Magedom

“Girt by sea, and bordered to the west on the mainland by the Dark Forest, the island nation of Magedom is a place of magic and wonder. Powerful wizards work magic without parallel among mundane crafts, and each of the Great Houses has secrets as they seek to advance the mortal understanding of magic. Every day, new discoveries and magic and… wonder. I never, ever, want to go back.”

• Riddle, Malkin Locksmith (2015 A.T.)

Across the East Ocean lie distant lands, one of the nearest of which is the nation of Magedom. A mageocracy (rule by powerful magic users), Magedom is primarily a nation of elves, although it was the nation where the malkin were originally created, and still has a reasonable population of the magic-resistant humanoids. While other peoples of the world have a nominal presence in Magedom, its people are proud and traditionally isolationist, with treacherous harbours navigable only by skilled seafarers familiar with their tricks. The islands guard their secrets jealously, and Magedom trades only on its own terms.

Although the malkin originate from Magedom, few if any of the non-malkin from that nation are seen on Ariel. Magic powerful enough to traverse the East Ocean is difficult to come by, and the malkin took the majority of the Home Fleet, ships capable of crossing the ocean, when they departed.

History of Magedom

It is possible that there are records that detail the creation of Magedom, but unlikely that they are accurate. The ruling houses of Magedom have squabbled over the centuries, and know well the power of stories. Self-aggrandizing tales of the founding of Magedom show up in the official histories of all of those houses whose histories could conceivably extend to that era.

What evidence remains suggests that Magedom was once a part of the Golden Empire before the Tear, either as a colony or a conquered land. The stories around the creation of the malkin suggest that Magedom researchers had access to subjects that originated far to the south of Ariel, at a time consistent with the Empire’s existence. Following the Tear and the fall of the Golden Empire, the loss of resources and changes to the way that magic gave good reason for the magic-driven nation to pursue isolationist tendencies, which persisted for centuries.

Magedom engaged with a number of local conflicts, and official histories describe at least three civil wars, fought as powerful wizards and their servants scuffled over who should lead the nation. Although insulated from many of the issues of the near landmass by a lively sea strait, many Malkin recall within living memory a conflict with the Dark Forest, an arboreal region fringed with settlements led by capable priests and warriors, and populated within by giants and monstrous beasts.

Government of Magedom

Although there are dozens of theoretically ‘noble’ houses of some repute in Magedom, only twelve form the governing council of Magedom, with representatives selected to represent the twelve schools of magic. As written in the nation’s charter, Magedom selects these representatives based on their arcane puissance and the depth of their knowledge, but in truth, as long as the representatives have some skill with the magic in question, appointments are often carefully selected based on reputation, political positioning, and the trading of favours between one who aspires to the council, and those already on it. Council positions serve for a period of ten years, intended to ensure that decisions made by the body have the opportunity to mature before being judged, but it is not unheard of for political pressure or even assassination to be used to free up a council position before the term has expired.

Council members will often be members of political blocs, whose interests, philosophies, and ambitions align. Although one such bloc has traditionally been in pursuit of the manumission of the malkin, following the malkin exodus, this bloc has been extremely unpopular, with only die-hard abolitionists still remaining publicly in favour.

Interaction With Ariel

Magedom sailors found their way back to Ariel in 2009, with envoys spreading west from the dwarven hold of Codbelly, leading to a meeting with then-Baron Hayden of Gelrich in autumn of 2010. This exploratory force included groups of both mages and malkin (then called kargath), and a positive reception including discussions with mages local to the area of Yorik led to a trade deal being signed between Magedom and Harodom for valuable magical components and trade goods that only Harodom’s industrial base could provide.

It was not to be however, as, returning to Magedom, the explorers found that the country had fallen into civil war, with a large isolationist political bloc opposing the new international exploration and travel. This internecine quarrelling became further complicated by the visit to Magedom by representatives of Harodom, including Baron Thorin Bravendor. Although trading continued on an individual scale, the international trade deal had little chance of getting off of the ground, as – even should the Internationalists succeed in their defence of their political position, many resources were being expended to make it so.

Departure of the Malkin

In 2013, a large group of the Kargath decided that they wanted nothing to do with this elective war. While the wizards of Magedom quarrelled, it was often the Kargath that enacted the war, with house guards and governmental soldiers fighting in the streets as a proxy for the wizard governors. This, combined with a rising abolitionist movement within the Kargath came to tipping point when a creche of the young of the magic-resistant people got caught up in the overflow of a magical experiment, leading to several being injured and three killed.

A charismatic leader among the Kargath, one of those that had been a part of the expedition to Ariel, took up the name Alith-Handar, named for the Golden Age emperor. Declaring that those that would join him would do so not as Kargath but under the older name ‘Malkin’, lifted from Magedom tradition and history for magical spirits with a feline mien that guided and taught the early mages of that nation in the safe practice of magic, a large underground network of Malkin arranged to overtake the harbours of Magedom. While not every Kargath joined the Malkin, estimates vary between 4/5 and 9/10 of them did so.

Securing the harbours, the Malkin took the most oceanworthy ships, burning the others at harbour so that they could not be pursued. As magic-resistant expert warriors, they were able to tear through most of the defences that had been put in place at the harbours – defences that were either magical, or relied upon the Malkin themselves.

Although Malkin have settled across Ariel in communities largely aligned to existing nations, a large settlement of Malkin came to Harodom, where they had been greeted with a familiar friendship during their visits to the duchy of Gelrich. At the time, a large war with the elves of Eldersire meant that Harodom was in military trouble – but the Malkin had a number of blooded warriors and soldiers expert in fighting magic. In exchange for their assistance, the Malkin were permitted to form large settlements in Gelrich, as full citizens of the realm.

Aftermath in Magedom

Although the civil war ostensibly ended in Magedom in 2016, the nation has been greatly diminished, with some rogue groups stealing powerful magics from the national vaults and seeking to deploy them internationally. No serious effort has been made to reclaim the Malkin, and it is unlikely that such an effort, were it made, would be successful.

A contingent of Magedom mages have revisited Harodom, seeking aid from the adventurers of Yorik in dealing with a rogue group attempting to visit harm on that nation by detonating a magical explosion that would have killed many in the region. Once these terrorists were dealt with, the contingent departed.

On the homefront, some research has gone into how the Malkin were originally created – and such experiments often yield bitter fruit.

Authored by: Andrew Dunlop
Fantasy Alive Lore Team 2026
Copyright © Endless Adventures Ontario