Young Writers Society

In the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean lies a series of islands, uncharted and forgotten, forgotten by all except for its natives. Our ships pass them every day, completely unaware of the levels of magic buzzing all around them. The natives of these lands took themselves off the map after the very first encounter.

The exact year is not exactly known, only that is was some time in the 1400’s. Off the coast if the northernmost forgotten island, there was a ship, the Fire Dream it was called. It was a mighty ship powered by great big sails, similar to those of the natives but what astounded them as they watched it come up over the horizon was how slow it was going. The Natives on the Southeast shore of this northern most island, called Elgtrama, gathered around the docks of the shore watching the ship. It was coming from the East, of that there was no question, but there was nothing to the East except a barren wasteland known to the natives as Larttrama. When it is said that the lands were barren it is not meant in the physical sense as we might mean it in modern time, in fact the land appeared to be beautiful with lovely mountains and grasslands, not far off from the East coast of Elgtrama itself. What it lacked was magic.

This land was completely barren of any sense of magic at all. It was said that when the ship’s crew who travelled there arrived, they felt very drained. They all resorted to using wands and staffs and whatever magical aids they had on them for even very simple magic such as summoning a book. There was just simply no magical presence.

Word got out of their travels soon enough and the rest of the Natives began to set out East. Each island found land, not very far from their island, forests, grasslands, deserts, land of all kinds were found, and again the coast of their found Larttrama appeared much the same as the coast they left only without a trace of magic. Over the years the Natives braved the ventures all around their known home and all around them the same Larttrama was found. Travelling to these lands became a novelty for thrill seekers, very few actually braved the travels and nobody ever stayed for long.

Now, if you haven’t guessed, the first Eastern Larttrama visited is known today as Ireland and as the other islands travelled east they found Portugal and the west coast of Africa. But let us return to the Natives, standing on the East coast of Elgtrama. Almost the entire region had come to watch, Merraeni (messages) had been sent out to regions all over Elgtrama and word was that they were on their way too.

It was learned through numerous forms of communication who these people were. It turned out that they were in fact from Larttrama and that they too were barren. They wasted no time in holding a council meeting once the “Larttramians”, as they so called them, had docked. The warriors or the “waiegehs” of Elgrama stood by as they did, but did not brandish or reveal their weapons as a sign of peace but an act of caution. The leader of the region, or the “Vudé” held out his hand as the first person stepped off onto the dock from the ship. The man reached out and grasped his hand in one of his a little firmly and began to shake it up and down. The waiegehs stepped forward taking this to be an act of aggression but the Vudé held up his hand to stop them. The man let go of his hand quick enough and it did not hurt him. The Vudé instead called his wife forward, he held his and out to her, palm up and relaxed, and she reached out and took his hand in hers and squeezed it lightly. They nodded to each other and looked back at the man who was watching them with keen eyes. When they had finished he too held out his hand to the Vudé and allowed him to squeeze it before doing the same with his wife.

The man and the Vudé stood there, looking at each other for a moment, taking in each other’s appearance. They looked undeniably similar with their fair skin and bright flaming red hair. Both were tall and husky, with a smattering of smile lines and battle scars creasing their faces. The Vudé invited the man and his crew to feast with them that night, though the townspeople had to play host as the Vudé had to run the council meeting which lasted most of the night.

They allowed the people to stay, studying their minds, their language and then their ways. The Menda, those who study magic of the mind, were able to get a good grasp of their language to begin with, with some help of the scholars and linguists they were eventually able to learn their language, written and spoken fluently.

About a year had passed before the men decided it was time to return home. Anticipating this moment ever since they arrived, the Council had the Menda, not just from Elgtrama but from all the southern islands of the natives, working on a shield. They had developed magical force field that would surround the island so that when a non-magical being passed through, their memory would be wiped clean of anything that had happened within the borders of the shield. They called this shield the Baniy Sayil. On the one year anniversary of their arrival the Larttramians boarded their ship and set sail.

As the years passed they created the Baniy Sayil around the rest of the island. They still got visitors every so often from Larttrama, though they found the Baniy Sayil created another effect that deterred Larttramian ships from it, though it didn’t stop them altogether. When they did get visitors the natives learned what they could about what was new in their society and with their people and sent the on their way as quick as possible as to not arouse suspicion. Surely people would start to notice if their ships went missing for long periods of time, each time the crew returning with serious bouts of amnesia.

Over the years after their visitors, the Elgtramians and the neighbouring natives to the south became interested in them and there began many more expeditions to the barren wastelands. The whole fiasco even created a new trade: Larttrama Exploring. Over the years they spent explorers overseas to Larttrama to keep up to date with the goings on of the rest of the world. They learned about their science, geography, politics and languages, everything they could, all of which were constantly changing. There weren’t many things the Natives chose to adapt to the new world. One of the few things they did adapt was the language. They did take the English language of the first Larttramians, they found the structure easy to use and universalize. Though they found many things didn’t translate quite the way they were meant to the Natives and many words of their native language were kept. The English language soon became popular amongst the people.

There were also many new items and technology brought back from their excursions. The council did not take well to this and began imposing restrictions on the imports from Larttrama. The ancients will never forget the day one of the Larttrama explorers returned with a gun. Safety was just one of the many reasons the council had started placing restrictions. They had heard of guns before. They had heard what they could do, but never had they expected anyone to bring one into their own land, it was suicide! So naturally, that’s what they decided it was. The explorer was brought before the council and was made to shoot himself in the head with the gun he had brought back. The people were encouraged to come watch; though children were at least banned from the demonstration. The purpose they told them was to demonstrate the seriousness of his offense, as well as the reason for it being an offense. It was meant to demonstrate just what a gun could do, what it represented and why they should not even want guns on their land. His body was dumped in the sea, along with the gun, on the other side of the Baniy Sayil. Back to Larttrama where it belonged they had said.

There was controversy surrounding this event of course, protesters too. The council stood by their decision and stressed that it was for the best and that they hoped it was enough to keep anyone from bringing anything dangerous back to their land again. This brought an onslaught of fighting for the freedom to bring whatever they wanted back. This lasted for years, until the year of 1511 when the council made the decision to end the argument once and for all. It was decided that anyone who argued for the approval of a Larttramian object or attempted to bring an unapproved object back into their land would be banished to love in Larttrama.

The council was not known for relinquishing on their decisions. Each person sentenced to banished were given a period of six months to get their affairs in order. This included acquiring items to harness their magic for use in the wastelands, either saying good-bye to their family or convincing them to come with them, and paying off debts. The demand for objects such as staffs, wands and amulets increased immensely over the next few years. Many people even chose to go of their own free will, drawn by the luxuries and novelties of the Larttramians.

It wasn’t long before a settlement was established in Northern Larttrama, in what we know as the United Kingdom. Over the years settlements were established in many more places all over Larttrama, developing their own magical community. For many years these magical settlements were still governed by the council. Strict secrecy laws were enacted to ensure the Larttramians did not learn of their magic, anyone who breached these laws were either imprisoned or sentenced to death if the breach was serious enough.

In the year 1800 the magical society in Larttrama gained independence from their motherland and became known formally at the Society of Modern Magicians, though that was more commonly used to reference the government, and the common term for the magic people in Larttrama was simply “magician”. It was about that time when the people of the islands were known as “The Ancients”.