Part 63: Regarding the Spell of Mastery and the Fall of the Confederation of Wizards

Regarding the Spell of Mastery and the Fall of the Confederation of Wizards

I hesitate to set pen to paper now, but the truth compels me that it should be known, for the fate which befell the Confederation of Wizards has finally grown more clear to my understanding. Over the centuries of the rule of the Confederation, the ambitions of the wizards that it comprised grew very hot, each hungering in their heart for power beyond that which they had already seized over every land of the two worlds. No avenue remained for them to seek new conquests, for every town and district was held by some member of their compact or another, and to rise against another wizard of the Confederation was the one crime every wizard of the Confederation would join to punish. They were an order who had been stirred to the greatest ambition by Jerome the Magnificent, whose honeyed words awakened in them a desire to hold every land of the worlds. Jerome, perhaps, may have been contented with his glory as the chief of the Confederation and lord over all lords of the worlds, but bitterness grew in other wizards beneath his overlordship.

And so it was with Harglak, the Red Sorcerer, to whom further conquests were denied, and who was unsatisfied with the power and dominion he held over many lives. His centuries of wizardry gave him much time to perfect his craft, however, and, with time, the seed of ambition which had been wakened in him drove him to innovation far beyond that which has been seen by orcs before or since. He devised in secret the framework of a spell whereby every node in both worlds would have its power yoked to his use, his awareness of every act of magic spread across every span of both worlds, and a terrible force laid into his grasp to smother any act of magic of which he did not approve. Had this great spell, this Spell of Mastery, been achieved, none might perform magic in either world save that he permitted it to be done, and the power available to his own acts of magic would be swelled far beyond the great power already available to him. It was in 614 that finally he cast the Spell of Mastery as he had designed it.

What precisely the flaw was in the Spell of Mastery, none might know without recovering what Harglak's original design for the spell had been. The effect was unmistakeable, though. Rather than yoking every node to his will, all nodes surged with immense and redoubled power, beyond the control of any wizard- and all six wizards died in a terrible agony as they were consumed by torrents of Sorcery, of Chaos, and of Nature that burst from within their own frames. Beasts formed in the nodes, and storms of magic wracked the worlds. Magical beasts and spirits appeared from the very air for many years, and the dying was beyond any count of grief. Much was lost and forgotten in a tide of darkness and of blood, with only the end of the tyranny of the Confederation as any small consolation for those who survived in terror. Only as some order finally returned to magic was any measure of rebuilding able to be achieved, as the peril that beset the survivors faded.

Why I hesitate is simple- in theory, Harglak's original end should have been able to be accomplished, and some of Harglak's notes yet survive. With knowledge of Harglak's errors they may be avoided by a future wizard. And I do not doubt that any other wizard could likewise see that this end could be accomplished. If time presses on, will there be any way to prevent some wizard from seeking the Spell of Mastery and threatening the freedom of Myrror? I fear that should an Arcanian wizard see these words that this bitter ambition might be awakened once more. I pray for the strength and the wisdom to stand in the defense of justice and happiness in that day!