There’s a realm similar to ours but so very different. It’s a realm were history played out differently because of one key factor. Magic.

It’s as real to them as it is unreal to us. It utilizes the energy that flows through everything. They call this energy, Mana. It can flow in four different ways.

White, the most pure, holy, and righteous of magic. It is bestowed upon the wielder from a greater power. Be it through their faith in another or themselves.

Vivid, the most wild and fickle of magics. It flows through the elements, plants, and beasts around us. Utilizing it is to commune with nature itself

Grey, the most static and reliable of magics. It flows through inanimate objects and the user itself. Using grey is to use magic as a tool.

Finally, Black, The lowest of magics. It flows through beings, shadows, and the infernal. It is channeled through a mighty sacrifice and then is stolen.

It is evil and illegal throughout the realm, but that is what the people think.

The black arts can be beautiful. It can restore those who died too soon. It can heal those where other magics are not guaranteed. It can light the darkest paths and reveal the most ancient of secrets. 

It is powerful and the people fear it. The black arts can bring destruction. There are many tales and myths to explain this. The most widely known of which, is the Porsalsium. The Clerician tale of black arts.

Their pantheon consists of many deities, but the four of this tale are the Manatols. Created by higher deities to control the rampant energy that ransacked the realm. Each had their own way of controlling the magic.

Zal, Deity of the White Arts, The Giver. He contained the mana within himself and bestowed it on those that held such faith that they were deemed worthy.

Bogili, Deity of the Vivid Arts, The Balancer. She contained the mana within nature and gave it the ability to respond to the commands of those capable enough.

Hendro, Deity of the Grey Arts, The User. He contained mana in the mortal’s crafts, letting them use it as they see fit.

And finally, Porsalsias, Deity of the Black Arts, The Taker. She placed the mana with the humans themselves, hoping the people would use their own mana when the time came. 

They didn’t. They found ways of cheating the system that Porsalsias had set up and rather than reprimanding them, she congratulated them. She saw it fit to reward those who cheated the system for their ingenuity and gave them familiars. Powerful companions that better store and utilize the mana within the mortal so that they could easily and quickly use spells.

The others saw this as a way of cheating the system and punished Porsalsias. She was cast from her throne in the stars and forced to seep into the cracks of the earth. The Deities set about removing the familiars but soon found that, as a last gift, Porsalsias had tied the familiar to the people’s souls, granting future generations who had familiars. 

In a rage they cast a curse upon familiars and their Mages the inability to practice the Black arts without physical side effects. Necromancers appeared malnourished, pale, and demon eyed. Infernamancers bellowed green smoke with each breath and a sickening green glow. Shadowmancers had their veins blackened to fit their shadowy acts.

So on and so forth for every sect of the Black Arts. These twisted looking but otherwise normal people were the perfect targets for hatred and oppression. The Clericians and later their most prominent descendants, the Clerics, would begin to name them many things in many different languages over the centuries. Necrixi: Death Lovers. Inffers: Demon spawns. Umbrafod-sa: Shadow Slaves. Sanggom: Corrupter. And many more but all of them were derogatory.

The English speakers steal many of these words for specific types of dark arts. But their own and the all encapsulating one is, The Fallen

And so it is that the black arts were eventually outlawed and any who practiced it were quickly used as scapegoats, to explain the failures and corruption of many societies.

It isn’t until now, in the 21st century, mirroring our own world, that this oppression is being lifted. Alongside them, racism, homophobia, sexism, and many other systems are slowly being removed. 

However, slowly is not fast enough.