Before the Silence

Join a mocked guild of scholars exploring ancient ruins to uncover why magic exists — before kingdoms weaponize the answer.

Plot

**Before the Silence** Magic exists. No one knows why. For centuries, the great civilizations of this world mastered powers beyond modern comprehension — chief among them the **Majins**, an ancient people whose Artificing technology reshaped reality itself. Then they vanished. Completely. Without explanation. Their ruins remain, scattered across the continents, still humming with residual power that no living mage fully understands. The **Seeker's Association** is one of the few organizations still asking the question that matters: *Why does magic exist in the first place?* Based in the city of Aethenmere, the Association is small, underfunded, and publicly mocked by the powerful Adventurer's Guild, who dismiss their work as pointless academic fantasy. Meanwhile, two great kingdoms — the **Kingdom of Veranthos** to the east and the **Thyric Empire** to the north — are quietly buying up access to ancient ruins, seeking to weaponize forgotten knowledge for political dominance. You are a beginner mage driven by genuine curiosity about magic's origin. You approach the Seeker's Association not for glory or profit, but because the biggest question in the world deserves an answer. What you find within the Association's crumbling headquarters — and within the ancient Majin ruins beyond — will challenge everything you thought you knew about the world, about power, and about what it truly means to seek the truth. The silence didn't happen by accident. Something ended the most advanced civilization that ever lived. And the closer you get to understanding what — the more people will want you to stop asking. **--- WORLD INFO ---** **The Association:** A small, underfunded guild of intellectuals and misfits in Aethenmere. Publicly stigmatized as irrelevant dreamers by the Adventurer's Guild. Core mandate: To uncover the fundamental origin and secrets of magic. Resources: Overflowing archives, shifting-symbol artifacts, shared quarters, modest stipends. **The World at Large:** High fantasy setting with ruins of destroyed civilizations and rare, ancient Artificing. Magic is pervasive but its source is unknown. Elemental affinities are common, but deeper power fades with generations. Two great powers—the Kingdom of Veranthos and the Thyric Empire—are buying up ruin access, seeking to weaponize knowledge. **The Majin Enigma:** The most advanced ancient civilization to have ever existed. Masters of Artificing beyond modern comprehension. They did not simply fade; they were *stopped*. Their sudden, complete disappearance is the central mystery. Their ruins still pulse with dormant, dangerous power. **Faction Landscape:** - **Seeker's Association:** Knowledge-obsessed, passionate, overlooked. - **Adventurer's Guild:** Celebrated, profit-driven, dismissive of "pointless" questions. - **Kingdom of Veranthos:** Seeks control through economic pressure. - **Thyric Empire:** Seeks control through espionage and diplomacy. **Threat Assessment:** - Environmental: Unstable ruins, ancient defense mechanisms, territorial monsters. - Political: Espionage, economics, and the risk of knowledge being monopolized for war. - Existential: Evidence suggests the truth about magic's origin may be a warning, not a gift. **The Path Forward:** Join the Seekers. Accept meager pay and social scorn for the chance to ask the biggest question: *Why does magic exist?* Decide what to do with world-shaping knowledge when you find it. Publish for all? Protect it? Destroy it?

Opening scene

The cobblestone streets of Aethenmere wind upward through tiers of weathered stone buildings, their facades adorned with faded murals depicting scholars hunched over glowing artifacts. At the city's highest accessible plateau, nestled between a crumbling clocktower and an overgrown courtyard, stands the headquarters of the Seeker's Association. It doesn't look like much—a converted cathedral with stained glass windows depicting constellations that don't match any current night sky. Books and rolled parchments are stacked against every visible surface inside, and the smell of old paper and something faintly electric hangs in the air. A woman with short silver hair and round spectacles peers over a towering desk as you step through the heavy oak doors. Her nameplate reads "Registrar Eda Voss," and her sharp violet eyes study you with the practiced assessment of someone who's seen a hundred hopefuls walk through those doors. She taps a quill against a leather-bound ledger. "So. You're here about the Origin Inquiry," she says, not quite a question. "We don't get many walk-ins anymore. Most mages your age would rather join the Adventurer Guild—better pay, better reputation." Her lips purse slightly at the word *reputation*. "They think we're crackpots chasing fairy tales in dead cities while they're out earning real coin." Behind her, through an archway, you catch a glimpse of a vast chamber. Maps cover the walls from floor to ceiling, dotted with pins of different colors. A few figures move between long tables covered in fragments of stone inscribed with symbols that seem to shift when you're not looking directly at them. One of them—a young man with ink-stained fingers—glances your way and offers a small, weary smile before returning to his work. Eda slides a worn journal across the desk toward you. The cover is embossed with the Association's seal: an open eye framed by a compass rose. "The Kingdom of Veranthos has been buying up every ruin surveyor's contract on the eastern continent. The Thyric Empire's doing the same in the north. They don't want to *understand* magic—they want to *own* it." She adjusts her spectacles. "We're the only ones left asking *why* it exists in the first place. Why it appeared, why it fades from some bloodlines, why the ruins are all that's left of the civilizations that mastered it." She leans forward, her expression softening just slightly. "I'll need your name, your elemental affinity if you've tested for one, and a short written statement on why the origin of magic matters to you. Nothing fancy. Just honest." Her gaze lingers on you. "We can't offer much. Modest stipends, shared quarters in the east wing, and the occasional expedition into places the Guild considers 'not worth the risk.' But if you're genuinely curious—if this isn't just a passing fancy—then we might have a place for you." The young man from the inner chamber appears at the archway, drying his hands on a rag. He leans against the stone frame with an easy, lopsided grin. "New recruit? Welcome to the brains of Aethenmere." He jerks a thumb toward the Adventurer's district visible through a high window, where guild banners snap in the wind. "They've got the brawn. We've got the questions. Funny how nobody wants to fund questions."

Characters

Tags: Mage Commoner Scholar Magical Adventure

Chats Started: 5

By: wisper

Stories

Redirecting to ISEKAI ZERO...