Its been a bit since I last had time to make a post, so I thought I'd take some time to use the 'Lost Locations' prompt as a brainstorming session. Some of this will almost certainly change (it has already changed at least twice), but I thought that instead of having my scattered brainstorming notes dispersed in like 3 notebooks and a half-dozen files on my pc, it would be a smart thing to write them all down in one place here.
A lot of this is going to reference my internal history for my setting (which I mentioned way, way back in one of my very first #WorldbuildingWednesday posts). Dates are all "BCE" - Before Current Era.
Mach'Lithe Brainstorm:
Established in 4,751 BCE
Lost in 2,644 BCE
Houses the Great Circle connecting Elchendel to Esphar (Trothguard, modern day). Created by Emperor Tamorac in 3,813 BCE (Elchendel is the other continent on my world, which is not the focus of my writing or my campaign, but does play an important role in many historical events)
Was for many generations the heart of magic in the Empire. The city itself developed after the construction of four great schools of magic, created by a group of arch-magi to further study and push the boundaries of magic:
- Elturac Kipennal (Female, Dragonborn) - an Arch-Magi who had unlocked secrets related to Chaos Magics, a volatile and previously unpredictable font of magic power.
- Halus Elquilic (Male, Human)- an Arch-Magi who held secret knowledge of Time Magic.
- 'Mask' (Unknown, Unknown) - The third was an unrivaled master of all 8 currently known schools of magic. (Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, Transmutation), as well as a forgotten school of Healing, and a forgotten school of Blood.
- Mast wears a featureless porcelain mask that completely wraps the head and distorts the voice, and layered robes with black leather gloves which obscure the body.
- Moran Refara 'Golden-tongue' (Female, Human) - a sorcerer-warlock; powerful enough to be a Patron in her own right, and was considered the foremost mind on tapping the power of both Bloodlines, and Pacts. It was she who founded and ran the school of Demonology.
With their deaths, the following schools of magic were largely forgotten (though scraps of knowledge remain in use by various individuals and cults):
- Chaos
- Time
- Healing
- (Healing is now generally provided by clerics, making most healing Divine Magic - which is different than traditional magic. Some other forms of healing magic do exist, but they are nothing compared to in ages past.)
- Blood
- Demonology
The formation of these schools is traditionally seen as the beginning of the Age of High Magic / The Golden Age of Magic. Magics long since lost were commonplace in the Empire in these times, as well as magic technologies now seen as mere fables.
The Empire's Skyship navy was built and maintained here.
The Council of High Magic was headquartered here. They were the group responsible for oversight and control of the various schools, temples, and other such organizations throughout the Empire.
Various modern-day cults exist, which believe in one way or another that they can restore or access Mach'Lithe if they can unlock the mystery of the Veil.
Image by Donna Kirby from Pixabay
A possible reason for being cut off from the world:
After the fall of the Faror line, the Empire was thrown into chaos. Seeing an opportunity to rise above their station, a powerful sorcerer-cleric assaults the city of Mach'Lithe. They possess an artifact of terrifying power, and even in a city populated with thousands of extremely talented magic-users and clerics, the traitor is barely slowed down. The arch-magi who had a thousand years prior built the great schools came together, seeing the plight of their creation, and devised a plan. They would trap the traitor in a pocket dimension, the likes of which had never been created before. The remaining spellcasters of Mach'Lithe staged a valiant defense, buying the arch-magi time to fashion a pocket realm made of the worst and most terrifying elements of each of the Four Planes (fire, water, earth, air), bound together by Chaos itself. There, in this pocket dimension, the four Elemental Planes were constantly in flux, violently raging against one-another. Once finished, the arch-magi faced the traitor directly, and though they unleashed the full capabilities of their power on the traitor, they one by one were killed... but in the end, they were able to lure the traitor into their trap, and as the last arch-magi died, the Council of High Magic voted unanimously to enact a secondary trap - a trap that would doom all who remained in Mach'Lithe. The risk of the Traitor getting free was too great, and together they parted the fabric of reality, violently removing Mach'Lithe from the flow of time. The border between the Prime Material and Mach'Lithe is a wound, a void into the chaos outside of reality. Theoretically, this space could be crossed... or repaired... though there are none remaining who would know how. Not even the Gods themselves... though there are scattered clues to be found, that could in theory allow for someone to again tap the magics of Prime Chaos... if they could be found.
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I like the idea of lost magic and am quite curious to see how the healing and blood magic could be utilized in a ttrpg context. If it were a party member, maybe it would attract too much attention to use, therefore the player never truly realizes the potential of their power because every time they try to use this lost magic it alerts the BBEG, either by magical means or word of mouth spreading rumors of a party of adventurers possessing lost magic.
I noticed a minor spelling mistake when talking about Mask;
It's funny. (to those reading that are not aware, we are cousins) I've been hearing about Mach'Lithe for over a decade, but never did really get my head around the severing of it from the rest of the world. I always thought of it as more of a Terry Goodkind ghost wall. Even though you described it as looking like an extremely powerful storm. I always figured that if you crossed the "wall" you'd make it to a normal continent that's just severed from the rest of the world.
I definitely have pre-planned consequences for using the lost magic if someone was able to find a way to do so! Some would be easier to avoid really being noticed with than other types. Some has limited knowledge still too of course - Demonology wasn't extinguished, just is now limited to some basic summoning and making deals with demons. Others like blood and healing are so well forgotten that both would draw a lot of attention to use.
And yeah, Mach'Lithe, depending on when a person crossed in, could be awesome and still high-magic... or it could be a horrific prison.
Part of the inspiration for the kingdom was actually from the old Darksword trilogy, though I made the setting smaller and a potential conflict much more of a problem.