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// Book One: Utopia 
// Story: Reconditus 
// by Vulpibard 
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Oh? An audience? How… Charming.

I suppose it falls on me to give an introduction. Very well- far be it from me to withhold true knowledge. My full name is Reconditus Domin Lunaris, scourge of Hesalvan, better known these days as the "bogey-man" of Gaia. I was born one thousand six hundred and twenty five years ago to a nomadic people known as the Sildari. 

There was a certain myth in my homeland at the time. If a child was born under the full glow of Gaia's third moon and given the name of a legendary wizard, they would inherit that wizard's power. And, in this alignment, that child was me. 

I was named for the great Reconditus, a powerful mage said to bring the very gods to their knees in the first age. The night of my birth, my parent's caravan had stopped moving and pitched their tents on a long forgotten hill.

The travelers who knew of the legends encouraged the couple to find a good place for their son to learn of his powers. They scoured all of Hesalvan, both the arcane schools and the astral temples, but were often turned away. We were Sildari, and as such had a certain reputation with the arcane world.

Those who did accept the young child could only keep them for a short time before falling prey to a series of 'misfortunes'. As I grew older and learned to tame my power, I had been to many schools- and at every one found my patience wear thin. I was quickly learning in a few days what took most scholars months, even years. As a result my fuse would often run short when it came to any incompetent peers and professors.

Eventually the kingdom had enough with this 'trouble child' and threw me out of their borders, only to be found by a tribe of druids.

Let me explain something here; The druids and Sildari of my homeland have a very... Interesting relationship. On one hand they were both outcasts, shunned by the great kingdom. On the other, where druids taught mutual respect and understanding, Sildari preferred mischief and secrecy. So our cooperation seldom went as far as it did on that night when, regardless of our differences, the druids took me in. They raised and taught me far longer than any of the academies. As a result I grew to respect them, even after I outgrew all they could teach me.

After I left the tribe I journeyed to the heart of the kingdom where I heard tell of a great place of learning, the Academy of the Archmage of Hesalvan. Once there the high council saw fit to put me through a series of tests. I was told I failed them, but a simple memory charm on one of the councilmen showed the opposite. The council did not want to risk my learning their secrets. They feared that, due to the myths surrounding me and my own prior actions, I would one day overpower them.

That very same day I received word that a crusade had begun against both gypsies and druids. Putting two and two together was not difficult to do. I admit that my anger got the best of me. In my rage I led a personal attack on the great library and the academy. I only made it out with a few books, but what I learned from them was shocking.

At this point in my life I had reached fifteen years of age, and had never dreamed of such a thing as forbidden knowledge. None of my professors nor even the druids ever let on of such a thing. But it was here in the books. The art of theurgy, bending divine power to arcane whim- in short, the combination of two separate sources of magic. My magic.

My unquenchable thirst for knowledge driving me, I dyed my robes and traveled abroad as the Black Mage Lunaris. I learned many new things; some light, and the ever more alluring and unknown dark. I shouldn’t have to tell you which path I took.

After a time, and learning a most intriguing path to immortality, I built up quite a reputation for myself. Which ultimately led me to that fateful day at the high councils chamber. The day I was forced to pick a new vacation home.