The Nature of Magic

The energies and powers unleashed in the ending of the world were of a scope beyond imagination. The beings that destroyed the world unleashed the elements of the world, fire to boil oceans, wind to level mountains, ice and water to drown or scour the earth of life and the great power to rent the very earth from the world itself.
However the power to end a world, also imbued the life that would take hold on the new one. The very elements that ravaged the old world pervaded the soil, were cast to the air, consumed in the fiery depths of the core or were lost to the void. The life that would follow the death of the world would be impregnated with the power of the beings that destroyed the world that was. 
In certain individuals these energies can collect and manifest as otherworldly powers. These people are equally feared, shunned, worshiped or adored. They have the powers to both destroy and bring life, summon the elements or creatures from the void. Centres of learning, places of worship and schools of the arcane have all been established by individuals bearing these powers. 
Others have found artifacts that imbue the wielder with the powers of the old ones. Items of awesome power that have been the cause of the rise of kingdoms and the collapse of empires. The legends of these items of power are numerous and long. They seemingly lead to times of great change amongst the peoples of the ring. Times of upheaval, war and chaos. Before again being lost to time and then found anew.
Some races have found strange formations of rock, crystal or plant life that effect the land around them. Entire civilizations have been founded from these lands, each different and yet seemingly connected. These places are considered both blessed and cursed. The people that live around these formations guard them zealously, for they give purpose and power to the citizens of the land. Those on the outside covet this power or plot for its destruction.
In the void, the lost energy has gathered in the darkness, taken the form of the depths themselves and set its sights on the eradication of the light. For only in the shadows can the old ones once again come to be.