The Time of Terrors

The Time of Terrors is the name given by modern historians to the period in the history of Magicians' End between the second half of 3004 APC when the Moderators' Council was brought down and 3641 APC when the Second Popular Ascendancy was established.
It was an age dominated by a number of powerful maverick mages who ruled competing fiefdoms with little regard for the welfare of their subjects and it left a long stain of dishonour and distrust of arcane users behind when it came to an end.
There is a timeline for this age which can be accessed from the bottom of the page.

The Fall of the Moderators' Council

The discovery of Synaptic Unbinding Potion (aka SUP) at the Institute of Magical Analytics in 2964 APC was a long sought after goal which in retrospect can be seen as the cause of the final failure of the Moderators' Council. SUP was not only much more widely available and easier to obtain than Arcane Amplification Perfume (aka AAP) but it was more powerful and longer lasting. The unfortunate side effects that came with over use were not immediately apparent. Mages everywhere began to flex their mental muscles and to question the authority of the Moderators' Council, particularly beyond the shores of Tinturbean where there was considerable resentment of the power of the two dominant arcane schools at Quarowl and Greystow.
The greatly feared mage Zemdath Romuth (aka Zemdath the Terrible), was the one who caused the downfall of the Moderators' Council when he dissolved the Examination Board, both figuratively and literally.
Born into poverty in the quarrying district of Werdown in the far eastern city of Vrandakan, the young Zemdath was drawn into the criminal underworld where he developed a reputation for ruthless, even psychotic, violence. As an adult, he travelled to Tinturbean, where he established a smuggling network, sending illegal shipments of SUP from Quarowl to the eager mages of Myruthea. He was caught and sentenced to death by the Examination Board, but escaping from their clutches and the justice of the Final Examiners, he returned in 3004 APC to destroy them in the opening act of the Time of Terrors.

Magicians' End - Zemdath the Terrible by DMFW with Midjourney

Magicians' End - The Examination Board Dissolved by DMFW with Leonardo AI

The Owlblood come to Quarowl

After Zemdath the Terrible became the Arch Baron of Quarowl he made changes at the Institute of Magical Analytics, removing the previous Arcane Chancellor and taking on the role himself. In this way he maintained control over the supply of Synaptic Unbinding Potion, but distributed the dangerous material more freely to mages of all lands than had ever been permitted before, often largely on a capricious whim.
Under the Moderators' Council, the construction of portals into other universes within the Discontinuum had been strictly prohibited. The shock occasioned by the secret building of the Green Eye had, in fact, been one of the major reasons for the formation of the Moderators' Council in the first place. Now that they had been swept aside there were no restrictions. In 3011 APC, Zemdath the Terrible opened the Noctaliyan Gate at Quarowl making a permanent link between Magicians' End and Noctaliya and allowing Owlblood warriors to migrate into the realm to form the Quarowl High Guard and act as his bodyguards.
The Noctaliyan Gate profoundly changed local politics and the politics of the wider world in more subtle ways. Zemdath Romuth was assasinated on 7th Tuzlle, 3027 APC by Edwardo Cantosquelos, the last of the Final Examiners but in this he was aided and abetted by Greld Ikri, the Strongest Talon from the Quarowl High Guard who turned against his master and helped to raise Orvith Highcroft to the position of Arch Baron in place of the unpredictable and psychotic monster who had overthrown the Moderators' Council.

Magicians' End - Greld Ikri by DMFW with Midjourney

Edwardo Cantosquelos by DMFW with Midjourney

Magicians' End - Orvith Highcroft - Arch Baron of Quarowl by DMFW with Midjourney

For two centuries, the Noctaliyan Gate remained open, facilitating two way trade between Magicians' End and Noctaliya. During this time, Noctaliyan Diamonds and Tharan, a spice produced from the spores of Tharanilluminae arrived in Magicians' End, being traded for saranjum and phryne. This trade, and the dubious benefits of Synaptic Unbinding Potion, helped to keep Quarowl rich and the Owlblood established significant enclaves in and around the city which have persisted even to this day. In the popular imagination Quarowl and the Owlblood have become so closely associated that some people commonly imagine they always lived there and predate the city, whereas in fact, the foundation of the city dates back to the Puzzle Lords Directorate more than fifteen hundred years before any Owlblood set foot on Magicians' End.
The prosperity the Noctaliyan Gate had brought came to an abrupt end on 19th Tuzlle, 3387 APC, when it was destroyed in an uprising known as the Ruffling of the Feathers, a commercial struggle in which the narrow minded nationalism of Quarowl First was allied to the business interests of the Purple Party and culminated in an ugly civil war inside the city.
After this, Quarowl declined in importance and has never regained the power and influence it once wielded, even though it is now the capital of the Congress of Concerned Citizens.

The Sisters of Vabatan

On the continent of Punjuki, the notorious mage Clarise Vabatan began her career in the Court Circle of Katrapetch in 3060 APC. The interested reader can learn many of the details of her life and times, written in her infamously salacious diary.

The Diary of Clarise Vabatan by DMFW with Leonardo AI & Face Swap

Although it would take some time for her cult to flower, the mage eventually formed the secret society called the Sisters of Vabatan. Operating covertly at the beginning, they later became bolder and more demanding, imposing their own special brand of fear and horror on their victims, in sinister rituals which were conducted all the way to the end of the Time of Terrors. The image at the head of this article shows a raid conducted by the sisters, during the period when they operated at their most brazen.

Golkin's Last Stand

In the city of Greystow, the Free Union of Magical Scholars which had always opposed the Institute of Magical Analytics, found itself under threat whilst Zemdath the Terrible led their rivals. More than ever, it acted as a focus for discontented mages fleeing Quarowl. Analysts at the FUMS were the first to point out the disturbing symptoms that came with regular use of Synaptic Unbinding Potion and their leaders held out against its use, strongly favouring the tried and tested Arcane Amplification Perfume despite its reputation for relatively ineffective results compared with the newer substance.
Matters came to a head in 3113 APC when a faction of disgrunted mages who were agitating for the FUMS to start production of SUP themselves, took on the Provost, Tobias Golkin, who was vehemently opposed in an incident that came to be called Golkin's Last Stand.

Magicians' End - The Time of Terrors - Golkin's Last Stand by DMFW with Midjourney

With the death of Tobias Golkin, production of Synaptic Unbinding Potion was brought to the Free Union of Magical Scholars and it became even more widely available.

The Rise of the Tyrant Magicians

As Synaptic Unbinding Potion empowered bold and unscupulous mages throughout Magicians' End, there was a shift in the patterns of power. In previous millenia, dating as far back as the Sundering, mages had traditionally only acted as advisors to aristocrats and kings. Not since the Kingdom of Snowborne and the Trinity Moon Triple Enfolding, had arcane users taken the role of overt leadership which they now began to assume, by one means and another (with the arguable exception of the Arcane Supremacy which was relatively short leaved and did not have global influence).
In some places, the shift was relatively benign and little noticed. For example, the Fisher Kings and Queens of Nephatar had been bringing arcane blood into the line of their rulers for a long time, and it was not even considered surprising, when this fact came to be openly acknowledged.
In other places, power was seized in more bloody and brutal coups. In 3053 APC Jermon Verelfeth assumed control over the city of Zalgurim, becoming the second magical usurper to follow the precident that Zemdath the Terrible had set.
Historians argue that Katrapetch had been effectively taken over by stealth by the end of the same century and Klaractazum passed to magic wielding rulers early in the 32nd century. Highloft fell under the open control of Yun Chi Zhao and the Sisters of Vabatan in 3141 APC and by the time Pezulruth Veld took charge in Ralsimoor in the late 33rd century, all the major cities of Myruthea and the majority of the rest on other continents were governed by arcane wielding rulers.

Infamous Incidents in the Time of Terrors

Infections

Related Historical Events

• 23rd Glim, 3294 APC
  Pezulruth Veld takes control over the city of Ralsimoor
• 5th Tivith, 3113 APC
  Golkin's Last Stand
• 18th Chiroth, 3061 APC
  Clarise Vabatan discovers the Crimson Codex
• 19th Mald, 3053 APC
  Jermon Verelfeth seizes control of Zalgurim