The Great Tide

The Great Tide was an apocalyptic event that almost destroyed the world. For eight years, a wave of pure energy travelled through Myrelid, terraforming the land, leaving a broken landscape in its wake. This tide did not only bring desolation, but also a gift, that many consider a curse: magic. In the following years, newborn children awakened supernatural powers, commanding nature and bending reality to their will.

Onset

What we saw that day was the forbearer of magic, and it has the face of doom. I was a wall guard standing faction on the West wall of Pyren, the royal capital of the Maenir kingdom. At first, I thought I was getting tired, it was nearing the end of my shift, two hours after dawn. I saw kaleidoscopic colours in the far, like the horizon was melting. I rubbed my eyes, but the vision wouldn't go away. So I called my fellow guardsmen, who were inside the tower playing cards. To my surprise, they too saw it.
At that point, we noticed it was getting closer. What was just a thin line at first was growing, swallowing the land. We sent Jarod to fetch the royal advisor and the head of university, as we felt this was no ordinary phenomenon. He never came back. Less than ten minutes later, the tide was close enough to hide the sun. It moved faster than a horse, and obscured the whole sky. I've never felt so small and vain in my life.
Those who describe it as a wall have it all wrong. It was no monolithic structure marching on, but a raging maelstrom crushing everything behind its foot. It was half transparent, holding all the colours of the rainbow and some I cannot name. Behind was a dead, broken landscape, and I knew what would happen to our beloved city. I knew that I was looking at death itself.
Somehow, I survived. None of my friends were so lucky, neither was Pyren, nor the kingdom. Hear me, for this is what magic is. A power of destruction, of annihilation when let loose. They try to coax you with sweet promises and otherworldly feats, but it just hides their true intent, for magic is corruption and their mind already succumbed to the evil of this world.

— Memoirs of Hulkin Malèzi, founder of the Inquisition

The starting point of the Great Tide is a mystery. It was a major cataclysm, one that razed its epicentre, but it was impossible to pinpoint its origin in the aftermath. Many believe that it was the result of an experiment going awfully wrong rather than a natural event, thus the gazes turned to the royal capitals and their universities.

However, seven of them were utterly destroyed, leaving no incriminating traces. Of the other four that were left in ruins, all survivors testified that the tide hit them like a moving force of annihilation.

Aftermath

The human civilisation as it was known was wiped out by the Great Tide. Kingdom and empire alike collapsed, and every major centre of civilisation was turned to dust, with most records of knowledge and technology destroyed. The appearance of magic practitioners several years later was seen as a blessing, as mages considerably sped up the rebuild process.

However, the Great Tide ravaged not only the cities, but the world itself. Mountains were ripped in half or severely damaged, chasms appeared throughout the world and streams flowed in impossible directions. In some places, the ground was rendered so unstable no building could stand, or supernatural anomalies would explode from time to time. These homes had to be abandoned and massive migrations took place, until the survivors settled in new lands, far from ideal but enough to build a new civilisation.

Legacy

Over time, the popularity of mages began to dwindle, mostly due to the relentless work of the Inquisition, who plotted in the shadows to eliminate all mages, through assassinations and political machinations. When inquisitors managed to get closer to the new monarchs and replace the magical advisor, mages collectively decided to retire from society and make a country from themselves, in the high plateau they called Land of Mages. Here, they lived isolated from the outside world and the continuous assault of the inquisition, until the Riptide unmade their impenetrable protections.