Buffy X-overs 1. Genesis

Title: Trinity

Author: Nopporn Wongrassamee aka The Evil Author

Summary: The _real_ history of the universe.

Disclaimer: The characters and settings belong to whoever owns them. I'm just too lazy to look up who they are.

**Book 1 - Genesis**

In the beginning...

There were the Great Old Ones. Some called them demons. Others called them gods. The universe was their playground... and their battleground. For eons, they went where they willed, battling each other for supremacy. No world or dimension could deny them.

One of the greatest of the Old Ones was Illyria. For a time, she was self-proclaimed God king of the Old Ones. She made her throne on a world where the walls between dimensions were thinner than normal, even porous. Such worlds were few and highly prized among the Old Ones.

On this world, a species evolved in the shadow of Illyria's court. Regarded at first as mere vermin, the Old Ones soon noticed that these creatures had some interesting abilities. Though extremely short-lived by the standards of the Old Ones, the creatures had a rudimentary ability to do magic. They were also very clever given their limited intelligence. These mortal creatures would eventually be known as _human_.

For a time, it became the fashion of Illyria's court to see what amusements could be made of these humans. The Old Ones infused small parts of themselves into some humans, creating whole races of lesser demons. Some were made purely for amusement; others became useful retainers. Some visiting Old Ones from other parts of the universe took these lesser demons and even samplings of human populations back home, spreading them far and wide.

But the Old Ones underestimated human cleverness. Even as the Old Ones played with the humans, the humans in turn were learning from the Old Ones. To protect themselves from the creations of the Old Ones, the humans created their own protectors. Different groups of humans used different strategies. One created the Gargoyles, ferocious protectors of hearth and home. Another created the Slayer, to hunt down the lesser demons and the vampires in particular where they lived. Other protectors were also created, most eventually lost to the ravages of time.

For a short eon since the appearance of the humans, a balance between them and the Old Ones existed. In the Old Ones' shadows, the humans spread across the universe. At first, the Old Ones carried them as pets. Soon the humans crafted ships to move freely around the universe. Their art culminated in the creation of a ring made from a magic stone that could move them from world to world with but a step.

But the balance between Old One and humanity could not last forever. Some Old Ones began to look upon the growing number of humans with unease. Their mutterings fell on deaf ears, for the God king Illyria (and by extension her court) regarded all things human as beneath her notice.

Then one day, Illyria died.


	2. Exodus

**Title: Trinity**

**Author: Nopporn Wongrassamee aka The Evil Author**

**Summary: The _real_ history of the universe.**

**Disclaimer: The characters and settings belong to whoever owns them. I'm just too lazy to look up who they are.

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**Book 2 – Exodus**

Illyria died as many Old Ones before her had, in dominance battles with each other. Her would-be successors battled each other to take her place. Such was the order of things. Several factions took it upon themselves to cull the masses of humans and mortal races derived from them.

They proved unequal to the task.

For eons, the battles of the Old Ones had been steadily reducing their numbers. At the same time, the number of humans and other mortal races had been growing to fill the void the Old Ones' deaths have left behind. Moreover, the Old Ones were incapable of truly working together, making their efforts at extermination haphazard at best. The mortals however worked together naturally, and banded together even more when faced with the Old One's onslaught.

The mortal races formed the Great Alliance. Many races were part of this Alliance. The four most prominent members of this Alliance were the warrior Asgard, the wise Furlings, the canny Nox, and the oldest strain of mortal humanity that the others were already calling Ancient.

The battles were great and many and fierce, but the Alliance prevailed. Old Ones fallen in battle were imprisoned on Illyria's old throneworld, for even dead, it was possible for an Old One to rise anew. The prison was originally fashioned by Illyria to hold her fallen enemies. The Ancients made use of this prison as well.

The Old Ones who had not fallen to the Alliance fled to the upper and lower dimensions. The Great Alliance rejoiced in their seeming victory, but the Old Ones' parting blow would destroy them.

The Old One known as Ouroboros was clever. He cast upon the Asgard a curse that did not seem to be a curse: envy. The Asgard were mortal, secretly envious of the Old Ones' immortality. To that end, they developed the ability to copy themselves forever. But in time, their endless duplication of minds and bodies proved flawed, ultimately depriving them of the ability to have children and renew themselves. Time and entropy would whittle away their remaining numbers, and still does so to this day.

The Old One known as Goa was less subtle. He cursed not the Furlings, but their partners the Uld. The Uld were symbiotic serpents, peaceful repositories of the Furlings' knowledge, culture, and wisdom. Goa's curse changed the Uld from helpful assistants into domineering tyrants. Almost overnight, Furling civilization crashed into oblivion. To this day, the cursed symbiotes are still known as "Goa's Uld".

No Old One cursed the Nox. However, watching their friends and allies fall into chaos had its effects. Using their great magics, the Nox hid themselves away from the rest of the universe. They remain hidden to this day, showing themselves only to answer the rare plea for assistance.

An Old One whose name is forgotten inflicted the most devastating of plagues upon the Ancients. The plague spread like wildfire, scouring galaxies clean of the humans. The Ancients tried to cure the plague, but to no avail. But they discovered ways a_round_ the plague.

Fearing the plague, one group of Ancients on Illyria's old throne world decided to run before the plague could reach them. They gathered in Atlantis, a city constructed specifically to evacuate them. Once gathered, Atlantis flew to a nearby, uninhabited dwarf galaxy. For a time, they prospered there.

Several colonies of the Ancients initiated drastic quarantine procedures, cutting themselves off from the plaque. They survived after a fashion, passing their names off into legend: Kobol, Krypton, Tollana...

Another band of Ancients developed _Ascension_. This had several advantages. They could become something the plague could not touch. Their personal power would become magnified, a match for any Old One. And lastly, they could now pursue the Old Ones to whatever dimensions they had fled to.

But the majority of humanity was left to the plague. Everyone died except in one place. On Illyria's throneworld, humanity had evolved. Here, they were still the most genetically diverse population to be found anywhere. Most died, but is soon proved that those with minimal or no magical ability proved resistant to the plague. Ruthless natural selection turned the remainder of humanity into a nonmagical race but for remnants like the Immortals, the lesser demons, and the Slayer.

For an eon, the universe was quiet.


	3. Interregnum

Title: Trinity

Author: Nopporn Wongrassamee aka The Evil Author

Summary: The _real_ history of the universe.

Disclaimer: The characters and settings belong to whoever owns them. I'm just too lazy to look up who they are.

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**Book 3 – Interregnum**

An age of darkness spread across the universe.

On the Upper Planes, the Ascended Ancients stood victorious over the Old Ones. But battle was infinitely easier than the task that now confronted them. The framework of the cosmos was in tatters and needed rebuilding lest the universe fall into chaos.

On the Lower Planes, the lesser demons and surviving Old Ones eyed the victors with awe and worry and avarice.

On the Middle Planes, humanity was all but extinguished but for a few beacons here and there. And even there did they suffer. Kobol and Tollana could not sustain themselves in isolation and fell to barbarism. It would be millennia before they could rebuild a civilization that even approached what they lost. Krypton survived isolation by becoming regimented and ordered, sacrificing innovation and imagination for stability.

Only Atlantis grew; but remembering the plague, they seeded new worlds mostly with strains of non-magic humans, hoarding such powers for only the elite. They called the non-magic humans "Muggle". And therein lay the seeds of their own destruction.

On the upper planes, the Ascended created a civilization in their image, a human civilization. Here, the rule of law prevailed, not the rule of whoever had the most strength. The demons who remained were forced to abide by Ascended law. Most found it not to their liking, but the three known as the Wolf, Ram, and Hart saw ways to exploit it to their advantage.

Thus did Ascended civilization grow. The Ascended had children, and those children had children. Soon, whole generations had been born who knew nothing of and cared not for the trials of mortality. The affairs of mortal humanity were nothing to them.

But a few looked upon mortal humanity and grew interested. Some pitied those left behind. Others chafed at the laws of the Ascended and sought to territories to rule where those laws had no sway. Still others looked to grab treasures left behind, most notably the world jewel that had originally spawned humanity.

And thus was the fall of mortal humanity complete.

On Kobol, the Ascended known as Iblis came and offered enlightenment and happiness to whoever would follow him. What he gave instead was chaos and conflict, for it amused him to set bands of Kobolians against each other. In the end, Kobol was devastated, the survivors fleeing in thirteen waves. Twelve founded their own colonies; the thirteenth sought the legendary birthworld.

To Krypton came the Ascended who would one day be known as Jasmine. She came not as would-be savior or conqueror, but as tourist. She studied and admired the orderly civilization Krypton and basked in the worship her mere presence provoked. But her mere presence disrupted Krypton society as her worshippers soon flouted their roles and duties. There was much war and conflict for generations after her visit before order could be restored. But by then, it would be too late; the terrible weapons used had changed their world, starting a chain reaction that would eventually destroy it.

On the birthworld that would one day be known simply as Earth, humanity was at its most primitive. Many factions of demons sought to control this shining jewel. But they were forever running afoul of each other. And whenever one faction seemed about to prevail over another, the Slayer appeared, drawn by their power and destroying their works.

Atlantis and Tollana were not touched. The civilization of the Ascended looked upon the actions of Iblis and Jasmine with horror. Laws were passed that forbade the Ascended from playing god with mortals. Many Ascended went to other pursuits, but some sought loopholes.

Wolf, Ram, and Hart discovered that the law prevented them only from acting directly against mortals. They assembled a power structure of middlemen; demons that were not at the level of Ascended but could still take orders from them while being able to act against mortals. Others followed their example. Soon, the middlemen were unleashed upon the Earth, seeking to gain advantage by bargain and contract rather than tooth and claw.

Jasmine discovered a loophole in the law. By going through a faux cycle of birth and death, she would temporarily be a "mortal" in the eyes of the law while still retaining her powers, leaving her free to act. The process was too rigorous and complicated for most Ascended to bother with, but Jasmine mastered it.

In their isolated galaxy, the Atlantians knew nothing of such momentous events. They prospered and grew and spread. Then one day, they came across a world that held demons, soldiers left over from the war with the Old Ones. Time had taken its toll, and the Atlantians no longer recognized the demons, but the demons were long-lived and remembered the Atlantians' ancestors. Unprepared, the complacent Atlantians were quickly overwhelmed. The elite magicians - the ones who could actually fight the demons – were to few and slain where they were found. The Muggles were kept by the demons as food to be farmed. The last magicians hid their city of Atlantis and fled back to Earth.

What the Atlantians found on Earth was a primitive wilderness, populated by even more primitive Muggles. At first, the Atlantian exiles attempted to recreate their civilization. But without the advanced technology they left behind, their too few numbers were steadily absorbed into the general population. Those descendants of Atlantians slowly forgot their origins until Atlantis was just another bedtime story. But they continued to refine their magic. They had to in order to compete with the demon middlemen offering the Muggles magical services.

And thus had humanity reached its lowest ebb. They might have remained that way, stagnant, isolated, or prey to demons. But the road back to greatness was opened for mortal humanity.

And it was all because of the Goa'uld.


	4. Faux Deus

Title: Trinity

Author: Nopporn Wongrassamee aka The Evil Author

Summary: The _real_ history of the universe.

Disclaimer: The characters and settings belong to whoever owns them. I'm just too lazy to look up who they are.

**Book 4 – Faux Deus**

_Chapter 1_

Thirteen tribes fled the ruins of Kobol. Twelve tribes settled twelve worlds. One tribe under took the long journey to fabled Earth. They traveled through a wilderness long since emptied of mortal minds. They rested at many empty but living worlds that they found, but ever onward did they travel.

Then one day, they arrived at a world that was not empty. The world was not Earth, but a fallen Furling colony. Those who visited found the Furlings reduced to nothing but cave dwelling savages. When they returned to their pyramid ships, the explorers brought back with them the Goa'uld.

As the Thirteenth Tribe of Kobol journeyed onward to Earth, the Goa'uld began to take over the fleet. Led by Ra and spawned by the queen Hathor, the Goa'uld secretly members of the Tribe one by one until no Kobollian was left untouched.

When the Thirteenth Tribe came upon Earth, they came not as refugees, but as conquerors.

_Chapter 2_

The Goa'uld found Earth little better than their old world, a world populated by tribes of cave dwelling primitives. But Earth had two boons that the Furling colony did not. One was a cornucopia of hosts. The other was that there were no other Goa'uld to contest the family of Ra and Hathor for these hosts.

To the primitives of Earth, the Goa'uld made themselves gods. They carved out territories to call their own, ruling them as they pleased. They even took some of the subjects of their fiefdoms and used them to populate colonies on other worlds. But they soon found their divine rule contested at every corner.

For already resident on Earth were true magic wielders. Among their number were the Atlantian descended wizards, the demon-dealing warlocks, and the plethora of resident demons. As was their practice, they offered their services to the Goa'uld. But the Goa'uld could not abide the existence of great powers that rivaled their own and sought to stomp them out.

A few Goa'uld did not agree with this policy. Nirrti sought a wielder of magic for a host, but could not obtain one. In the end, she would spend millennia trying to breed one. Another Goa'uld, Argus the spy, created the Watchers to learn and exploit the ways of magic. But these Goa'uld were few and could not stem the tide.

The fighting was long and difficult. But in the end, the Goa'uld decided that Earth was too much trouble to hold, especially since their colonies were prospering and were considerably more tractable. In the end, they abandoned Earth, never dreaming that such a fractious and primitive world could threaten them among the stars.

_Chapter 3_

Behold the works of the Goa'uld. For though they had departed Earth, they left behind a legacy that remains to this day.

The foremost legacy of the Goa'uld is _civilization_. Where once there were wandering tribes of hunter-gatherers, there were now cities and farms. Taking the place of the would-be gods, human ruled as their former masters did. Over the millennia, the mortals of Earth would continue to refine civilization, slowly moving from the autocracy of the Goa'uld to more and more democratic systems.

But the Goa'uld left behind other things as well.

Among the mortal humans of Earth, magic was no longer trusted as it once was. Suspicion was rife of those who wielded it. This grew over the millennia, culminating in witch-hunts that drove the wizards into hiding and the demons into the shadows. On a world that was at the center of all things magical, magic itself was soon regarded as nothing more than a fable.

And in this environment of both civilization and denial, Wolf, Ram, and Hart launched a bid to make Earth their own.


	5. Apocalypse

Title: Trinity

Author: Nopporn Wongrassamee aka The Evil Author

Summary: The _real_ history of the universe.

Disclaimer: The characters and settings belong to whoever owns them. I'm just too lazy to look up who they are.

**Book 5 – Apocalypse**

The Apocalypse has come. Many factions of the Ascended fight a shadow war on Earth, using mortals and near-mortals as proxies. The ultimate prize is Earth itself, the crossroads of universe. For it has been prophesied that whoever controls Earth controls the fate of the universe itself.

Wolf, Ram, and Hart have the simplest yet most ingenious plan to possess this world. They will not use armies nor force of arms. That has never been there way, even during the height of the Old Ones' rule. No, there intention is to _buy_ Earth one soul at a time.

Under the rule of Ascended law, Wolf, Ram, and Hart have prospered and grown powerful. To evade the Law of Noninterference, they have created a network of demons, a chain of communication so that their orders may be passed to the lowest mortal in their service. By the time they turned their eye to Earth, a multitude of worlds and dimensions and mortal races owed them fealty.

Such was the cleverness of their scheme was that it went mostly unopposed at first. Before then, any faction attempting to take the Earth was opposed by every other faction. The trade in souls and magical services was so old that no one else considered it as a means to dominance. Wolf, Ram, and Hart's proxy – the organization that would become the corporation of Wolfram and Hart – offered their services to other demons, would-be conquerors, and just plain human scum. When these clients inevitably crashed and burned due to either the actions of some champion or simply their own miscalculations, Wolfram and Hart would emerge a little richer, a little more powerful, and virtually unscathed.

When the other factions vying for Earth realized what was happening, their attempts to usurp Wolfram and Hart became ever more desperate. Their Earth-side followers began to attempt to bring about the return of their masters. Attempted Apocalypses became more frequent. But like with Wolfram and Hart's clients, these grandiose schemes came to nothing.

A Master vampire attempts to open a portal to Hell, only to be stopped by an earthquake created by Richard Wilkins, the semi-immortal warlock who ruled the area.

In an attempt to repeat history, Iblis orchestrated the destruction of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol by the Cylons. As the refugees fled towards Earth in search of the now-legendary Thirteenth Tribe, Iblis has repeatedly attempted to gain their service and souls.

As ever was her way, Jasmine birthed herself into pseudo-mortality. She attempted to force peace upon the world at the cost of free will. But her scheme was thwarted as well.

With Earth's champions engaged in defeating the overt threats, it appeared that nothing could stop Wolfram and Hart. But these attempts and a multitude of others began to draw the attention of Ascended formerly uninvolved with Earth.

The Powers That Be are the Ascended equivalent of a charity organization. A motley collection of well-intentioned Ascended, they are dedicated to the betterment of mortals, opposing the works of exploitive factions like Wolf, Ram, and Hart. But they too are constrained by Ascended Law, only able to send garbled messages and warnings to their mortal agents and champions.

One agent was the vampire with a soul, Angel. From their first encounter with him, Wolfram and Hart attempted to suborn the vampire, for Angel was prophesied to be critical to the Apocalypse. And for a time, it had appeared that they had succeeded. But Angel was ever his own person, following the Ascended only when it suited him.

Angel became a member of the Circle of Thorns, the organization Wolf, Ram, and Hart created to manage their Earth-side operations. Then Angel assassinated the other members of the Circle, having consequences more far reaching than even he realized.

As the sole remaining member of the Circle, Angel is now the master of all of Wolfram and Hart's Earth side operations. Angel himself is close enough to mortal that Wolf, Ram, and Hart must still use proxies to issue him orders. But Angel is in open defiance of Wolf, Ram, and Hart, meaning that the demons are no longer in control of their Earth-side assets.

What's more, Wolf, Ram, and Hart made many deals and bargains with other Ascended and demons. All these deals hinged on their de facto control of Earth. If they don't have Earth, the amount of their wealth and power they would forfeit could very well beggar them.

And finally, Angel stole power from Wolf, Ram, and Hart's avatar, power that came directly from Wolf, Ram, and Hart themselves. With the power came the link, allowing Angel's vampiric nature to siphon even more power from them, posing a very mortal threat to their very being.

For all these reasons, Wolf, Ram, and Hart _must_ kill Angel. But constrained by Ascended law, they must still use intermediaries. For that they have their army, a great host of demons. But sending this whole army to kill Angel is a gamble. It is with the threat of this army that ultimately keeps Wolf, Ram, and Hart's fiefs loyal to them. But on Earth, conquering armies never seem to work. While this army just has to kill one vampire, Angel could conceivably survive.

And if they lose their army while Angel survives...


	6. Chronicles

Title: Trinity

Author: Nopporn Wongrassamee aka The Evil Author

Summary: The _real_ history of the universe.

Disclaimer: The characters and settings belong to whoever owns them. I'm just too lazy to look up who they are.

**Book 6 – Chronicles**

Many are the defenders and guardians of the cosmic jewel that is Earth. Behold…

_The Watchers_

Created by the Goa'uld Argus, the Watchers were founded originally created to study the magic wielders and their ilk. The Watchers were to observe the witches and demons, and determine which could serve the Goa'uld and which were threats. To hide themselves better, the Watchers wore the sign of their lord not on their foreheads, but on their forearms where clothing may conceal them.

But alas, the majority of Goa'uld were not cooperative, forcing the Watchers to mostly watch, even hide. To better hide themselves, they moved the symbol of their lord from the traditional spot on the forehead to their forearm. When the Goa'uld left, so did Argus. But the Watchers were left behind to continue their duty. Time passed and memory of their lord if not their purpose faded. And as time passed, a rift grew in the ranks of the Watchers.

The _Council_ of Watchers dedicated themselves to fighting the demons. To that end, they recruited various creatures to serve them. Their greatest coup was the acquisition of not just one Slayer, but the entire Slayer line.

The _Society_ of Watchers argued that their mission was to study the supernatural forces. Foremost among their subjects was the Immortals, long-lived humans who all other supernatural beings seem to avoid like the plague.

In the end came the Schism. The Council and Society parted ways, nevermore to acknowledge each other's existence. Centuries pass and each remembers the other in texts and histories never read until one James Horton came across them.

_The Slayer_

She is the Slayer. Amongst the Old Ones, the One known only as the Slayer was most unusual. When the Old Ones battled each other for dominance, the weaker would often submit to the stronger. But the Slayer defied this trend, seeking battle with those stronger than her while disregarding those weaker as unworthy of her attentions. She defied even the self appointed authority of the God king Illyria.

And the Slayer was ever victorious. Even when she died, she managed a draw.

The Slayer's surviving enemies – and there were very few of them – gave her corpse to the lowly humans to make what they will. The ancient human mages took the Slayer's heart and created a line of warriors that still bears her name. And thus was the Slayer reborn in a fashion.

The Slayer lives but only as a spirit, a voice in her warriors' dreams. As such, the Slayer can only live vicariously through her warriors. She guides her warriors as best she can, subtly pushing them to find powerful enemies to battle. She can watch, and occasionally sends dreams to her warriors. She allowed her warriors to be allied with the Watchers, for the Watchers focus her warriors on battle.

The Slayer Chooses her warriors. She Chooses who will bear her title when the current warrior dies. She Chooses from the newly born those who may potentially bear her title. She Chose many, more perhaps than anyone mortal or Ascended ever realized.

The Slayer does not like Buffy Summers.

Buffy Summers is disrespectful of the Slayer. Buffy Summers seeks to live a life outside of Slaying. Buffy Summers called upon the Slayer to defeat Adam then dismissed her like a mere servant. Buffy Summers killed the Master instead of letting him release Hell on Earth and thus multiplying the enemies for the Slayer to fight. Buffy Summers will not stay properly dead.

After Buffy Summers rose from the dead a second time, the Slayer simply gave up in frustration. She stopped Choosing. This allowed the First Evil to attempt to extinguish her warriors from existence. But the First Evil had not known just how many Potential Slayers that the Slayer had already Chosen.

Under the tutelage of the Watchers, the Slayer's warriors battled more often than ever. A such, their lives also became much shorter, necessitating the Choosing of warriors more often. Noticing this trend, the Slayer simply increased the number of reserve Potentials.

When Buffy came back from the dead a second time, the Slayer simply stopped Choosing new Potentials. After all, if her warriors were living longer, then there were more than enough Potentials already. The Slayer even complained about it to the First Evil.

And the First Evil had decided to take advantage of this. When the Slayer realized what the First Evil was doing, there was little that she could do but send warning dreams to her warriors.

Then Buffy Summers decided to change the rules again. She persuaded the witch Willow to renegotiate the magics binding the Slayer, activating ALL of the Slayer's Potential warriors. At first, the Slayer was stunned, then delighted. She now has opportunities for battle undreamed of since her death.

The Slayer still does not like Buffy Summers, but she sure as hell respects her.

_The Immortals_

From the beginning of time they came, literally.

At the beginning of time, Old Ones battled each other for dominance. One of these Old Ones – Osiris, not to be confused with the Goa'uld who would later bear his name - was most unusual. Instead of regarding of humans as disgusting muck, he delighted in them. He found humans and their works endlessly fascinating. He tinkered with the humans, creating interesting hybrid races that he sometimes gave to other Old Ones.

Then the Slayer came to Osiris seeking battle. And they did battle mightily. And they killed each other. And that might have been the end of it, but Illyria's prison had not yet been constructed.

The Slayer's enemies gave the Slayer over to humans to make of her what they will. Osiris' enemies, on the other hand, made him human. Or rather, they chopped him up and made the fragments human.

It was Azrael's idea. Azrael, a long time enemy of Osiris, thought that since Osiris liked humanity so much, then Osiris should be human. But a single human vessel could not contain the full might of even a dead Old One. So Osiris was divided and incarnated as many humans. And when these human formed fragments of Osiris were made, they were unable to remember their existence as an Old One, believing themselves merely human.

Even in human guise though, some of Osiris' majesty and power can be seen. Osiris' human forms were immortal, regenerating damage that would kill just about any lesser demon. Even if the physical body were sufficiently damaged so that it could not regenerate, Osiris' essence – called the Quickening – would pass into the ether to be reborn anew.

But being a fragmented being, Osiris' human vessels subconsciously desire to be a complete and whole being once again even if they are unaware why they feel so. To that end, when one Immortal vessel is slain in front of the other, the surviving vessel absorbs the other's Quickening. Combined with the Old One's natural combative nature, and the Immortals inevitably began to battle each other for their Quickening, eventually formalizing rules of conduct that has become known as the Game.

And thus was Azrael's curse complete. The Immortals battle one another for the Prize of being a whole being once more. But the battle is endless, the Prize forever out of reach because when an Immortal dies, their Quickening and the Quickening of their victims and the Quickening of their victims' victims and so on, are scattered to the winds, each one to be reborn as a new Immortal over the course of centuries. And as of late, quite a few Immortals have died lately without another to take their Quickening.

No lesser demon interferes with the Game. Immortals broadcast their power, and demons who are sensitive look elsewhere, knowing only that this seeming human is nothing they want to mess with. Even the Slayer steers her warriors clear of them for reasons that she keeps to herself.

But mortals can and sometimes do interfere in the game. And witches, wizards, and warlocks are mortal too.


	7. Arcana

Title: Trinity

Author: Nopporn Wongrassamee aka The Evil Author

Summary: The _real_ history of the universe.

Disclaimer: The characters and settings belong to whoever owns them. I'm just too lazy to look up who they are.

**Book 7 – Arcana**

Mysterious and many are the ways of magic and those that wield it.

The_ Mystics_ wield magic like the Ancients of old. It is through training, pure concentration, and force of will that the Mystics accomplish their feats of power. Though their spells are often subtler and simpler than the others, they can show a surprising amount of force to the unwary. The Mystics' strongholds are the monasteries of Eastern Asia and India, most notably Tibet.

The _Wizards_ also wield magic directly. But their use of magic is characterized by the use of tools to aid them, wands being the most popular. The spells of Wizards are many and sophisticated, accomplishing a great many feats that the others would find difficult. But their spells very sophistication and complexity is also their weakness, making them delicate and fragile compared to the others. The Wizards make up this deficiency by being the most coherent of the groups, living in their own societies hidden from the rest of mankind. The Wizard strongholds are in Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa.

The _Warlocks_ do not wield magic directly. Instead, they use ritual and incantation to summon spirits and lesser demons to do magic for them. The rituals and incantations have nothing to do with the physics of magic, but more to do with making pacts and contracts with the entities summoned as specified by Ascended law. As they are dealing with other-worldly entities, Warlocks often have a shady and not entirely undeserved reputation among other spell casters. Warlock magic is the most powerful in its own way, but is comparatively clumsy to use. This is because other beings are doing the real work. Warlock magic also has the highest price in terms of mind and body when the spirits and demons collect their fee. Warlocks have no coherent society at all, and are often found living in the shadows of the others.

The _Wiccans_ are a relatively young and new group. Initially created by dabblers in the magical arts, the art of Wicca attempts to essentially meld the arts of the other three into one discipline. However, the varying level of secrecy among the Mystics, Warlocks, and Wizards means that the Wiccans have a very incomplete and haphazard library of knowledge. This resulted in Wiccans of wildly differing levels of power, knowledge, and competence. Wiccans typically gather in social clubs they call covens, most of which can be found in North America although Wicca has spread into Europe.

The _Mutants_ manipulate magic more by instinct than by training. Their powers are often narrowly defined, but powerful within their limits. The mutants are created when latent genes from both Ancient and lesser demon forebears in the Earth human gene pool unexpectedly become manifest. Genes never meant to be in the same individual create previously unseen combinations of powers or change powers beyond recognition. Mutants are rare and scattered across the globe, but their numbers seem to be on the rise. Of late, a few individuals have begun seeking to gather together mutants for various reasons.

_Witch_ is simply a term for a recognized female magic user used by the Wizards, the Warlocks, and to a lesser extent, the Wiccans.

It began with the Ancients, humans of power learning to use magic at the feet of the Old Ones. Over the generations, they refined their techniques, using their knowledge to improve not only their skills, but also their technology. One group of Ancients even learned to Ascend, matching and then surpassing the Old Ones.

After the mass Ascension, after Atlantis had departed, after the Great Plague had stripped Earth of its magic using humans, the lesser demons still stalked the Earth. These lesser demons were hybrids of humans and Old Ones. Some preyed on humans, and some set themselves up as petty tyrants. And being human hybrids, many breeds of lesser demons could and did have viable children with the humans. These bastard offspring would mate with humans again, and their offspring would mate with still more. Eventually thinning the demon genes enough that they no longer manifested and were forgotten.

But even forgotten, they were still there. Occasionally, inevitably, the ebb and flow of human mating would sometimes gather sufficient demon genes in one individual so that demonic traits would manifest. But more often than not, the genes were from not one, but many different breeds of demons, producing powers and physical traits that were almost unrecognizable. When the Atlantians returned, their infusion of direct magical ability into the gene pool caused such mutations to become more common.

But before the Atlantians returned, humans had begun relearning the ways of magic. Unable to use magic directly themselves, humans made pacts with demons, spirits, and other such entities. Sometimes such pacts were beneficial, sometimes not. Through trial and error, the early warlocks learned that the greater power that was asked for, the higher the price that power would cost. As such, many developed traditions that limited power to what benefited the tribes and what lines would not be crossed. But there were always those who would cross that line and knowingly or not, pay the price.

When the Atlantians returned, they found that their magical abilities cast them into the role of tribal shaman even though their powers worked differently. Although they lost much knowledge over the generations, as they had to decide what to keep and what to let go for survival's sake, they retained enough to give them an edge over the warlocks.

Competition between the two never turned to outright warfare for several reasons. One was that neither group was big enough or enough collected in one place to form a organization sophisticated enough to prosecute a war. Another was that magic users of any kind were all together a minority, leaving enough to go around. And then there came the Goa'uld.

When the Goa'uld came. They didn't conquer so much as awe the population of Earth into submission. The warlocks and the mystical descendants of Atlantis were also awed, but quickly realized that the self-proclaimed gods for all their might were deficient in the arts of magic. As such, they did what they always had and offered themselves to the Goa'uld as advisors and soothsayers.

They were soundly rejected.

The Goa'uld saw their magic and feared. Led and in some cases ordered by Ra, the Goa'uld viewed the spell casters not as a resource to be harnessed, but as a danger to be eliminated. A few Goa'uld such as Nirrti and Argus did not share this view, but they were minor lords incapable of swaying general policy.

In the West, a general pogrom against wielders of magic began, the first ever witch-hunt. However, true magic users were difficult to separate from the general population, and the Goa'uld were not very careful to separate them from the tide of non-magical humanity. Their heavy handedness lead to a general uprising that resulted in them abandoning Earth altogether. But the scars of this conflict was high, leaving behind a general distrust of magic users that would grow with time.

In the East however, there was no general witch-hunt. Although Lord Yu, the area's dominant Goa'uld did not accept magical advisors in his court, neither did he hunt them down. As such, the East's dominant magic users, the Atlantian descended mystics, continued to serve as shamans for the people, even becoming minor priests. When Yu pulled out with the other Goa'uld, there was no legacy of distrust.

After the Goa'uld had left, they left Earth with a civilization. The civilization was scattered and primitive, but it was enough. In this environment, the magic users still offered their services to the powerful, but they also began organizing themselves. Some formed guilds, others priests depending on the society they lived in.

Then came the Greeks and Greek logic. In this age of enlightenment and philosophers, the Wizard was born. Spell casters began to study their abilities, fit their magic into a logical framework from which to build even better spells. They discovered how to use various objects with magical properties to aide their spellcasting.

And from this seed the Wizards spread. When the Romans absorbed the Greeks, the Wizards were absorbed to. Romans adopted Greek ways, including the ways of magic even to the point of passing laws regulating magic. When the Roman Empire fell, Wizard society managed to salvage itself from the ashes, holding onto their magical knowledge. But the fall of the Empire left them with a rival: the Church.

The Christian Church was founded by warlocks whose patron was apparently a benign deity. However, as the Church grew in power, the succeeding generations of priestly warlocks began to see the wizards and non-priestly warlocks as competition. And from such shortsighted beginnings emerged a shadow war fought among magic users. The Catholic Inquisition used non-magical humans to do most of the work, getting them to turn in suspected witches.

In the end, all sides lost. The wizards elected to go into hiding rather than fight a never-ending battle. The Catholic warlocks also lost, their Inquisition turning on them, destroying the most talented priests and leaving behind magical rituals that are no longer understood, only practice by rote.

Oddly enough, the tail end of this sorry affair coincided with the beginnings of European expansion. Explorers ventured far and wide, colonies were founded in far away lands. And where the Europeans went, their wizards and warlocks were not far behind.

In those distant lands, the wielders of magic met their European counterparts in battle and mostly drew even. But the mystics and warlocks of these lands had not the measure of European technology. Although they could fight European wizards and warlocks, they could not battle European armies and their guns. They were helpless as their societies were cut out from under them.

At least twice, once in China, once in North America, the mystics and warlock fashioned spells to protect their warriors from European guns. But when they saw guns, they mistook them for magical implements. Their spells were mighty, even mighty enough to withstand the Wizards' fabled Avada Kedavra death spell. But they were protecting against the wrong thing, and the results were tragic.

The shamans and warlocks of North America were confined to their reservations, their tribes almost all but wiped out. The Mystics of China and the East fared better, withdrawing to their mountain strongholds that the Europeans did not bother to conquer, but they had lost face with the remaining rulers of the East.

With magic either discredited or in hiding everywhere, the general human population slowly began to lose its belief in it. But they were still there, hiding in the shadows like the demons.

Then in the late nineteenth century, a revival began. It began with the United States. From all over the world, great tides of immigrants came. And among these immigrants came the spell casters of their nations. The United States' tiny magical community was overwhelmed. Regulation was nigh impossible as magical styles and traditions seemed to spring up overnight. Even the non-magical community began getting involved, practicing amateurish magic that reached it's height in the 1920s.

From this boiling melting pot came Wicca, although the term itself would not be coined until decades later. The founders – if you can call them that – were some of these amateur witches. They compiled what magical information they could get their hands on, creating a mix of real magic and complete bunk. As Wicca spread, they recruited Mystics, latent Wizards and Mystics, and mutants with a bent for practiced magic into their covens. Although Wicca wielded some power, most of the older orders traditions simply dismissed Wicca as complete nonsense.

But that was not to last.

Willow Rosenberg came to studying magic in a round-a-bout way. She had Atlantian genes that went unexpressed. While assisting Buffy Summers, Willow was introduced to magic by a Wicca teacher of the Techno-pagan variant. She studied magic with a scientific, analytical mind. In the best tradition of Wicca and the ancient Greek philosophers, Willow separated the real magic from the nonsense.

Willow has become the epitome of Wicca tradition.She is a Mystic, having learned to wield the simpler magics by willpower alone. She is Wizard, refining magic with a scientific mind. She is Warlock, summoning spirits and demons to do her will. And she is Mutant, possessing a Wraith-like ability to take magic from others to fuel her own power.

And Willow Rosenberg is very powerful. Three times has she touched godhood, and three times has this resulted in a corresponding increase of her own magic. The first was when she summoned the spirit of the Slayer to aide in defeating the demonic cyborg Adam. The second was when she touched the mind of the insane god Glory. And the third was when she activated all the potential Slayers with the Scythe, bringing her back into contact with the spirit of the Slayer again.

Among the older traditions of magic, only a few know about Willow Rosenberg. But word about her is spreading. What they hear and see about Willow Rosenberg both scares and entices them. They fear her power, but they want to make use of it too. Their biggest protection from her is her ignorance of them. But in the End of Days, Willow's ignorance cannot last forever.

And from the Upper Planes, the Ascended look upon Willow Rosenberg… and they worry.


End file.

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