Magicka Crusades Lore

The year was 1313, and Ad abolendam was in full-swing within the Rhineland and Austria, driven by callous and zealous papal inquisitors. Thirty-nine “heretics” were investigated and tortured in the cruelest of means, their blood soaking the floors of cellars above which good people prayed in their holy church. And thus, these God-fearing bishops opened the first portal into the Abyss, inadvertently performing blood rituals that awakened the presence of the Blood God. Shocked and frightened by what they saw as Hell, these bishops reported the incident to the Pope. Rumors of the torture and portal spread amongst the persecuted heretics, who were able to perform the sacred blood rituals through reenactment, earning an audience with the Blood God.

An ambitious but otherwise nondescript man saw an opportunity for power against the Church. He earned the favour of the Blood God and learned to master the rituals of Bloodrite Magicka, becoming the first Bloodlord and calling himself Azron. Resolute power overcame Azron in his hatred for the persecution by the Church, and he gathered many sympathetic allies that would lead to the formation of the Bloodcult of Azron. This cult summoned many fearsome demons and minions of the Abyss, which swiftly overran vast swaths of Church territory.

Fearing extinction, the Pope begrudgingly ordered an investigation with the might and fortune of the Church into the blood rituals to determine its source. Deep within papal monasteries, dedicated bishops unraveled Bloodrite Magicka and opened a new portal to a different plane – the Upperworld, which they named the Sonhaven. This boundless plane was that of the sky; eternal morning peered through puffy clouds, overwhich Angel-like creatures with wings domained in strict servitude to the Sun God. Interpreting this breakthrough as a closer communion with God, the Pope organized thousands of priests to ascertain the knowledge of the Upperworld, resulting in the practice of Sonhaven Magicka. Under martial law, Church-owned territories conscripted hundreds of thousands of religious warriors in a New Crusade against the Bloodcult of Azron, armed with priests bearing the radiance of Sonhaven Magicka.

Fierce battles overtook Europe, Eurasia, and northern Africa. Towns and countryside succumbed to devastation and violence as each side sought absolute destruction and righteousness over the other. This war, known as The Magicka Crusades, persists to 1413, the present setting Bloodrite Magicka. Enthusiastic disciples of each cause practice their magicka to enhance their own power, hoping to lead valiant armies across battlefields in ultimate victory.