The War of the Magi was a catastrophic, realm-spanning conflict that defined the late Fifth Astral Era of Eorzea (occurring roughly 3,000 to 1,500 years before the modern era). What began as an age of unparalleled magical innovation ultimately collapsed into an unchecked magical arms race between three rival city-states: Mhach, Amdapor, and Nym.
The excessive, reckless draining of environmental aether during this war utterly shattered the elemental balance of the planet. Manipulated from the shadows by the Ascians, this imbalance triggered the Sixth Umbral Calamity—a world-drowning deluge known as the Great Flood.
Following the biting freeze of the Fifth Umbral Era (The Age of Endless Frost), humanity rediscovered the arcane arts as a means of survival. This sparked a golden age of magical development, where unique city-states flourished through friendly rivalry and intellectual pursuit.
The Rise of Black Magic (Mhach): In the southern lowlands of Yafaem, a brilliant sorceress named Shatotto revolutionized arcane theory. Instead of relying solely on her internal life force, she discovered how to tap directly into the ambient, environmental aether of the land. This volatile, highly destructive discipline became known as Black Magic, positioning the city-state of Mhach as an unmatched offensive superpower.
The Rise of White Magic (Amdapor): Alarmed by the terrifying potential of Mhach's black magic, the civilization of Amdapor (located in what is now the Black Shroud) developed a counter-discipline. By harmonizing with the land and borrowing power from the ambient elementals, they created White Magic—an art centered on powerful healing, protective wards, and defensive succor.
The Strategic Brilliance of Nym: Situated on the maritime islands of Vylbrand, the small nation of Nym lacked the vast aetherial reserves of its continental rivals. To survive, they developed a distinct military tradition. They combined heavy, axe-wielding Royal Marines with Scholars—tacticians who commanded sentient, aetherial faerie familiars to cast precise battlefield shields and healing spells.
As centuries passed, the prosperous equilibrium between these nations soured into geopolitical paranoia. The friendly rivalry dissolved, igniting a total war for continental dominance.
The war quickly devolved into a grueling stalemate. While Mhach possessed devastating offensive spells, they found themselves completely blocked by the impenetrable barriers and defensive architecture of Amdapor. Meanwhile, every attempt by Mhach to invade the island nation of Nym was humiliated by the superior defensive choke points and flawless strategy of the Nymian Royal Marines.
Frustrated by their inability to break through, the black mages of Mhach turned to forbidden, dark alternatives: Void Magick.
Unable to conquer Nym through conventional military force, Mhach resorted to bio-magical warfare and espionage. They tricked a Nymian sea galley into carrying a cursed ampoule back to their home territory. Sealed inside was a high-ranking voidsent named Bitoso, who unleashed a horrific, mutating plague known as the Green Death.
The disease melted the ears and noses of the Nymians, shrunk their limbs, and turned their skin a sickly green hue. To prevent the plague from consuming the entire island, the infected were quarantined inside the Wanderer's Palace, which was subsequently submerged beneath a lake. These tragic, mutated survivors became the first Tonberries. With their military backbone shattered, Nym was effectively knocked out of the war.
With Nym neutralized, Mhach threw its full, undivided fury at Amdapor. Utilizing deep blood sacrifices and high-tier void rituals, the Mhachi successfully summoned Diabolos, a terrifyingly powerful Voidsent Shadow Lord, directly into the heart of the white mage capital.
The resulting battle devastated Amdapor. Though the White Mages successfully managed to seal Diabolos away within the city's ruins using massive, enchanted stone statues and gargoyle golems, the structural and cultural heart of Amdapor was completely broken.
The catastrophic climax of the war did not end with a military victory, but with the rebellion of the planet itself.
For generations, thousands of black and white mages had ruthlessly extracted ambient aether from the land to fuel their spells. This reckless draining completely exhausted the world's natural elemental currents, leaving the environment heavily skewed toward the element of water. Unbeknownst to the warring nations, the Ascians capitalized on this imbalance, orchestrating the rejoining of the Tenth Reflection to supercharge the element of water on the Source.
The planet’s elementals, deeply enraged by the mortal hubris that was choking the star, manifested their collective wrath into an entity named Oha-Sok. This elemental of pure destruction unleashed the Sixth Umbral Calamity.
"The sky wept withoutceasing, and the seas swallowed the land. The achievements of man were washed away in the blink of an eye, a grim reminder of the price of hubris."
Ceaseless, torrential downpours began across Eorzea, and the oceans rapidly rose to swallow the continents.
The Ruin of Nym: Already crippled by the Tonberry plague, Nym's remaining military enacted Operation Maelstrom to shield their maritime city, but subsequent tidal waves completely shattered and washed the nation away.
The Drowning of Skalla: Located in a deep, steep-walled ravine in Gyr Abania, the mountain city-state of Skalla was completely submerged. When the global waters eventually receded, the water had nowhere to drain, creating the permanent saltwater lakes known today as The Lochs.
The Fate of the Mhach Ark: The Mhachi foresaw the rising waters and constructed a desperate escape plan: The Ark, a colossal flying vessel powered by the bound life force of a thousand voidsent. However, during the chaotic evacuation, the mages lost control of the primary power source—the Voidsent Queen Scathach. The internal containment failed, the voidsent slaughtered the crew, and the vessel became a ghost ship, drifting aimlessly through the clouds for over a millennium as the Void Ark.
The remnants of humanity fled the devastating floodwaters by climbing into the highest mountain ranges of Eorzea, primarily the highlands of Gyr Abania. Stranded together in exile, the surviving mages of Mhach and Amdapor realized that their mutual arrogance had nearly destroyed the world.
To ensure survival and prevent another apocalypse, both Black Magic and White Magic were strictly outlawed and labeled as forbidden arts. The elementals of the Twelveswood aggressively claimed the ruins of Amdapor, burying them under dense, hostile foliage to keep the secrets of white magic hidden from mortal hands.
Out of the ashes of this shared exile, survivors from both sides combined the remaining, truncated principles of black and white disciplines. Desiring a magic that would never drain the land's environmental resources again, they learned to cast spells using only their internal, personal life force, giving birth to a new, balanced art: Red Magic.
Centuries later, as the floodwaters finally receded, the survivors descended from the peaks to establish the modern nations of the Sixth Astral Era, transforming the deep-seated trauma of the War of the Magi into a distant historical legend.