Mage War of Cicero

The Mage War of Cicero is an event that happened in 1339 of the Third Age of Primordials. The war saw four opposing rulers of Cicero unleash spell-bombs against one another, turning the entirety of the country into an apocalyptic wasteland.

**Names**

The Mage War is also known as the Ciceran Civil War, the Magedeath and the Burning of Cicero.

**Background**

During the rule of the Caliphates, multiple external sources attempted to convince the rulers to overthrow one another. A number of unsuccessful coups took place, none of which were actually initiated by any of the caliphates themselves. The source of this mistrust was the Visarala Prekasa, an organization that believed the caliphates were too powerful and needed to be killed.

The Four Caliphates of Cicero were Didon Bast (human male ruler of Mazaan), Suri Phanemoon (halfling female ruler of Madhavi), Tief-Mido Moss (human female ruler of Scarlato), and Sarafan Amaris (elvish female ruler of Quordis.) This group was also counseled by a group of magi called the Trinity, who remained entirely anonymous and kept the four rulers in power.

Many consider the official beginning of the mage war when Salazan Violet (a member of the trinity) made contact with the Visarala Prekasa and shared confidential information on the caliphates. Salazan did so in an effort to usurp the throne of Mazaan, although he would never come to earn the title of Caliphate.

The war is said to have lasted somewhere between two and twelve hours, with the repeated casting of immensely powerful "spell-bombs" throughout the entire region of Cicero. Different speculations have been made behind who was the first caliphate to cast these spells, but ultimately the destruction and lack of living participants have made this inconclusive.

**Essential Players**

Mazaan’s Caliphate before the war was known as Didon Bast, a human man who had earned his spot due his brilliance in the study and practice of divination. It is believed Didon had some arcane foresight of the fall of Cicero, which led to his spell bombs going unused and instead the magi of his city diverting all their efforts towards shielding Mazaan from danger.

Madhavi’s Caliphate was Suri Phanemoon, a halfling originally from the city of Deberron. A wondrous inventor, Suri’s efforts towards the evolution and widespread use of magitech had made Madhavi a technological paradise. It was through these same innovations that that spell bombs would be created.

Scarlato was the domain of Tief-Mido Moss, a human woman who was born in the Sharanii city of Rog’Astra. It is often said that Moss and the other Caliphates did not get along well, further reinforcing the idea that the mage war may have been spurred on by external forces who sought to magnify these internal conflicts into a full scale tragedy.

Quordis was known as the Red City, a strange and arcane land built at the top of a mountain. So secluded from the outside world, the Quordites considered themselves more than a city, but a people of their own design and culture. Led by the elvish being Sarafan Amaris, Quordis specialized in study of the unknown types of magic. Sarafan had published many studies on the ninth, tenth and even eleventh schools of magic, many which were considered to be experimental and outright dangerous to outside scholars. Quordis was covered in thick crystals which completely froze over the mountain and all of its inhabitants, putting an end to the reign of Caliphate Amaris.

**Weaponry**

The Mage War was unique in the fact that there were no soldiers on any battlefield across Cicero. One could argue that the only four soldiers were the Caliphates themselves, as it was at their hands the spell bombs were cast.

Created by Suri Phanemoon, the spell-bombs were actually an amalgamation of eight different spells bound in a shell of anti-magical material. These bombs were to be teleported over enemy territory and once activated remotely, unleashed each of the spells onto the vicinity. The anti-magical material prevented any other spellcaster from stopping the effects of the bomb and remote activation was done by a steel staff called the *Doomkey*. This device would recall the metallic shell to it, hoisting the casing back through the portal from which it came and leaving the spells behind.

The spell bombs are believed to have contained some variation of the following spells: *Control Weather, Earthquake, Fire Storm, Incendiary Cloud, Mass Disintegration, Reality Break, Terraform* and *Void*.

It is noted that a few spell bombs did not activate upon teleportation, likely because the wielders of the doomkeys had already been destroyed. These weapons were taken by the United Council of Eesia (which was founded in the wake of this war) and locked away.

**Effects**

Cicero was undoubtedly ruined in the wake of the war, with most of the land becoming razed. The once lush and teeming jungles were left as flaming deserts, while mountains were completely encased in magical crystal. Magic was baked into the earth and began to mutate the species that lived there, such as the Red Dwarves and Red Elves. Large swathes of densely populated lands had their populations killed and resurrected as undead hordes, forced to walk the barren deserts.

The only major city which survived was Mazaan, likely in part to its tremendous number of magi. While about 70% of the city was destroyed, those who survived banded together and founded a faction known as the Last of the Magi. The group has spent the last few centuries attempting to restore a magocratic order to the region, collecting relics of the old world and teaching new magi.

The destruction of Cicero also brought a massive halt of evolution in the development of magical devices and technology. Eesia's commerce was deeply wounded and has yet to recover fully from the destruction of Cicero.

**Aftermath**

Cicero has since become a forgotten land, occupied only by those who were incapable of escaping the war and their descendants who have no means by which to move. The United Council of Eesia was made as a result of this war, uniting the continent's leaders in hopes of preventing destruction of such level from ever happening again. This council would also hire the Griffon Riders of the Foundland to permanently police the borders to Cicero to ensure none of the arcbominations born in the war escaped.