Despair! Though I perish, my soul will plague those who follow. A man dies and gone. A god dies, and is reborn a thousandfold!"
—The last words of Emperor Kethra.
The people of Asherah know this well: before the coming of Mourclesis, there was no such thing as magic. The Goddess lent her Guardians strength, and Man's ingenuity was responsible for the rest. Arcane magic is the power of the Dread Sea made manifest. Every spell cast spawns monsters upon the earth and serves the dread mist's intent to devour all life. Those who would willingly seek out this power are hunted down and destroyed for the heretics they are; it is not a matter of faith or philosophy. Using arcane magic knowingly is an evil act that contributes to the destruction of the world.
There are, however, those who have the power but are not willing. Some men and women are born with sorcerous souls; magic flows their veins as surely as the Goddess' power does in her Guardians'. The Goddess' temples teach that these individuals are to be pitied, not hated or feared. Each person discovered to have a sorcerous soul dominant enough that to fail to use magic would cause it to burn them out from the inside is assigned to a legion or a guild that can make constructive use of their power, carefully monitored by a Guardian.
There is a third kind of spellcaster, besides the vile and the misfortunately born: those who have had sorcery forced into them. Tales persist of those who are dragged into Mourclesis by its unholy children and, through torture and ritual, forcefully bound to the arcane. The Goddess Tower continus to deny these stories as just that; rumors spread by the fearful. But there seem to be more men and women with the “gift” of magic than could be accounted for by a genetic accident…
With every spell they cast, magic-using characters risk spawning abominations from Mourclesis. See the “Arcane Corruption” houserule.
