The Children of the Altar: Born of Sacrifice

On a distant planet far from its sun, the planet Wrüm remained warm only because fire mages constantly regulated its global temperature. Magic is inherited if at least one parent is a mage, but true mastery of an element becomes accessible only when a mage of that element is sacrificed on its altar, empowering all births in its range. When fire mages refused further sacrifices, the world fell into an eternal winter that wiped out the water mages and fire mages.

Present Day: It is the year 578 DEI, day 184 of 4333, month 13 of 142. The global population is 68% of what it once was in year 0 AEI. The land is no longer fertile, and agriculture is even more difficult under the circumstances that have brought them to their knees. This has led to the Air Society being unable to meet its demand for fruit and vegetable exports. However, the Earth Society does not face this problem—despite being the second largest and most successful agricultural exporters—due to their power. They face the disadvantage of not achieving the same scale as the Air Villages (which are located on the surface and protected by the almost impenetrable Air Wall), but they excel at harvesting mushrooms, algae, and other fungi. They do so hydroponically at shallow depths within caves and artificial underground structures. Many even utilize dwarven labor, while others are fortunate enough to have dwarves as earth mages, significantly reducing costs. Emigration is stricter in the southwest. No one is allowed to leave their settlements for repopulation purposes; they must keep as many people as possible within the settlement and prevent them from exploring or migrating elsewhere. Only elderly women and men with more than three children are permitted to leave. Otherwise, immigration is more flexible, but only for no wizards, for obvious reasons: the younger the applicant, the easier it is to obtain permission, as they also implement daily safety precautions. Crimes involving the taking of a life are punished with the utmost severity, including enslavement. A global earthquake occurred five months ago, in the eighth month of the year. Its epicenter and nature remain unknown; it appears to be far from any known settlement, so it is up to the explorers to locate it and return with information. Rewards continue to be offered for the discovery of new altars.