The Awakening

Magic came back in 2011. If you don’t know what that means, go read the timeline…seriously…read the fraggin’ timeline. When it hit, the world cracked open. Elves, dwarves, orks, trolls. All of it came pouring in, and just like that, everything we thought we understood about the rules got rewritten in blood and mana.

Who Gets the Gift

People didn’t waste time trying to control it. Some had the knack for it. They could see the flow of mana, feel it in their bones. The rest of us just saw glassy eyes and weird gestures, not realizing they were pulling power straight out of the air. Mana’s everywhere now. And if you know what you’re doing, you can twist it into fire, fear, or worse.

And it’s not just spells. Some folks don’t cast at all. They run faster, hit harder, see things before they happen, all without a single incantation. That’s mana too. It’s in their muscles, in their reflexes. We call them adepts. Think martial artists with cheat codes burned into their DNA.

Then there’s Technomancers. But that’s a tragic tale for another day.

Most folks don’t have the gift, and that makes the ones who do a special kind of target, or commodity. People admire magicians… and they also fear them. Jealousy. Suspicion. Awe. Doesn’t matter. If you’re Awakened, people will watch you. And if a fight breaks out, you’d better believe you’re the first one they aim for.

The Price of Power

Here’s the kicker: magic’s powerful, but it doesn’t come cheap. Every spell takes something out of you. Cast too much, too fast, and you’ll start to feel it. Migraines, shakes, a little nosebleed, maybe even a little voice in your head that wasn’t there before. Burnout is real. Madness too. And yet, people keep pushing because that kind of power? It’s addictive.

Whole institutions are built around chasing it. The Atlantean Foundation, the Draco Foundation,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology & Thaumaturgy (MIT&T). They all think they can crack the code, bend the impossible to their will. They’ve got labs, researchers, even field teams. Sometimes their spells work. Sometimes the walls bleed. Either way, they’re still paying the price…just with bigger budgets.

Legends Made Real

Oh, and those fairy tales your gran-gran told you? Turns out enchanted swords, rings, amulets…they’re real. But don’t get cocky. Just because you find some ancient blade with a fancy name doesn’t mean you’re about to go full hero mode. The gear might be magic, but you’re still you.

And Then There Were Dragons

Yes. Dragons.

The first to show up was Ryumyo, hovering over Mount Fuji like it was no big deal. After that? Open season. Ghostwalker took Denver. Hualpa claimed the Amazon. Dunkelzahn ran for president, and won, before getting blown up and turned into dragon-chow on inauguration night.

Don’t even get me started on the corporate dragons. Celedyr’s running R&D for NeoNET. Rhonabwy manages more stock than some countries. And Lofwyr? He runs Saeder-Krupp, and losing the top spot as the world’s biggest megacorp has not improved his mood.

So yeah, magic’s back. And if you’ve got it, great. Just remember it cuts both ways. Power like that always comes with a cost.

~Grimshot, Fixer (semiretired)