The Masquerade of Magic

[Rackenhammer]

There was a time, there were days in Feila when monsters and angels, demons and wizards openly walked in the mortal lands. When magic was ubiquitous and the very fabric of reality bent to the will of living souls. These days are now forgotten… But not gone.

The growth of technology, and what is more important, a widespread industrial infrastructure, fundamentally changed the balance of power between magicians and muggles. What might have happened if the two had joined forces none can say, but the fact is that the magical leadership largely did not, and in many cases attempted to retain their old prominence by force. This led to what was known as the Purge. Not only was it a physical fight, in driving out the creatures of shadow from the cities and settled areas, but it was a war of scholarship as well, to label all the representatives of the Old Regime as superstitions and credulous apes, among other things.

The new powers that came to be were successful in wiping the history books, but not in wiping out magic entirely. There are survivors of the old ways, who remember. For survival’s sake, they blend into society, maintaining a mask of normalcy for fear of re-inciting the Purge. But they are there, if anyfur looks deep enough to pierce the Masquerade.