Te angels fought desperately to keep back the invading theurges, but they were too few to withstand the human sorceries. God alone would determine the true way that humanity was to live. Te theurges would use their arts to ascend to Heaven, and there put their causes before the One. Some say they lasted centuries, others think it was only a few years before the ancient theurges sought to end matters. Te celestial engines among the shards of Heaven are often broken and always ill-kept, now that Kings and commoners alike must live in a world that no longer welcomes them. Te wonders of the former age no longer function, and the theurgy that once shook Heaven is now a brittle, capricious art wounded by the very destruction it caused. Now there are only the heritor nations, the crumbled fragments of the Former Empires eking out a meager existence in the far-scattered realms. A few simply became lost, trapped or hidden away in a shard of broken Heaven, far away from their home and their people. Others were killed in battle, slaughtered by rival Made Gods or undone by the energies of mighty mortal weapons. Some perished from the perils of Heaven, slain by vengeful angels or destroyed by powers they did not understand. Tere was only a slow winding-down over centuries as the Made Gods died. Tere was no ultimate struggle that marked the end of the Last War. Tey were not prepared to usurp the place of God. A few reckless Made Gods even attempted to seize the Trone itself, but their sacrilege left only their bones.
As they scavenged the celestial engines, the world began to crack beneath them, the Former Empires splintering into scattered realms that drifted away from each other in the darkness of Uncreated Night. Tey fought each other on earth, churning up nations, and battled each other in Heaven's gardens, breaking loose shards of the celestial city. God after god stormed the halls of Heaven, searching for more power in its crumbling engines and broken wonders. Te destruction they wrought was incalculable. Holy exemplars of their nations' ideals were enlisted to embody this force or fuel the golem-gods they created, and in time these Made Gods strode forth. Unimaginable power was poured into these hollow shells. And if this submission made their former neighbors into new subjects of their rulers, was it not a fair reward for a valiant pursuit of justice? No one knows how long the wars tore open the nations of the oldĬelestial engines and stolen artifacts from the house of God. It was not enough that a neighbor was willing to keep the peace the neighbor had to agree with them, had to submit to their laws and their ideals. Teir people wanted for nothing, but their material wealth simply left them to crave more intangible things.
Of course, every one of the Former Empires had its own truth to uphold. Evil and corruption would be purged at last, and all the grieving sorrow of their misguided or malevolent neighbors would be healed by the light of their glorious truth. Te newfound might of theurgy would help them bring righteousness to neighboring realms that disputed the wisdom of their ways or the justice of their laws.
It was no longer enough to have a full belly and healthy children. Bereft of material want, the Former Empires found other reasons to struggle. Te deep powers of the Creator were at their disposal at last, ready to glorify their kindred and exalt their causes. With the secrets of theurgy at their disposal, sages were able to lay impious hands on the very levers of creation, manipulating cosmic powers far beyond the birthright of mortal humanity.
Te agent of this mercy was the might of theurgy, the terrible High Magic uncovered by restless scholars of the old realms. Hunger, sickness, ignorance, pain… all the blights to which mortal bodies are heir were banished by the marvels of the Former Empires. Wonders beyond imagining littered the nations of that ancient age, even the least of men and women living with the luxury of a Bright Republic oligarch. More than a thousand years ago the Former Empires ruled in glory. 187 Written by Kevin Crawford Cover by Jeff Brown Cartography by Maxime Plasse Character sheet by Craig Judd Art by Jeff Brown, Christof Grobelski, Aaron Lee, Joyce Maureira, and an Ho Sim ISBN 978-1-93 Copyright 2016, Sine Nomine Publishing 2