Prima Ancora
The legend of the Prima Ancora is an ancient story that tells of the first Anchor, and the rise and fall of the First Empire, a precursor society that ruled over most of the area now ruled by Kinilan, Chelestra, and several other countries in the region, which is widely considered to be the first civilization due to their ability to produce Anchors and thus suppress the magical surges that plague the world. The name of the Prima Ancora is preserved to maintain the triple meaning: "First Anchor, First Refuge, First Hope."
Summary
The legend varies widely on a number of details, but the general form is consistent. An ancient mystic had a god-given vision that gave him the knowledge needed to create the Prima Ancora, and he embarked on an epic journey to acquire the necessary components and built up a group of followers to help craft it. After many hard years of labour, the Prima Ancora was complete. The mystics who created the device then spread out to bring word of the refuge they had created, and founded the first city, secure in the knowledge that a magical surge would not force them to move on. The sheltered area slowly expanded, as more anchors were built and positioned to cover a larger and larger area, known as the First Empire, ruled over by the followers of the original mystic.
The First Empire fell with the destruction of the Prima Ancora. None know who it was that destroyed the Prima Ancora for sure, but the legend describes it as a power grab that went terribly wrong. An ambitious mage sought to alter the nature of magic itself, hoping to tap into the power collected by the Prima Ancora for millennia to fuel his experiment. There was a tremendous explosion, and the entire city was leveled in an instant. Everyone within the reach of the Prima Ancora had their soul torn from their bodies, the bodies themselves raised as mindless undead. While some versions of the story place this city somewhere in Kinilan or Chelestra, there is no real consensus of its whereabouts. Some even say that the seas rose up to consume the land and the plague of undead before they could flood into the outlying areas of the First Empire. Regardless, the complete annihilation of the capital caused the outlying provinces to splinter, resulting in the patchwork of civilizations that has ruled in centuries since.
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