Introduction to the Corrupted Magical Online Museum

 

Welcome to the world of Magusterra, a realm full of magic and wonder, where enchanted creatures wondered the forests and everything lived in harmony, or at least that’s what it used to be, before the humans…

Let me start at the beginning: Before there was anything, there was an unknown flash of light that appeared out of nowhere. This light created two types of beings, these are known as the First Created. The first type are the ten Immortals:

 -Father Time, the first and most powerful, the protector of the fabric of reality. 

-Sandman, head of the Dream realm.

-Mother Nature, the overseer of weather and the eco system.

​-The Lady of the Lake, protector of all bodies of water.

-The Mighty Phoenix, creator of the sun, fire and the purger of evil.

​-The Troll King, king of the earth and mountains.

​-Brother Life, guide and giver of live to living things.

​-Sister Death, decider of everyone’s final fate and collector of souls.

​-The Immortal One, the conscious and leader of sentient beings.

​-Lady Wisdom, source and collector of all knowledge.

These ten worked together to build Magusterra and keep everything in balance, but this was disrupted, for the second type of First Created also came into being at the same time, something unpredictable and uncontrollable: The Humans, the mortal sentient beings, who resented the Immortals for they had powers that the Humans didn’t.  

The Immortals saw themselves as better and viewed the Humans as nothing more than animals, underestimating what the Humans were capable of. 

For when life bloomed, animals, frolicked among the plants and ate from them. This slowly became a problem when the animals multiplied too much and nearly left the land barren. To maintain balance, the Immortals, made half of the animals carnivores.

This brought harmony to the animal kingdom, but disaster to the humans, once the carnivores got a taste for them. 

The humans, angered that their kind (the Immortals) abandoned them, sought out a way to even the playing field and ventured into Mother Nature’s garden of Eden and ate from the tree of knowledge. As they ate from the fruit, they learned to build homes, communities and weapons.

They also learned the truth that unlike the animals, they have a connection to everything that each Immortal has dominion over, thus they aren’t bound by the laws the Immortals put forth. Meaning, that even Father Time, the only Immortal who can write and rewrite the past, present and future had no control over the Humans. For the Humans also have the power to write and even rewrite the past, present and future themselves, through their actions and defiance against the Immortals.  

With this, the Humans destroyed everything in their way and fought amongst themselves. To fix this, the Immortals asked them what would bring them happiness.

The Humans answered: power. Power that was equal to what the Immortals have. The Immortals at first denied them that wish as it would create a great imbalance. Through many meetings and negotiations with the seven most powerful Kings and Queens of Magusterra they compromised and gave them magic.

The Immortals thought it would be unwise to give this gift to the Humans directly (also not wanting to make a mortal an eleventh Immortal in charge of magic joining them). So, they decided to give this ability to the animals. 

Certain horses grew horns and became Unicorns. Some species that were more Human like, such as the gnomes, elves and even merpeople. These are creatures that the Immortals can control and command, thus were given magical abilities.

Many more magical creatures emerged and the Humans were told by the Immortals to make them pets and live in harmony with the beings that closely resembled them. Through this harmony, the Humans gave orders to the magical creatures and beings on what they wanted them to do with their magic, but these creatures were also given some semblance of free will and judgement to refuse an order, if it was to harm another, the realm or to attack an Immortal. The Humans found this reasonable... At first.

The humans grew frustrated that there were limitations to what the creatures and beings allowed them to do with their magical abilities, so much so that they sought out ways to harness the magic and use it themselves. One way was to marry into the elves and procreate with them, another was to capture and examine the magical animals, but nothing worked due to the Immortals’ control over the distribution of magic into their realm, as well as from The Immortal One, who monitored them closely and made sure that their plans and techniques never worked.

Frustrated and angered, a young Merlin, known as the wise man and also soon to be the first magic wielder, went out to seek more knowledge. With the help of his guild, he made sure the Immortal One was distracted as he searched for many years and stumbled on the Great Library, the home of Lady Wisdom. She at first forbade him from entering, but Merlin charmed and seduced her to let him in.

In secret, Merlin, learned how the library worked and read what he could steal without getting caught, but even this proved to be fruitless. Until Lady Wisdom confessed her love to him and promised anything he wished if he would stay with her. Merlin agreed and asked for access to the forbidden knowledge that the Immortals hid from the Humans.

Lady Wisdom first refused, but with the threat of losing her only love and access to companionship she agreed. She lead him to a secret room that was both everywhere and nowhere. Here, Merlin, stayed for three years studying. There he acquired the knowledge and origins of magic.

With all he has gained, Merlin, snuck out of the Great Library. Lady Wisdom realised this and chased after him, but was chained to the library by the other Immortals as punishment for allowing a human to see the sacred texts.

Knowing that the Immortals will soon find him, Merlin, immediately put what he had learned to practice and harnessed the ability to use magic without an animal or humanoid being. With this successful attempt he gave others the same ability and prepared for war against the Immortals, a war that was waged by all the Immortals, except for The Sandman, who had no real interest in what happens in this realm. This war lasted for a 100 years and destroyed the earth and with the Humans’ disparate want to live, they modified and changed the way magic worked, eventually corrupting it and causing everything connected to it to slowly turn evil.

The devastation that the war brought, divided not only the humans, but the Immortals themselves. Mother Nature, Brother Life, The Immortal One and the Lady of the Lake wanted the war to stop.

This raised the question of why The Immortal One didn’t stop Merlin. With no excuse other than that there are too many humans for him to keep track off, he was banished and locked away. The other Immortals ran to escape the same fate and tried to reason with the humans.

Some Humans agreed, whereas others opposed them, thus starting another war amongst themselves. Brother turned on brother, leaving them open for attack from the remaining Immortals, such as Sister Death, who revelled in the chaos.

This filled Merlin with the guilt for bringing darkness upon him and his kind, forcing him to do the unthinkable and side with the Immortals to take magic away. So, Merlin, asked the Lady of the Lake to take him to meet with the other Immortals.

She agreed and took him to the Celestial Plane a neutral ground where no one had any control. There, Merlin pleaded with the Immortals to spare them and to take away magic. The Sandman presided over the debate between the Immortals who stood with the humans and those who stood against.

Both sides had compelling arguments and The Sandman understood the damage that could happen to the Dream Realm if the humans where just taken out by force, but at the same time they knew that they couldn’t just let them go without punishment.

After a long debate, Merlin came up with a compromise and that is to do what the Immortals have always done, bring balance. So it was agreed that the humans would live and keep their magic, but because they corrupted it, so too will everything else be turned into grotesque forms of their beautiful former selves, making the world of Magusterra a dangerous and hostile place to live. Once all the Immortals agreed, this was etched into the Timeline by Father Time and Merlin was sent back.

Once back home, Merlin, found the once green and lush forest, now dark and eerie. The Unicorns, no longer walked on all fours, but were two legged, hunched over, thin as a rake and filled with bloodlust. The Gnomes and Elves once cheerful and kind, were fierce warriors filled with hate towards the Humans. All bodies of water were filled with unspeakable and unknown horrors, intent on drowning anything and everything that dares to enter it. Not even the skies were safe, as dangerous flying predators staked the creatures bellow.

 As the Humans realised that their environment was against them, they turned against Merlin. Still riddled with guilt, Merlin tried to end his own life, but the Immortals intervened. The Immortals informed the Humans of the new order and forbade them from stepping foot in Merlin’s castle or face a fate worse than death! “What will happen to him?” The humans asked as they pointed to Merlin. “He will be punished by becoming an Immortal and imprisoned in his castle for all eternity,” the Immortals answered. 

With that, the Immortals, bound Merlin to an elaborate machine to give him eternal life, turning him into the “Wizard King, the progenitor and overseer of magic” and the eleventh Immortal. 

  

Merlin was imprisoned in a floating castle, that can travel anywhere at any random time. Making it hard to track down.

As life became more hostile for the Humans, they formed walled cities, police forces, dedicated and specialised hunting parties to protect and gather resources. They still developed and evolved magic to fight the corrupted creatures, but the more powerful the Humans grew, the more vicious the animals grew. But slowly, as the Humans grew tired of the hate and fear, they gave in to the Immortals' rule and worshipped them and their children as gods, bringing balance.

Magic today is weak and rare, but still powerful and dangerous in the wrong hands. And one why to bring back magic is through the weapons, wands and special artefacts that were lost during the wars and surrendered to the Immortals. These weapons still pose a threat and could bring about another war, which some Humans, who still resent the Immortals for looking down on them or loyal followers of the Wizard King, now search for to use and overthrow the Immortals.

To stop this the Immortals chose me to find these magical items and lock them away in the Great Vault, a living mansion, also known as the Ark, which I accesses through a magical door that I can summon anywhere and unlock with a special key.  

So, join me as I catalogue and document each item I find.   

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