It was here that the evolution of souls was discovered, for while their bodies became immortal, they still possessed the mutability of mortals.  Where the magic of the Aegis stripped away their lifeforce, the souls persisted and harvested new magic to take it’s place.

The familiar spirits were inherited and revived again and again in a chain of succession, a cycle of creation and destruction that would have taken centuries to preserve.

Of course it came at a price.  Many of those who stood up to the Aegis stayed because they didn’t have a choice.  Rooted in place and starved of mana, many became catalysts, sacrificing their agency for the morale of their peers.

Even after the Aegis ceased to oppress them, the spirits preyed upon the founders.  The ‘Unfamiliar’ made hungry spirits, and often drove the souls to madness.  On the road to recovery, many evils entered the land.  Some were exiled, but rejection bred vengeance.

Those who fell to dark paths would never succumb to them.  For better or worse, the rebels had to forgive one another, lest the shadow of the Aegis consume them to the last.

Like the Aegis before, Parties formed with the resources and techniques to nurse the demons.  To direct and manage the fallout.  These parties were not formed for their noble intentions, and as many exploited the souls as those unleashing them.

It became the foundation of a debate that would never be won, as Demon attacks faded with the upheaval, and the Aegis paved the way through the reclamation era.  The demons that remain to this day are considered masters of wraith magic, with a valuable eye in the field of enchanting.

Historically, The Aegis was not the only source of demons.  Far worse off were the mountains.  The titan’s launched a superweapon meant to destroy the Aegis.  Obviously, The Aegis sabotaged it by design, but the waste mana flooded the range of mountains, reducing the landscape to a sea of slag.

In the months it took the damage to sink in, few of the settlements evacuated successfully, and fewer still unscathed.  Demons emerged amidst those who did escape, and just about everyone the Mages could recover had become a demon in some capacity.

We of the valley were the lucky ones.  Buried alive, or stranded as the peaks ran around them, millions of souls, from sentients to animals to spirits fed on nothing but corrupted earth and maligned aura.

Powerful creatures emerged.  Wherever the catalyst souls lost their will or sense of hope, hive minds, monsters, terraforming elementals and archdemons emerged in their place.  Suffice it to say, life as a mage or knight was a grueling path through the dawn of the Reclamation era.

We owe a great deal to their sacrifice.