Helvetia

Four thousand years ago, the world of Helvetia was torn by numerous deadly and immensely destructive magical wars for several hundreds of years. The world itself was about to collapse because of the greed and corruption of magic users when a new deity of unimaginable power laid waste to all magic users involved in the war. They were filled with the purifying light of Surrey’s judgement and were found lacking.   Once the war ended, Surrey dictated that Helvetian magic-users had proven themselves to be unable to handle a tool as powerful as magic and that they must therefore be kept under control by any means necessary. He decreed that evil must be slain in all its forms and that magic was one temptation too many for mortals. The church of Surrey led a thousand years of magical purge. Magic and all its manifestations were hunted and slayed everywhere and without due process. Entire races went extinct and the slightest trace of some magical aptitude was enough to call death upon infants.   This frenzy lasted until the Slaying of Himeji. Himeji was an ancient gold dragon who had taken human form and chosen to defend a group of magic-touched children against the church of Surrey. The great battle lasted four moons and resulted in Himeji’s death, the massacre of the children and the death of a great many fighters from Surrey’s church, including the leader Gamut the Mountain. The Fury of Surrey at such an evil event perpetrated by his clerics put a stop to the systematic destruction of magic and Surrey forced the clergy to show clemency. And therein began the building of the monasteries and the cease and desist order. No longer were mages slain on sight, children slaughtered, good and rightful immortal creatures were not to be slain for their nature.   The three edicts of Surrey became to Educate, Maintain and Protect. All magical children were sent to the monasteries to learn about their power and why they had to be kept under control. They were shackled with anti-magic bracelets that allowed a cleric of Surrey to turn off their magical prowess. Some races became protected by Surrey’s church, including good-aligned dragons.   Some time after, a mage rights alliance had managed to unite and present an invitation to the Church of Surrey for negotiations of better conditions and more freedom for arcane users. The leader of the church, a man called Theo the Wise, decided to demonstrate the kindness of Surrey and accepted the invitation. It was a trap for the church and a devastating attack left an entire city burned to the ground. The blood of innocents reignited the frenzy against magic-users and a new law passed so as to prevent reproduction of arcane users. All captive mages were rendered infertile upon their arrival to a monastery.   Since then, the regime has slowly softened to an almost humane approach to the keeping of magic-users. A paternal, controlling attitude rules the monasteries and the belief that magic inevitably leads to corruption without the hand of Surrey is widely accepted as the only truth worth hearing. Most arcanists also believe that they are being kept for their own safety and that of everyone else’s and the few who do find they are being treated unfairly are subjected to a very firm process of re-education. Wild mages are unheard of.