History Overview

about the game
Shamans, witches, witch-doctors, magicians, sorcerers, pixies, elves, mages, fairies, sprites... they are all names for one and the same species. Fairykind have lived amongst humans for as long as living memory. Originally, there was harmony between people and the magical folk, but over time humans began to fear magic, and prosecuted fairies accordingly. "Witch" became a negative. Since the human population exploded, numbers can subdue even magic, and most fairies simply kept their heads down and tried to hide their powers.

Shaman is a world set in a different time and universe to Earth, created especially for fairykind as a sanctuary from humans. All fairies on Earth can travel to Shaman at any time, but the trip is generally one-way, since getting back isnt quite so easy. Upon entry to Shaman, all fairies instantly lose their powers and are reset to level one. A fresh start for everyone.

However, Shaman is not always the sanctuary it was intended to be. Riddled with political corruption, prone to civil wars and torn apart by conflicting deities and difference of religious belief, it's sometimes wondered if fairies weren't be better off on Earth...

history overview - pre-shaman
notable characters
Akhenaten: human Pharoah of Ancient Egypt during the 18th dynasty; first monotheist in history; inspiration behind the religious revolution of fairykind.
Aura: first of the original fairies; founder and first Chair of the Council of Originals; widely believed to be the creator of Earth; creator of Shaman.
Gwythr: original fairy; High Judge of the Star Chamber and second Chair of the Council of Originals; a popular and imposing political figure.
Mallos: original fairy; a popular figure with no apparent interest in politics or in the actions of the Council.
Poppy: first child of an original fairy; daughter of Aura and an unknown ordinary male fairy; locked up from infancy for possessing uncontrollable magic.

a lesson in history
Nobody can quite pinpoint the beginning of time. A human will tell you one of two theories; that Earth was created one day by a big bang, or that there was an omnipotent being who designed it. A fairy will tell you that there was a big bang and that there are omnipotent beings, but how Earth came to be is still a mystery to most of them.

Nobody is quite sure which came first: fairykind, or Earth. It's widely known that fairies were created from the stardust, the same substance from which magic originates. The first twenty or so fairies (an exact number is difficult to pin down, since their numbers have depleted over time), known as the "original" fairies, were created from pure stardust. Consequently, every cell in their bodies was infused with pure magic, and they had complete control of divinity - the ultimate omnipotent power. Amongst these originals was Aura, the very first fairy in existence. As we understand it, by the time the other originals were "born" both Aura and the Earth were already in existence, so not even they know which came first; the fairy or the universe. Whether or not Aura is "God" has been argued since the beginning of time.

After the first twenty or so original fairies came the others. By this time, stardust had become contaminated with other chemicals, and this contamination prevented the later fairies from possessing the innate ability to control pure magic. Unlike the originals, they were mortal. The first generation of ordinary fairies is long since dead, but some of the originals still survive today. It's estimated that there are less then ten originals left.

For a long time, the originals enjoyed more or less equality of worship from the ordinary fairies. The revolution came at about 1350 BC during the 18th dynasty in Ancient Egypt, when the human Pharaoh Akhenaten became the first monotheist in history by overthrowing the old Egyptian gods and replacing them with the One God, the sun-disk Aten. His revolution inspired a difference of religious opinion amongst fairies, and many started to argue that Aura was the One God and that all the other originals were just demi-gods. The originals, an arrogant group by nature, were largely infuriated by the idea and a civil war amongst fairykind was waged. The war ended when Aura refused to say whether or not she had created Earth and expressed her disgust with the fighters. In order to unite fairykind, the originals banded together to form the Council of Originals - a union of deities who would meet regularly to discuss major issues. The monotheists agreed to abide by the Council's laws, but demanded that the founder, Aura, be made the Chair - which she was. Aura's first act as Chairman was to pass a controversial law which banned the originals from reproducing, on the grounds that an unfair burden would be placed on any children they bore. Shortly after the founding of the Council, the Star Chamber, the high court which dealt with grievances against the originals, was also established. Gwythr, often known as "Gwythr the Wise" or "The Second Fairy", was unanimously elected as High Judge.

It seemed that the creation of the Council succeeded in uniting fairies from all over the world, who were happy to abide by the fair laws they produced. Even after Akhenaten died, the Council continued to meet in his city in the desert, the City of the Horizon of the Sun (Akhetaten, or modern-day Amarna).

In 990 AD, scandal broke. It was discovered that the oldest law (the one forbidding the originals from reproducing) had been broken, by none other than Aura herself, when a man was found to be pregnant with her own child. The man died in childbirth but produced a daughter, Poppy, who was found to have inherited divinity but not the ability to control it. Aura protested innocence and claimed she had been framed, but she was still forcibly made infertile, demoted from her position as Chair and, although never officially expelled from the Council, was generally considered by all as a social outcast. Gwythr was chosen as the new Chair of the Council, and he decreed that Poppy should be locked up in a safe-house for her own safety and the safety of others around her, since her uncontrollable magic was deemed "dangerous." Poppy was exiled to a prison in Mount Etna on the isle of Sicily, off the coast of Italy, where she grew up in isolation. She was never told the identity of her mother and over time, she became a forgotten myth amongst fairykind. Angered by her punishment despite her continued claims to innocence, Aura disowned Poppy as her daughter and refused to see her.

After Gwythr became the Chair, the Council began to meet less regularly and its efficiency dropped noticeably. In 1588, the first proposal for a sanctuary for fairykind on a new world was made by Aura, but the Council more or less ignored it. The proposal was repeated (and ignored) at every meeting between then and 1914, when the outbreak of World War One distracted fairies and humans alike. The Council's inefficiency was highlighted by the war, and many - Aura included - began to lose faith in it. After the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, Aura was finally fed up enough of the Council and humankind to create the new world herself. She fondly named it 'Shaman' after the time when humans and fairies had lived together in peace. Since there was no time lock on Shaman and its time did not correspond with Earth, fairies from any period of time or in any world (not just Earth) could travel there simply by expressing the wish. The Council were so furious that she had acted without their permission that they finally exiled Aura altogether and denounced Shaman. They made it clear that any fairy who went to Shaman would be unwelcome back on Earth.

Some time during the Second World War (it's estimated late 1943/early 1944) when the Council were sufficiently distracted by the Nazis, Poppy escaped from her prison and disappeared abroad. How she managed this is still unknown. By the time her absence was noted and a full investigation launched, she'd disappeared. She managed to keep her head down for a good fifty years or so, but by the early 21st century the Council were hot on her tail, and she finally made the decision to travel to Shaman in 2008.

It's understood that Mallos left for Shaman shortly after Poppy did, although the exact year of his departure from Earth is still unknown.

history overview - post-shaman
notable characters
Anneliese: Aura's phoenix familiar.
Arthur: ordinary fairy; son of Nimueh but not Mallos; second King of Shaman.
Aura: first of the original fairies; founder and first Chair of the Council of Originals; widely believed to be the creator of Earth; creator of Shaman.
Caspian: original fairy; murdered upon arrival in Shaman.
Draco: ordinary fairy; unwittingly assisted Mallos in the murder of Aura.
Ewan: ordinary fairy; Twinge's son with Joel.
Freya: ordinary fairy; first Champion of the Omniety.
Gwythr: original fairy; High Judge of the Star Chamber and second Chair of the Council of Originals; a popular and imposing political figure.
Joel: ordinary fairy; lover of Twinge; Omniety finalist.
Lauma: Mallos' lioness familiar; originally a fairy.
Mallos: original fairy; a popular figure with no apparent interest in politics or in the actions of the Council.
Patrick: ordinary fairy; Omniety finalist.
Pedro: Mallos' second familiar, a squirrel.
Poppy: first child of an original fairy; daughter of Aura and an unknown ordinary male fairy; locked up from infancy for possessing uncontrollable magic.
Twinge: ordinary fairy; reincarnated horse-queen; led the resistance against Mallos when he rose to power the first time.

dictionary
Fairy Fort: the "home" of an original. Created by divinity, a fairy fort is literally an area of land infused with magic. A fort becomes inactive when the fairy which created it no longer calls it home, although it retains its magic for many years. Once the magic is completely lost, it is referred to as dormant.
Pendant of the Divine: the identifying marker of an original fairy. Each one is unique. Since the originals change their appearance frequently, these pendants are used to identify one another; without them, an original cannot take their seat at the Council of Originals.
Realm of the Dead: the place to which the soul travels upon death. It's understood that this is neither Hell nor Heaven, but some kind of judgeless purgatory.
Rip: a hole in the fabric of time and space which allows a traveller to move between two fixed points in time and space. Generally used to move between worlds/universes, but can be used for time travel.
Time Paradox: (in this context) when a person goes back in time to set up the apparatus which makes it possible for him to travel in time in the future.

a lesson in history
Shaman was created by Aura in AD 1919 on Earth (Shaman year 0) in its own separate universe. As well as building a new world from scratch, she pulled several less known inactive fairy forts from Earth: the Shrine, Shady Labyrinth, Haven, the Old Ruins and the Crystal Hall. Creating a world is a complex process, and even Aura couldn't determine where those forts would end up - Crystal Hall is still lost. Aura also used the energy generated in the creation of Shaman to rip her soul in half and produce a familiar: the phoenix, Anneliese.

For a long time, life on Shaman was peaceful. Aura was considered the sole deity, although freedom of religious belief was tolerated. The next generation who were born into and grew up in Shaman didn't even know the names of the originals. For the most part Aura maintained a role as a spiritual leader, leaving day-to-day politics to the democratic government of the Core. Shaman suffered only one real incident when one of the originals travelled here, only to be murdered before he could see Aura. Caspian's murder has never been solved.

When Mallos arrived in Shaman, he was stripped of his powers and reduced to the status of a level one fairy, the same as everyone else. He quickly charmed Aura, who agreed to give up her divinity and become mortal for him. Aura attempted to transfer her full divinity into Anneliese, but Mallos used the time paradox (keep reading, you'll understand later ^__~) to siphon off the power and take her divinity for his own, reducing her to a powerless level one state. Mallos banished Anneliese to the Crystal Hall, which is hidden somewhere in the labyrinth of tunnels behind the Shrine, raped Aura and cast her out. Mallos' reign in Shaman is notable for three main points. Firstly, he destroyed democracy by creating a royal family (with himself as the King) and set up an autocratic government. His first act as King was to abolish the laws Aura had created which forbade murder and rape. Secondly, he proceeded to reproduce with just about every female who came within a mile of him (and several males), creating what has been referred to as "the Mallos generation." Thirdly, he created a rip in time and space which opened up a gateway between our world and the world of Hoof Prince. When these two worls collided, fairy and horse fought bitterly. Mallos' actions made him unpopular as a deity and a resistance led by Twinge caused Shaman to rally against him.

However, not everyone opposed Mallos. He managed to secure the confidence of a young boy named Draco, whom he made pregnant before demanding that the boy bring him Aura. Draco found Aura and quickly fell in love with her, but by this time he realised what Mallos had done to him and he acknowledged the fact that he would never be able to give birth without Mallos' support. Rather than remain pregnant his entire life, Draco chose to hand Aura over to Mallos, whereupon Mallos possessed him and forced him to murder her.

At some point in Mallos' reign before Aura's death, Poppy arrived in Shaman. And caused havoc.

Mallos used the rip between the worlds of Shaman and Hoof Prince to create a time paradox. Using the time paradox, he went back in time to when he'd stolen Aura's powers, in order to give himself an injection of magic which enabled him to accomplish this feat.

When Aura died, Anneliese died with her, and the magical bonds surrounding her were broken. As a phoenix she was reborn from her own ashes. Anneliese conspired with the horses of Hoof Prince and together with their deities and Oracle, they reversed the spell Mallos had used on her to trap him in the Crystall Hall. Thus, Shaman entered a phase where, for the first time, it was without a deity. The only controllable divine being was Mallos' familiar Lauma, a lioness who had originally been an ordinary young fairy. Lauma was disinclined to use her powers and disliked most fairies, so most people opted to keep out of her way. Arthur, who Mallos had believed to be his son, succeeded him as King and his rule is known as a curious blend of democracy and autocracy.

Anneliese conspired with Poppy and Lauma to bring Aura back to life. All of Shaman united to transform Epitome Jungle into a fairy fort and collect the "ingredients" necessary to revive Aura's body and restore her soul from the realm of the dead. They succeeded in reviving her body, but unfortunately they didn't have the means to restore her soul. Anneliese transferred her part of their soul back into Aura (an act of suicide) in order to restore life to the body, and fragments of Aura's soul which had been left behind when she died (the "ghost" of the soul) were able to restore an imitation of her personality. She was powerless and operating on several scraps of soul bundled together, but she was alive. She also had a limited amount of magic which she brought back with her. Shaman enjoyed a brief respite in which Aura and Lauma teamed up as makeshift fairy and familiar. Poppy confronted Aura and, upon discovering that she was her mother, promptly disowned her. In a strange turn of events Poppy ended up marrying Draco, whose life she had saved when he, in a moment of weakness, had accidentally admitted support for Aura in Mallos' presence, provoking the latter into trying to kill him.

The first Omniety competition took place, causing Freya to become the Champion of the Omniety. He, Patrick and Joel, the other finalists, experienced what it was like to weild controllable divinity when they possessed Aura's body in the second round. During the Omniety, Adonis, leader of Shady Labyrinth (a territory which had opened its doors as a sanctuary during Mallos' reign) was transformed into a werewolf and in this form he raped Aura, who fell pregnant. In a fit of rage, Aura used up the last of her magic to transfer the child to Draco. Poppy intervened and froze the embryo.

After a while Mallos discovered a way to escape from Crystal Hall by using rats infused with magic to weaken the bonds. As each rat was released, a terrible curse was unleashed upon Shaman. There were seven curses in total. The first curse was the volcano at Falcon Point erupting, creating an immense ash cloud which blotted out the sun and covered Shaman in eternal winter and darkness. The second curse disconnected the bond between fairies and familiars, causing familiars to go wild and turn on their fairies. The third curse was an earthquake far out to sea which caused a flood so high that the entire population had to live in the King's castle in the Core until the lands deflooded. With the fourth curse, fairies went feral this time, with roughly half the population being reduced to primitive animal instincts. In the fifth curse, fairies with familiars swapped bodies with their animal companions, while those without were rendered temporarily unconscious. The sixth curse caused everyone to become either blind, deaf or mute. The seventh curse was Mallos.

When Mallos returned, his first act was to take revenge upon those who had angered him. He used Draco's hand to put Poppy into a coma, created the rock-dragon and sent it to destroy Twinge's son Ewan, and reactivated the fairy fort at Shady Labyrinth. He revealed that his plan had been to kill and then revive Aura all along. In her new body, as she'd already proven, she was fertile. Mallos argued that the originals should reproduce with each other to create a new race of fairies with controllable divinity. This race was necessary, he believed, since the originals were dying out, and he also felt that Earth should be wiped of humankind and ordinary fairies reduced to a servant status of the Master Race. Aura disagreed, and when Lauma sided with her a civil war began in Shaman. Shaman split into the two empires of Set-Merut and Per-aa Nakht, and the people of Shaman were forced to choose between Aura's ideology (democracy and freedom of rights) and Mallos' (power and strong leadership).

During the war, the fragility of Aura's soul was revealed. Lauma died in an attempt to turn Apeliotes Island into a fairy fort, transferring her power to a squirrel named Pedro, and in the confusion Aura was captured by Per-a'a Nakht and magically bound to the palace in Shady Labyrinth. Ewan and Arthur then set about rescuing Draco from the Shady Labyrinth. Draco had willingly entered the Shady Labyrinth a few years before but had been denied the opportunity to leave by Mallos, who had intended to use Aura's child as bait for her. With Draco out of Per-a'a Nakht, Aura realised she may never have the opportunity to see her child unless she escaped herself, and this was the motivation she needed. Aura found a minute galaxy disguised as a pearl in Mallos' bedroom and, when she cracked the glass and the stardust seeped back into her body, she regained full divinity once more. Mallos was too late to stop her from escaping and returning to Apeliotes Island, which she then turned into a fairy fort to protect the people against him. She later explained that at some point in the future, a rip would open up which would allow someone to travel back in time and place the galaxy in Mallos' room for her to find. This was the second time paradox.

Upon Aura's return to Set-Merut, Pedro's magic was removed and the piece of Mallos' soul was placed inside a ring. Aura stepped down as the empress of Set-Merut, preferring the role of Mage now that her magic had returned, and appointed Arthur her successor. Arthur was also appointed General of the Army; Patrick became the new Second and Adonis and Joel joined the Council.

The war took a sudden twist when Poppy woke up from her two-year coma. After the events of the past two years were explained to her, she declared that it was impossible for Mallos to have reactivated the fort at Shady Labyrinth because that fort was, in fact, Gwythr's. Poppy being Poppy, nobody believed her until Mallos captured her, presumably to prevent her from telling them what she'd told them. In a confrontation, it was revealed that Mallos had actually been Gwythr all along, and that the real Mallos was locked away on Earth and had never even set foot in Shaman. Gwythr had been posing as Mallos since 940 AD, for over 1000 years, and had stolen Mallos' Pendant of the Divine, which is how he was able to fool Aura into thinking he was Mallos. The "Mallos generation" were the real Mallos' children, since Gwythr couldn't afford to have his cover blown by something as simple as a DNA test, but he felt no affection for them because they weren't his own. Furthermore, Lauma and Pedro had actually been Mallos' familiars, not Gwythr's. With the assistance of Joel and Castiel, Aura helped Poppy to escape from the Shady Labyrinth, and together with Joel, Arthur, Patrick and Adonis, they put together a plan to rescue the real Mallos and alert the Council of Originals of Gwythr's treachery. Aura would open up a rip to Earth and send two teams out on "operation Kemet": the missions which would rescue Mallos and visit the Council. Unfortunately, the first rip she opened led to the destruction of the Old Ruins, Shrine, Land's End and Desolate Plains, but created the Starground, Robin Orchard and Sunlit Meadows.

The second rip successfully opened a connection with modern-day Earth, but in the process Shingle Brook, Mirror Tributaries, Falcon Point and Sunburst Coast were all destroyed. It was determined that Aura would lead one party to the Council while Poppy would accompany the other to rescue Mallos. To ensure Set-Merut's protection, they decided to leave behind Poppy's familiar Penguin and also revive Mallos' familiar in the form of a puppy named Blue.

Mallos arrived in Shaman in the middle of the biggest battle in Shaman's history, now known as the Battle of Apeliotes Island. Gwythr's forces, a combination of soldiers and lamrions led by his second-in-command, Selene, attacked the island unexpectedly. King Arthur led a powerful defence force, but they were gradually pushed back. The battle was finally concluded when Rushad Jirka used a spark of divinity to push Gwythr's forces back. After the battle, Mallos agreed to assist the war effort on Arthur's side.

A slight lull followed, before a second battle broke out. Gwythr once again attacked Apeliotes Island, this time leading the forces personally. This time, Aura and Mallos were both away, and without a deity to protect them even the might of Set-Merut was no match for Gwythr's divinity. Apeliotes Island was taken without a fight and King Arthur was sentenced to death at dawn. Meanwhile, Mallos revealed to Aura that he had a sister, Estefania, who was hiding on Apeliotes Island; it was Estefania whom Gwythr was searching for. Mallos and Aura returned to the island, found Estefania, released Arthur and began a furious battle against Gwythr's forces. While this was happening the Acting Chairman of the Council of Originals, Tsi, took a group of original fairies (Lorraine, Khasekhemwy, Zed and Allianah) and came to Shaman. Once they arrived, the five of them used their combined magic to stop the battle and freeze Gwythr and Aura. Tsi promised the Shaman people twenty years of peace, at the end of which they would be able to select which god they preferred. He reduced Aura and Gwythr to embryos and placed them each inside the womb of a woman, proclaiming that they would be reborn with no memories of their previous life. At the age of twenty, their memories would be returned to them. Mallos was forced to give up his magic to Aura (whose divine necklace was taken away) and made to stay on Shaman to guard the balance. Tsi and the other originals left.

The twenty years Shaman were given to rebuild were not quite as peaceful as promised. After she lost two of her prizes possessions, the Russian deity Lorraine blamed King Arthur and imposed a furious winter on Shaman. The population of Shaman were crowded into three territories (Shady Labyrinth, Ily Moor and Vista Mountains) and forced to search for her missing items. Famine and disease spread. The items were eventually located and recovered, but not before tragedy struck the royal family: Prince Gawain, heir to the throne, went missing and was eventually declared dead. Prince Tristan became the new heir to the throne. Embittered by the loss, Queen Lilith ran away into the wilderness and was not seen again by any fairy or familiar. After Lorraine lifted her winter, she threatened Arthur for his silence and returned to Earth.

When the twenty year period was up, Aura and Gwythr froze as promised. The people chose Aura to be their patron goddess, and Gwythr was returned to Earth to face trial for his crimes. Almost immediately, Tsi arrived on Shaman and announced that he was recalling Aura and Mallos to help deal with some problems on Earth being caused by an unknown ancient magical creature. Aura, Mallos and two warrior-deities, Rhaegar and Allianah, travelled to the centre of the Earth to try and negotiate the council's terms with the creature. They never found it, but they did prove to be no match for it, especially after it took their divinity. When they discovered a rip to the Realm of the Dead which was feeding the creature's energy, Aura jumped through it to shut it from the other side and technically died, thus returning the others' magic to them and enabling them to escape. Tsi decided Earth was no longer safe for the original fairies and spread them across different worlds to fight the creature from afar. He, Rhaegar and Xephyr stayed on Shaman and erected the pantheon to live in.

The territory borders were redrawn and landmarks were named after famous Shamanites. A new and sinister territory, Macabre Marsh, emerged around the same time as the pantheon, infested with monsters.

While in a trance-state fighting the ancient creature, Tsi became semi-possessed and was forced to self-detonate in order to prevent the creature from being able to enter Shaman. In lieu of this and with King Arthur's permission, Zed brought the deities to Shaman to strengthen the magical barriers around Shaman. Their plan backfired when their combined magic alerted the creature of their presence, and all the barriers broke down. A more powerful enchantment originally cast by Aura as a last-resort protection for Shaman was automatically erected, preventing the ancient creature from getting in - and the deities from getting out.

As time wore on, the ancient creature's attacks on the enchantment began to wear it down. Cracks appeared, and with each new crack came a hoard of terrifying monsters. With each crack, the dome grew weaker and weaker. Eventually it weakened enough to bleed through a beastly creature revealed to be Therait, Tsi's familiar. An enormous sea monster, Therait took up residence in the ocean and satisfied his need for entertainment by preying on ships. In the initial battle against Therait, Mallos, Lorraine and Tsi were all incapacitated and rendered indefinitely comatose.

Eventually the dome shattered, unleashing the ancient creature into Shaman. It immediately confiscated the magic of every fairy in Shaman with the intent to consume it. The remaining deities and the royal family worked together to try to find a way to restore magic, and eventually discovered some documents left behind by Aura. These documents loosely explained how magical "rune stones" hidden throughout Shaman could be collected and combined to create magical powers all fairies could tap into and use to fight the creature. The quest to find all the rune stones and the rest of the documents began in earnest.