Though some say a god or gods created Earth and man, all once knew that it was man who created magic. Like a smith smelting down ore and forging it into tools, skillfully working the bases into masterful works of art. So too did the First grasp the threads of energy, of Matei, and weave them into the tapestry that is magic. Men and women, uttering the Speech, breathed words of life into the subtle beats of our world, naming the magic. But all was not well in this Eden. There were rumblings in the shadow. Children went missing. A sheppard would bed down at night and wake the next morning to empty fields. There was something in the shadow. There was the Dark. Howling cries of living shadows, hellspawn made manifest crept upon the fields of man at night, clawing at their homes. Forever hungered, they sought the sweet flesh of man to fill their bellies, their souls to light their hellborn eyes. The Dark would not be denied. Though the First would use their magic to fashion spells, golems, great beasts to fight their tormentors, they were as nothing before the mouth of Legion. The many acted as one in the hunt. Man was a resilient prey, unlike anything the Dark had seen since they first crept from the Blackness of the primal universe. They observed their enemy, learned from the predator, and knew that many working as one would repel the oncoming darkness. It was with that observation that they sang the Luminaries into being. Many small lights burning together to form a great beacon, shielding humanity from the Dark. Now, in the age of the Fourth, the eyes of men no longer see the Matei. Their ears no longer hear the Speech. Their feet have stilled from the Dance. Humanity has forgotten about their ancient tormentors and their tiny saviors. Thankfully, the Luminaries have never forgotten. They live on in the walls and in the fields, their cities gone to the eyes of all, save children. The little lights of their souls holding back a terrible wall of Black mortal minds could never grasp. A fuller history, set into more recognizable timeframes, will be available in the future. Dear reader, gain what hints you can from these pages and consider the tale before you. There are clues within our heritages. The magic is not lost, merely sleeping. The Luminaries, all content, characters, and related information, graphics and writings © 2008 David Dees.