Of Magic in Shanaan

I just found this in an old blog. I love it. It just may have inspired me to finish this story.


Magic is an all-encompassing entity, a pool of power to be drawn from, given by the gods to the elves as a gift for being the firstborn. Magic can be used for anything. The first elves used it to build great empires and cities, master the elements, heal the sick and wounded, and of course changed their appearances. The only limit to the use of magic is the imagination of the user; a danger in and of itself. For thousands of years the elves, pure of heart, used it for good. With time and practice, the elves became great wizards.
Saergoth was one such great wizard, but his love for the humans led him to betray the secret of magic, and he told the humans and taught them in its uses. Angered, the gods took magic from the elves, granting its use to those who they chose; elves who bore the Mark of the Scion. Anyone who tried to draw on the power of magic was met with disasterous results. Saergoth was seen as a traitor to his own kind and outcast into the wild with nothing. For years he tried endlessly to draw from the once-present pool of magic. He grew insane. It was the only thing he loved more than the humans.
With their help, Saergoth was able to discover a way in which he and the races of men could draw the magic and focus it so that using it would not cause catastrophes. Jewels called firestones--because of the illusion of a fire burning at their core when shaped into a perfect sphere--focused the magic. The only sideefects of its use, if not used sparingly, were headaches and blurred vision because of the strain it placed on the user. Magic became commonplace in everyday society. Saergoth, knowing of its destructive results if not focused, became inspired and sought to replicate its destructive force when focused. The destructive power grew greater. Eventually humans would discover this property as well and as a result a rebellion was led by Alanon Kundark to eliminate firestones from all of human society. After years of human civil war, the firestones were taken and destroied--Saergoth was outcast yet again; this time confined to a fortress-prison for the rest of time--and magic disappeared once again. Secret groups and organizations mined firestones and secretly honed their abilities, something the humans would be happy for after a thousand years of Saergoth's captivity.