Dear Grey,
In our last lesson, we introduced you to the first three ages of our world’s history. Today, we will dive into the Fourth Age and explore the evolution of the kinship system and the emergence of new cultural structures.
During the Fourth Age, the reality of our world solidified, and the kinship system became more elaborate. Reality had changed once again, with only the lands upheld by the protection of strong magicians being safe for kin. The Beloved, who once created endless worlds for kin to exist in, now demanded that they fight for their existence. These strong magicians, acknowledged by the land and elements, were called “crowned.” Indeed, physical crowns seemed to have appeared from wild magic to signify their rulership.
Beyond the borders of land upheld by crowned, the world was a dense and dark thorn forest known as the “Thornwood” or the wildlands full of plants that fed on the magical life force of kin. Occasionally, a crowned could carve out new territory, or a powerful kin would blossom in the darkness and create a new land to live in. Otherwise, kin lived within the borders of lands protected by crowned. Travel was perilous, mostly achieved through magical means of bypassing the ever hungry plants of wildlands.
There were rare few kin that seemed immune to the thorn forest, but we are unsure as to why. We think perhaps it has to do with the concept of being “liminal creatures”, which was still known in the Fourth Age, but not the main way that strong magicians were identified. If culture had changed to focus more on the concept of being “crowned”, it is our thought that perhaps certain liminal creatures were less affected by the Thornwood and it was common enough knowledge that kin did not record such things, preferring to speak of these magicians by their crowned identity. It is a pity that we did not, as this would be the last time these kinds of dangers would plague us.
Evolving from the principle of “kinship”, a new process known as “affinity” emerged, allowing magicians to bind themselves to one another through love and oath, sharing magical resources. This led to the emergence of different forms of rulership and a variety of cultures, building upon the family structures we had built in the Third Age. You might be interested to learn that this principle of “affinity” is thought to have first appeared from the city that is now called HoloHue. HoloHue has existed in various forms through several ages now.
In our next lesson, we will continue to share more information about the next age of history, a most pivotal one that will help you begin to understand how we found ourselves in this current age of restriction and fear regarding magic. We hope you are finding this journey through time as fascinating as we do and that you are eager to learn more.
Sincerely,
A. Grey