<em>The First Age continued.<br/><br/>Undar brought a drought to the land surrounding Elysium. The vines there cracked and dried, the skies ceased to rain, and rivers and brooks slowly vanished. The desert surrounding the once verdant forest began to creep into the once thick groves, now dry trunks with leafless branches. The fae of Elysium were safe within their enclosure, protected and watched over by their goddess whose blessing still preserved their land and for now they were safe. But outside of the small sanctuary the land died. The fae that had not joined Elysium and the humans that still remained out there began to die as the water deserted them, and the once miraculous vines of destiny withered and perished. <br/><br/>Perhaps it was for this reason that so many were willing to join the call to war. The blood fae could not say what it was in the stars that caused them to march south and west into the broken and barren lands of rock and salt, but compelled they were.<br/><br/>It was a hard and bloody march. For forest dwellers armed with little more than malice, it was especially brutal. What few beasts they had tried to domesticate helped little, their weapons were not well developed, but the blood fae had power of their masses of human servants and they did not particularly care how many of them were left starving and thirsty and dying alongside the roads they beat.<br/><br/>When they did arrive in the badlands, their war drums beat and they fell onto the squat and naive peoples there with bloody abandon. The first few fights were overwhelming victories for the blood fae and their slaves for they were aggressors against a people that had never known war. In fact they were aggressors against a world that had never known war, and this was a tremendous advantage. <br/><br/>But the shock wore off, and the tunnels that the short and desperate Badlanders ran into were dark and twisted and deep. In the depths they started to form warrior bands of their own and resist the incursions of the blood fae into the ground. A stalemate developed, with the blood fae holding the surface, the badlanders holding the depths. Each side would raid the othe periodically, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing, but never truly gaining ground. Massive population losses were seen by both peoples.<br/><br/>As the badlands ran red they were called and claimed the Bloodlands by their invaders.<br/><br/>In the far south, Troika and Trois eagerly accepted the freedom to act given to them by Huehehahol. Over time they gathered their family and friends and built a settlement they called The Kennel, in which they fought and killed the hellhounds, and then sought to trap and raise the young ones. Their goal was to domesticate the beasts and use them as a tool, rather than be afraid of them. As word of what they did spread, many humans huddling in fear in the surrounding areas came to join them and the Kennel grew into one of the world's first true population centers, aside from hidden Elysium. The holy beings with their third eye became almost regarded to the point of being thought of as demigods themselves, but they made sure all knew that Huehehahol was the one who had saved their people.<br/><br/>As for the trickster himself, they were once again involved in a significant change to the earth. As their paw swatted at the oasis it shattered not only the glass that ran through the ground, but it shattered much more.<br/><br/>"The magic! The magic!" The wanderer cried as it passed through the shattered glass. "Wait!" He said, using his simple cantrip to hold the glass in the air as the magic passed through it. Like a prism, the glass broke up the magic into its base components.<br/><br/>"I see!" The wanderer said, transfixed on the much more elementary magic that he observed this way. "I see!" He laughed with joy. "We have been attempting to shape magic like a child plays with clay, but we should weave it like cloth! There are many different strands! Oh, and there are rules as to how it may be worked. We must follow the rules strictly." <br/><br/>And the wanderer proceeded to do just that, shaping the glass, the desert and the oasis itself as he spoke, displaying more magical ability than any human had to that point. His people were alerted to what transpired and ran to see what had occurred. They called a name to the wanderer, but he held up a hand commanding silence. <br/><br/>"No, I am not that simple shaman anymore." He said with glee. "I am Ma'Niskus. Magus." He turned to face his tribe, a glittering city of glass and flowing water behind him. "If you obey the laws of magic, I will teach you!"<br/><br/>He called the city Optus. From there, the world's first Magus taught his people. Not many had the gift. And while Ma'Niskus was a teacher, he was a strict disciplinarian, teaching that magic must be taken seriously, and never used as a joke or a source of mischief. Optus began to grow as a city, and the teachings of the Optics, as the people began to call themselves, spread to the nomadic tribes in the desert, up into the edge of the new dry forests where Elysium remained hidden, and even starting to reach into the territory of the coiled groves. Civilization. Rules. Discipline. Magical understanding and teaching. All had begun by a trickster god attempting to break magic, and the interference of a spirit. <br/><br/></em><div align="center">(http://i.imgur.com/akb76Ki.png)</div><br/>The world has grown up! It is starting to see settlement, war, and civilization!<br/><br/>Undar has successfully brought a drought to the where the vines once grew. They are slowly turning the forests to deserts. The fae of Elysium remain safe from this, for now, but the land outside of their hidden sanctuary is dry and brittle.<br/><br/>Marux has spurred an invasion of the Badlands, causing the blood fae and their human servants to march an awful death march through broken lands to attack the primitive dwellers of the badlands. The badlanders have retreated underground into tunnels, while the blood fae hold the barren surface. A stalemate is the current status, both sides devastated by losses.<br/><br/>The Optics, as the desert dwellers who have settled in the great oasis, now call themselves are learning magic from the world's first Magus - Ma'Niskus. He sternly leads and teaches his people, and their way is spreading throughout the desert.<br/><br/>The people of the southernmost lands have founded the Kennel under the guidance of Troika and Trois. They are working to turn the hellhounds into domesticated beasts, rather than predators of people.<br/><br/>The coiled groves remain pure and untouched, although they will have contact with the Optics in time if things persist.<br/><br/>Next round of turns please! I'd like to have the next post out by the end of the weekend, so please try to get your actions in in the next few days! :)