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Once upon a time a group of human miners digging in the mountain now known as Mance Mountain stumbled upon a beautiful gemstone that glowed from within. They passed it around to each other and marvelled at its unwordly beauty, talking excitedly of how rich they would be if they found the right buyer. However, the riches they gained were far more profound.
In total twelve people touched the gem and to them an understanding and mastery over an aspect of the physical realm was bestowed. As the stone was passed hand to hand its glow grew dimmer until it crumbled to dust in the hands of the thirteen miner, seemingly bestowing her with nothing.
These twelve kept their gifts a secret for a short time, sharing their powers with each other, but soon began to realise their implications. Within several years they had raised themselves from humble miners to powerful lords and ladies, able to demand all the riches and land and suitors they desired. Their influence is great enough that the months of the year were renamed for the twelve who had touched the stone, in the order which the stone was passed about hand to hand.
Mance Mountain no longer exists, for waves of miners of all species descended upon the modest peak and tore it apart in a desperate search for another Mance Stone. Vicious, bloody magical wars were waged over who controlled the mountain but in the end those wars proved pointless, for no other stones were ever found. The pulverised rock of Mance Mountain paves the roads through the entire continent, as in the end selling this rock proved the only way to recoup the massive investments poured into dismantling the mountain.
The magic bestowed by the Mance stone no longer exists either, for the magic grew weaker in each generation born. Where the first Mancers could extend their powers for as far as they could see into the distance, their twelth generation descendants had to be physically touching whatever they wished to manipulate. Magic came into the world over five hundred years ago and died out two hundred years ago.
The first Thermomancer was Gostus. Her notable current descendant is Elliot Reeves.
Thermomancy is the ability to move about heat energy. This is a power of balance, for the total heat in the system under the thermomancer's control remains in equilibrium.
A skilled Thermomancer can sense the ambient heat of his surroundings and can feel with an experimental push or pull just how much heat is needed to change an object's temperature.
Thermomancers can, among many other tricks, create ice, boil water, keep the air about them at an ambient temperature, tell if someone is running a fever and freeze the air in a person's lungs.
Thermomancers have several weaknesses: Firstly, they aren't invulnerable to extremes in temperature, though they can adjust their own temperature quickly. Thermomancers are also very prone to sunburn as their ambient temperature adjustments mean they don't notice when the sun is blazing too fiercely on their skin. They're also known for standing out with their clothing, as they don't have to dress for the weather.
The first Electromancer was Suvenry
Electromancy is the power to manipulate the movement of electrons. The most powerful Electromancer can point to two distant places and pull apart their polarities enough that upon relaxing their manipulation a snap of lightning will travel between one point to the other. They can sense electrical impulses in the world around them.
Electromancy has so many possible uses that anyone who lives in an electric age could easily imagine, but in Callirhoe the uses of electricity have yet to be discovered. The Electromancers had to explore their powers on their own. They discovered they were able to charge weapons and that they could make thin metal wires glow, but the technology of the world around them was not sufficient to capitalise on the new understanding of lightning that the Electromancers brought to the world.
Electromancy was one of the few skills where the Mancers benefited from the dimming of their powers, for though they were no longer able to produce great bolts of lightning as their ancestors once had they were able to work delicately enough to manipulate the human body. One branch of Suvenry's line advanced the Callirhoan understanding of medicine by their study of sapient anatomy and the activity of the neurons. It was a woman in the tenth generation who perfected the skill of using electric currents between her fingers to restart a heart, but that skill was lost by the time her great-grandchildren were born powerless.
The first Pyromancer was Bylian. His notable ancestors include Inferno No-Land, Serene Charlord and Cinder.
Pyormancy is the ability to create combustions. At first glance this power looks very similar to Thermomancy as Thermomencers are able to create fire is they concentrate enough energy into a single point, but the two powers are very different. It is not a power of balance, though the effect achieved is more more impressive than the effort put in, for if the initial sparks are set correctly the reaction will fuel itself.
Unlike a Thermomancer, a Pyromancer cannot heat an object unless they create a fire with which to do so, but they are able to create fires in the air by combusting pure oxygen. A pyromancer cannot divert heat away from themselves to avoid being burnt, but they are able to suppress combustion reactions within their sphere of influence.
The first Gravomancer was Ratamber. His notable descendents include King Richard and Prince Dorian
The first Necromancer was Mesudius
The first Kinetomancer was Nictoary
Kinetomancy is another power of balance, involving the transference of velocity from one system to another. A kinetomancer can move with great bursts of speed, stealing the speed from the legs of his opponent to give to himself.
Kinetomancers would carry devices to generate velocity, ranging from a simple stone on a string to swing around above their head to more complex spring-loaded cranking devices.
This power also allows a kinetomancer to divert an object's velocity. A kinetomancer can divert the path of a flying device, such as an arrow, sending it back in the direction it came from with the same speed with which it arrived.
Kinetomancers can also use their powers to leap, though they have to be very careful about landing to ensure that they don't break their legs, shoving all of their falling velocity into the velocity-generating device.
The first Magnetomacer was Husamber
The first Chronomander was Vyctorius. Her notable descendants include Queen Sasana and Prince Dorian
The first Pheromacer was Lamboary
The first Vibromacer was Polian. His notable descendants include the Royal Xalians, who inbred to the point of dying out.
The first Photomacer was Fylander
The first Nucleomacer was Tonborius.
A Nucleomancy is a power of balance. A Nucleomancer can cause an object to become radioactive by redirecting and concentrating radiation from the sun. The range of lightwaves a Nucleomancer and sense and manipulate are at far higher frequencies than a Photomancer. Nucleomancers are able to redirect radiation coming into their sphere of influence away from themselves, meaning that they are in no danger of being irradiated by their own creations.
Nucleomancy was even less understood by the people of Callirhoe when it first emerged, for radiation had not been discovered. Tonborius was unable to explain his powers in ways other than that he could feel the power of the sun and was able to imbue other objects with that power. When he discovered how to make objects glow or emit heat long after he finished working on them his powers won him far more acclaim. He would radiate floors or walls in homes to provide a source of heat for anyone who needed the help. He taught his children this power, raising them to believe that their gift should be shared with anyone in need.
This, of course, was a disaster. Those who lived in these homes slowly sickened and prone to miscarriages. The children born were sickly and short-lived. These symptoms took decades to show up and Tonborius refused to accept that these could be a result of his powers.
Seventy years after the Mance stone granted power to the Mancers, Tonborius' descendants were deemed inherently too dangerous and were exterminated by the an alliance of other Mancers. All that he created was destroyed and buried deep to the cost of many other lives from the radioactive dust stirred up during dismantlement.
The first Mother of the Horned Ones was Debrian. Her notable descendants include Queen Sasana and Prince Dorian
