A Concert in Flames

By Cedric Haney

The Thirty Years War ended almost 100 years ago. You would think that would make it old news. But the effects of the war were so staggering that they still resonate today. It all started because the Aluminat Church was fragmented, each sect believed they had were in the right, and the others were being influenced by the Malfecium (group that practiced dark arts). Of course after so many years there is no way of proving it. As time went on tensions began to run high. Different sects held sway over different parts of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1618 war finally broke out. It would become a blood bath. Whole regions of the Empire were devastated, famine and disease ran rampant killing thousands. It was inevitable that the rest of Europe would eventually begin to take sides.

What had begun as an argument as to which church was the true church had turned into a war among all the states of Europe. On the battlefield Sorcerers clashed with other sorcerers, as well as all manner of technological wonders. Their was of course a second war being fought off the battle field by the magic guilds. Many people upon hearing that the rifts in the church were caused by magic went on witch hunts killing anyone they suspected of using magic, and destroying any tome, or scroll that contained magical knowledge.

After thirty years the war came to an end. The Aluminat Church created a codex of commandments that all the various sects would follow. After making peace with one another they turned on who they saw as the true enemies, the magic users. Of course the ranks of the magic users had been decimated during the war, and so they were in no condition to object to the churches demand that they oversee all the magical guilds so that the Malficium would never rise again. The Magic guilds plan was simple they believed that if they agreed and laid low of a while they would again be able to rise to power once they reorganized and retook some lost land. This of course was pure folly. Time has proven that as they Aluminat themselves put it “The Age of magic was over”. Damn Aluminat Church! They devastated the once proud Guilds and weakened the hold of the aristocracy which until then had held on to power through use of magic.

Now almost 100 years later commoners grow ever bolder as magic continues to wain. They dare to demand rights, greater say in government, and look to science not magic for the answers they need. Those conveniences that used to be available only to those with magic, like flight, and being able to light the dark, can be done using machines powered by steam and other means. Nowhere is this more prevalent than on the battle field. I would quote sir Arthur Dee who in 1815 said "These monstrosities of brass and steel are the work of madmen who despoil the land for raw materials. I am no seer but, left unchecked, I have little doubt that, a mere fifty years from now, Europe will become choked by this new ‘art.’. He was right the streets of London are now filled with coal dust and a permanent haze lingers in the air.
In addition to the protests and the rise of steam Europe again is being torn apart by war. The fighting in Crimea started out small but now all of Europe appears to b taking one side or the other. Threatening to pull all of Europe into another long drawn out war. I believe the question needs to be asked is this all happening purely by chance or is the Malfecium on the move again manipulating people to drag whole nations into war to further their agenda of world destruction. Europe again appears on the brink of becoming a concert in flames. I believe there’s a continent-spanning conspiracy afoot that threatens to shake the very order of Europe and cast it down in flames – can the anyone find out what’s going on and put a stop to it before it’s too late?