Artos, the great city by the sea. Three silver towers rise up out of the desert, one for each of the three family dynasties. Together the three famlies — the Rieks, the Theits, and the Rhomes have controlled power here for thousands of years. The city walls have never once been breached, and their influence can be felt in any part of the civilized world.

But it is not military might or trade that keeps this city powerful. She has only a shallow harbor and the only standing army is that of the Royal Guards, charged with the duties of protecting the Three Families. The real power of Artos comes from magic.

The Artosian desert surrounding the city is home to some of the richest deposits of Aratite and Malikite crystals. This alone would make for riches and influence. But the inner sanctum of the Mages Stronghold also holds a treasure the likes of which can be found in no other place in the world. It is known only as The Stone.

The Stone is a naturally flawless sphere of Astarite, both the rarest and strongest of all the magical crystals in the world. It is estimated that the stone weighs over five thousand tons, and accounts for 99.99% of all Astarite in existence.  Who made it or how it arrived in Artos has been the subject of much scholarly debate. Regardless of its origins or purposes, it has made the Royal Mages the most powerful magicians in the world.

Hand-in-hand with power, there are always politics involved. In one of the more complicated schemes of governance, the Throne passes between all three families, from the Rieks to the Theits to the Rhomes and back around again. This has set in motion an endless story of backstabbing intrigues, murders and double-crosses across all the families. Being the King or Queen of Artos is hardly a job for those shy of risk, and only the bravest of politicians from the three families attempt to ascend to such a position.

The real power remains locked up by the Royal Mages. One of the most demanding and selective magical orders in the world, the Royal Mages require fifty years of service before allowing a disciple to even see The Stone. Open only to members of the Families, the mages select the best and brightest magical students when they are only twelve. Those students are then taken to study at the Royal Magic Academy for the next twelve years, before being put into service as Adepts. During this time they are allowed to see their own families only once a year on the Thanks-Giving.

Over the preceding hundreds of years, Artos has grown not only in wealth and power, but in physical size as well. It has far outgrown the city walls that protect the Families and those who are well-off enough to be in their favor.

Outside the city walls, things are very different. Wizards, warlocks, mages of all stripes come to trade in crystals, some legal, others less so. The Artosian Families maintain that all crystals in the desert are theirs, and anyone caught buying or selling them without first paying the Families will be killed. And many are. But the market for these crystals is so large that many more are willing to take this risk. From all over the world, they come. Surprisingly, few of these traders are magicians themselves. They are mostly common criminals, bedraggled masses of hard-luck desperadoes. These people come to Artos because they have nothing left to lose. For the lucky ones, there is everything to gain.

For miles and miles outside the city lies this sprawl of small shanties. Some of them are fixed together with magic, other are only canvas tents, while others are merely mud huts built in the same primitive ways of those distant travelers who seek fortunes in Artos.
There are as many names for this place as there are languages spoken in it. But one name, an Artosian word, probably applies the best. In most parts around Artos, the area is known collectively as The Swell.

The Swell is home to more than a hundred times the number of souls who live inside the city walls. And of those in the city, only a lucky two percent carry lineage traceable to one of The Families. Power, wealth, magic. These are not freely accessed like they may be in the Free Islands or other parts of the globe. There is only one constant for rich and poor in Artos, and that is the hot sun that beats down on the city day after day after day.

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In many ways, Era is much like our own world. Myriads of men and women are born, they struggle for bread and money, they struggle to be remembered. And with the advancing of time, the myriads are washed away to death, recycled, and the process begins over again.

But there is one difference for those living on Era, and that is the absolute common-ness of magic. The ability to change the physical properties of the universe. Thought focused into reality.

In its earliest days, a magician was only one who could create fire. The fireball is one of the simplest (and most dangerous) of tricks first learned by children. Other tricks, like the ability to remotely apply force, and taught at the higher levels. Almost anyone has at least some command over these elementary principles of magic, and most will specialize to some degree in one area or another. As with most skills, some are more adept and better at magic than others.

For thousands of years, Mages — magical scholars — have researched the properties of magic and how it works. While their methods have often been dogmatic and inefficient, many important discoveries have been made over the years with practical results. Your typical person in Era can create fire, pick up a pencil from the other side of the room, or perhaps use magic in an athletic feat. Those who decide to become mages study will one aspect of magic for years before actually putting it into practice. In this respect, it is very much an academic pursuit as much as any other science.

There are practical applications to magic as well. A well-trained physical magician could say, give a piece of wood the same hardness as a diamond. Or perhaps give a piece of bread the same flavor as a steak. There is even a way to make water catch fire and burn. An incredible amount of work is done each year on the physical and magical properties of different materials. And a magician who can apply these methods of Materials Magic well will lead a rather comfortable life.

Another early field is thought-magic. Those skilled enough can use these methods to influence or read the thoughts of others. Likewise, there are counter-measures that are commonly learned by those who can afford to. Hardly anything is considered ruder than trying to influence the thoughts of another. That is not to say it is not done, for the implications of thought-magic to those such as salesmen or politicians is profound. An ever-escalating battle of thought-magic development is played out in this way.

It is a combination of these two magics that led to body-magic, perhaps the most difficult type of magic to learn.

Body-magic is only about three-hundred years old. It was first discovered by Eralt T. Werscheut in the Kalkeun city of Roberg. Werscheut's theory deconstructed how a consciousness relates to a body, allowing magicians to transfer a consciousness into a new body. For about two hundred years, this was little more than a novelty for most, or an extravagance for others. It allowed the wealthy to buy younger, more beautiful bodies for themselves. It also allowed for new techniques of imprisonment, where a consciousness is transferred into an inanimate object.

A black market emerged, both for physical bodies and for valuable consciousnesses. An attuned magician could still easily detect a changed individual — at first. Over time, those who would engage in such deception grew increasingly sophisticated at hiding their work. Soon there was a real risk of beautiful women having their bodies stolen, or of wealthy Barons being kidnapped inside a teapot. But this was only the beginning.

Building on the principle of consciousness transfer was the famous mage, Tomas Click from Yodesia. Click developed methods still in use today, which allow not just for the transfer, but for the seamless deconstruction and reconstruction of bodies. That is, he bridged the gap between the materials and properties magics and that of the consciousness transfer.

Employing Click's methods, a body can be physically deconstructed and reconstructed with no harm coming to the consciousness. Using an intermediary vessel, an individuals consciousness is transferred into out of their body, their body is transformed in the method desired, and then the consciousness is reinserted. Essentially, this allows for individual body parts to be modified, swapped, and adjusted.

Body-based magic has become a booming industry around the world, especially so in Artos. However the result of this is not exactly one of economic or social fairness. With body-parts themselves now commodified, the wealthy often accumulate collections of many different bodies. Those without often do without, selling or replacing pieces of themselves when the necessities of life decide it. Switching or modifying one's existing body still requires the assistance of a mage, but in Artos the methods behind body-part swaps are commonly known by almost any corner witch or wizard.

There is still one area where magical knowledge remains rare and specialized. And that is in crafting new parts. Preparing an object to receive a consciousness is somewhat technically difficult. It is even more difficult to give that object the ability to move. Artificial body-parts, while still a relatively new invention of only fifty years or so, are perhaps the single most specialized area of magic with a commercial application. Those who can manufacture new body parts, whether biological or mechanical, are known as Crafters. A Licensed Crafter in Artos can make a fair sum of money indeed.

An unlicensed crafter? Well, that's still in high-demand.