The first of the Three Thrones was the largest nation in the history of Corus, the Merdelum Empire, a conglomerate of smaller kingdoms which managed to expand their territory through the help of the Ardent Path, a religious faction which worshipped only the lawful gods, whose leader, the luminary, was declared co-ruler of Merdelum next to its actual emperor. Though their takeover of their neighbouring nations was described as being mostly peaceful in nature, opposition to the empire was crushed relentlessly in the guise of a righteous crusade.

Seeing the sudden appearance of a religious empire which followed only the teachings of the lawful gods while suppressing all other religions caused great turmoil in the smaller nations in the north, as most of them either worshipped the chaotic gods, or thought religion should not partake in governing a nation. This led to plans of establishing an empire of their own, though as they were not united by any cause other than their fear of Merdelum, their ideologies started to clash, and no one nation trusted the other enough to declare them the ruler of this new empire.

Thus, the kingdoms of Yhose, Jhargas, Eurosa, Amvine, Ulsset, and the independent dukedom of Balmung decided upon creating an alliance led by a senate comprised of each leader of their respective nations instead, and the Northern Alliance was born. Not all northern nations decided to join this alliance, however, as there existed one kingdom who did not fear Merdelum.

On the Nirion-Peninsula, the north-western-most piece of land belonging to Corus, a rather small nation suddenly started to take over its neighbours at a never-before-seen pace. In less than 6 months, Domitor started to conquer all three of its neighbouring kingdoms, Ferorg, Machina, and Selinófoto, with minimal losses on their side, therefore joining the other two as the last of the Three Thrones. Of course, such a feat could not have been achieved without losses, with the greatest being considered the humanity of the nation's leaders and soldiers, as the stories of their ruthless and barbaric practices in upholding public order would suggest.

Outside of the Three Thrones were the Independent Nations in the south, which valued their peace above all else and refused to partake in the conflicts over supremacy, as they perceived them as pointless squabbles. They managed to keep their independence as the Three Thrones were already busy enough by trying to compete with one another, which made them try to avoid adding more enemies to the mix.

As time passed, conflict rose between the Three Thrones, which surprisingly only led to minor skirmishes here and there.

Despite this, the three powers knew that a major war between them was inevitable, as were the consequences that would follow such an event, which would spell the end of humanity, as the other races were highly unlikely to miss an opportunity such as this, where they would be able to expand their own influence through the exploitation of those trying to recover from an all-out war.

To safe humanity from its inevitable demise at its own hands, the Three Thrones came together to negotiate a temporary peace treaty. As magic was the deciding factor in any war, they decided upon establishing an organisation that would unite the magical knowledge of all Three Thrones within it, for if the worst was to come but their magical knowledge still surpassed that of any other race, no number of casualties would put humanity at a disadvantage against them. Hence the Arcane Union was born. It was later speculated that the Arcane Union was heavily inspired by the treaty made between the Magetowers of Einsamkeit, the Kalaidoscope Palace of Marktstadt, and the Academia Arcana in Eisenfeste, the three dominant magic-associations of the Independent Nations, though neither of the two organisations would ever recognise the other as an equal.

The Three Thrones knew that each of them would still withhold crucial information regarding their most well-kept secrets, but they also believed that the thirst for magical knowledge inherent in all who studied the magical arts was beyond any loyalty one held for one's nation, making leaks more than likely and thus forcing a balance between the Three Thrones.

The Arcane Union proved to be more valuable than its founders had imagined, as throughout the years they would make one incredible discovery after the other. One of the greatest changes the Union brought with it, was a uniform system to categorize all forms of magic, which would later be adopted by the rest of the world. It replaced the previous system, the Magical Trinity, which merely divided spells into Red Magic, which included offensive spells, White Magic, which consisted mainly of supporting spells, and Blue Magic, which described all other forms of magic, and instead sorted them according to their attributes into one of the Seven Schools of Magic:

Arcana, which manipulate Mana directly.

Elemental Magic, which makes use of the seven fundamental elements of nature: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Light, Darkness, and the Neutral Element.

Transfiguration, which influences organic life.

Synergy, which influences lifeless objects.

Conjuration, which influences energy.

Reality Magic, which manipulates Mana to bend the laws of physics.

And lastly, Ethereal Magic, a form of magic which borrows from the primordial forces and can only be used in the form of miracles provided by a deity.

Many breakthroughs in magic-tool-creation were made by the Union as well, such as discovering a way to manufacture spell-scrolls, which until then could only be attained as rewards from Abyssal Rifts, and even a device to measure magical aptitude, the Ordo Siderum.

However, as time passed, the Arcane Union slowly grew beyond the constant interference and restrictions placed upon them by their founding nations, and gradually decided to distance themselves from the Three Thrones. They used the funds accumulated through their inventions and contract work to pay for secret expeditions, one of which led to the discovery which would change the power balance on Corus drastically.

A relic, a magical item created by the gods themselves, was discovered by a contractor of the Arcane Union within a cave: a crystal covered in runes and spell-circles of never-before-seen complexity, which upon activation ripped seven mountains out of the ground and lifted them high up into the air. These seven islands were immediately occupied by the Arcane Union, which transformed them into the first City of Magic, Edenia, named after the relic which held the islands in the air. From then on, the Arcane Union declared its independence from its founding nations and rebranded itself into the Magician's Guild.

The Three Thrones did not look favourable upon this new revelation, with the king of Domitor being the most furious about it. Therefore, the kingdom launched an attack at Edenia, though to no avail, as it was quickly repelled by humanities most powerful spellcasters. To mitigate any further transgressions towards them, the Magician's Guild decided upon an act of retaliation in the form of a weapon-test of what was thought to have been a weapon left behind during the Dark Ages due to it having been crafted out of rather ordinary materials, mainly plain steel and mythril, which had been discovered inside one of Edenia's islands. However, as the Magician's Guild only wanted to deter, not cause any meaningless bloodshed, they decided to fire the weapon at a small military outpost, which was situated far enough away from any civilian settlement that could have been affected by the weapon to minimize casualties.

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Or so they thought.

Upon being fired, the spellcasters in the sky regretted their decision immediately. The weapon turned out to not only have been created long before the Dark Ages, but to be an ancient relic-weapon used by celestials during the Primordial War. The weapon started to draw enough energy from Edenia's core, to which it was connected, to cause the main island to drop several hundred yards¹ from its current position, and channelled it into a beam so powerful, that it completely vaporized a large area around the place it had struck, killing thousands of people and turning Nirion into an island, as it had erased the land bridge connecting the peninsula with the mainland of Corus.

Despite the weapon being deconstructed shortly after it had been fired, as it was considered too dangerous to remain in the hands of mortals, the event struck fear into the minds of humanity, forcing the nations who learned of it into a state of peace, as no one dared to incite Edenia's wrath.

An Age of Prosperity washed over Corus, but as with most ages, this one too was fleeting.

Centuries after the attack of Domitor and without as much as a warning, Edenia was suddenly engulfed in an explosion which could be felt all across the world. The survivors of the explosion would later tell of dragons being summoned within the city to be the cause for this, though at the time, no one knew the culprit of Edenia's sudden demise. As the Three Thrones congregated to discuss this event, the rulers of Yhose and Eurosa were assassinated by agents of Domitor, with Amvine and Ulsset openly admitting that they had forged an alliance with them to not befall the same fate. The Merdelum Empire, which had ties of its own with the two remaining members of the Northern Alliance, Jhargas and Balmung, had been informed about this betrayal beforehand, and had moved its army to intercept the enemy at their borders. This marked the beginning of the Edenian War, which would go on for 10 years.

The first to fall was the already fragmented Northern Alliance, as most of it was swallowed by Domitor, with the remaining nations allying themselves with Merdelum. No matter how hard Domitor tried, however, it was not able to push Merdelum and its allies back. Even with the help of members of the Vepar and Focalor demon-families, to which they promised parts of the conquered lands in exchange for their aid in battle, they were not able to penetrate their defences in any meaningful way. Years passed, and Domitor was being pushed back by the three, and ultimately forced to surrender after its king was assassinated. However, peace-talks were put on hold, as shortly after Domitor's king had lost his head, the dead began to rise from their graves.

It was no secret that battlefields and places that bore witness to immense cruelty would see an increase in corpses resurrected by the necrotic energy the anguish that had taken place there had caused, but the numbers of undead which started to terrorize the living all over the northern parts of Corus surpassed anything considered ordinary. Undead hordes of unworldly proportions lead by beings known as the Unborn, monsters which had forsaken the world of the living and made a pact with the Archon of Undeath, one of the vile deities who aimed to undo all of existence, to obtain immortality, now attacked nations from within, causing chaos among their ranks which in turn inflated the number of undead even further. Merdelum quickly managed to contain the damage caused, as the holy nation possessed an army of devoted acolytes trained in dealing with these monsters, but the eastern territories of Domitor and the western territories of the Northern Alliance started to crumble under the masses of walking corpses.

The reason for this spike in undead would make itself known during the following three years as it led the charge against Merdelum's capital: The Anathema of Life, or, as it became known as by the common populace, the Unborn Lord, commander of the undead horde. Nothing seemed to be able to halt the Unborn Lord's advances, as even those who were regarded as humanities strongest would fall after confronting it.

However, as all things seemed lost, a party of 5 young soldiers emerged from the battlefield and defeated the leader of the undead:

Dirk Riddar, a human raconteur whose quick decision-making skills were able to bring his friends through many a precarious situation unharmed,

Eleonora Boreas, a half-elven ranger whose sharp eyes and keen senses ensured the survival of her and her comrades on the battlefield,

Brom Galahad, a dwarven paladin who swore to protect both his friends and the people of Merdelum with his life,

Mira Adelaide, a spear-wielding warrior who valiantly fought to protect her comrades until the very end,

and Corvo Rhedi, a prodigy of elemental magic who managed to deal the final blow to the Unborn Lord.

Like a snake without a head, the remaining undead succumbed to the forces of the living without leadership, and thus the Edenian War finally came to an end.

The aftermath of this conflict resulted in the collapse of the Three Thrones, with each power splitting off and reverting into the territories they were made up from, though with, in some places, significant changes to their borders.

Domitor fragmented back into the nations it had taken over, with its original borders, a nation now known as Hammerfall, being occupied by the demonic clans they had allied themselves with.

Similar happened to Merdelum, with most kingdoms the nation consisted of removing the Ardent Path from its position as their main religion, as they saw themselves betrayed by the actions of the luminary, who seemingly valued her own life above that of all others, thus sending away the paladins and clerics of the Ardent Path from the frontlines and instead using them to protect their churches.

In reality, the luminary had sent her forces to protect the cities, thus minimizing both the damage done by monsters and criminals who tried to abuse the absence of law-enforcement due to the war, as well as the damage done by the rapidly emerging undead hordes. The reason for her actions was a premonition she received from the gods, which told her that her forces would be needed elsewhere, far away from the frontlines. She also advocated for taking the entire blame for her actions before the war even started, which now gave the empress of Merdelum an excuse to break up the empire, as it had been on the brink of a civil war due to the individual dukedoms planning to gain their independence by force, as well as giving the luminary the opportunity to abdicate her position and go into exile, a move which would save her life, as it would later turn out.

The former members of the Northern Alliance too saw changes in their borders, as Jhargas and Balmung, both of which managed to keep their losses at a minimum, took ownership of the fragments of those which had been decimated by Domitor's armies and the undead hordes.

Just as the Three Thrones had feared, humanity was greatly weakened by the war and in dire need of order. Thus, for the first time in the history of Corus, all human nations, even the Independent Nations of the south, convened together for a peace conference. It was here were they decided to follow the founders of the Three Thrones in their footsteps and create a new organisation which would stand at the centre of peace between all human nations, the Adventurer's Guild. The Guild was to help rebuild the war-torn continent and aid in humanities recovery wherever it could, though only to the extent that the strict neutrality in political matters, which had to be upheld within the nations they operated in, was not infringed.

In the newly formed kingdom of Albion, which consisted of all the regions formerly under Balmung's rule, a group of magi and merchants decided to rebuild the Magician's Guild and return it to its former glory, and soon, the second City of Magic, Fons Magicae, came to be.

During this period, the party of heroes who made all this possible decided to split up and went their own ways, completely vanishing from the eyes of the public.