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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9056174" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Going into spoiler territory for my game (not that any of my players are members here):When the world was younger, legends walked and myths grew in fertile soil. The Eladrin ("El-Adrin," as the Arabic-inspired trade language of the Tarrakhuna puts it), Genie-Rajahs, and Dragons were among those who made fundamental pacts with the great spirits, ur-beings of the nature of existence, like the World-Serpent, Grandfather Oak and Grandmother Orange, the Spirit of All Winds, etc. In making these pacts, they received great power, and were able to guard and protect the land and the mortals that lived there. (It is likely that the modern genies are the descendants of ancient humans who took these pacts, and passed part of that power to their children, just as elves appear to be the descendants of the long-vanished El-Adrin.) Different groups carried these burdens differently. The Genie-Rajahs were harsh--some cruel, some benevolent, but always they ruled from on high and mortals were far beneath them. The Dragons, far away in Yuxia, were far more benevolent--they took roles as advisors and protectors, not as rulers. Little is known of the El-Adrin, but they seem to have been a mix of the two, perhaps charging all of their people with some part of the pact.But then, a time came when those who could peer through the skein of time saw that the legends would depart, the myths would wither on the vine. Some magic would remain--arguably, still great magic indeed--but the magic they had always known would not. Again, each took this news differently. The Dragons simply shouldered it as another burden, having already filled many of the same roles that the more-benevolent celestials did before the great change. The Genie-Rajahs, already facing the problems of a society built on the back of vast numbers of slaves, decided to abandon their oaths and their land entirely, and undertook a great exodus to Al-Akirah, the elemental otherworld, forming the many city-states of the land called "Jinnistan" today (analogous to the Tarrakhuna region.) The El-Adrin took perhaps an even more extreme approach than the Genie-Rajahs. Instead of simply packing up for another plane with higher ambient magic...they apparently pulled their entire society out, into some sort of pocket plane, awaiting the day when the magic comes back, and enchanting their lands to reject anyone else who might settle there.*All of this, as the party has learned, because something was imprisoned on this world. It's not clear who or what, just yet--but they know it is old, seemingly immortal, and powerful...and hungry for a way to escape. It has mindflayers lead its forces and blood-cultists for servants. It is the "Burning Eye," also known as Azimech al-Saqqit, the "Uplifted and Fallen One." We are (finally!) starting to explore exactly what that means. But the coming of the Burning Eye meant the world itself changed. Magic is less than it was. Spirits are quieter, subtler things. The dead do not rest easy in their tombs. Dark things crawl in the deep wastes far from civilization, and sometimes they wander out into more inhabited places. The world is not cursed, but it is surrounded by a barrier that allows things to get in, but does not allow them to get out.So, in that sense, magic has "evolved"--or, rather, reduced. Some of what magic was once capable of--the greatest heights, the most powerful of ensorcelling--simply isn't anymore. But at least the El-Adrin believed it could be again, some day. Perhaps if the Burning Eye is destroyed, or confined in some new way, or reformed.Tune in to find out, on Jewel of the Desert...*That was my perhaps-kludgy explanation for why nobody has settled the places they abandoned. Essentially, any attempt to build any physical structure more complex than a lean-to inevitably results in that structure collapsing at a vastly accelerated rate, animals behave erratically and attack attempted settlers, crops will refuse to grow, iron will rust to powder in mere weeks, etc., etc., etc. The land itself rejects anyone else attempting to settle the "Elf-Forests," as they are known today--not even the elves, the remnant of the El-Adrin who were changed by all this, can live there.[SPOILER="A less theatrical telling"]TL;DR: There's an elder orb beholder, The Burning Eye, very powerful, that has been imprisoned on the PCs' world because it used to belong to a society of LN beholderkin, but went full evil, and thus they stripped it of much of its former power and imprisoned it on this world. Most of the celestials left the planet prior to that event, entrusting protection of the mortal world to the "Guardians"--Dragons, Genies, Eladrin, etc.--that were the world's protectors, but most of them shirked that duty (other than the Dragons, but they don't interfere in other lands' affairs, so their protection is not global.) The Burning Eye longs to return to the heavens and wreak vengeance on its comrades. More or less, I'm heavily inspired by the Crayak on this one, if you're familiar with Animorphs. The party's moves have both disrupted the Burning Eye's plans...and yet also uncovered secrets long buried that can be exploited. So they're a thorn in its side, but also useful. We'll see how that plays out now that this jerk's about to become the fiend of the hour, as it were.[/SPOILER]</blockquote>

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