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Book One: "Blue Skies"
Prologue
I sometimes wonder if things would have been different.
Had I told certain things at different times... my entire life
could have changed with but a mere breath. Or would it have?
Looking up into the great blue skies, I see the larger
picture, the truer meaning of life. It is not to go through it
worrying about the little things, but to have no regrets in the
end.
- Excerpt from Looking Back, by Datchas Terraform
The only thing that does not change is change itself. Galaxies swirl,
stars are born, planets are formed, life-forms evolve, races develop,
countries begin, nations rise, kingdoms collapse, and life continues ever
onward to some unforeseen future -- with the exception of a select few
particularly divine oracles and seers.
Today we live in the Information Age, where technology abounds and
all things modern are construed as "best" and "optimal," at least so far as
technology can muster at any given moment. Always advancing, we believe
this to be the golden age of progress, where the discoveries of the past
fuel us onward towards better and better improvements.
Some things almost never change though. What is commonplace today
was once only talked about in fantasy, and what is fantasy today will
someday be commonplace. Knowledge changes hands, is lost, rediscovered,
newly devised, and "times change." Today we see our medical advancement as
the best in history, but history is often blurry and largely missing from
our annals...
Ages come and go, and history often repeats itself, but much can be
learned from what we do know. Unfortunately history does not reach back
very far -- accurately, rather. A long time ago there existed an age of
wonder often described in fantasy today, yet then it was reality. It was
the Mystic Age, where powerful forces commonly called magick were the focal
point of much deliberation, study, and practice.
Yet magick has always existed. Even today, it persists in what we
commonly see as technology and the utility of science. Electricity, for
example, is just another form of magick we have learned to harness and
utilize in our day to day lives. Different methods, yet the same
principles. While surgical procedures are seen as best today, in the
Mystic Age the magick of growth and regeneration was given the most
acclaim. There were still "doctors" who could perform surgery to remove
foreign objects and such, but to them it was so much simpler to invoke the
services of someone who could focus regenerative and growth magick.
This power of growth and regeneration was mostly limited to those who
practiced Druidism, for it was a magick pulled from the spirits of plants.
Druids in the Mystic Age (not to be confused with those much closer in
history such as the Celts) were harnessers of nature. They utilized a
balance between nature and man and found the harmonies therein. It was a
way of life more than just a practice such as blacksmithing. By learning
the forces of nature, one could begin to control those forces. Of course,
it took much dedication, practice, and skill to become even moderately
adept, so most Druids did not actively use much magick of their own.
Many races existed then that do not exist today. Species come and go,
just like knowledge, and kingdoms rise and fall. Many species we know of
today are just merely evolved forms of species that existed in the far
distant past. Lizards are just the form that Dragons of the Mystic Age
eventually became. Many connections could be drawn if only history were
not so incomplete...
In the time of the Mystic Age, spiritual magick and magick arcana
flourished, whereas today electricity and all things derivative are
flourishing. The Mystic Age was a much simpler time, as populations of any
one race were dismal compared to the billions that cover the planet now.
The world was much different.
But even in the face of all of these differences, people were not much
different. Love, hatred, sadness, joy... these feelings were no different.
Vengeance was still very much blinding and relentless. Good and Evil
still existed in everything.