by Tracey Alley
had been his own idea to approach the mages first, hoping if Nexus could convince the Council then perhaps he would have greater success when he approached the senior knights of The Tears of Belenus; now that hope was gone. This was not, of course, the first disappointment Michael had experienced throughout the course of his career. However, this disappointment may prove to have the most far-reaching consequences.
“I'm disappointed Nexus,” Michael began without turning around, “I had great hopes of the mages. Everything The Republic of Malerok stands for is built around the concept of cooperation; for them, now, to turn away from that.” Michael stopped, turned around slowly and walked back to his chair. “I am more disappointed than I can say.”
“I too am, disappointed, although not surprised, Michael. You see, I have an… understanding of the Council, and their reluctance. This is not a refusal to help a fellow mage, nor is it… turning away from their ideals. To my fellows it is obeying their ideals. You must understand Michael, that the old hatreds run deep and these are not … ideological hatreds or disagreements over tenets of faith. Spellcasters have always been hated, feared and mistrusted by others. Magic, at least the kind of magic that my fellow mages and I practice has always been viewed with suspicion by those who do not understand it. We are seen as possessing strange and unnatural powers. The knight who says his prayers before battle or prays for the healing of a fallen friend; this is deemed… acceptable, it is understandable and valued. For these ‘miraculous’ powers, these abilities are clearly the bestowal of favor from the pantheon of ‘good’ deities. Even the wandering druids and their brand of magic, these too are acceptable… drawn from the natural world, again it is a matter of godly favor. We of the arcane, however, have always been viewed as different. While our power is likewise dependant upon the favor of the gods we choose whatever god suits our… ambitions or temperament. Thus there are as many mages following those considered as ‘evil’ deities as there are who follow the ‘good’. Our magic is much more closely tied to our own personal ambitions than that practiced by your knights or the druids. It is this that has caused mages to become hated and feared, and we, in turn, have learned to… hate you.”
“I see,” Michael eventually said sadly. Most of what Nexus had just said Michael had known, or at least been aware of, yet he had not really taken it into account when he had approached the mage for help. The knight slowly sipped his wine as he thought over the mage’s comment. In truth, the general mistrust of mages had been so much a part of everyday life that most people had simply ceased to be aware of it. Unaware and unlikely to see it might not be the right way to believe or behave.
“I'm not certain that you do, yet. But I will try and make you… not only see but truly understand, Michael.” Nexus got out of his chair and walked to the window, looking out at the city below.
A History Lesson
“Do you know very much of the history of our Republic?” Nexus asked his guest eventually.
“No I don’t, not really.”
“I did not think so… I will relate it to you. Then perhaps you will understand, perhaps you will see. You will know I am sure, of the legend of a united Kaynos before the Great War.”
“Of course, but…”
“Indeed,” Nexus interrupted, “but. No one really believes the legends, not anymore. Not in this age of… enlightenment. They are, however, wrong for the legend is true. Not perhaps in the way it is told for Kaynos was never united as one single… state of being. One people as it were, under one ruler, but it was not the divided land it has become. Before the Great War, there was unity among the Empires… and they were Empires in that distant past. To the west a great elven empire, a dwarven empire in the centre and the human empire to the east. The noble Dragon Clans, of what was now referred to only as The Northern Badlands, ruled over those races that had been classified as ‘animal’. That included not only orcs, goblins, trolls and the like but also the halflings, minotaurs, ogres and, of course the giants. In the so-called ‘Golden Age’ of Kaynos it was inconceivable to the ruling dwarves, elves and humans that these other ‘animal’ races were intelligent… or that they deserved any rights or privilege. We know better now, do we not, Michael?”
“I'd like to say we do but there are many who still feel that way Nexus. Something I'm sure you know as well as I,” the knight answered.
“Exactly, we have not progressed. If you can appreciate the… prejudices faced by those races today then perhaps you can begin to imagine what it was like for them in that time. Given the… status of animals, they were powerless and ostracized. They were often hunted and killed for sport. I have read many accounts of those times; I have become quite… familiar with that period of our history. In this Golden Age mages were highly respected. They were highly sought after, contributing members of society. There were schools of magic all over the land training new mages regardless of gender, race or religion. Even then, as now, intelligence and… ability were the only qualifiers to a magical career, the favor of the gods always came second to the training. It is not entirely clear from the records exactly who was the first, or when, but it appears that certain mages began teaching the ‘animals’ spell casting. This was not a… popular decision.”
“No, it would not have been,” Michael said thoughtfully.
“Again the records are… fragmented. Perhaps as a result of almost ten centuries, perhaps they were fragmented to begin with. Either way, what happened next was inevitable. The Great War.”
Michael listened, his wine forgotten at his elbow, in spellbound fascination as the mage outlined the course, and tragic result of the Great War. It had begun as an attack against the mages. Those who objected to the ‘animals’ being taught magic had begun killing and torturing individual spellcasters, they had overrun the schools of magic, and raided the vendors and marketplaces that sold spell components. As anger built they had destroyed anything remotely related to arcane magic. Having no choice the mages had fought back, and fighting beside them had been the ‘animal’ races so despised by the three ruling races.
Had it remained solely a war against the mages Kaynos might have remained whole with magic obliterated but there were many who sided with the mages. There were also those who took advantage of the chaos to serve their own ambitions. Eventually the situation disintegrated until war ravaged the entire known world. Nexus explained how the war had raged for a hundred years, by which time the face of Kaynos had been eternally changed; becoming the scattered Kingdoms.
“Eventually,” Nexus continued, “the war came to an end. Not because there was any kind of resolution, it had simply become… unsustainable. The number of dead was staggering, some records indicate it may have been anywhere between half and two thirds of the population that had been killed. The land was decimated, cities had been destroyed. Famine and disease had spread all over Kaynos. And so, those mages that were left… retreated here, the old schools were abandoned, mages no longer served the various leaders, instead they formed The Republic. What was it you said earlier? The very foundation of Malerok is unity, but,” Nexus paused, leaning forward and holding Michael's gaze intently, “it is unity between mages. The Great War may be over, Michael, but the reasons behind it have not changed. The fear of my kind has not diminished and, I must be honest with you, our fear of your kind has not diminished either.”
“I see,” and Michael realized as he spoke that perhaps for the first time he truly did understand. Close to a thousand years may have passed yet he knew that nothing had truly changed. The best that could be said of many people’s attitudes towards mages was that they were tolerated. The worst, and most common, was that they were still hated. They were hated now for the same reasons they had been hated then, because people feared their power, and how they might use it.
“Yes, now you do truly see. However, for all the… possible validity of their feelings the mages are wrong. I do not believe these a
ttitudes need continue, but they will not change,” Nexus said passionately, “unless we mages show ourselves more openly to The Kingdoms. The people, of all the races, must come to know spellcasters, and they must come to understand. There are some amongst us, myself included, who are ambitious and… driven, yet those ambitions need not come into conflict with others. It is a rare spellcaster who wants to ‘rule the world’. You note, Michael, I said rare, I did not say there were none, for indeed, there are some who crave… that kind of power. Yet, is not that a common ambition among all the races? Do you not have the greedy, the venal, the liars, cheats and frauds among you? As do we. We are not unalike. We are, in fact, just like you, and of course, that is the very reason we are so feared.”
“At the risk of offending you Nexus, why shouldn’t people fear the power and ambitions of spellcasters?” Michael asked after a small pause.
“On the contrary, I find your question most… respectful. Let me respond with my own first, how do you contain the ambitions of your own?”
“The short answer to that is that we don’t always. But we also have many others…” the knight