the first day he came to his throne, Panis Rahl has been swallowing up the other nations of the land of D'hara in a violent conquest. With the whole of the eastern lands of D'hara under his command, he then turned his sights to the Midlands. The people of D'hara respect strength and fear, and the ability of Panis Rahl to provide such has swelled his ranks with D'haran men whose duty is only to serve the Lord Rahl for his power. D'harans are often tall, muscular, blonde haired blue eyed people who possess peerless devoution to duty and might in war.

The Midlands are a series of nations, tribes and peoples who are free of the direct rule of Wizards, unlike the lands of Dhara, which are ruled by Wizards, and now exclusively the Wizard family of Rahl. Each kingdom, tribe, etc. of the Midlands is soveriegn unto itself, but is subject to the review of the Midlands Council, a collaboration of ambassadors from all notable kingdoms within the Midlands in the only truly neutral place, the Wizard's Keep, Aydindril. But it is not the Wizard's who review of the Council, but the Confessors, specifically the Mother Confessor, whose authority is highest of all individuals within the Midlands and acted on behalf of the peoples too small to have a personal ambassador on the Council, down to soverign villages ruled by a major to tribes of several hundred individuals. The peoples of the Midlands are as varied as the Midlands are themselves, but all fear the rule of the D'harans and will fight against them.

Sample of Midlands Peoples:
Tamarang
The Mud People (one of many tribes in the Wilds, not named for the land, but the people who dwelt within them)
Gaela
Mardovia
Agaden's Reach (home of the Witch Woman Shota)

The Westlands are a land of people who separate themselves from the Wizard Ruled D'harans and the Confessor Dominated Midlands, preferring a life devoid of magic. The Westland practices a democratic form of government and protects its interests with a military of its own. However, against the power of the Midlands or D'hara, the military might of Westland is relatively unimpressive.

Confessors: An order of women created by Wizards during the Great War as a means of protecting and enforcing Truth. The Confessors' possess a magic that with a touch, submits anyone, no matter station, will, magic, strength of character or body, to become her total and complete slave, living only for her will, as state commonly referred to as "Confessed". Children born to Confessors are born with the power, which manifests in adolescence. Girls can restrain the power to an extent, comparable to living your life with your gut sucked in. Boys, however, cannot. Male Confessors once were allowed, however, a great many of them abused their powers, plummeting the world into something known as "The Dark Times". Another abnormality of male Confessors, is that between uses of the power, a Confessor must "recharge" it, while men with the magic do not. Weak Confessors may take several days, while exceptionally strong ones have wait only a matter of hours. Since the Dark Times, male children born of Confessors are drowned by the child's father, as to prevent a return to such times. Fortunately, this is a fairly rare occurrence. Mating for a Confessor is also a subject of some note, one that earns Confessors almost as much fear as their true function. Due to the relaxed nature of sexual intercourse, a man who lays with a Confessor inevitably becomes Confessed. Confessors only use their powers to uphold the Law and the Truth, however, she must also continue her line lest the safeguard the Wizards provided die out. Oftentimes, Confessors confess at least one man of strength, sound mind and some variety of skill or wisdom who is fit to be a Confessor's father. When such a situation is not possible, Confessors may Confess any man in the Midlands of her choosing, although the women are raised with restraint and discretion, and never abuse this power. However, Confessors almost never marry their mates, and never do it out of love, as the a man they love would no longer be himself once Confessed. With these powers come the responsibilities of maintaining the Law and Truth throughout the Midlands. A Confessor may depose a ruler, Confess them, or whatever else, on her own authority with no proof or clear confessions of guilt. Because of these things, Confessor visits are often feared, and they are welcomed everywhere but are welcome nowhere. As hair length is a symbol of station among women in the Midlands, no woman wears her hair as long as a Queen, and no Queen wears her hair as long as even the lowest Confessor, and no Confessor wears her hair as long as the Mother Confessor, who is head of their order and the Head of State to the Midlands as a whole. Confessors also frequently travel (in fact, it is abnormal for them not to) with a Wizard companion for protection.

Wizards: Men capable of using Magic. There are two kinds of Wizards, those with the Calling the more common kind, and those born with the Gift. Those with the Calling are men without magical blood in them, men who wanted nothing more in life than to be a Wizard, and found a Wizard with the Gift to train them in it. They are never as strong in the ways of Magic as one with the Gift, but one may become immensely strong through the Calling with proper training and may become more skilled in magic than one with the Gift, as being born with a disposition for strength never beats one who works for them, born to it or not. Modern Wizards only can use Additive Magic, the Subtractive half was locked away by the Wizards of the Old World during the Great War.

Wizard's of the Third Order: Wizards who have passed all the tests to become a full Wizard, but could never apply Wizard's Second Rule against a Wizard of the First Order. They are the most common type of Wizard, and are trained either in Aydindril or in the Palace of the Prophets.

Wizard of the Second Order: A Wizard who used Wizard's Second Rule against a Wizard of the First Order. They also endure a variety of tests conducted by the Wizard of the First Order, including experiancing a spell known only as the Wizard's Pain, for obvious purposes. Few can keep their sanity feeling it, and many don't survive it.

Wizard of the First Order: A Wizard who has utilized Wizard's First Rule against a Wizard of equal or greater power than themselves, as to use Wizard's First Rule on a Wizard goes beyond cunning, it is magic. A Wizard of the First Order is not made, they are born. Only those born with the Gift can survive the tests necessary to achieve this rank. Therefore, Wizard's of the Second and Third Orders who had the Calling often try to use Wizard's First Rule against the First Wizard, never to any success.

Sorceresses: Women capable of magic. Sorceresses almost exclusively have the Gift, few women experience the Calling. A Sorceress is always less than a Wizard, in that her magic cannot do everything a Wizard's can. Sorceresses often speak in riddles, and despite her magic not having as many abilities as a Wizard, only a fool underestimates one, even if he is a Wizard of the First Order. The most notable group of Sorceresses are the Sisters of the Light; a religious order from the Old World that dedicates itself to spreading the Creator's goodness to men and women born with the Gift. They are stationed in the Palace of the Prophets. Oftentimes, if a Wizard of the Second (but not the Third, as theirs is a lesser wisdom) Order is questioned on whether he would have rather been born with the Gift than the Calling, he pales at the idea of having to have been faced with the Sisters of the Light.

Witch Women: Women who have magic, and can see the flow of time. They are dangerous to an extreme, and use their magic often to further their own ends. The most notable Witch Woman of the New World is Shota, Mistress of Agaden's Reach. She has lived longer than any Wizard of the New World, and none but the First Wizard Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander dares to enter her domain, but even he would be at a disadvantage to her within the confines of her own realm.

Mord-Sith: A nearly exclusively female fighting unit for the Lord Rahl, who somehow have the ability to take someone's magic if used against them and turn it against the one who used it. They are fearsome warriors even to those without magic, and wield leather rods called Agiel, whose touch inflicts unimaginable pain equal to if not greater than the Spell Wizard's Pain. If one is broken by an Agiel, its touch will always inflict the pain on that person. Mord-Sith are taken of the most pure and sweet young girls, and then broken three times with a single Agiel. After which, they kill their trainer and wield that same Agiel themselves, therefore living in constant pain, but never showing it. Some have been known to take mates of men they break. Those they break, man or woman, never live long, and their mates live even shorter lives.

Additive Magic vs. Subtractive Magic

Additive Magic is the magic of the world itself, adding or changing something that already exists. It can be used to do many, many great feats, however unimpressive as it sounds. As everything within the world is a part of it, Additive Magic can alter any aspect of the natural world in remarkable ways.

Subtractive Magic is the magic of the underworld, and has only one purpose, to destroy. Subtractive magic always overpowers and bypasses Wizard's Webs and spells that use exclusively Additive Magic, and there is no real defense against Subtractive Magic from the Addative side. However powerful, Subtractive magic cannot do many of the marvelous things that the Additive side can. No Wizard since the Old and New Worlds had their great barrier erected has been born with the Gift of Subtractive Magic, and those with the Calling cannot learn it by mortal means.

The Creator: The maker of the Universe and all within it. He is the singlemost source of all that is good, and it is believed He shelters good souls within the underworld so that they find peace in death. However, He seems to take a very inactive role in the actual doings of the world.

The Keeper of the Underworld: The source of all that is evil, trapped in the underworld by the Creator when He placed the Stone of Tears around the Keeper's neck. He relentlessly torments bad souls in the Underworld, and tries always to find a way to tear the veil between the living and the dead. Through him alone now can Wizard's learn the art of Subtractive Magic, albeit at the cost of their souls. There are vague rumors of Panis Rahl being one such Wizard, along with his son Darken Rahl.

The Seeker: The second part of the Wizard's protection of Truth and the Law, a Seeker is named exclusively by a Wizard of the First Order and wields a magic weapon known as the Sword of Truth. The Seeker is bound by no laws of any lands, nor to any loyalty but to the pursuit of the Truth. The Sword of Truth also puts an enchantment on the man who wields it, either the Seeker masters the Sword, or the Sword masters the Seeker. The sword uses a powerful sort of magic that seems Addative in Nature to add to and amplify the rage of the Seeker to levels of great power, where that nearly nothing can stop it. However, certain nobles ont he Council of the Midlands have wrested the Sword of Truth from its resting place in recent times due to First Wizard Zorander not naming a Seeker in such a desparate war.