Post by frankthetriviaman on Dec 7, 2019 22:37:54 GMT -5
The Colorfolk faced many evil factions and powers in their history; here is the timeline
(NOTE: Draft phase; transplanted from (redacted) to allow easier discussion)
As the sworn protectors of Ordos from 1095-1657, naturally the Colorfolk encountered many evil factions over the years. Almost no factions existed as long as the Colorfolk though; often “coming and going” with the ages. For the most “authentic” campaign possible, here is a handy timeline-list of the enemies the Colorfolk fought over the years:
Sons of the Blood Oath:
Years active: 1092-1101 (enemies of Colormen from 1096-1101)
A general faction of mages, they were the first “true” enemies of the Colormen. Initially founded by brothers Gilmar and Astron as the Ordosian Magic Brotherhood, Gilmar’s “heart turned black” and for reasons that you will discover in campaign, he betrayed his brother, killing Astron and reorganizing the faction as the Sons of the Blood Oath. All members swore a “blood oath” of loyalty to Gilmar, hence the name. Now hungry for power, Gilmar amassed his army with one goal in mind: topple the King of Ordos and assume power for himself. Ultimately defeated by the Colormen, the King of Ordos had him executed for treason in 1102.
Warriors of Odin
Years active: 1103-1109; 1113
A viking faction, they were the descendants of the last “historical” vikings from just a few decades prior. They were never truly based on Ordos; rather, the Colorfolk found themselves repeatedly holding off invasions from landing parties. Their deeper motives were never truly discovered, their leaders simply declaring before every raid that they would “pillage and destroy” before beginning their battle charge. Attempts to reason with them failed, even flat out giving generous gifts of supplies did not deter their attempts at invasion, and battle still resulted; further confusing the Colormen as to the determination of what the motives of the Warriors of Odin were.
Order of Masteri
Years active: 1109 on Ordos (existed for centuries prior on the mainland)
The Masteri War was considered the first major war the Colorfolk fought (prior faction warfare had been a serious of isolated skirmishes, rather than all-out war). The inventors and master of golem magic, they believed their automatons could destroy everything in their path. Ultimately, their Masteri Arrogance was their undoing; the combination of refusing to acknowledge their flaws and failures and refusing to see the Colorfolk as the threat that they were was no match the unpredictability and adaptations the Colorfolk took to fight them. The Masteri were wiped out with minimal Colormen losses.
Brotherhood of Daraimus
Years active: 1078-1114 (enemies of the Colorfolk 1110-1114)
At first a simple organization of Earth mages, when the Earth Mage Obsidius took charge he was no longer content with simply “moving stones and digging ditches” and decided that he would take earth magic “as far as humanly possible.” The result was horrifying: by 1110 he had perfected earth magic that allowed him to create powerful earthquakes that were capable of ravaging all of Ordos. Now believing himself to be the son of Gaia herself (Greek Goddess of Earth), he developed what would be considered a God Complex and declared war on the Colorfolk, seeing them as “unworthy of living on the same land as him.”
After his defeat, the Colorfolk seized his factions library in order to “quarantine” the knowledge inside. Rumor is the colorfolk adapted some of his magic to create a much smaller scale, contained earthquake appropriate for battle situations. It is generally agreed that large scale earthquake magic is considered the first magical “weapon of mass destruction”
Children of Terra
Years active: 1090-1125 (enemies of the Colorfolk 1123-1125)
Earth mages that specialized in plant magic, the Children of Terra were initially simple farmers, growing produce and “part of the community” like other factions on the island. However, a simple Colorfolk visit to their home one day (i.e. a “friendly neighbor” type visit) uncovered a horrifying truth: they were working on perfecting a “complete plant death” type magic bomb that would kill all plants on Ordos, and by extension the animals and humans, unless they were granted complete control of the farming economy of Ordos. The people refused and begged the Colorfolk to come to their aid. Negotiations for a peaceful resolution failed, and the Children of Terra became the Warriors of Terra, declaring war on Ordos’ sworn protectors. Ironically, plant magic proved to be their undoing, as their focus on Earth magic meant none of their membership spent time honing their light magic affinity, if possessed. As such, they had no proper healing mages, and they were, overtime, unable to sustain a sufficient number of capable fighters. Following their defeat, the King of Ordos had the leaders executed, and surviving members forced to wear Vallerium “bracelets” around their arms for the rest of their lives.
Baron Joseph D’Levin
Years alive: 1100-1170 (First war against the Colorfolk: 1129-1134)
In the years prior to inheriting the Barony from his father, a young Joseph D’Levin was deceived by a shapshifting sea serpent. The young Baron-to-be used his men to try and make the Colorfolk’s lives hell. Fortunately, he was never able to find and attack the Great Hall thanks to its perception filter, though he did find other ways to attack the sworn protectors. Not even threats from the king of stripping the family of their barony kept him from his “mission.” In the end, his first war only ended because his father threatened to give the barony to Joseph’s younger brother if he did not cease his fight. He accepted defeat, and decided that he would wait until the time was right before he struck again.
(1134-1153 was a peaceful time, with no major enemy factions emerging; the colorfolk primarily dealt with the predatory vampires during this time)
Order of the Gatebreakers:
Years active: 973-1155 (enemies of the Colorfolk 1153-1155)
One of two Necromatic factions on Ordos, the Order of the Gatebreakers, on the surface, appeared to be a faction of secluded, peaceful mages who simply sought spiritual enlightenment. The truth was far more sinister: at night they would steal bodies from graveyards, and reanimate them to be “puppets” for their own bidding. They had no remorse for their actions, and indeed “laughed at the grief of their victims over the bodies of loved ones going missing.” None of this was made public, of course, until the Colorfolk exposed them in 1102, catching them in the act of grave desecration. Vowing revenge, they planned to go to war against the Colorfolk, but due to a combination of the Colorfolk now guarding graveyards, public scorn against them hampering recruitment, and the development of glevdrium, it wasn’t until 1153 when, after teaming up with Contritum Exolvuntur, that they finally declared war against the Colorfolk; using the King of Ordos’ decree of banning necromancy as an excuse to take action. Despite a hard fight, the faction was overwhelmed and upon defeat- seeing “the vulgarity of their knowledge,” the Colorfolk burned their library to ensure the “permanent death of necromancy on Ordos.” So thorough was their defeat, almost no written literature after 1155 mentions either faction.
Contritum Exolvuntur
Years active: 1007-1155 (enemies of the Colorfolk 1153-1155)
The other Necromatic faction on Ordos, their name is Latin for “broken cycle.” Initially founded as a faction of mages seeking the elixir of life so as to break the cycle of life and death, over time the faction became a corrupted, twisted version of itself. By the time Necromancy had been banned on Ordos, Contritum Exolvuntur was now a faction of Necromancers who “rose the dead to break the cycle” but really they were more or less amassing an army of reanimated corpses. The Colorfolk’s development of Glevdrium and the banning of Necromancy caused them to ally with the Gatebreakers, and the subsequent “War of the Dead” became a dark time in the history of Ordos. Like the gatebreakers, after the faction’s defeat their library was burned to ensure the permanent loss of their knowledge. After word of their actions spread throughout the magic world, the practice of necromancy had been tarnished, and this war became the catalyst for the Necromatic decline of the late 12th and early 13th century.
Baron Joseph D’Levin
Second war against the Colormen: 1158-1163
Deciding that the time was right, D’Levin reemerged and went to war with the Colorfolk yet again. Though wiser in some ways with age, at the same time he was no longer a young man, and relied on his men to carry out his attacks on the Colorfolk. Frustrated at being unable to find their base, the climax of the war involved his army starting a forest fire in the area he the the Great Hall roughly was in. The Colorfolk fought the fire frantically, and managed to save the Great Hall. One last fight took place in the fields of Northern Ordos. Though the battle was ultimately inconclusive, it was the King of Ordos who ended the war. Enraged at D’Levin’s actions, the king stripped him and his bloodline of status and land, in lieu of execution. His children effectively disowned him for costing them their noble status, and left him to his own accord. A disgraced man, he lived the last years of his life in a room of an Inn in Western Ordos; it was the only place he could afford with what he had left.
1164-1184 was a period of peace on the island, with most evil activity being “small scale”
Ogre Campaign
1184-1280 (Technically the ogres had always been hostile against the Colorfolk)
After many centuries of feasting on children as one of their primary sustenance, the Colorfolk decided that more needed to be done to finally stop the ogre threat. The colorfolk united a coalition force of humans, elves, dwarves, orcs and centaurs to enact some of the measures outlined in the Multi-species charter to accomplish one goal: put an end to the ogre threat once and for all. Attempts to find intelligent ogres that could be reasoned with ended in failure, and by 1280 the Ordosian ogres were wiped out. One of the inadvertent side effects of this war was that the Mountain Orc tribes, now that one of their primary competitors was harassing them less often, experienced something of a population boom over the next decade or so.
Orc War
1202-1215 (2 tribes remained allied with the Multi-species charter and eventually were evacuated from the island. Remaining 4 tribes declared war and effectively wiped out)
Though initially allied with humans, and some of the tribes worked with the Colorofolk from time to time, especially against the ogres, the rise of fiercely anti-human tribe chiefs lead to war against the humans; with the Colorfolk as the primary line of defense. Unlike other wars, the Colorfolk remember this one solemnly; their duties as sworn defenders was performed, but often they wonder if another outcome could have been achieved.
(NOTE: FROM 1216-1330, this era is known as the “age of invasions” due to the numerous outsiders that tired to come in and take the power of the magic pools for themselves)
The Harbingers of Hades
Years active: Invaded Ordos between 1216-1223
A faction focused around dark magic, they invaded Ordos for the simple purpose of harnessing the pool of Dark magic for their own gain. While dark magic wasn’t inherently evil, they took sadistic glee in attacking towns and bringing destruction wherever they went; their actions only further soured Dark magic’s reputation.
Servants of Altura
Years active: Invaded Ordos between 1218-1227
A general faction with no elemental focus, the Servants of Altura worshiped a pagan God of a forgotten religion. They sought to control the pools of magic, believing that the combined power of the pools would “Resurrect Altura to full glory.” When the King of Ordos warned them that the pools of magic belonged to all Ordosians, and that attempting to seize them for their own gain would be a declaration of war against Ordos, the Servants retaliated by massacring the town of Heprya. Ashamed at failing to protect the citizens of his hometown, the then-current Man In Orange personally took charge of operations against the Servants.
Order of Hasteroth
Years active: Invaded Ordos 1220-1224
A dark magic faction, they too invaded Ordos with the purpose of taking control of the dark pool of magic. Their end goal was to wipe out all life on Ordos afterwards so they could rebuild and control Ordos in their image. To demonstrate their power, from November 2 - December 5, 1222 they manipulated the Darkness in such a way that a “dome of darkness” covered the island, casting in an eternal night that was not ended until the Colorfolk assaulted their stronghold on the island and destroying the arrangement in place to end the eternal night (NOTE: The colorfolk intentionally did not record the specifics of the casting to ensure that no other faction would ever replicate it)
Order of Semprinus
Years active: Invaded Ordos 1220-1227
Another Dark magic faction, their goal was to take control of the pool of dark magic in order to summon Semprinus, a pagan God of destruction and chaos that they believed would “lead them into a new world”. Naturally, they did not win many Ordosians over, and the Colorfolk found themselves forced to have a regular patrol stationed at the pool of dark magic to protect it from seizure.
Brotherhood of Liberation
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1220-1225
Yet another dark magic faction, they actually did not desire conquest of the island for the sake of power. Rather, they felt that Ordos’ magic pools represented a threat to the magic world at large, and as such sought to “Liberate” the world from what they felt was the threat Ordos posed. Unfortunately, their idea of “liberation” was massacring all the inhabitants of the island, reasoning that if Ordos was rendered devoid of intelligent life, then there would be no one to take advantage of Ordos’ full magic potential.
During the period of 1220-1223, the contemporaneous invasions of The Harbingers of Hades, the Order of Hasteroth, the Order of Semprinus and the Brotherhood of Liberation were considered the biggest contributors to the miring of Dark magic’s reputation on Ordos; as such the Colorfolk had to openly pledge that their use of Dark magic was “for the defense of Ordos only” in order to ease the fears of the populace.
The Yadrivis Coalition
Years active: Invaded Ordos 1227-1230
Terrance Yadrivis was the brother of a prominent member of the Order of Hasteroth. While he did not agree with his brother in terms of his beliefs, as he was still on good terms with him and he felt a familial obligation to avenge his brother. The first non-magic invaders since the Warriors of Odin, they stubbornly refused diplomatic offers; Yadrivis declaring “cowards talk with words, warriors talk with blades”. Not even the impenetrable lines of the Iron Giants dissuaded Yadrivis from his mission. In the end, it was his own soldiers responsible for his death: by 1230, a staggering 90 percent of his army was dead and the survivors realized the futility of their conquest. They turned on Yadrivis, and as the story goes, he was wrapped in iron chains, taken out to sea on one of his own boats, and thrown overboard. As for Yadrivis’ army; it was said that he landed with “50 ships, 200 men each” for his invading army… Yadrivis was such a stubborn leader and willing to sacrifice so many of his men, only six ships of the original fleet left Ordos by 1230. The rest were salvaged by the Ordosians.
Cult of Janus
Years active: Invaded Ordos 1231-1235
Initially landing as peaceful visitors, they claimed themselves to be “the last descendants of the Romans” and came to Ordos after hearing of its commitment to the freedom and equality of everyone. Claiming they wanted the freedom to worship their God without persecution, they were welcomed that first night and the King celebrated their arrival with a feast. After they were all welcomed, and spread throughout the island, they revealed their true nature: they began attacking everyone in sight, claiming they were going to take the island for their own now.
It took several weeks for the colorfolk to restore some semblance of Order to the island; a few boats containing the survivors of the cult did leave, but came back some time later with an even larger invading force. They initially tried the same trick again; saying the first wave was a “defected branch; misguided and severed from us.” Unfortunately for them, the Colorfolk saw through their deception, and ordered them to leave. Days later, they landed on the other side of the island and proceeded to attack the villages. A faction of mixed magic and non-magic users, they eventually were able to claim one of the many abandoned faction bases as their own. In a final, climactic showdown the few survivors of the faction, after their base had fallen, fled into the woods, and started a forest fire to prevent the Colorfolk from following them. In a cruel irony, the winds changed and the survivors burned alive in the fire they started. Quick thinking from Colorfolk water, ice and earth mages prevented the fire from going out of control.
The Eternal Infernals
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1236-1239
A faction of fire mages, their goal was to seize control of the pool of fire magic in order to burn all of Ordos down to the ground. Their reasoning? They saw humanity as a “failure” and believed that by erasing mankind’s physical legacy the world could be reborn anew. Unfortunately in their grand delusion they were causing far more damage to the island as a whole than just the parts “scarred” by humans. Their base was established along the western coast, and in a rather poetic justice, their end came about by water: the great storm of 1239 caused a storm surge that wiped out their base and encampment; the few survivors of the faction tried to take advantage of the storm-ravaged island, but were stopped before they could have a major impact on storm recovery.
Heralds of Poseidon
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1240-1244
A faction of Water mages (sometimes rumored to be behind the great storm of 1239, but this claim is highly doubted), they sought to “sink Ordos beneath the waves,” believing that doing so would allow the sea God to return to the earthly plain. They also had no regard for human life and would kill anyone who got in the way of their goals, making them arguably among the most psychotic of the Colorfolk’s enemies.
Sons of Icaraus
Years active: Invaded Ordos 1242-1247
A faction of air mages who had refined a sort of magic that enabled flying and casting of other elements (context: prior to this, if an air mage was casting an air spell to fly, he could not cast other spells at the same time). Wanting to horde the pool of air magic to themselves, they attacked Ordos by “taking to the skies and raining fire, ice and rock upon the populace”.
Not even the Colorfolk could fly and cast fire spells at the same time, giving the Sons of Icarus a dangerous edge. But, Man In White being the genius tactician he was, eventually figured out ways to effectively get an edge over them. When their leadership was arrested by the king following the end of the last battle, the King of Ordos set an example by famously ordering the arms of their leaders cut off; “clipping their wings” as he described it. The Colorfolk personally felt that this may have been a bit cruel, but conceded the poetic justice was undeniable.
Thor’s Disciples
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1247-1250
A faction of lightning mages, their goal was to seize control of the pool of lightning magic, believing its power could be enough to summon the Norse God of Thunder. However, their belief was that they could control him, and use him and his mighty hammer to take over Ordos, the continent, and then the world. After their defeat, the then-current Man In Blue Conroy Erdagovern lamented the ridiculousness of the invasions, observing “why is it these outsiders believe that by destroying our island or by seizing control of the magic pools, they can summon some pagan God or conquer the world in their name? I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work that way…”
Servants of Death
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1250-1260
A combined faction of both mages and non-magic warriors, they had ravaged several towns on the Mainland and Great Britain, and set their sights on Ordos. They saw the Colorfolk as the single greatest threat to their ultimate goal of “cleansing the Earth so it may be born anew” and declared war on them. Many of their mounted warriors wore black shrouds and wielded a modified scythe that was larger and combat practical; inspiring great fear into the populace since it made them resemble grim reapers.
Mars’ Soldiers of War
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1250-1260
A non-magic faction, they invaded Ordos for the sole purpose of challenging the Colorfolk to battle. For little reason other than to “prove superiority.” The Colorfolk showed no interest in pointless combat and requested that they leave. The faction refused, and attacked a Southern Ordosian town to prove they were serious. Diplomacy fell flat, as they often attacked them before the diplomats could even get a world in. Their “might makes right” philosophy made them impossible to reason with.
Summoners of Pestilence
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1250-1260
A non-magic faction, their preferred method of attack was the use of small catapults to launch the carcasses of dead animals and people into towns of people, or even at enemy troops in battle, in order to spread disease and make their job of conquering the island easier. Although Colorfolk fire mages could easily burn such bodies before too much harm could be caused, during the decade Colorfolk researchers dedicated assorted side projects to sanitation and the like, believing that it was the key to defeating this faction.
Harbingers of Famine
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1250-1260
In a throwback to the days of the Children of Terra, the Harbingers of Famine were a magic faction that had perfected throwable “bombs” of a sort that, when detonated, killed all plants and animals within a 10 foot radius. For reasons unknown the bombs failed to outright kill humans, instead leaving them in “a state of great weakness” that made it difficult for the victim to fight back. While a general faction of mages, their reliance on these bombs was their signature move.
The decade from 1250-1260 is remembered as the “Apocalypse years” of Ordos due to the… rather coincidental nature of the invading factions. Luckily, the four factions fought with themselves just as much as the Colorfolk, alleviating some of the burden of fighting these invaders.
Brotherhood of the Glacier
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1260-1264
A faction of Ice Mages from an unknown part of Scandinavia, they invaded Ordos to topple the Colorfolk; reasoning that once they were out of the way no one could stop them from seizing control of the pool of ice magic on Ordos. Then they would use their great power to “end summer and freeze the world over.” The Brotherhood was shocked with how disastrously their first three battles ended as they had lost nearly half their forces in such a small amount of time. As they retreated from the third battle, one of the Glacier’s top mages cried out “How are you beating us back so effectively?!” To which the then-current Man In Red declared “We just spent a decade holding off the literal incarnations of death, war, famine and pestilence… do you honestly think a faction of ice mages scares us?” The Brotherhood subsequently held off attacks for three months before resuming their invasion of Ordos. The faction met an ironic end when, during a terrible winter, so much snow fell around their base, they were trapped within, and died of hunger and hypothermia.
Brotherhood of the Volcano
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1264-1269
Fire mages who drew their power from pools of fire magic that resided near volcanoes, they invaded Ordos, believing that beneath the island was a supervolcano and, when made to erupt, would “convert all the pools to fire magic and make the faction an unstoppable force in war.” Though they were completely wrong, as Ordos does not sit upon a volcano, that did not stop them from destroying Ordosian villages attempting to find a “crack in the top” from which they could cause the volcano to erupt. The brotherhood met its end rather anticlimactically; their leader attempted a sort of summoning ritual where he believed he could summon a “spirit of great strength in fire magic” and become unstoppable. He succeeded in summoning the spirit, but in a dramatic irony, his body spontaneously combusted when he tried to bond with the spirit; several minutes of intense heat and horrible, horrible cries of pain later, his surviving followers were horrified at the sight before them; a charred skeleton that somehow stood upright for a brief moment, then fell to the ground. They subsequently left Ordos and never returned.
The Rock Warriors
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1270-1278
Earth mages who specifically focused on the use of rocks, they wanted to seize control of the pool of Earth Magic, believing its power could give them the strength to cast spells that would “Shake the earth to its core”. Fearing another faction would try and develop earthquake magic, the Colorfolk regularly had a minimum of 50 mages guarding the pool at any given moment.
Order of Neptune
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1279-1286
Water mages who believed themselves the living descendants of Neptune himself, they believed that they therefore had a “Natural right” to control all pools of water magic. The King of Ordos ordered them to leave, but in response he was killed by the Order. Determined to avenge the fallen king, the Colorfolk did a rather brilliant move for the time: they kept forcing the faction to move from one place to another, until they were holed up in a faction base in one of the drier, more arid parts of Ordos. The logic was simple: Water mages, spell for spell, do not have to expend as much magic as other mages when a ready supply of water is present, they can just use magic to manipulate the water itself. But when water mages have to generate their own water from magic, it consumes more magic, and therefore is not as efficient a use of magic compared to manipulating existing water. By cornering and sieging them in a dry climate, they had to use up more magic to cast the spells they needed to. Their leaders stubbornly refused to surrender, causing the faction to be holed up in this base for months. At last, those at the bottom of the ladder had enough, and in a dramatic betrayal, the commanding mages of the faction were killed by their own troops. They subsequently surrendered and the survivors were forced to leave the island.
Coalition of Baradurus
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1284-1292
Another non-magic group, the Coalition was an army lead by a man known as Baradurus. Claiming that his Great-Great-grandfather was cheated out of the throne, he declared that he was the true King of Ordos; which the then-current king strongly denied, pointing out that per rules of succession, he did not have any legitimate claim to the throne while there were so many others before him. Enraged, he tried to kill the King, but Colorfolk intervention saved his life. Realizing that he needed to prove himself the true king, he vowed to destroy the Colorfolk, reasoning that if he destroyed Ordos’ sworn protectors he would scare the island’s population into submission. Like others before him though, he proved unable to overcome the Iron Giants, and in one of the most embarrassing military blunders in Ordosian military history, he tried to launch a direct attack on the Great Hall itself; but unable to see through the perception filter, his army marched and camped, marched and camped for 79 days, walking in a giant circle around the Great Hall’s grounds, before finally giving up and retreating to regroup and replan the attack. Was forced off the island in 1292 when the Colorfolk cleverly faked a smallpox outbreak to scare him away.
Order of the Tornado
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1292-1296
A faction of air mages that claimed to be able to manifest tornadoes at will, fortunately the Colorfolk successfully called their bluff; all they were capable of were manifesting very strong winds capable of great damage. Towards the second half of their tenure though, they did try to work towards tornado manifestation though, and very nearly succeeded. The climactic final battle ended when the mages focusing on manifesting the tornado were struck with Vallerium rods, depriving them of their magic power and causing any build up that had taken place so far to dissipate.
Heralds of the Eternal Night
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1297-1302
A faction of Dark mages who wanted to seize control of the pool of dark magic to “Bring the Eternal Night to the world” and by extension, secure their conquest of it. In one of their more infamous moves, they tried to use mind control to get the King of Ordos to support them… it failed, however, as the King had been gifted a glevdrium ring that prevented the darkness from building up inside him, and by extension, allowing him to fall victim to mind control magic.
Nature’s Fury
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1303-1309
A faction of lightning mages, they wanted to seize control of the pool of lightning magic to do the unthinkable: create a lightning cascade so powerful the mere threat of its use would allow them to conquer any kingdom. In battle, the Colorfolk would often deploy tall metal rods ahead of time, having observed that things that were tall and/or made of metal tended to attract lightning in storms, and lightning magic, while destructive, was known for having relatively low accuracy compared to other forms of magic. Therefore, the tall metal rods often left Nature’s Fury unable to effectively attack the Colorfolk.
Coalition for the Eternal Night
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1310-1315
Composed of survivors from the Heralds of the Eternal Night and newly recruited dark mages, they sought revenge for their defeat in 1302. Although success was achieved early on when they launched a successful attack on and destroyed part of Castle Ordos, they proved unable to maintain their momentum and after 1313 failed to win any major victories against the Colorfolk.
Order of Kepris
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1316-1318
A dark magic faction led by a powerful dark mage called Kepris, the war against them was unique in that the Order of Kepris failed to win a single major victory against the Colorfolk. Generally, wars against the Colorfolk did have the occasional battle where the opponent of the Colorfolk would win, but in this case, the Order failed to gain a single win. As it turned out, by this time the Colorfolk had accumulated such a body of knowledge of dark magic after having fought so many dark magic factions, they had formulated many, many tactics for defeating them in battle thanks to having such a thorough understanding of dark magic and dark mages.
When Kepris announced that his goal was to seize the pool of dark magic, for his personal gain to become more powerful, the then-current Man In Brown famously deadpanned, “please tell me you are not here to destroy this island and use the power of one of the pools to conquer the world; we’ve heard that one so many times we could use a shake-up.” Kepris stuttered for a minute before conceding that was his plan, prompting Man In Brown to continue “it’s ALWAYS about the damn pools of magic…”
Avengers of Baradurus
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1319-1325
Baradurus returned years later, determined to take the throne for himself. Having now assembled an army of both magic casters and non-magic warriors, he was confident of victory. In the finale of his war, although he successfully made his way to the throne room, Man In White cornered him and cast fear manifestation upon him… Baradurus became a cowardly mess and was locked in the dungeons beneath the castle, where he spent the rest of his life
Coalition for the Destruction of Ordos
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1326-1330
In the climactic final years of the age of Invasions, survivors and descendants of the invading factions of the past century banded together with one goal in mind: destroy the Colorfolk and Ordos once and for all in revenge for the humiliation suffered at their hands. Fortunately for the Colorfolk, competing egos and differing ideals caused much friction within the coalition, so while the Coalition had numbers on their side, they were unable to effectively use them against the Colorfolk. When word spread of the defeat of this coalition force in 1330, evil factions from all over realized the pointlessness of trying to invade Ordos, and thus, the age of invasions finally came to a close.
1330-1340 was a celebrated time of peace; a much needed reprieve after more than a century of constant invasion.
Church of St. Arthur’s Bridge
Years Active: 1340-1351 (first “war”)
Following the British occupation of Ordos, the Church of St. Arthur’s Bridge, a sect of Christianity, was also established. Headed by a rather corrupt bishop, the church had a core of “Holy crusaders for Ordos,” borrowing a term used to describe those who went on the crusades of prior decades. They tried to cleanse the island of those deemed “unholy” … namely the monster species. Realizing how powerful Britain was and how easily reinforcements could be sent, the Colorfolk had no choice but to help evacuate the good, intelligent species from the island. Namely, all signatories of the Multi-Species charter were safely evacuated off the island. This left the evil species, and “beast intelligence” species, such as dragons, any remaining werewolves, rocs, etc. as the only remaining monster species on the island. Fortunately, the Colorfolk had one thing going for them: because magic was so deeply ingrained in the culture of the native Ordosians, the church was mostly shunned and ridiculed for their “ignorance in the face of the unknown” and as such, the congregation was less than 5 percent of the native Ordosians. The corrupt Bishop was a crafty fellow though, and in response to the lack of support, petitioned the then King of England, Edward III, for “reinforcements of troops and settlers of subjects to help rebuild this troubled island.” Edward III, a king known for his military feats, obliged, and an army of 1500 was sent to Ordos to “enforce order” as he put it. In addition, 5000 British subjects, all of Christian faith, were sent to “resettle” the land… or rather, artificially inflate the church’s congregation and increase the Bishop’s influence. The King of Ordos, who had been granted home rule in exchange for swearing loyalty to the British crown, objected to this move, but could do nothing directly lest his family be stripped of their status.
Fortunately, fate allowed the Colorfolk to cast doubt upon the church’s congregation. Alistair Erdagovern, the then-current Man In Blue, had dreams of a “terrible black cloud enveloping the continent, Great Britain, and eventually Ordos” and the Colorfolk began constructing a great wall that surrounded a good deal of the island. (NOTE: Exact numbers are unknown since less than 8% of the walls still stand today, but what is known is that enough of the island’s land was within the walls that the population within was able to sustain itself and maintain a rather healthy lifestyle during the four years it was necessary). Upon completion of the walls in 1346, Alistair spoke up, warning of the impending “Black Death” and the necessity of quarantining themselves behind the walls for Ordos to survive. The Bishop warned his congregation not to listen to the “lying devil” and as such, less than 10 percent of the settled British subjects, and none of the soldiers, resettled within the walls. The gates of the walls were closed in 1347, effectively dividing the island in two. When a trading ship from the continent arrived in 1348 and docked at the port controlled by the Church, the worst fears were realized: The ship had indeed brought this Black Death to Ordos. The Bishop tried to play it off as nothing serious, but after 40 people were infected in less than a week, the port town was quarantined and every other subject, and even the army stationed there, defected to the walls. Begging to be let in, as they realized the Colorfolk were right, they were directed to one of three entryways, and slowly let in to ensure they did not bring plague with them. Exact details are not necessary for this summary, but what is important to know is that The Colorfolk light mages determined a simple, but effective way to detect if someone was infected with the plague, and this allowed a smooth entry of people. Meanwhile, the corrupt Bishop, at least having enough of a conscience to know the seriousness of the plague, allowed absolutely no one in or out of the port town, inadvertently helping the Colormen, as he created an extra barrier between the plague and Alistair’s walls. After the defected were safely behind the walls, the Colormen, in secrecy, began infiltrating the port town, and using the same test, began helping those who wished to evacuate.
(AUTHOR’S NOTE: Skipping to end to avoid boring the reader with a “college lecture” type lesson)
When the Black Death was finally gone from Ordos and had subsided by 1351, the Colorfolk were rejoiced as heroes. Not only was the island’s death toll kept below 50, but they had managed to sustain the island during its four years of isolation. The Church, however, suddenly became reviled, as they insisted that the Colorfolk were “the villains who manufactured this crisis.” Almost no one believed them though, and in a different kind of victory for the Colormen, the corrupt Bishop lost most of his influence, his congregation became less than 60 members. The head of the British army contingent, now an ally of the Colorfolk, sent a letter to the King, informing him that a military presence was “no longer needed” on Ordos, and thus were pulled out so that they could be utilized for the ongoing Second Scottish War of Independence (AUTHOR’S NOTE: real war fought from 1332-1357). Although the walls were no longer necessary, the King of Ordos decreed that they remain standing “for the foreseeable future,” reasoning that another invasion could happen at any time since it had been over 20 years since the last one.
1351-1375 was an age of peace on Ordos; the only threats the Colorfolk dealt with were the surviving, beast-level intelligence monster species. As Christianity swept through Europe many magic factions fled to Ordos, seeking sanctuary in one of the last alcoves of Magic tolerance in the world. The unprecedented influx of mages from as far away as Far East Asia resulted in a melting pot of cultural diversity perhaps only also enjoyed by Istanbul at the time.
Ordosian Civil War
1376-1400
Following the death of the then-current King of Ordos, while tradition dictated that the eldest son normally got the throne, a crisis of succession emerged: arguing that his eldest brother was a sickly, bedridden invalid this disqualified him from the throne, and as such the second oldest brother declared that he was, therefore, the rightful King of Ordos. The eldest brother, while physically weak, was arguably the most mentally capable of the job though, so the third eldest brother insisted that the eldest be given the throne; after all, his time was limited and there was no question that, since the eldest son had no children of his own, the second eldest son would get the throne in no less than five years. But the second eldest did not want to wait, and demanded the throne. The fourth and fifth eldest sons each desired the throne for their own selfish gain; realizing that the second and third eldest each had families now, this effectively meant that both of them would never become King of Ordos. Thus, a four way civil war embroiled the island, with each brother raising an army to fight one another (The third eldest fighting on the eldest’s behalf; and then, after the eldest’s death in 1382, himself). Officially, the Colorfolk took no side in the civil war; the protection of the Citizens of Ordos was top priority and as such they saw to it that the civil war’s collateral damage remained low. Unofficially, they took the side of the third eldest, since he was the only brother who wanted the throne for the good of Ordos; the rest were on a selfish quest for power.
After the third eldest won the civil war in 1400, he found his brothers guilty of treason, and, despite Colorfolk insistence on some level of mercy, the King of Ordos ultimately decided that he had to do what was best for the island; he had his second eldest brother, and the now adult sons of his second eldest brother executed, and his younger brothers and their families were exiled from Ordos, stripped of any right they had to the throne. Although there was disagreement, the Colorfolk ultimately came to terms with how things turned out, especially after realizing that things would have been far worse had any of the other brothers come to power.
KNUCKLEHEADs
Years active: 1085-1411 (On Ordos) “at war” 1404-111
Since the Colorfolk’s founding, the KNUCKLEHEADs had a rivalry with the Colorfolk… well, a one-sided one anyway. Only the KNUCKLEHEADs saw their relationship as a “rivalry” where as the Colorfolk saw their relationship with them as “unfortunately sour.” The first Council of 12 decreed that when interacting with KNUCKLEHEADs, Colorfolk demeanor was to be “cordial; neither friendly nor hostile. No hostile action to be taken against them except as a matter of self-defense, with killing as an absolute last resort.” Indeed, while the KNUCKLEHEADs would occasionally head-butt the Colorfolk, the result was usually the same: Colorfolk would cast “sleepy time” upon the knights, and then they would walk away.
In his day, Simon Erdagovern, the 7th Man In Blue, lamented “I know not what makes these KNUCKLEHEADs tick, but whatever ideas float in their minds must be fed to them by someone with no sense of urgency in this situation. (NOTE: his tenure was during the Age of Invasions). They claim to fight for good, and for the people of Ordos, and yet spend their time quarreling with us rather than take up arms and come to the defense of Ordos? I know not where they have been for the last century or so, but while they have cowered in their base as these endless waves of evil try to take our island for themselves, we have been on the frontlines, protecting Ordos even if it means losing our lives. I have no respect for a faction that trivializes the safety of the island and its inhabitants just so it can spend its time getting in our way of our duties… even now, I still do not understand why they cannot come to terms with the fact that rivalries have no place in the performance of duties as important as the protection of Ordos.
Eventually, in 1404… for reasons unknown, the KNUCKLEHEADS became more outwardly hostile towards the Colorfolk. Maybe it was humiliation at how the Colorfolk would never acknowledge their rivalry… maybe it was frustration at how the Colorfolk were celebrated as heroes while the KNUCKLEHEADs got no acknowledgement (to be fair, they were nowhere to be found during any of the wars the Colorfolk fought, so…), while some theorize that the Church had manipulated them into taking action against the Colorfolk. Either way, the Colorfolk would have none of it, and stuck to their decreed upon protocol: only using sleepy time against the KNUCKLEHEADs. In 1411, the KNUCKLEHEADs interfered with a Colorfolk operation to protect a noble, resulting in the death of 2 Colormen. Enraged by this act, and having had enough of this bunch of KNUCKLEHEADS, the King of Ordos exiled the order; the Colorfolk did successfully urge the king in favor of exile over execution, but even this the KNUCKLEHEADS did not thank the Colorfolk for. In reflection, the Colorfolk saw the KNUCKLEHEADs “rivalry” as unfortunate, with then-current Man In Blue Howard Erdagovern noting “if only they put aside egos and learned to work with others for the betterment of this island, then maybe we would have co-existed together.”
In 1414, on the anniversary of the official end of the Age of Invasions, the unthinkable happened: some of the resettled factions on Ordos “emerged” and announced that they had been playing the Ordosians the entire time; they integrated into the island population and, when the time was right, they decided that the time had come to launch their attack. Although the Colorfolk tried to force them to stand down, using arguments from the Constantinople Accords, the other factions essentially said “screw you” and each waged their own, independent war against Ordos and the Colorfolk.
As the other factions had each endangered, injured or killed non-magic innocents at some point, the Colorfolk fortunately found themselves with an ally during this time in their history: Majika Supremus, in their first major presence on the island since coming into contact with the Colorfolk. Prior to this period of Ordosian history, after the establishment of Majika Supremus in 1250, the Paladins had actually not come to Ordos itself until 1330… although they had heard about the incredible properties of the island, they had reasoned that the combination of the relative remoteness of the island, and the constant warfare it was engaged in at the time made it too high risk to attempt an expedition. After peace came to Ordos, MS was impressed with how well the Colorfolk had things under control, and how peacefully magic and non-magic folk interacted on the island. As such, they concluded it was only necessary to leave six paladins on the island, and only for scenarios where “mages had committed acts too heinous for Ordos to handle.” The Paladins, however, were bound by the Constantinople Accords with regards to the wars the Colorfolk were in, and could not interfere when the Colorfolk went to war with a non-magic faction, and if the enemy was a magic faction, they could not interfere unless non-magic innocents were wounded or killed… which fortunately, did not happen until this period of history. 1000 paladins were dispatched to assist the Colorfolk during this period of conflict; an action which would not be repeated, as afterwards attacking factions respected the tenets of the Constantinople Accords.
The period of warfare from 1414-1435 is known as “The War of Betrayal” as the factions who attacked Ordos had, before then, been welcome members and part of Ordosian society. (NOTE: Years active here only refers to when they were on Ordos)
Hephaestus’ Flames
Years Active: 1340-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Fire mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Fire Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was the conjuring of a “rope of fire” and wielding it as a whip.
Order of Aquos
Years Active: 1338-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Water mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Water Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was conjuring water discs, and throwing them at speeds high enough to cut through solid metal or stone (fortunately, Avrenium armor and Viktrium weapons proved stronger)
Sons and Daughters of Gaia
Years Active: 1338-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Earth mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Earth Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was luring enemies into the open, then reshaping the earth beneath them, trapping them in pits filled with spikes and sharp points. Although there was some success against the Colorfolk early on, eventually Colorfolk unpredictability overcame this tactic and in a rather ironic end to the faction, they were defeated when the leadership, and most of the higher ranked mages were killed when an avalanche destroyed their castle bae after an earthquake.
Order of the Roc
Years Active: 1370-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Air mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Air Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was, no surprise, transforming into giant eagle-like birds. Fortunately, in their eagle state they could not cast other magic, and the Colorfolk eventually developed tactics around this spell.
Brotherhood of the Yeti
Years Active: 1350-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Ice mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Ice Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was conjuring a suit of ice-armor and ice-longsword and fighting enemies up-close. While effective against some kinds of mages, they proved no match for fire-dominant colorfolk.
Children of the Night
Years Active: 1332-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Dark mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Dark Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was, rather than throwing single “balls of dark energy” at their enemies, they would conjure rather sizeable “walls of dark energy,” sometimes as long as 25 ft, and send them flying at their targets. Against non-magic warriors, the tactic was rather effective at breaking through ranks. However, they underestimated two things: The Strength of Colorfolk Avrenium Armor, and the potency of the most skilled light-dominant Colorfolk
Cult of Apollo
Years Active: 1361-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Light mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Light Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was a rapid firing of many little balls of light, akin to a 21st century machine gun. They are unique in the history of the Colorfolk in that they are the only Light magic faction they ever became enemies with.
Brotherhood of Zeus
Years Active: 1343-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Lightning mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Lightning Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was manifesting tridents of lightning and wielding them as weapons against their enemies.
Order for a New Ordos
Years Active: 1408-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
On the surface, they were seemingly a non-magic faction of “revolutionaries” who sought to topple all institutions on Ordos… The King, the magic factions, etc, in order to “start the island anew” from the chaos of its legacy of war. In truth, they were a band of mercenaries funded by the Church of St. Arthur’s Bridge (thought no one outside of the Church or ONO knew this), whose plan was to dispose of the king and the Colorfolk and secure the church’s hold on the island once and for all.
It should be noted that since 1351, its congregation was slowly rebuilding, but after the exposure of the truth and defeat of ONO, once again the Church experienced a sharp decline in membership for its rather “unholy act against the word of God”.
Because they were a non-magic faction, Majika Supremus could not intervene in the Colorfolk’s actions against them
Mages United for a Better Ordos
Years Active: 1405-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A general faction of Mages, they had grown tired of all the competition and the influx of Non-native mages to Ordos (Yes, they were essentially a “Nationalist supremacist” group). As such, their goal was to seize control of the pool of non-elemental magic in order to pretty much destroy everyone on Ordos who didn’t agree with them. Fortunately, MUBO’s ideals proved unpopular in a land renowned for tolerance and acceptance, and membership only peaked at 2,000 mages. The last stand of their faction became the stuff of legend in Ordosian lore; the survivors were besieged in their base by a joint contingent of Colorfolk and Majika Supremus, as well as any other Magic Factions who had decided by that point to aid the Colorfolk against the hostile factions. Despite reducing MUBO’s numbers to about 200, they had still not secured a way into the base, and MUBO refused to surrender. Suddenly, the offensive mages began withdrawing from the area; MUBO initially thought that they had broken the spirit of their attackers with their resilience, but in reality… a meteor was heading right towards the area, and the attacking mages were withdrawing for fear of being killed. Incredibly, the meteor struck their castle, and the ensuing impact produced enough of an explosive force to not only effectively destroy much of the walls and allow the Colorfolk-led contingent into the base, but it killed almost all of the remaining MUBO mages. Of the approximately 200 MUBO mages, only 27 were found alive; 11 of which died from injuries sustained over the next 4 days. The remaining 16 mages were taken into Majika Supremus custody for violations of the Constantinople Accords.
In a first, Majika Supremus was the one to handle the judgement of the evil mages on Ordos after the conclusion of the War of Betrayal. The King of Ordos approved of this delegation of power, saying it freed him up to focus on rebuilding the war-ravaged island and handling the non-magic affairs of greater importance. The non-magic population of Ordos also had no objections; as it was they had enough to worry about with rebuilding and the prosecution of criminal mages was low on their priority list. MS subsequently took them to their Great Britain base for the trials.
1436-1470 was a period of peace, other than incidents involving fighting the surviving beast-level intelligent monsters, notably creatures like dragons and krakens.
Rubrum-Album War
Between 1471-1485, a rather unorthodox war took place. Since 1455, given Ordos’ home rule they had successfully managed to not feel the impact of the ongoing War of the Roses in Great Britain. Apart from a steady stream of 200-300 refugees per year of people trying to escape the conflict, Ordos had no involvement in the affairs of the neighboring lands. But that changed in 1471; two factions of mixed non-magic and magic warriors, the Order of the Rubrum Flames, and the Brotherhood of the Album Mountains, started fighting each other on Ordos. The Rubrum order, who supported the House of Lancaster, and the Album order, who supported the House of York, started fighting each other over their differences. Because the factions were both composed of non-magic warriors and mages, at first the Colorfolk could not directly intervene in their war due to the Constantinople Accords’ Anti-Escalation Clause. Instead, the Colorfolk found themselves acting defensively; the only actions they could take were to defend the people of Ordos and protect them from being in the crossfire. As such, between 1471-1476 the Colorfolk primarily acted as mediators, arranging a series of meetings in an attempt to bring a peaceful resolution to the conflict; but the two opposing factions simply could not come to terms. It was not until 1476 when the Colorfolk finally had grounds to take direct action- when the Rubrum faction attacked a Western Ordosian village, among the casualties of the attack were three Colormen. Likewise, an Album attack on the Northern Ordosian port resulted in the destruction of some Colorfolk ships (caught in the crossfire as the Album attacked Rubrum ships and other assets). Now having justification to take direct action, the Colorfolk were able to intervene in battles that got too close to towns and other places with non-magic innocents.
Despite Colorfolk pleas for peace, the two factions did not stop fighting until 1485, when the War of the Roses ended in Great Britain. Although they stopped fighting willingly, the King of Ordos still exiled the two factions from Ordos, on the grounds that their war had done much damage to Ordos; undoing much of the rebuilding from the War of Betrayal.
With peace finally coming to Ordos again, The Colorfolk decided that the time had come to explore more of the world beyond Ordos; their interaction with mages who came from all over the world to resettle on Ordos made them wonder if there was knowledge, artifacts, etc out there that needed to be preserved… or destroyed. It was clear that the way the world’s attitude was changing towards magic, mages would soon become an endangered species. Thus, a special contingent of Colorfolk was established with the purpose of exploring the world beyond Ordos. They had four goals:
Find and preserve magical knowledge that will benefit future generations
Find and preserve artifacts which benefit the magic world; if possible, return to rightful owners
Destroy knowledge of evil magic with no benefits to ensure its loss to time
Destroy evil artifacts which have no redemptive value.
Thankfully, 1486-1510 was a period of peace on Ordos, so the expeditions did not get in the way of Colorfolk’s primary duties of defending their home island. Given that only 20 percent of Colorfolk participated in the expeditions anyway, any controversies within the Colorfolk over taking the expeditions disappeared quite quickly.
In 1511, an earthquake broke out on Ordos. However, it was rather unusual… most earthquakes had their point of origin off the coast, since Ordos had no faultlines on it. But this earthquake seemed to originate from the island itself. Man In Red lead a scouting party to what seemed to be the epicenter. What they found shocked them: a massive fissure had opened in the island; 8oo meters long and 1oo meters wide at the widest parts, approaching the fissure, Man In Red described a feeling “akin to the worst dread and fear I had ever felt; far worse than any other dread I had ever felt in all my years.” The Man In Red in question, Pierce Adelrod, was a seasoned Colorman; 31 years experience, and having extensively studied the rocks and geology of Ordos, for him to feel quite uncomfortable around something like a fissure was considered a big deal to his fellow Council of 12 members. Although the ground surrounding the fissure was composed of normal, if not shifted stone, within the fissure itself Man In Red could not make heads or tails of what he saw. “The darkest stones of colors I have seen before were observed in the fissure, and yet the combination I observed made me feel most uncomfortable. The darkest shades of black and crimson, I felt as though I was looking at the very outskirts of hell itself.” Turns out Man In Red wasn’t too far wrong. Over the next six days they began observing and researching the fissure and its effects. One thing that gave Man In Red chills was how now matter how much Corfdium wire he used, he was unable to illuminate the depths of the fissure. Even more disturbing, all plant life and even non-human animal life seemed to die when coming within 50 meters of the fissure. Just after dusk on the 6th day of the fissure’s appearance, the unthinkable happened: humanoid creatures emerged from the crack. It was truly shocking a sight to behold; but then, the one who was their leader emerged. 20 meters tall, humanoid, but with horns, jagged teeth, cloven feet and skin “red as blood itself” he made his presence known: addressing himself as the “King of the Demons,” he revealed that these creatures were indeed demonkind. While there had been isolated cases of these hell-demons coming to Earth before, this was the first time such a large-scale invasion had taken place. The King of Demons declared that his intention was to unleash hell itself and conquer the world, using Ordos as a staging point. The hell-demons then proceeded to unleash their fury. Only two places seemed to be safe from the demons: The Great Hall and grounds, due to its perception filter, and the Church of St. Arthur’s Bridge, and other houses of worship, due to the demons aversion to anything holy.
This lead to:
Demon War
1511-1520
Although outnumbered at times, the Colorfolk had critical knowledge going into this war: namely, demonkinds’ near fatal aversion to light magic… or fatal, depending on the strength of the spell. Eventually, the Colorfolk learned other information about demons. When the spirit-type Colormen tried to attack the demons, they found that their spells had no effect on them. After half a dozen demons turn-coated in 1514 they finally had an answer: while demons do have souls when they are born, it was revealed that as infants demons are made to undergo a ritual where they sacrifice their souls in exchange for great power and exponentially longer lifespans. This confirmed Man In Silver’s hunch- when individual demons die, they cease to exist; finally explaining why the spirit type Colormen could not sense deceased demon spirits after battles. “When the body dies and doesn’t have a soul within, the mind has nothing to bind to and ceases to be… this is the cost of immortality” Man In Silver lamented.
In 1520, the Colorfolk figured out how to close the fissure, and after closing it, defeated the remaining demons and their King in a series of climactic battles. Famously, as the King of the Demons lay dying, the normally arrogant, proud demon showed great fear at his fate… for he knew that upon death, “there was nothing for him on the other side.”
Although the Colorfolk had won a great victory, St. Arthur’s church was able to reclaim some influence, claiming that the Colorfolk had won because they had “The Lord’s blessing to defeat the demons”. The cunning Bishop’s plan was to slowly overtime, use this as a pivot to eventually turn the Ordosians against the Colorfolk.
1521-1540 was yet another period of peace, with some Colorfolk even continuing the expeditions from before. But then, everything changed on September 14, 1540:
Ordosian Anarchy
1540-1580
The King of Ordos died. Normally this was just another case of a monarch dying, but this situation was much more dire: this King of Ordos was the only child of the previous king, who himself was also an only child following the death of his only sibling, who also had no children. Furthermore, this king had not yet married or had children, meaning there was no apparent heir to the throne. The island was thrown into chaos; the general population went into mass panic as they didn’t know what to do. Within the first month after the king’s death, there were already 4 contenders who claimed the throne, even going so far as to produce proof of their royal blood. They subsequently each raised an army and began fighting each other over the right to rule. While these four were the “primary contenders” for the throne, during this 40 year period there were a total of 30 people who claimed the throne. The anarchy ended in 1580, when Great Britain sent troops to intervene and end the ongoing Civil War. A member of the British nobility subsequently made an appearance on Ordos; by Royal Proclamation, since the Ordosian Royal Family had died out, it had been decided that Ordos’ home rule was to be lifted, and from that point on, England would appoint a ruler to the island. Although the Colorfolk had succeeded in protecting the general population from mindless slaughter, Ordos would never be the same: because the claimants to the throne had recruited almost all the mages to their respective causes, the Colorfolk were the only remaining major Magic faction on Ordos. The newly appointed Lord of Ordos also expressed indifference towards the Colorfolk; preferring “traditional” armies over a nearly 500 year old order of mages. “I highly doubt that we have to worry about invading mages anymore; there’s no more mages in Great Britain or on the continent after all” The Lord of Ordos said of the situation. This sent shivers down the Colorfolk’s spines; was Ordos truly the last hold-out of mages in the world?
1580-1600 was a time of relative peace; although the Colorfolk no longer had “friends in high places” they were still welcome among the Ordosians. Realizing the situation outside Ordos, the Colorfolk dedicated themselves to preserving magic knowledge: as many magic factions were wiped out during the Ordosian Anarchy, the Colorfolk dedicated themselves to preserving what knowledge they could. Though they hated the thought of taking scrolls and texts from abandoned castles and bases, they accepted that it was necessary for the greater good.
In 1601, St. Arthur’s Church finally worked up enough public support to “cleanse the island of witchcraft” and as such, what transpired next is what the Colorfolk refer to as “The Decline of Ordos.” Magic had been so ingrained into the culture of Ordos for over a millennium, and now these British outsiders were about to strip it away from them? The Colorfolk realized they had no choice, and that very year, they switched to a more clandestine approach to their operations.
It was a time of frustration though; what few remaining non-colorfolk mages on Ordos couldn’t just be sent elsewhere; there was nowhere to go for mages by this time; the last haven was now compromised. Digging through their archives, the Colorfolk found an answer: the land that the monster species had been evacuated to centuries prior. It was a long shot, but also the only chance they had. 1601-16o4 is marked by a period of “rescues” as the Colorfolk helped all surviving non-Colorfolk mages evacuate Ordos, and sail them for this land known as “Elbaf.” The Colorfolk realized they were the last faction standing in 1605… and while many Ordosians still supported them, it was clear that anti-magic sentiment was growing. It came to a head with:
Holy War on Magic
1605-1620
The Church began funding a supposed “crusade” to “find the vile Colorfolk and purge them from the land.” Though in reality- the Bishop wanted to rid himself of what he saw as the one force that actually posed a threat to his influence. Being so far detached from the rest of British clergy there was no one to stand in his way, since he technically was doing things he shouldn’t have been. Unlike past war and battles, fought on large scales and lasting several hours, these battles were much smaller in scale, and marked by Colorfolk hesitance to use lethal spells since there was ambiguity on if some of their opponents were truly evil, or good but deceived.
During this period, paladins from Majika Supremus returned to Ordos (NOTE: After the War of Betrayal, MS had pulled out the paladins stationed on Ordos, due to an “ongoing crisis” on the continent requiring “all hands on deck”) for the first time in decades; their presence was a welcome sight, as it dispelled the belief that the Colorfolk were the last mages. They revealed the purpose of their mission: the surviving mages of Great Britain and the rest of the known world had “gone underground” and they had come to Ordos to see how “the last holdout” of peaceful magic/non-magic relations was doing. Their faces noticeably fell when informed of what had transpired over the last several decades. Understanding the situation, Ordos was “left in [the Colorfolk’s] hands,” and the Paladins left Ordos for the last time.
This war ended in 1620 with the death of the Corrupt bishop. When the new bishop was appointed, he was horrified at what his church had become, and immediately ended the war. Although he did not fully embrace the Colorfolk, he did advocate for “peaceful coexistence” on the grounds that “enough blood has been spilled on this island; any more fighting would go against the word of God.”
Unfortunately, the Colorfolk’s reprieve only lasted until 1622, when…
The Great Invasion
1622-1640
A composite faction of many surviving mages from across the world, they rather predictably wanted to seize control of Ordos’ magic pools. But their reasoning was marginally sympathetic: with magic dying out, these mages realized the only way to earn their place in the world was to fight for it. Therefore, they reasoned they could use the enormous power of the Ordosian magic pools to “overthrow every last monarch in the world and replace it with an order where mages can freely live in peace.” Although somewhat sympathetic on the surface, below they had a much, much uglier face: they essentially embodied “might makes right,” and were “magic supremacists” (i.e. believed non-magic folk were either too weak to let live, or should be subservient to mages), even willing to go so far as to ignore the Founder’s Law if it meant achieving their goals. As it was the last major war The Colorfolk would fight, many consider this “the last hurrah” of the Golden age of Ordos, and the first era of the Colormen.
The Colorfolk tried contacting Majika Supremus about this invasion, but in a shocking twist, MS informed them that due to “ongoing crises in Eastern Europe” they would be unable to intervene, meaning the Colorfolk stood alone against this coalition force.
They were celebrated as heroes one last time, even impressing the Lord of Ordos for their bravery. But this was not to last.
Despite the peace that existed, the Good Bishop died in 1654, and his successor’s mindset was just like the corrupt bishops that came before, ultimately leading to:
The Great Disappearance
1657
Context: In early 1657, the bishop realized that a good amount of Ordosians still supported the Colorfolk. So, in the ultimate (albeit hypocritical) power move, he acquired a new staff through reasons not fully understood. It enabled the bishop to to [secretly] employ the use of dark magic, using mind control on the population of Ordos to bend the people to his will.
Realizing that the cycle of war and endangering of the Ordosians had to be stopped, the Colorfolk came up with a dangerous plan: they would use a very powerful magic blast to not just free the people from their mind control, but destroy the Bishop’s staff and the nine pools of magic on Ordos, rendering the island pointless for future mage conquest, but saving the Ordosians from future strife. But there was only one way to release such a powerful blast: by shattering the prism to unleash the enormous power within in one blast, they would be able to accomplish such a task. Surprisingly, it was the spirit itself who proposed this plan, reasoning that “with the world the way it is… it is probably for the best.”
When the prism was shattered it did accomplish its goal; the magic pools were destroyed as well as the Bishop’s staff and the people were freed. But it came at a cost: many Colorfolk became ambivalent towards their duty, and simply left the faction, while a small handful briefly went on a killing spree out of revenge… but thankfully stopped soon after, realizing that killing innocents “was gaining them absolutely nothing” so they instead went “underground” in favor of pursuing more practical goals.
(NOTE: Draft phase; transplanted from (redacted) to allow easier discussion)
As the sworn protectors of Ordos from 1095-1657, naturally the Colorfolk encountered many evil factions over the years. Almost no factions existed as long as the Colorfolk though; often “coming and going” with the ages. For the most “authentic” campaign possible, here is a handy timeline-list of the enemies the Colorfolk fought over the years:
Sons of the Blood Oath:
Years active: 1092-1101 (enemies of Colormen from 1096-1101)
A general faction of mages, they were the first “true” enemies of the Colormen. Initially founded by brothers Gilmar and Astron as the Ordosian Magic Brotherhood, Gilmar’s “heart turned black” and for reasons that you will discover in campaign, he betrayed his brother, killing Astron and reorganizing the faction as the Sons of the Blood Oath. All members swore a “blood oath” of loyalty to Gilmar, hence the name. Now hungry for power, Gilmar amassed his army with one goal in mind: topple the King of Ordos and assume power for himself. Ultimately defeated by the Colormen, the King of Ordos had him executed for treason in 1102.
Warriors of Odin
Years active: 1103-1109; 1113
A viking faction, they were the descendants of the last “historical” vikings from just a few decades prior. They were never truly based on Ordos; rather, the Colorfolk found themselves repeatedly holding off invasions from landing parties. Their deeper motives were never truly discovered, their leaders simply declaring before every raid that they would “pillage and destroy” before beginning their battle charge. Attempts to reason with them failed, even flat out giving generous gifts of supplies did not deter their attempts at invasion, and battle still resulted; further confusing the Colormen as to the determination of what the motives of the Warriors of Odin were.
Order of Masteri
Years active: 1109 on Ordos (existed for centuries prior on the mainland)
The Masteri War was considered the first major war the Colorfolk fought (prior faction warfare had been a serious of isolated skirmishes, rather than all-out war). The inventors and master of golem magic, they believed their automatons could destroy everything in their path. Ultimately, their Masteri Arrogance was their undoing; the combination of refusing to acknowledge their flaws and failures and refusing to see the Colorfolk as the threat that they were was no match the unpredictability and adaptations the Colorfolk took to fight them. The Masteri were wiped out with minimal Colormen losses.
Brotherhood of Daraimus
Years active: 1078-1114 (enemies of the Colorfolk 1110-1114)
At first a simple organization of Earth mages, when the Earth Mage Obsidius took charge he was no longer content with simply “moving stones and digging ditches” and decided that he would take earth magic “as far as humanly possible.” The result was horrifying: by 1110 he had perfected earth magic that allowed him to create powerful earthquakes that were capable of ravaging all of Ordos. Now believing himself to be the son of Gaia herself (Greek Goddess of Earth), he developed what would be considered a God Complex and declared war on the Colorfolk, seeing them as “unworthy of living on the same land as him.”
After his defeat, the Colorfolk seized his factions library in order to “quarantine” the knowledge inside. Rumor is the colorfolk adapted some of his magic to create a much smaller scale, contained earthquake appropriate for battle situations. It is generally agreed that large scale earthquake magic is considered the first magical “weapon of mass destruction”
Children of Terra
Years active: 1090-1125 (enemies of the Colorfolk 1123-1125)
Earth mages that specialized in plant magic, the Children of Terra were initially simple farmers, growing produce and “part of the community” like other factions on the island. However, a simple Colorfolk visit to their home one day (i.e. a “friendly neighbor” type visit) uncovered a horrifying truth: they were working on perfecting a “complete plant death” type magic bomb that would kill all plants on Ordos, and by extension the animals and humans, unless they were granted complete control of the farming economy of Ordos. The people refused and begged the Colorfolk to come to their aid. Negotiations for a peaceful resolution failed, and the Children of Terra became the Warriors of Terra, declaring war on Ordos’ sworn protectors. Ironically, plant magic proved to be their undoing, as their focus on Earth magic meant none of their membership spent time honing their light magic affinity, if possessed. As such, they had no proper healing mages, and they were, overtime, unable to sustain a sufficient number of capable fighters. Following their defeat, the King of Ordos had the leaders executed, and surviving members forced to wear Vallerium “bracelets” around their arms for the rest of their lives.
Baron Joseph D’Levin
Years alive: 1100-1170 (First war against the Colorfolk: 1129-1134)
In the years prior to inheriting the Barony from his father, a young Joseph D’Levin was deceived by a shapshifting sea serpent. The young Baron-to-be used his men to try and make the Colorfolk’s lives hell. Fortunately, he was never able to find and attack the Great Hall thanks to its perception filter, though he did find other ways to attack the sworn protectors. Not even threats from the king of stripping the family of their barony kept him from his “mission.” In the end, his first war only ended because his father threatened to give the barony to Joseph’s younger brother if he did not cease his fight. He accepted defeat, and decided that he would wait until the time was right before he struck again.
(1134-1153 was a peaceful time, with no major enemy factions emerging; the colorfolk primarily dealt with the predatory vampires during this time)
Order of the Gatebreakers:
Years active: 973-1155 (enemies of the Colorfolk 1153-1155)
One of two Necromatic factions on Ordos, the Order of the Gatebreakers, on the surface, appeared to be a faction of secluded, peaceful mages who simply sought spiritual enlightenment. The truth was far more sinister: at night they would steal bodies from graveyards, and reanimate them to be “puppets” for their own bidding. They had no remorse for their actions, and indeed “laughed at the grief of their victims over the bodies of loved ones going missing.” None of this was made public, of course, until the Colorfolk exposed them in 1102, catching them in the act of grave desecration. Vowing revenge, they planned to go to war against the Colorfolk, but due to a combination of the Colorfolk now guarding graveyards, public scorn against them hampering recruitment, and the development of glevdrium, it wasn’t until 1153 when, after teaming up with Contritum Exolvuntur, that they finally declared war against the Colorfolk; using the King of Ordos’ decree of banning necromancy as an excuse to take action. Despite a hard fight, the faction was overwhelmed and upon defeat- seeing “the vulgarity of their knowledge,” the Colorfolk burned their library to ensure the “permanent death of necromancy on Ordos.” So thorough was their defeat, almost no written literature after 1155 mentions either faction.
Contritum Exolvuntur
Years active: 1007-1155 (enemies of the Colorfolk 1153-1155)
The other Necromatic faction on Ordos, their name is Latin for “broken cycle.” Initially founded as a faction of mages seeking the elixir of life so as to break the cycle of life and death, over time the faction became a corrupted, twisted version of itself. By the time Necromancy had been banned on Ordos, Contritum Exolvuntur was now a faction of Necromancers who “rose the dead to break the cycle” but really they were more or less amassing an army of reanimated corpses. The Colorfolk’s development of Glevdrium and the banning of Necromancy caused them to ally with the Gatebreakers, and the subsequent “War of the Dead” became a dark time in the history of Ordos. Like the gatebreakers, after the faction’s defeat their library was burned to ensure the permanent loss of their knowledge. After word of their actions spread throughout the magic world, the practice of necromancy had been tarnished, and this war became the catalyst for the Necromatic decline of the late 12th and early 13th century.
Baron Joseph D’Levin
Second war against the Colormen: 1158-1163
Deciding that the time was right, D’Levin reemerged and went to war with the Colorfolk yet again. Though wiser in some ways with age, at the same time he was no longer a young man, and relied on his men to carry out his attacks on the Colorfolk. Frustrated at being unable to find their base, the climax of the war involved his army starting a forest fire in the area he the the Great Hall roughly was in. The Colorfolk fought the fire frantically, and managed to save the Great Hall. One last fight took place in the fields of Northern Ordos. Though the battle was ultimately inconclusive, it was the King of Ordos who ended the war. Enraged at D’Levin’s actions, the king stripped him and his bloodline of status and land, in lieu of execution. His children effectively disowned him for costing them their noble status, and left him to his own accord. A disgraced man, he lived the last years of his life in a room of an Inn in Western Ordos; it was the only place he could afford with what he had left.
1164-1184 was a period of peace on the island, with most evil activity being “small scale”
Ogre Campaign
1184-1280 (Technically the ogres had always been hostile against the Colorfolk)
After many centuries of feasting on children as one of their primary sustenance, the Colorfolk decided that more needed to be done to finally stop the ogre threat. The colorfolk united a coalition force of humans, elves, dwarves, orcs and centaurs to enact some of the measures outlined in the Multi-species charter to accomplish one goal: put an end to the ogre threat once and for all. Attempts to find intelligent ogres that could be reasoned with ended in failure, and by 1280 the Ordosian ogres were wiped out. One of the inadvertent side effects of this war was that the Mountain Orc tribes, now that one of their primary competitors was harassing them less often, experienced something of a population boom over the next decade or so.
Orc War
1202-1215 (2 tribes remained allied with the Multi-species charter and eventually were evacuated from the island. Remaining 4 tribes declared war and effectively wiped out)
Though initially allied with humans, and some of the tribes worked with the Colorofolk from time to time, especially against the ogres, the rise of fiercely anti-human tribe chiefs lead to war against the humans; with the Colorfolk as the primary line of defense. Unlike other wars, the Colorfolk remember this one solemnly; their duties as sworn defenders was performed, but often they wonder if another outcome could have been achieved.
(NOTE: FROM 1216-1330, this era is known as the “age of invasions” due to the numerous outsiders that tired to come in and take the power of the magic pools for themselves)
The Harbingers of Hades
Years active: Invaded Ordos between 1216-1223
A faction focused around dark magic, they invaded Ordos for the simple purpose of harnessing the pool of Dark magic for their own gain. While dark magic wasn’t inherently evil, they took sadistic glee in attacking towns and bringing destruction wherever they went; their actions only further soured Dark magic’s reputation.
Servants of Altura
Years active: Invaded Ordos between 1218-1227
A general faction with no elemental focus, the Servants of Altura worshiped a pagan God of a forgotten religion. They sought to control the pools of magic, believing that the combined power of the pools would “Resurrect Altura to full glory.” When the King of Ordos warned them that the pools of magic belonged to all Ordosians, and that attempting to seize them for their own gain would be a declaration of war against Ordos, the Servants retaliated by massacring the town of Heprya. Ashamed at failing to protect the citizens of his hometown, the then-current Man In Orange personally took charge of operations against the Servants.
Order of Hasteroth
Years active: Invaded Ordos 1220-1224
A dark magic faction, they too invaded Ordos with the purpose of taking control of the dark pool of magic. Their end goal was to wipe out all life on Ordos afterwards so they could rebuild and control Ordos in their image. To demonstrate their power, from November 2 - December 5, 1222 they manipulated the Darkness in such a way that a “dome of darkness” covered the island, casting in an eternal night that was not ended until the Colorfolk assaulted their stronghold on the island and destroying the arrangement in place to end the eternal night (NOTE: The colorfolk intentionally did not record the specifics of the casting to ensure that no other faction would ever replicate it)
Order of Semprinus
Years active: Invaded Ordos 1220-1227
Another Dark magic faction, their goal was to take control of the pool of dark magic in order to summon Semprinus, a pagan God of destruction and chaos that they believed would “lead them into a new world”. Naturally, they did not win many Ordosians over, and the Colorfolk found themselves forced to have a regular patrol stationed at the pool of dark magic to protect it from seizure.
Brotherhood of Liberation
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1220-1225
Yet another dark magic faction, they actually did not desire conquest of the island for the sake of power. Rather, they felt that Ordos’ magic pools represented a threat to the magic world at large, and as such sought to “Liberate” the world from what they felt was the threat Ordos posed. Unfortunately, their idea of “liberation” was massacring all the inhabitants of the island, reasoning that if Ordos was rendered devoid of intelligent life, then there would be no one to take advantage of Ordos’ full magic potential.
During the period of 1220-1223, the contemporaneous invasions of The Harbingers of Hades, the Order of Hasteroth, the Order of Semprinus and the Brotherhood of Liberation were considered the biggest contributors to the miring of Dark magic’s reputation on Ordos; as such the Colorfolk had to openly pledge that their use of Dark magic was “for the defense of Ordos only” in order to ease the fears of the populace.
The Yadrivis Coalition
Years active: Invaded Ordos 1227-1230
Terrance Yadrivis was the brother of a prominent member of the Order of Hasteroth. While he did not agree with his brother in terms of his beliefs, as he was still on good terms with him and he felt a familial obligation to avenge his brother. The first non-magic invaders since the Warriors of Odin, they stubbornly refused diplomatic offers; Yadrivis declaring “cowards talk with words, warriors talk with blades”. Not even the impenetrable lines of the Iron Giants dissuaded Yadrivis from his mission. In the end, it was his own soldiers responsible for his death: by 1230, a staggering 90 percent of his army was dead and the survivors realized the futility of their conquest. They turned on Yadrivis, and as the story goes, he was wrapped in iron chains, taken out to sea on one of his own boats, and thrown overboard. As for Yadrivis’ army; it was said that he landed with “50 ships, 200 men each” for his invading army… Yadrivis was such a stubborn leader and willing to sacrifice so many of his men, only six ships of the original fleet left Ordos by 1230. The rest were salvaged by the Ordosians.
Cult of Janus
Years active: Invaded Ordos 1231-1235
Initially landing as peaceful visitors, they claimed themselves to be “the last descendants of the Romans” and came to Ordos after hearing of its commitment to the freedom and equality of everyone. Claiming they wanted the freedom to worship their God without persecution, they were welcomed that first night and the King celebrated their arrival with a feast. After they were all welcomed, and spread throughout the island, they revealed their true nature: they began attacking everyone in sight, claiming they were going to take the island for their own now.
It took several weeks for the colorfolk to restore some semblance of Order to the island; a few boats containing the survivors of the cult did leave, but came back some time later with an even larger invading force. They initially tried the same trick again; saying the first wave was a “defected branch; misguided and severed from us.” Unfortunately for them, the Colorfolk saw through their deception, and ordered them to leave. Days later, they landed on the other side of the island and proceeded to attack the villages. A faction of mixed magic and non-magic users, they eventually were able to claim one of the many abandoned faction bases as their own. In a final, climactic showdown the few survivors of the faction, after their base had fallen, fled into the woods, and started a forest fire to prevent the Colorfolk from following them. In a cruel irony, the winds changed and the survivors burned alive in the fire they started. Quick thinking from Colorfolk water, ice and earth mages prevented the fire from going out of control.
The Eternal Infernals
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1236-1239
A faction of fire mages, their goal was to seize control of the pool of fire magic in order to burn all of Ordos down to the ground. Their reasoning? They saw humanity as a “failure” and believed that by erasing mankind’s physical legacy the world could be reborn anew. Unfortunately in their grand delusion they were causing far more damage to the island as a whole than just the parts “scarred” by humans. Their base was established along the western coast, and in a rather poetic justice, their end came about by water: the great storm of 1239 caused a storm surge that wiped out their base and encampment; the few survivors of the faction tried to take advantage of the storm-ravaged island, but were stopped before they could have a major impact on storm recovery.
Heralds of Poseidon
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1240-1244
A faction of Water mages (sometimes rumored to be behind the great storm of 1239, but this claim is highly doubted), they sought to “sink Ordos beneath the waves,” believing that doing so would allow the sea God to return to the earthly plain. They also had no regard for human life and would kill anyone who got in the way of their goals, making them arguably among the most psychotic of the Colorfolk’s enemies.
Sons of Icaraus
Years active: Invaded Ordos 1242-1247
A faction of air mages who had refined a sort of magic that enabled flying and casting of other elements (context: prior to this, if an air mage was casting an air spell to fly, he could not cast other spells at the same time). Wanting to horde the pool of air magic to themselves, they attacked Ordos by “taking to the skies and raining fire, ice and rock upon the populace”.
Not even the Colorfolk could fly and cast fire spells at the same time, giving the Sons of Icarus a dangerous edge. But, Man In White being the genius tactician he was, eventually figured out ways to effectively get an edge over them. When their leadership was arrested by the king following the end of the last battle, the King of Ordos set an example by famously ordering the arms of their leaders cut off; “clipping their wings” as he described it. The Colorfolk personally felt that this may have been a bit cruel, but conceded the poetic justice was undeniable.
Thor’s Disciples
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1247-1250
A faction of lightning mages, their goal was to seize control of the pool of lightning magic, believing its power could be enough to summon the Norse God of Thunder. However, their belief was that they could control him, and use him and his mighty hammer to take over Ordos, the continent, and then the world. After their defeat, the then-current Man In Blue Conroy Erdagovern lamented the ridiculousness of the invasions, observing “why is it these outsiders believe that by destroying our island or by seizing control of the magic pools, they can summon some pagan God or conquer the world in their name? I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work that way…”
Servants of Death
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1250-1260
A combined faction of both mages and non-magic warriors, they had ravaged several towns on the Mainland and Great Britain, and set their sights on Ordos. They saw the Colorfolk as the single greatest threat to their ultimate goal of “cleansing the Earth so it may be born anew” and declared war on them. Many of their mounted warriors wore black shrouds and wielded a modified scythe that was larger and combat practical; inspiring great fear into the populace since it made them resemble grim reapers.
Mars’ Soldiers of War
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1250-1260
A non-magic faction, they invaded Ordos for the sole purpose of challenging the Colorfolk to battle. For little reason other than to “prove superiority.” The Colorfolk showed no interest in pointless combat and requested that they leave. The faction refused, and attacked a Southern Ordosian town to prove they were serious. Diplomacy fell flat, as they often attacked them before the diplomats could even get a world in. Their “might makes right” philosophy made them impossible to reason with.
Summoners of Pestilence
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1250-1260
A non-magic faction, their preferred method of attack was the use of small catapults to launch the carcasses of dead animals and people into towns of people, or even at enemy troops in battle, in order to spread disease and make their job of conquering the island easier. Although Colorfolk fire mages could easily burn such bodies before too much harm could be caused, during the decade Colorfolk researchers dedicated assorted side projects to sanitation and the like, believing that it was the key to defeating this faction.
Harbingers of Famine
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1250-1260
In a throwback to the days of the Children of Terra, the Harbingers of Famine were a magic faction that had perfected throwable “bombs” of a sort that, when detonated, killed all plants and animals within a 10 foot radius. For reasons unknown the bombs failed to outright kill humans, instead leaving them in “a state of great weakness” that made it difficult for the victim to fight back. While a general faction of mages, their reliance on these bombs was their signature move.
The decade from 1250-1260 is remembered as the “Apocalypse years” of Ordos due to the… rather coincidental nature of the invading factions. Luckily, the four factions fought with themselves just as much as the Colorfolk, alleviating some of the burden of fighting these invaders.
Brotherhood of the Glacier
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1260-1264
A faction of Ice Mages from an unknown part of Scandinavia, they invaded Ordos to topple the Colorfolk; reasoning that once they were out of the way no one could stop them from seizing control of the pool of ice magic on Ordos. Then they would use their great power to “end summer and freeze the world over.” The Brotherhood was shocked with how disastrously their first three battles ended as they had lost nearly half their forces in such a small amount of time. As they retreated from the third battle, one of the Glacier’s top mages cried out “How are you beating us back so effectively?!” To which the then-current Man In Red declared “We just spent a decade holding off the literal incarnations of death, war, famine and pestilence… do you honestly think a faction of ice mages scares us?” The Brotherhood subsequently held off attacks for three months before resuming their invasion of Ordos. The faction met an ironic end when, during a terrible winter, so much snow fell around their base, they were trapped within, and died of hunger and hypothermia.
Brotherhood of the Volcano
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1264-1269
Fire mages who drew their power from pools of fire magic that resided near volcanoes, they invaded Ordos, believing that beneath the island was a supervolcano and, when made to erupt, would “convert all the pools to fire magic and make the faction an unstoppable force in war.” Though they were completely wrong, as Ordos does not sit upon a volcano, that did not stop them from destroying Ordosian villages attempting to find a “crack in the top” from which they could cause the volcano to erupt. The brotherhood met its end rather anticlimactically; their leader attempted a sort of summoning ritual where he believed he could summon a “spirit of great strength in fire magic” and become unstoppable. He succeeded in summoning the spirit, but in a dramatic irony, his body spontaneously combusted when he tried to bond with the spirit; several minutes of intense heat and horrible, horrible cries of pain later, his surviving followers were horrified at the sight before them; a charred skeleton that somehow stood upright for a brief moment, then fell to the ground. They subsequently left Ordos and never returned.
The Rock Warriors
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1270-1278
Earth mages who specifically focused on the use of rocks, they wanted to seize control of the pool of Earth Magic, believing its power could give them the strength to cast spells that would “Shake the earth to its core”. Fearing another faction would try and develop earthquake magic, the Colorfolk regularly had a minimum of 50 mages guarding the pool at any given moment.
Order of Neptune
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1279-1286
Water mages who believed themselves the living descendants of Neptune himself, they believed that they therefore had a “Natural right” to control all pools of water magic. The King of Ordos ordered them to leave, but in response he was killed by the Order. Determined to avenge the fallen king, the Colorfolk did a rather brilliant move for the time: they kept forcing the faction to move from one place to another, until they were holed up in a faction base in one of the drier, more arid parts of Ordos. The logic was simple: Water mages, spell for spell, do not have to expend as much magic as other mages when a ready supply of water is present, they can just use magic to manipulate the water itself. But when water mages have to generate their own water from magic, it consumes more magic, and therefore is not as efficient a use of magic compared to manipulating existing water. By cornering and sieging them in a dry climate, they had to use up more magic to cast the spells they needed to. Their leaders stubbornly refused to surrender, causing the faction to be holed up in this base for months. At last, those at the bottom of the ladder had enough, and in a dramatic betrayal, the commanding mages of the faction were killed by their own troops. They subsequently surrendered and the survivors were forced to leave the island.
Coalition of Baradurus
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1284-1292
Another non-magic group, the Coalition was an army lead by a man known as Baradurus. Claiming that his Great-Great-grandfather was cheated out of the throne, he declared that he was the true King of Ordos; which the then-current king strongly denied, pointing out that per rules of succession, he did not have any legitimate claim to the throne while there were so many others before him. Enraged, he tried to kill the King, but Colorfolk intervention saved his life. Realizing that he needed to prove himself the true king, he vowed to destroy the Colorfolk, reasoning that if he destroyed Ordos’ sworn protectors he would scare the island’s population into submission. Like others before him though, he proved unable to overcome the Iron Giants, and in one of the most embarrassing military blunders in Ordosian military history, he tried to launch a direct attack on the Great Hall itself; but unable to see through the perception filter, his army marched and camped, marched and camped for 79 days, walking in a giant circle around the Great Hall’s grounds, before finally giving up and retreating to regroup and replan the attack. Was forced off the island in 1292 when the Colorfolk cleverly faked a smallpox outbreak to scare him away.
Order of the Tornado
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1292-1296
A faction of air mages that claimed to be able to manifest tornadoes at will, fortunately the Colorfolk successfully called their bluff; all they were capable of were manifesting very strong winds capable of great damage. Towards the second half of their tenure though, they did try to work towards tornado manifestation though, and very nearly succeeded. The climactic final battle ended when the mages focusing on manifesting the tornado were struck with Vallerium rods, depriving them of their magic power and causing any build up that had taken place so far to dissipate.
Heralds of the Eternal Night
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1297-1302
A faction of Dark mages who wanted to seize control of the pool of dark magic to “Bring the Eternal Night to the world” and by extension, secure their conquest of it. In one of their more infamous moves, they tried to use mind control to get the King of Ordos to support them… it failed, however, as the King had been gifted a glevdrium ring that prevented the darkness from building up inside him, and by extension, allowing him to fall victim to mind control magic.
Nature’s Fury
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1303-1309
A faction of lightning mages, they wanted to seize control of the pool of lightning magic to do the unthinkable: create a lightning cascade so powerful the mere threat of its use would allow them to conquer any kingdom. In battle, the Colorfolk would often deploy tall metal rods ahead of time, having observed that things that were tall and/or made of metal tended to attract lightning in storms, and lightning magic, while destructive, was known for having relatively low accuracy compared to other forms of magic. Therefore, the tall metal rods often left Nature’s Fury unable to effectively attack the Colorfolk.
Coalition for the Eternal Night
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1310-1315
Composed of survivors from the Heralds of the Eternal Night and newly recruited dark mages, they sought revenge for their defeat in 1302. Although success was achieved early on when they launched a successful attack on and destroyed part of Castle Ordos, they proved unable to maintain their momentum and after 1313 failed to win any major victories against the Colorfolk.
Order of Kepris
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1316-1318
A dark magic faction led by a powerful dark mage called Kepris, the war against them was unique in that the Order of Kepris failed to win a single major victory against the Colorfolk. Generally, wars against the Colorfolk did have the occasional battle where the opponent of the Colorfolk would win, but in this case, the Order failed to gain a single win. As it turned out, by this time the Colorfolk had accumulated such a body of knowledge of dark magic after having fought so many dark magic factions, they had formulated many, many tactics for defeating them in battle thanks to having such a thorough understanding of dark magic and dark mages.
When Kepris announced that his goal was to seize the pool of dark magic, for his personal gain to become more powerful, the then-current Man In Brown famously deadpanned, “please tell me you are not here to destroy this island and use the power of one of the pools to conquer the world; we’ve heard that one so many times we could use a shake-up.” Kepris stuttered for a minute before conceding that was his plan, prompting Man In Brown to continue “it’s ALWAYS about the damn pools of magic…”
Avengers of Baradurus
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1319-1325
Baradurus returned years later, determined to take the throne for himself. Having now assembled an army of both magic casters and non-magic warriors, he was confident of victory. In the finale of his war, although he successfully made his way to the throne room, Man In White cornered him and cast fear manifestation upon him… Baradurus became a cowardly mess and was locked in the dungeons beneath the castle, where he spent the rest of his life
Coalition for the Destruction of Ordos
Years Active: Invaded Ordos 1326-1330
In the climactic final years of the age of Invasions, survivors and descendants of the invading factions of the past century banded together with one goal in mind: destroy the Colorfolk and Ordos once and for all in revenge for the humiliation suffered at their hands. Fortunately for the Colorfolk, competing egos and differing ideals caused much friction within the coalition, so while the Coalition had numbers on their side, they were unable to effectively use them against the Colorfolk. When word spread of the defeat of this coalition force in 1330, evil factions from all over realized the pointlessness of trying to invade Ordos, and thus, the age of invasions finally came to a close.
1330-1340 was a celebrated time of peace; a much needed reprieve after more than a century of constant invasion.
Church of St. Arthur’s Bridge
Years Active: 1340-1351 (first “war”)
Following the British occupation of Ordos, the Church of St. Arthur’s Bridge, a sect of Christianity, was also established. Headed by a rather corrupt bishop, the church had a core of “Holy crusaders for Ordos,” borrowing a term used to describe those who went on the crusades of prior decades. They tried to cleanse the island of those deemed “unholy” … namely the monster species. Realizing how powerful Britain was and how easily reinforcements could be sent, the Colorfolk had no choice but to help evacuate the good, intelligent species from the island. Namely, all signatories of the Multi-Species charter were safely evacuated off the island. This left the evil species, and “beast intelligence” species, such as dragons, any remaining werewolves, rocs, etc. as the only remaining monster species on the island. Fortunately, the Colorfolk had one thing going for them: because magic was so deeply ingrained in the culture of the native Ordosians, the church was mostly shunned and ridiculed for their “ignorance in the face of the unknown” and as such, the congregation was less than 5 percent of the native Ordosians. The corrupt Bishop was a crafty fellow though, and in response to the lack of support, petitioned the then King of England, Edward III, for “reinforcements of troops and settlers of subjects to help rebuild this troubled island.” Edward III, a king known for his military feats, obliged, and an army of 1500 was sent to Ordos to “enforce order” as he put it. In addition, 5000 British subjects, all of Christian faith, were sent to “resettle” the land… or rather, artificially inflate the church’s congregation and increase the Bishop’s influence. The King of Ordos, who had been granted home rule in exchange for swearing loyalty to the British crown, objected to this move, but could do nothing directly lest his family be stripped of their status.
Fortunately, fate allowed the Colorfolk to cast doubt upon the church’s congregation. Alistair Erdagovern, the then-current Man In Blue, had dreams of a “terrible black cloud enveloping the continent, Great Britain, and eventually Ordos” and the Colorfolk began constructing a great wall that surrounded a good deal of the island. (NOTE: Exact numbers are unknown since less than 8% of the walls still stand today, but what is known is that enough of the island’s land was within the walls that the population within was able to sustain itself and maintain a rather healthy lifestyle during the four years it was necessary). Upon completion of the walls in 1346, Alistair spoke up, warning of the impending “Black Death” and the necessity of quarantining themselves behind the walls for Ordos to survive. The Bishop warned his congregation not to listen to the “lying devil” and as such, less than 10 percent of the settled British subjects, and none of the soldiers, resettled within the walls. The gates of the walls were closed in 1347, effectively dividing the island in two. When a trading ship from the continent arrived in 1348 and docked at the port controlled by the Church, the worst fears were realized: The ship had indeed brought this Black Death to Ordos. The Bishop tried to play it off as nothing serious, but after 40 people were infected in less than a week, the port town was quarantined and every other subject, and even the army stationed there, defected to the walls. Begging to be let in, as they realized the Colorfolk were right, they were directed to one of three entryways, and slowly let in to ensure they did not bring plague with them. Exact details are not necessary for this summary, but what is important to know is that The Colorfolk light mages determined a simple, but effective way to detect if someone was infected with the plague, and this allowed a smooth entry of people. Meanwhile, the corrupt Bishop, at least having enough of a conscience to know the seriousness of the plague, allowed absolutely no one in or out of the port town, inadvertently helping the Colormen, as he created an extra barrier between the plague and Alistair’s walls. After the defected were safely behind the walls, the Colormen, in secrecy, began infiltrating the port town, and using the same test, began helping those who wished to evacuate.
(AUTHOR’S NOTE: Skipping to end to avoid boring the reader with a “college lecture” type lesson)
When the Black Death was finally gone from Ordos and had subsided by 1351, the Colorfolk were rejoiced as heroes. Not only was the island’s death toll kept below 50, but they had managed to sustain the island during its four years of isolation. The Church, however, suddenly became reviled, as they insisted that the Colorfolk were “the villains who manufactured this crisis.” Almost no one believed them though, and in a different kind of victory for the Colormen, the corrupt Bishop lost most of his influence, his congregation became less than 60 members. The head of the British army contingent, now an ally of the Colorfolk, sent a letter to the King, informing him that a military presence was “no longer needed” on Ordos, and thus were pulled out so that they could be utilized for the ongoing Second Scottish War of Independence (AUTHOR’S NOTE: real war fought from 1332-1357). Although the walls were no longer necessary, the King of Ordos decreed that they remain standing “for the foreseeable future,” reasoning that another invasion could happen at any time since it had been over 20 years since the last one.
1351-1375 was an age of peace on Ordos; the only threats the Colorfolk dealt with were the surviving, beast-level intelligence monster species. As Christianity swept through Europe many magic factions fled to Ordos, seeking sanctuary in one of the last alcoves of Magic tolerance in the world. The unprecedented influx of mages from as far away as Far East Asia resulted in a melting pot of cultural diversity perhaps only also enjoyed by Istanbul at the time.
Ordosian Civil War
1376-1400
Following the death of the then-current King of Ordos, while tradition dictated that the eldest son normally got the throne, a crisis of succession emerged: arguing that his eldest brother was a sickly, bedridden invalid this disqualified him from the throne, and as such the second oldest brother declared that he was, therefore, the rightful King of Ordos. The eldest brother, while physically weak, was arguably the most mentally capable of the job though, so the third eldest brother insisted that the eldest be given the throne; after all, his time was limited and there was no question that, since the eldest son had no children of his own, the second eldest son would get the throne in no less than five years. But the second eldest did not want to wait, and demanded the throne. The fourth and fifth eldest sons each desired the throne for their own selfish gain; realizing that the second and third eldest each had families now, this effectively meant that both of them would never become King of Ordos. Thus, a four way civil war embroiled the island, with each brother raising an army to fight one another (The third eldest fighting on the eldest’s behalf; and then, after the eldest’s death in 1382, himself). Officially, the Colorfolk took no side in the civil war; the protection of the Citizens of Ordos was top priority and as such they saw to it that the civil war’s collateral damage remained low. Unofficially, they took the side of the third eldest, since he was the only brother who wanted the throne for the good of Ordos; the rest were on a selfish quest for power.
After the third eldest won the civil war in 1400, he found his brothers guilty of treason, and, despite Colorfolk insistence on some level of mercy, the King of Ordos ultimately decided that he had to do what was best for the island; he had his second eldest brother, and the now adult sons of his second eldest brother executed, and his younger brothers and their families were exiled from Ordos, stripped of any right they had to the throne. Although there was disagreement, the Colorfolk ultimately came to terms with how things turned out, especially after realizing that things would have been far worse had any of the other brothers come to power.
KNUCKLEHEADs
Years active: 1085-1411 (On Ordos) “at war” 1404-111
Since the Colorfolk’s founding, the KNUCKLEHEADs had a rivalry with the Colorfolk… well, a one-sided one anyway. Only the KNUCKLEHEADs saw their relationship as a “rivalry” where as the Colorfolk saw their relationship with them as “unfortunately sour.” The first Council of 12 decreed that when interacting with KNUCKLEHEADs, Colorfolk demeanor was to be “cordial; neither friendly nor hostile. No hostile action to be taken against them except as a matter of self-defense, with killing as an absolute last resort.” Indeed, while the KNUCKLEHEADs would occasionally head-butt the Colorfolk, the result was usually the same: Colorfolk would cast “sleepy time” upon the knights, and then they would walk away.
In his day, Simon Erdagovern, the 7th Man In Blue, lamented “I know not what makes these KNUCKLEHEADs tick, but whatever ideas float in their minds must be fed to them by someone with no sense of urgency in this situation. (NOTE: his tenure was during the Age of Invasions). They claim to fight for good, and for the people of Ordos, and yet spend their time quarreling with us rather than take up arms and come to the defense of Ordos? I know not where they have been for the last century or so, but while they have cowered in their base as these endless waves of evil try to take our island for themselves, we have been on the frontlines, protecting Ordos even if it means losing our lives. I have no respect for a faction that trivializes the safety of the island and its inhabitants just so it can spend its time getting in our way of our duties… even now, I still do not understand why they cannot come to terms with the fact that rivalries have no place in the performance of duties as important as the protection of Ordos.
Eventually, in 1404… for reasons unknown, the KNUCKLEHEADS became more outwardly hostile towards the Colorfolk. Maybe it was humiliation at how the Colorfolk would never acknowledge their rivalry… maybe it was frustration at how the Colorfolk were celebrated as heroes while the KNUCKLEHEADs got no acknowledgement (to be fair, they were nowhere to be found during any of the wars the Colorfolk fought, so…), while some theorize that the Church had manipulated them into taking action against the Colorfolk. Either way, the Colorfolk would have none of it, and stuck to their decreed upon protocol: only using sleepy time against the KNUCKLEHEADs. In 1411, the KNUCKLEHEADs interfered with a Colorfolk operation to protect a noble, resulting in the death of 2 Colormen. Enraged by this act, and having had enough of this bunch of KNUCKLEHEADS, the King of Ordos exiled the order; the Colorfolk did successfully urge the king in favor of exile over execution, but even this the KNUCKLEHEADS did not thank the Colorfolk for. In reflection, the Colorfolk saw the KNUCKLEHEADs “rivalry” as unfortunate, with then-current Man In Blue Howard Erdagovern noting “if only they put aside egos and learned to work with others for the betterment of this island, then maybe we would have co-existed together.”
In 1414, on the anniversary of the official end of the Age of Invasions, the unthinkable happened: some of the resettled factions on Ordos “emerged” and announced that they had been playing the Ordosians the entire time; they integrated into the island population and, when the time was right, they decided that the time had come to launch their attack. Although the Colorfolk tried to force them to stand down, using arguments from the Constantinople Accords, the other factions essentially said “screw you” and each waged their own, independent war against Ordos and the Colorfolk.
As the other factions had each endangered, injured or killed non-magic innocents at some point, the Colorfolk fortunately found themselves with an ally during this time in their history: Majika Supremus, in their first major presence on the island since coming into contact with the Colorfolk. Prior to this period of Ordosian history, after the establishment of Majika Supremus in 1250, the Paladins had actually not come to Ordos itself until 1330… although they had heard about the incredible properties of the island, they had reasoned that the combination of the relative remoteness of the island, and the constant warfare it was engaged in at the time made it too high risk to attempt an expedition. After peace came to Ordos, MS was impressed with how well the Colorfolk had things under control, and how peacefully magic and non-magic folk interacted on the island. As such, they concluded it was only necessary to leave six paladins on the island, and only for scenarios where “mages had committed acts too heinous for Ordos to handle.” The Paladins, however, were bound by the Constantinople Accords with regards to the wars the Colorfolk were in, and could not interfere when the Colorfolk went to war with a non-magic faction, and if the enemy was a magic faction, they could not interfere unless non-magic innocents were wounded or killed… which fortunately, did not happen until this period of history. 1000 paladins were dispatched to assist the Colorfolk during this period of conflict; an action which would not be repeated, as afterwards attacking factions respected the tenets of the Constantinople Accords.
The period of warfare from 1414-1435 is known as “The War of Betrayal” as the factions who attacked Ordos had, before then, been welcome members and part of Ordosian society. (NOTE: Years active here only refers to when they were on Ordos)
Hephaestus’ Flames
Years Active: 1340-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Fire mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Fire Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was the conjuring of a “rope of fire” and wielding it as a whip.
Order of Aquos
Years Active: 1338-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Water mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Water Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was conjuring water discs, and throwing them at speeds high enough to cut through solid metal or stone (fortunately, Avrenium armor and Viktrium weapons proved stronger)
Sons and Daughters of Gaia
Years Active: 1338-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Earth mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Earth Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was luring enemies into the open, then reshaping the earth beneath them, trapping them in pits filled with spikes and sharp points. Although there was some success against the Colorfolk early on, eventually Colorfolk unpredictability overcame this tactic and in a rather ironic end to the faction, they were defeated when the leadership, and most of the higher ranked mages were killed when an avalanche destroyed their castle bae after an earthquake.
Order of the Roc
Years Active: 1370-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Air mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Air Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was, no surprise, transforming into giant eagle-like birds. Fortunately, in their eagle state they could not cast other magic, and the Colorfolk eventually developed tactics around this spell.
Brotherhood of the Yeti
Years Active: 1350-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Ice mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Ice Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was conjuring a suit of ice-armor and ice-longsword and fighting enemies up-close. While effective against some kinds of mages, they proved no match for fire-dominant colorfolk.
Children of the Night
Years Active: 1332-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Dark mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Dark Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was, rather than throwing single “balls of dark energy” at their enemies, they would conjure rather sizeable “walls of dark energy,” sometimes as long as 25 ft, and send them flying at their targets. Against non-magic warriors, the tactic was rather effective at breaking through ranks. However, they underestimated two things: The Strength of Colorfolk Avrenium Armor, and the potency of the most skilled light-dominant Colorfolk
Cult of Apollo
Years Active: 1361-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Light mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Light Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was a rapid firing of many little balls of light, akin to a 21st century machine gun. They are unique in the history of the Colorfolk in that they are the only Light magic faction they ever became enemies with.
Brotherhood of Zeus
Years Active: 1343-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A faction of Lightning mages, they, rather predictably, wanted to seize control of the Lightning Magic pool to become insanely powerful and conquer the world. Their signature spell was manifesting tridents of lightning and wielding them as weapons against their enemies.
Order for a New Ordos
Years Active: 1408-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
On the surface, they were seemingly a non-magic faction of “revolutionaries” who sought to topple all institutions on Ordos… The King, the magic factions, etc, in order to “start the island anew” from the chaos of its legacy of war. In truth, they were a band of mercenaries funded by the Church of St. Arthur’s Bridge (thought no one outside of the Church or ONO knew this), whose plan was to dispose of the king and the Colorfolk and secure the church’s hold on the island once and for all.
It should be noted that since 1351, its congregation was slowly rebuilding, but after the exposure of the truth and defeat of ONO, once again the Church experienced a sharp decline in membership for its rather “unholy act against the word of God”.
Because they were a non-magic faction, Majika Supremus could not intervene in the Colorfolk’s actions against them
Mages United for a Better Ordos
Years Active: 1405-1435 (War with Colorfolk 1414-1435)
A general faction of Mages, they had grown tired of all the competition and the influx of Non-native mages to Ordos (Yes, they were essentially a “Nationalist supremacist” group). As such, their goal was to seize control of the pool of non-elemental magic in order to pretty much destroy everyone on Ordos who didn’t agree with them. Fortunately, MUBO’s ideals proved unpopular in a land renowned for tolerance and acceptance, and membership only peaked at 2,000 mages. The last stand of their faction became the stuff of legend in Ordosian lore; the survivors were besieged in their base by a joint contingent of Colorfolk and Majika Supremus, as well as any other Magic Factions who had decided by that point to aid the Colorfolk against the hostile factions. Despite reducing MUBO’s numbers to about 200, they had still not secured a way into the base, and MUBO refused to surrender. Suddenly, the offensive mages began withdrawing from the area; MUBO initially thought that they had broken the spirit of their attackers with their resilience, but in reality… a meteor was heading right towards the area, and the attacking mages were withdrawing for fear of being killed. Incredibly, the meteor struck their castle, and the ensuing impact produced enough of an explosive force to not only effectively destroy much of the walls and allow the Colorfolk-led contingent into the base, but it killed almost all of the remaining MUBO mages. Of the approximately 200 MUBO mages, only 27 were found alive; 11 of which died from injuries sustained over the next 4 days. The remaining 16 mages were taken into Majika Supremus custody for violations of the Constantinople Accords.
In a first, Majika Supremus was the one to handle the judgement of the evil mages on Ordos after the conclusion of the War of Betrayal. The King of Ordos approved of this delegation of power, saying it freed him up to focus on rebuilding the war-ravaged island and handling the non-magic affairs of greater importance. The non-magic population of Ordos also had no objections; as it was they had enough to worry about with rebuilding and the prosecution of criminal mages was low on their priority list. MS subsequently took them to their Great Britain base for the trials.
1436-1470 was a period of peace, other than incidents involving fighting the surviving beast-level intelligent monsters, notably creatures like dragons and krakens.
Rubrum-Album War
Between 1471-1485, a rather unorthodox war took place. Since 1455, given Ordos’ home rule they had successfully managed to not feel the impact of the ongoing War of the Roses in Great Britain. Apart from a steady stream of 200-300 refugees per year of people trying to escape the conflict, Ordos had no involvement in the affairs of the neighboring lands. But that changed in 1471; two factions of mixed non-magic and magic warriors, the Order of the Rubrum Flames, and the Brotherhood of the Album Mountains, started fighting each other on Ordos. The Rubrum order, who supported the House of Lancaster, and the Album order, who supported the House of York, started fighting each other over their differences. Because the factions were both composed of non-magic warriors and mages, at first the Colorfolk could not directly intervene in their war due to the Constantinople Accords’ Anti-Escalation Clause. Instead, the Colorfolk found themselves acting defensively; the only actions they could take were to defend the people of Ordos and protect them from being in the crossfire. As such, between 1471-1476 the Colorfolk primarily acted as mediators, arranging a series of meetings in an attempt to bring a peaceful resolution to the conflict; but the two opposing factions simply could not come to terms. It was not until 1476 when the Colorfolk finally had grounds to take direct action- when the Rubrum faction attacked a Western Ordosian village, among the casualties of the attack were three Colormen. Likewise, an Album attack on the Northern Ordosian port resulted in the destruction of some Colorfolk ships (caught in the crossfire as the Album attacked Rubrum ships and other assets). Now having justification to take direct action, the Colorfolk were able to intervene in battles that got too close to towns and other places with non-magic innocents.
Despite Colorfolk pleas for peace, the two factions did not stop fighting until 1485, when the War of the Roses ended in Great Britain. Although they stopped fighting willingly, the King of Ordos still exiled the two factions from Ordos, on the grounds that their war had done much damage to Ordos; undoing much of the rebuilding from the War of Betrayal.
With peace finally coming to Ordos again, The Colorfolk decided that the time had come to explore more of the world beyond Ordos; their interaction with mages who came from all over the world to resettle on Ordos made them wonder if there was knowledge, artifacts, etc out there that needed to be preserved… or destroyed. It was clear that the way the world’s attitude was changing towards magic, mages would soon become an endangered species. Thus, a special contingent of Colorfolk was established with the purpose of exploring the world beyond Ordos. They had four goals:
Find and preserve magical knowledge that will benefit future generations
Find and preserve artifacts which benefit the magic world; if possible, return to rightful owners
Destroy knowledge of evil magic with no benefits to ensure its loss to time
Destroy evil artifacts which have no redemptive value.
Thankfully, 1486-1510 was a period of peace on Ordos, so the expeditions did not get in the way of Colorfolk’s primary duties of defending their home island. Given that only 20 percent of Colorfolk participated in the expeditions anyway, any controversies within the Colorfolk over taking the expeditions disappeared quite quickly.
In 1511, an earthquake broke out on Ordos. However, it was rather unusual… most earthquakes had their point of origin off the coast, since Ordos had no faultlines on it. But this earthquake seemed to originate from the island itself. Man In Red lead a scouting party to what seemed to be the epicenter. What they found shocked them: a massive fissure had opened in the island; 8oo meters long and 1oo meters wide at the widest parts, approaching the fissure, Man In Red described a feeling “akin to the worst dread and fear I had ever felt; far worse than any other dread I had ever felt in all my years.” The Man In Red in question, Pierce Adelrod, was a seasoned Colorman; 31 years experience, and having extensively studied the rocks and geology of Ordos, for him to feel quite uncomfortable around something like a fissure was considered a big deal to his fellow Council of 12 members. Although the ground surrounding the fissure was composed of normal, if not shifted stone, within the fissure itself Man In Red could not make heads or tails of what he saw. “The darkest stones of colors I have seen before were observed in the fissure, and yet the combination I observed made me feel most uncomfortable. The darkest shades of black and crimson, I felt as though I was looking at the very outskirts of hell itself.” Turns out Man In Red wasn’t too far wrong. Over the next six days they began observing and researching the fissure and its effects. One thing that gave Man In Red chills was how now matter how much Corfdium wire he used, he was unable to illuminate the depths of the fissure. Even more disturbing, all plant life and even non-human animal life seemed to die when coming within 50 meters of the fissure. Just after dusk on the 6th day of the fissure’s appearance, the unthinkable happened: humanoid creatures emerged from the crack. It was truly shocking a sight to behold; but then, the one who was their leader emerged. 20 meters tall, humanoid, but with horns, jagged teeth, cloven feet and skin “red as blood itself” he made his presence known: addressing himself as the “King of the Demons,” he revealed that these creatures were indeed demonkind. While there had been isolated cases of these hell-demons coming to Earth before, this was the first time such a large-scale invasion had taken place. The King of Demons declared that his intention was to unleash hell itself and conquer the world, using Ordos as a staging point. The hell-demons then proceeded to unleash their fury. Only two places seemed to be safe from the demons: The Great Hall and grounds, due to its perception filter, and the Church of St. Arthur’s Bridge, and other houses of worship, due to the demons aversion to anything holy.
This lead to:
Demon War
1511-1520
Although outnumbered at times, the Colorfolk had critical knowledge going into this war: namely, demonkinds’ near fatal aversion to light magic… or fatal, depending on the strength of the spell. Eventually, the Colorfolk learned other information about demons. When the spirit-type Colormen tried to attack the demons, they found that their spells had no effect on them. After half a dozen demons turn-coated in 1514 they finally had an answer: while demons do have souls when they are born, it was revealed that as infants demons are made to undergo a ritual where they sacrifice their souls in exchange for great power and exponentially longer lifespans. This confirmed Man In Silver’s hunch- when individual demons die, they cease to exist; finally explaining why the spirit type Colormen could not sense deceased demon spirits after battles. “When the body dies and doesn’t have a soul within, the mind has nothing to bind to and ceases to be… this is the cost of immortality” Man In Silver lamented.
In 1520, the Colorfolk figured out how to close the fissure, and after closing it, defeated the remaining demons and their King in a series of climactic battles. Famously, as the King of the Demons lay dying, the normally arrogant, proud demon showed great fear at his fate… for he knew that upon death, “there was nothing for him on the other side.”
Although the Colorfolk had won a great victory, St. Arthur’s church was able to reclaim some influence, claiming that the Colorfolk had won because they had “The Lord’s blessing to defeat the demons”. The cunning Bishop’s plan was to slowly overtime, use this as a pivot to eventually turn the Ordosians against the Colorfolk.
1521-1540 was yet another period of peace, with some Colorfolk even continuing the expeditions from before. But then, everything changed on September 14, 1540:
Ordosian Anarchy
1540-1580
The King of Ordos died. Normally this was just another case of a monarch dying, but this situation was much more dire: this King of Ordos was the only child of the previous king, who himself was also an only child following the death of his only sibling, who also had no children. Furthermore, this king had not yet married or had children, meaning there was no apparent heir to the throne. The island was thrown into chaos; the general population went into mass panic as they didn’t know what to do. Within the first month after the king’s death, there were already 4 contenders who claimed the throne, even going so far as to produce proof of their royal blood. They subsequently each raised an army and began fighting each other over the right to rule. While these four were the “primary contenders” for the throne, during this 40 year period there were a total of 30 people who claimed the throne. The anarchy ended in 1580, when Great Britain sent troops to intervene and end the ongoing Civil War. A member of the British nobility subsequently made an appearance on Ordos; by Royal Proclamation, since the Ordosian Royal Family had died out, it had been decided that Ordos’ home rule was to be lifted, and from that point on, England would appoint a ruler to the island. Although the Colorfolk had succeeded in protecting the general population from mindless slaughter, Ordos would never be the same: because the claimants to the throne had recruited almost all the mages to their respective causes, the Colorfolk were the only remaining major Magic faction on Ordos. The newly appointed Lord of Ordos also expressed indifference towards the Colorfolk; preferring “traditional” armies over a nearly 500 year old order of mages. “I highly doubt that we have to worry about invading mages anymore; there’s no more mages in Great Britain or on the continent after all” The Lord of Ordos said of the situation. This sent shivers down the Colorfolk’s spines; was Ordos truly the last hold-out of mages in the world?
1580-1600 was a time of relative peace; although the Colorfolk no longer had “friends in high places” they were still welcome among the Ordosians. Realizing the situation outside Ordos, the Colorfolk dedicated themselves to preserving magic knowledge: as many magic factions were wiped out during the Ordosian Anarchy, the Colorfolk dedicated themselves to preserving what knowledge they could. Though they hated the thought of taking scrolls and texts from abandoned castles and bases, they accepted that it was necessary for the greater good.
In 1601, St. Arthur’s Church finally worked up enough public support to “cleanse the island of witchcraft” and as such, what transpired next is what the Colorfolk refer to as “The Decline of Ordos.” Magic had been so ingrained into the culture of Ordos for over a millennium, and now these British outsiders were about to strip it away from them? The Colorfolk realized they had no choice, and that very year, they switched to a more clandestine approach to their operations.
It was a time of frustration though; what few remaining non-colorfolk mages on Ordos couldn’t just be sent elsewhere; there was nowhere to go for mages by this time; the last haven was now compromised. Digging through their archives, the Colorfolk found an answer: the land that the monster species had been evacuated to centuries prior. It was a long shot, but also the only chance they had. 1601-16o4 is marked by a period of “rescues” as the Colorfolk helped all surviving non-Colorfolk mages evacuate Ordos, and sail them for this land known as “Elbaf.” The Colorfolk realized they were the last faction standing in 1605… and while many Ordosians still supported them, it was clear that anti-magic sentiment was growing. It came to a head with:
Holy War on Magic
1605-1620
The Church began funding a supposed “crusade” to “find the vile Colorfolk and purge them from the land.” Though in reality- the Bishop wanted to rid himself of what he saw as the one force that actually posed a threat to his influence. Being so far detached from the rest of British clergy there was no one to stand in his way, since he technically was doing things he shouldn’t have been. Unlike past war and battles, fought on large scales and lasting several hours, these battles were much smaller in scale, and marked by Colorfolk hesitance to use lethal spells since there was ambiguity on if some of their opponents were truly evil, or good but deceived.
During this period, paladins from Majika Supremus returned to Ordos (NOTE: After the War of Betrayal, MS had pulled out the paladins stationed on Ordos, due to an “ongoing crisis” on the continent requiring “all hands on deck”) for the first time in decades; their presence was a welcome sight, as it dispelled the belief that the Colorfolk were the last mages. They revealed the purpose of their mission: the surviving mages of Great Britain and the rest of the known world had “gone underground” and they had come to Ordos to see how “the last holdout” of peaceful magic/non-magic relations was doing. Their faces noticeably fell when informed of what had transpired over the last several decades. Understanding the situation, Ordos was “left in [the Colorfolk’s] hands,” and the Paladins left Ordos for the last time.
This war ended in 1620 with the death of the Corrupt bishop. When the new bishop was appointed, he was horrified at what his church had become, and immediately ended the war. Although he did not fully embrace the Colorfolk, he did advocate for “peaceful coexistence” on the grounds that “enough blood has been spilled on this island; any more fighting would go against the word of God.”
Unfortunately, the Colorfolk’s reprieve only lasted until 1622, when…
The Great Invasion
1622-1640
A composite faction of many surviving mages from across the world, they rather predictably wanted to seize control of Ordos’ magic pools. But their reasoning was marginally sympathetic: with magic dying out, these mages realized the only way to earn their place in the world was to fight for it. Therefore, they reasoned they could use the enormous power of the Ordosian magic pools to “overthrow every last monarch in the world and replace it with an order where mages can freely live in peace.” Although somewhat sympathetic on the surface, below they had a much, much uglier face: they essentially embodied “might makes right,” and were “magic supremacists” (i.e. believed non-magic folk were either too weak to let live, or should be subservient to mages), even willing to go so far as to ignore the Founder’s Law if it meant achieving their goals. As it was the last major war The Colorfolk would fight, many consider this “the last hurrah” of the Golden age of Ordos, and the first era of the Colormen.
The Colorfolk tried contacting Majika Supremus about this invasion, but in a shocking twist, MS informed them that due to “ongoing crises in Eastern Europe” they would be unable to intervene, meaning the Colorfolk stood alone against this coalition force.
They were celebrated as heroes one last time, even impressing the Lord of Ordos for their bravery. But this was not to last.
Despite the peace that existed, the Good Bishop died in 1654, and his successor’s mindset was just like the corrupt bishops that came before, ultimately leading to:
The Great Disappearance
1657
Context: In early 1657, the bishop realized that a good amount of Ordosians still supported the Colorfolk. So, in the ultimate (albeit hypocritical) power move, he acquired a new staff through reasons not fully understood. It enabled the bishop to to [secretly] employ the use of dark magic, using mind control on the population of Ordos to bend the people to his will.
Realizing that the cycle of war and endangering of the Ordosians had to be stopped, the Colorfolk came up with a dangerous plan: they would use a very powerful magic blast to not just free the people from their mind control, but destroy the Bishop’s staff and the nine pools of magic on Ordos, rendering the island pointless for future mage conquest, but saving the Ordosians from future strife. But there was only one way to release such a powerful blast: by shattering the prism to unleash the enormous power within in one blast, they would be able to accomplish such a task. Surprisingly, it was the spirit itself who proposed this plan, reasoning that “with the world the way it is… it is probably for the best.”
When the prism was shattered it did accomplish its goal; the magic pools were destroyed as well as the Bishop’s staff and the people were freed. But it came at a cost: many Colorfolk became ambivalent towards their duty, and simply left the faction, while a small handful briefly went on a killing spree out of revenge… but thankfully stopped soon after, realizing that killing innocents “was gaining them absolutely nothing” so they instead went “underground” in favor of pursuing more practical goals.