Illuvium

Dominium, Dominus, Divus Dominion, Dovinum, Divinum...all potential names of first adventure/story   A world where, long ago, a battle for the source magic of the world destroyed the magical core of the world. The cataclysmic energies that erupted leveled cities, changed landscapes, ended some species and spawned new. The result was a world that once was high magic was now low magic. Magic still exists, but magic users cannot draw nearly as much power. (once the almost limitless magic came from the core of the world...but once sundered, the magic exploded from the core and "dissipated" into the atmosphere and continues to slowly spread out into the cosmos, further and fruther from the world...it is hanging out there like the ozone...gnomes and some wizards race to figure out a way to reharness it and draw it back into- - control for the power hungry - or draw it back to resuscitate a dying world) Mages that used to cast fireballs now could barely muster lighting a torch. Even the most powerful of magic users, what few of them are left, are far less powerful than they once were. So the world is a bit post-apocalyptic in one sense, but on the other, the loss of magic increased the need for innovation, and the introduction of more advanced technologies into the mainstream (steam punky). Gnomes and goblins, historically inventive but disregarded races, have risen in sociological structures. Gnomes taking more political power (...think - the computers are taking over - logic reigns supreme - also think about gnomes in battle droids like "Arcana" - its a big robot controlled by gnomes at first...but when they find a way to "bottle" magical energies and tap into it, they hoard enough of it to fuse with the robot to become a maniacal, power hungry, perverted genius mechanical behemoth). Goblins, on the other hand, step out of the shadows and become more accepted members of civilized society as they share their technology. But to what end? Is there a secret insidious reason they have shared their technology (think Hua Wei) or are they sharing it truly to show that history has shed them in the wrong light...they are not evil and just want to be accepted members of society.   In this setting the idea of the black and white archmages still works - better in fact. How did the white mage architect the destruction or rebuilding of the world, if at all? What technology did he introduce through his dimensional narthex? And what other doors were opened...and to what, or whom? The goal of introducing real world (and alien) technologies and races into the fantasy world still remains. As does the black archmage who adopts so many tricks and technologies (ostensibly to cover for lost magic, but really to help hide his power). White mage is the iconic, all powerful, all knowing benevolent god-like figure - creator. and to some worlds he is exactly that (including our real world) while to others he is a puppet master, a destructor, an impostor. (Think, god is an astronaut). He is obsessed at making a perfect world but ultimately, has not been able to solve the riddle of free will (As God is but the dispenser of the fruits of actions, fate,representing those fruits, is not his creation but only yours...in other words, your actions determine your fate, which cannot be predetermined if you have free will. So the divine creator simply set history (and destiny) in motion, but we guide the direction. Which means that...once "existence" is set and the clock starts ticking...a truly benevolent god is, in essence and by definition, non-existent...no longer behind the wheel. For him to intervene in fate (miracles) would invalidate his creation. Unless, of course, free will is a sham. Without free will, god is a puppeteer and we are his soulless playthings, for what sense would an afterlife be if our actions in life were predetemined, and therefore meaningless? In such a world creations would likely be immortal because death would have no meaning in a metaphysical sense...which this god-like being tried once before when creating an existence of only "angels" (again, reflecting christianity in our real world setting). But, just like in the christian mythos, this does not satisfy the work of a divine creator attempting to create perfection because it is self-fulfilling. Creating true AI is not creating a condition of, if x, then y. And in the same way as technological pursuits of AI are ultimately doomed, so is the christian concept of existence, and god's (white mage's) work. The answer to the riddle of free will, then, such as with technological pursuits, is singularity. The inevitable outcome of free will is that god becomes irrelevant, the absent parent by design. White mage cannot process his own irrelevance...he cannot accept the reality that what he wants to create can only be created without him. Like me and rice.   Azo Sho-Khan - once an eldritch knight general who led the kings armies to countless conquest, whose light shone so bright it caught the eye of an ancient cosmic evil, drawn to SHo-Khans brightness he slowly perverted SHo-Khan with righteous power until the Shokhan overthrew the kingdom, the usurper now conquered lands for his name (and that of his dark patron) and reached demi-god status in an unbenknownst effort to open the door to allow the ancient one passage to feast upon this world (in fact, some believe that is what happened and why magic has been lost, because the Old One is approaching and sucking the planet dry...most are ridiculed for their insane ramblings...but...) A coalition of races, from humans and elves to goblinoids allied against ShoKhan and with (some magical artifact) were able to obliterate Shokhan, blasting his vaunted signature armor across the continent. That armor, indeed that name, have been buried in time.   The rediscovery of Sho-Khan, and perhaps the return of Shokhan himself, starts with the discovery of an ancient gauntlet...queue the sequence of adventures that first start with innocuous discoveries of ancient armor (single gauntle, then a pair of boots, then girdle, breastplate, the other gauntlet, and finally - the helmet of Sho_khan). At some point adventurers realize the armor is connected. Each piece has some residual power individually, but when brought together those powers increase exponentially. The more someone wears the armor the closer Sho-Khan returns...but instead of the armor representing (horcruxes) the return of sho-khan, it is actually the Old One who notices a long gone spark of power, and his evil influence once again perverts the wearer...to be Sho_Khan's replacement.   The sentient world, its secret name Seladour, felt the approaching presence of the Old One,Chokmuul, and sent its avatar (embodiment of nature, think Galadriel if she took the ring) to defeat Aza Sho-Khan.  Aza Sho-Khan ascended to status of demi-god when he sundered the avatar with his great spear, gifted to him by the Old One, and tipped with the black blood of the old one.  In time, the avatar would regenerate into two separate beings, representing the beauty and light of nature, the other the vicious and cruel darkness of nature (Hecca).   Convergence of worlds...heca, aza, gideon, 5 kingdoms, modern day, etc.