[Burnsaber]

When I started doing this mod, I had some slow days at work and were able to scribble some thematic notes, including a flowchart of Alugras' history. I've been Gamemastering Pen & Paper games for a long time now and hence I don't usually do anything without at least 2-3 pages of stuff written down. I was just cleaning my room and noticed my notebook in a forgotten drawer, doing nothing. Thought that I might just as well post them. The notes are pretty frantic and short so I'm expanding them a bit (actually a lot).

Warning: This text wil make a lot more sense if you are familiar with the units in the mod.

History of Alugra

It all started when pantakrator organized the world. He knew that there had to be magic, but it was wild and would not settle down. And there was a lot of it, altering his children. So Pantakrator willed the Leylines, undergroung rivers of pure magic that would forever go round and round under the globe. The huge amount of everlasting Gaia above the rivers dwindled the effect that the magic had on his children. But the rivers had to start somewhere and thus the Nexus was born. The radiation from Nexus was strong and fountained pure magic into a patch of land directly above it.

Pantakrator knew that this site would be dangereous to mortals and even to himself if mortals learned to tap into its power. So he bound Baa'Lah, the Princess of Hellfire to guard the site and created some astral beings, named ”Masterminds” to take care of the underground Leylines. Masterminds directed the Leylines and guarded them from visitors beyond reality. Time passed, but Pantakrator underestimated the effect of leylines' wild magic on the Masterminds. From time to time, their immense magic resistance failed and something very chaotic and very deadly happened. Pantakrator's response usually was to just create more Masterminds to replace the perished ones.

This was very nerving to other Masterminds, as they knew that at any time they could be the next ones to face a horrible demise. Then one Mastermind, (later be known as Ayanah) was affected by the leylines but did not perish. Instead, she prophetized the eventual fall of Pantakrator and the Ascension Wars. So she rallied all of the Masterminds and devised a plan.

Together with about half of her fellow Masterminds, they left the Leylines and traveled through Gaia and possessed some mortal bodies. The rest of the Masterminds fooled Pantakrator by telling that half of the Masterminds had perished on an unexpected visit from the Eater of Gods. The mortal ”Masters” travelled to Alugra and faced Baa'Lah in battle. They were new to their mortals bodies and unable to fell the demonic beastess. But Ayanah knew the spell that was used by Pantakrator to bind Baa'Lah and was able to twist the spell to make him the Master of Baa'Lah.

Those were truly the Early Ages as giants & fey dominated the earth. Most primitive humans were either ensalved or killed by creatures just so much more powerful than them. Then strange men came to human tribes, talking of a place magical place that would be a safehaven against the magical folk. Some tribes stayed where they were and eventually became civilized and able to defend themselves, but some believed the Masters' word and migrated to Alugra. Numereous tribes tried to be clever and take the magical site by force, only to be fended off by Baa'Lah.

It did take long for the humans to be altered by the magical radiation. However, as former caretakers of the Leylines, the Masters were able to direct the raw possibility of magic and make the alteration positive in effect, making the altered become something he always dreamed of being. Numereous monstereous Giants and fickle fey had noticed the migration to the site and tried to raid it in hopes of a feast or slaves. They became unprepared, underestimating the humans and the Gifted were able to slaughter them. After that, no giant or fey has come even close to Alugra, for their racial memory is long and their fear great.

But Pantakrator noticed that Alugra was inhabitated and studied his binding spell. Then he knew of Ayanah's betrayal and in anger struck her down with lighting. He continued by imprisoning Baa'Lah for her failure. Then he manifested in Alugra, ready to tear the city apart and find a new guardian for the site. But Ayanah had foreseen this and the Masters were prepared. They had collected all of the humans together and when Pantakrator appeared, they held out a great cry and the gifted flew to face the Pantakrator. The gifted fought bravely but were no match to the King of Kings. But their bravery touched Pantakrator and he eventually stopped smiting and heard the Masters, who were cloaked as mortals.

They begged the Pantakrator to spear their lives and allow them to live in Alugra, for it proved them protection from the monsters and made their dreams come true. Hearing and seeing the good that magic had done these people, Pantakrator spared them and allowed them to stay. And thus the Masters' dream came to be. The Masters kept on channeling and experimenting on the magical radiation. The Masters also honed their bodies and martial skills, since they remembered their first humiliating defeat at the hands of Baa'Lah.

Alugra prospered, although problems occured. A Single gifted was able to do the work of ten men single-handledly and even skilled craftsmen struggled to compete with the Gifted. Althought the Gifted becaume quickly rich, they still worked relentlessly by the orders of the Masters. The Masters wanted to see how their ”experiments” fared and would they be suitable to serve in the Ascension Wars. The immigrants lacked jobs and found it hard to make their living. Out of each 10 gold pieces that ”Alugra” earned, 9 went to gifted. Criminal activities started to rise, but Watchmen were able to keep the worst riots out of Gifted Quarters (and thus out of the sight of The Forum of the Gifted).

The goverment in Alugra is solely composed of Gifted, but people rarely find this aggravating. Unlike the system of nobility or theocrazy, anyone was able to become member of the ruling class. The Masters were just able to direct the alteration, not its target. Raving drunkards were just as able to become gifted as the most skilled craftsmen. People found this romantic and secretly dreamed of waking up as gifted themselves some day. Thus the gifted were allowed to rule as their subjects dreamed to become one of the rulers.. ”some day”.

But Ayanahs betrayal had sown the seeds of doubt on the Pantakrators mind. He knew that one Mastermind had betrayed him and was not sure if there were more rebellious Masterminds around. He grew untrusting and paranoid, sometimes failing to replace the Masterminds as they perished. As the time of the Ascension wars grew near, Pantakrators power started to wane and he stopped to replace the masterminds completely. The number of Masterminds dwindled quickly and they struggled to keep the leylines in check.

This caused a sudden increase in the magical radiation and the number of the altered quickly grew out of control. Now the Masters were not able to have complete control over the alterations. People started turning into horrible mutants, or were suddenly teleported inside some mountain on the other side of the globe, or have their souls switch bodies with some stranger. The Masters did what they had to do, and concentrated on channeling 7 basic gifted types, which they had decided would be most useful in the Ascension Wars.

Suprisingly, the people seemed to care the problem of sudden occurences of ”Minions” themselves. When someone was mutated, he quickly found himself shunned by his former friends. For everytime when a someone gazes on a Minion, he is istantly reminded of the fact that the same thing can happen to him. People have always been fools in the sense that they prefer good dreams over the nightmares. So the Minions were shooed to the sewers. Out of sight, out of mind. Alugrans' also have developed the habit of hushing up any strange magical phanomena.

But the Masterminds dwindled and dwindled and the radiation got just worse. The Masters had to take themselves to their limits to keep the number of chaotic events at minimum. This strain had effect on their bodies and now the Masters are growing old and meek. It was truly a relief when Pantakrator finally disappeared. The Masters know that they have to win. If they don't triumph, no one will replace the fallen masterminds and eventually, all Masterminds will perish and the Leylines will flow freely, with horrible consiquences.

---End of notes

I actually had a spell planned for summoning the Masterminds at some point. But I decided against it since I it would have been a astral summon and then it would have kinda competed with the ”Power Within” spell. Like you can see, I wasn't really able to put all that lore in to the mod. There's just so much text you can fit into descriptions.