Lore II

The Modern Ankhara

Five Hundred Years Later

Five centuries after the War of the Elementals, Ankhara is divided among five Kingdoms: Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and the One Kingdom. Each grew around a different religious tradition, political culture, and relationship with magic.

Magic is not a forgotten art. Divine essence released in the ancient war still remains throughout Ankhara. Most people can touch only a little of it; others possess stronger connections and learn to shape it through training.

Earth magic moves stone and soil. Water magic commands water and is especially associated with healing. Air shapes wind, movement, and sound. Fire wields heat and flame. Followers of the One Being have no element; their magic takes the form of blessings that strengthen, protect, preserve, and empower.

Not everyone belongs to a Kingdom. Across the lands between and beyond their borders live independent communities collectively known as the Tribes. Their people are commonly called Wild Ones. Some trade with the Kingdoms. Some avoid them. Some are descendants of families that chose independence; others are exiles or people who simply found a different life beyond Kingdom law.

That freedom has a price. Tribes make their own rules and choose their own leaders, but they cannot rely on Kingdom guards or courts. One Kingdom law, however, is meant to reach even beyond the borders: Wild Ones are forbidden from using magic, and the official punishment is death.

This is the Ankhara of the modern age: roads and markets, temples and sacred texts, rulers and warriors, priests and scholars, magicians and Wild Ones — a world convinced that the age of Gods belongs safely to history.