Magic Empire

Biodata

History

Foundation and Early Development

The Magic Empire began as a community united by the study of magic rather than common ancestry. Its histories opened with the statement that a group of mages who loved magic had gathered and ultimately created an empire. Li Lin was among its founding Arcane Mages 61 163.

The early empire did not immediately possess the authority or educational infrastructure of its later civilization. Its rulers negotiated with outsiders who sometimes treated them poorly, while the expense of training mages encouraged leniency toward existing practitioners 251 401.

During this period, radical elven mages secretly diverted construct materials to develop a weapon intended to secure the empire’s international standing through overwhelming deterrence. The Arcane Mages stopped the project after discovering that its unfinished prototype could damage the plane itself. The Elf Goddess subsequently concealed the weapon in the Forest of Elves 401.

Destruction

The Five-Nation Alliance invaded the empire under the leadership of the Five Heroes. Despite their extraordinary destructive power, the Arcane Mages eventually exhausted themselves against successive waves of enemy troops. Nearly every Arcane Mage killed hundreds of thousands of opponents before the empire fell 18 209.

Li Lin conducted the final defense of the capital. Facing defeat, he unleashed the magic that sealed it behind undead, curses, and a barrier that expelled the living. This prevented the victorious nations from occupying the strategically valuable city 6 20 174.

The God of Justice’s involvement, initially suspected by Li Lin, is later confirmed from the god’s own perspective. However, Li Lin’s subsequent investigations still leave questions about the empire’s defeats: the Five Heroes’ limited numbers and the restricted range of their magic-controlling power do not adequately explain losses across every front 18 362 375 377.

Occupation and Suppression

The conquerors divided the empire’s territory and became major continental powers. Their original unity deteriorated into rivalry, border disputes, and attempts to seize one another’s holdings 6.

The empire’s fall was followed by a century of turmoil and extensive killings of mages. Surviving apprentices endured nearly three hundred years of suppression, while later mages became subject to royal and institutional control. The alliance also destroyed other gods’ temples and persecuted their followers 6 50.

Official histories recast the invasion as liberation from an oppressive magical state. Li Lin rejects this account, remembering an empire that had neither ruled the continent nor exploited neighboring countries. Deliberate suppression of its history left later generations with little beyond demonizing legends and fragmentary records 7 18.

Revival

Li Lin returned determined to rebuild the empire and destroy the Five-Nation Alliance. Nia sought prospective citizens among the oppressed mixed-blood population of the City of a Thousand Towers, whose interest in magic offered a foundation for more than a temporary military coalition 61 131.

At the former capital, Li Lin restored 13,700 mages to human form. Their continued material existence depended on his barrier, preventing them from leaving its bounds. He then organized repairs, restored the core, and prepared defenses against approaching alliance forces 174.

Several hundred mixed-blood students were subsequently brought from the City of a Thousand Towers to receive orthodox magical training. These recruits supplied the beginnings of a new generation rather than relying entirely on the preserved mages of the old empire 185.

Renewed War

Nia and the other Seven Ring Spirit Envoys delivered declarations of war to the Five-Nation Alliance in Loxia Kaiser Erland’s name. The alliance initially doubted that a nation destroyed a millennium earlier could have returned without its intelligence networks detecting an army or supply system 238 239.

The destruction and occupation of the Vila Federation’s central city shattered that confidence. Its treasury replenished Ringwraith City’s funds, and its central location gave Li Lin a base from which to attack the other alliance members. The Federation’s collapse also weakened cooperation among the remaining four nations 288.

The campaign included deliberate mass killing of soldiers and civilians. Li Lin later made extermination of people with Five-Nation Alliance ancestry a condition for outside mages seeking admission to his empire, explicitly refusing exemptions based on age or sex 288 324.

Reconstruction and Planar Crisis

Domestic reconstruction continued alongside the war. Li Lin reformed the academy, expanded immigration from the City of a Thousand Towers, and pursued bodily restoration for the old empire’s mages. By the intervention in Serei, five hundred mages had acquired living bodies, allowing some to serve outside Ringwraith City 294 323 359.

During the later planar disturbances, Ringwraith City remained protected while much of the Prime Material Plane suffered disasters. Li Lin brought elves, Dark Elves, the population of the City of a Thousand Towers, and Gabriel’s 130,000 surviving angels into its protection. He also began reconstructing the dangerous elven prototype for possible use against the approaching Mount Celestia 399 401.

Government

Arcane Council

The original thirteen Arcane Mages held equal authority, each governing a particular field. Their responsibilities included finance, education, research, military affairs, diplomacy, art, and transportation 279.

In the revived empire, Li Lin is addressed diplomatically as its supreme ruler. He offers Nisi a place in the Arcane Council, and after becoming an Arcane Mage she takes responsibility for the Garden of Verdure and diplomatic affairs with the elves 208 238 279.

Relationship to the Source of Magic

• Thirteen divisions of magical power: The founding Arcane Mages divided magic by school and inscribed its rules onto their flesh and souls. Keeping those divisions separate prevented the formation of a God of Magic 239.
• A civilization that sustained its rulers: Arcane Mages drew strength from the use of magic, making a concentrated magical civilization essential to maintaining their powers 239 252.
• Mutual dependence: The empire nurtured the Arcane Mages, who protected it in return. Its destruction threatened their existence in a manner comparable to the destruction of a god’s divine domain 239 252.

Territory and Cities

Borders and Altered Land

• Former territory: Much of the Five-Nation Alliance occupies land taken from the empire 6 238.
• Strategically irregular borders: The old empire held exposed plains and extended beyond defensible transportation routes, accepting serious military disadvantages 220.
• Magical transformation project: At Li Lin’s proposal, the Arcane Mages altered the land to make residents’ constitutions more suitable for magic 220.
• Dangerous accumulation: Residents who did not follow imperial training methods accumulated substances that a Pillar of Magic Essence could activate into deadly poison through a released gas 220.

Major Urban Centers

Imperial City Design

• Elemental entrance markers: Fountains, blazing fireballs, sounding wind holes, and heavy sculptures indicated which elemental magic was easier to cast locally 42.
• Defensive decorations: These entrance features could transform and attack under a mage’s command 42.
• Zigzag walls: Warriors defended the outer sections while mages cast from recessed positions, reducing interference during spellcasting 42.
• Recognizable traditions: Yinkalan Town preserved the empire’s layout, including its fountain, zigzag walls, and groups of thirteen trees, attracting Li Lin’s attention 42.

Society and Education

Citizenship and Social Standing

The old empire accepted mixed-blood citizens who loved magic and wished to learn. Its population also included people without magical talent, whom Li Lin remembers finding other occupations and purposes despite their disappointment 61 388.

Mages enjoyed privileges unavailable to ordinary people, including greater leniency in the early empire. In the revived state, Princess Shirley observes little concern for differences in official rank among mages, but considerable seriousness about differences in magical strength 291 401.

• Revival-era immigration: Li Lin admitted mixed-blood residents from the City of a Thousand Towers while excluding pureblood humans from Ringwraith City as an anti-infiltration measure 323.
• Changing public attitudes: Students returning home after two months of basic study described their treatment and used simple spells to help their families, weakening local fears of magic and the empire 323.
• Limits of racial alliances: Nia distinguished allies such as dwarves and elves from citizens committed to rebuilding magical civilization; a shared enemy did not necessarily mean a shared national goal 61.

Magical Training

Educational efficiency did not eliminate the need for talent or experience. Even after the revival, most new students remained apprentices or first-tier mages, with the best reaching only the third tier at that point. Li Lin estimated that creating a genuine magic legion would require at least five years 293 318.

Magic and Technology

Cores and Transportation

• Spell-circulation cores: Developed by the thirteen Arcane Mages, cores automatically absorbed magical power and converted it into energy to sustain continuing spell effects 200.
• Floating cities: Core-supplied spells kept the thirteen Arcane Mage cities and the enormous capital airborne 200.
• Portal network: Spatial portals connected imperial settlements, allies, and other regions. Some elven portals were apparently destroyed after the empire’s fall to prevent human invasion 202.
• Magic ships: Passenger vessels traveled between floating cities, largely replacing carriages alongside portals 248.
• Surveillance proposal: Li Lin planned twelve core-powered satellites carrying observation spells, allowing barrier-bound mages to monitor borders remotely 200.

Weapons

Imperial weapon standards generally reserved the most powerful systems for mages. Ordinary people could obtain enchanted weapons, but not freely operate advanced weapons such as Weapon Spirits. This dependence on trained operators also meant that many weapons became useless after the empire’s mages were killed 293.

Military

• Shortage of trained combatants: Rapid instruction could produce mages, but not immediately create an effective military force 199 318.
• Dependence on Angela: The empire’s reliance on one principal army risked repeating the old empire’s collapse if her power proved insufficient 319.
• Different tools for different audiences: Li Lin recognized that undead inspired terror in enemies but could alienate prospective allies, favoring other weapons when seeking cooperation 361.
• Insufficient preparation time: Against the angel legion, Li Lin judged fifty years of development the safest prospect, while recognizing that his enemies would not allow it 389.

Foreign Relations

• Five-Nation Alliance — Destroyed the original empire and occupied its territory; became the target of the revived empire’s war of revenge 6 238.
• God of Justice — Participated in the empire’s destruction and used long-term propaganda to make its name widely reviled 362.
• Elves — Historical allies whose losses created both shared grievances and opposition to another alliance. Nisi later managed elven diplomacy for the restored empire 6 208 279.
• Dwarves — Former allies defeated by human armies after the empire’s fall. Nia regarded their enchanting expertise as distinct from a commitment to rebuilding the empire 6 61.
• Elemental spirits — Former partners in a mutually beneficial relationship; closed their planar passages and severed continental ties after the empire’s destruction 6 231.
• City of a Thousand Towers — Provided students and immigrants, received food and supplies, and increasingly depended on imperial protection against the alliance 185 322 323.
• Sea-Encircled Country — Sought an alliance through Princess Falisi Shirley. Its partnership included imperial military support and a sea fortress used by Shirley to expand her influence 289 322.
• Catherine — Became Li Lin’s loyal subordinate while publicly maintaining a role that allowed her to gather forces around the United Government 322 358.
• Kingdom of Serei — Received imperial intervention and signed an agreement with Li Lin. Claims that it had earlier ties to the empire remained unsubstantiated 358 364.
• Mages’ Association — Studied imperial remnants, but was not automatically part of the restored empire. Some members sought to join; others feared its massacres and rejected alignment 277 324.

Reputation and Political Outlook

Imperial reputation was shaped by both hostile propaganda and the revived empire’s actual atrocities. The alliance’s histories portrayed its destruction as a righteous liberation, but Angela’s indiscriminate killing and Li Lin’s extermination policy gave contemporaries concrete reasons to fear its return 18 289 324.

Li Lin rejects the claim that the empire inherently represents either justice or evil. He describes its responsibilities as extending beyond humanity to elves, dwarves, Dark Elves, and undead, and acknowledges that protecting those competing interests can involve actions humans regard as evil 390.

Support did not necessarily imply admiration. Many allies cooperated for survival or advantage while remaining disturbed by imperial brutality. Conversely, the protection and education offered to marginalized communities created loyalties that the empire’s enemies had not anticipated 323 399.

Notable Quotes

“Once, a group of mages who loved magic gathered together and ultimately created an empire.”
— Opening sentence of the Magic Empire’s history books 61

“Even if only one citizen remains, I will restore it.”
— Li Lin 246