by

Richard S. Tuttle

Amica Saga series

A thousand years ago in a land named Amica, an extraordinary event occurred. A new star appeared in the night sky, and its brilliance grew and grew until it was visible in the daylight. In the center of Amica lay a land inhabited solely by magicians, and the new star created a frenzy of excitement among those scholars. Hundreds of mages left their homeland and spread out across the continent to observe the phenomenon from different vantage points. Eventually, they concluded that the object was on a collision course with their world, and they joined forces in an attempt to destroy or deflect it. When it was finally understood that those efforts would fail, they combined their most powerful magics to create the greatest shield to ever exist. It was not enough to protect Amica.

The devastating missile struck squarely in the center of Amica, just to the east of the great mage city, Taragor, throwing rocks and debris hundreds of leagues into the sky. That debris plummeted down on Taragor and the countryside around it. In an instant, thousands of powerful mages vanished, their homeland buried under tons of rock and dirt.

Hundreds of mages did survive, however. Those magicians who had left Taragor for other areas of the continent lived on, but they were now forced to live among the mundane peoples of Amica, and those ungifted people blamed the catastrophe on the magicians. Calling it an act of evil magic, the people tried to force the magicians to leave their homelands. The homeless magicians quickly learned to use their powerful skills to subdue the peoples opposing them. Eventually, the mages took over the areas where they now lived. Using their magical powers, the mages created new countries and set themselves up as kings, demanding the peasants' loyalties under the penalty of death. Greed and lust for power grew within the mages' hearts and soon they began to wage wars with each other. Thus began the Great Mage Wars of Amica.

For hundreds of years, the wars wracked the continent, destroying the countryside and decimating the population. The strife was not continual, but respites were few and short. For the populations living under the mage lords, it was a life of slavery followed by a gory death.

Eventually, a soldier in one of the smaller kingdoms was compelled to act, refusing to be an unnamed pawn in a destructive game between powerful magicians. His actions would change the course of history. His name was Terrus, but he would be called the Liberator by thousands. With the help of a magical artifact, the Sword of Articus, Terrus defeated the mage lords and banished them to the Island of Lantana.  He organized their Supreme Council and convinced them to return to their peaceful studies of magic, but he also warned them that they must never again seek to rule over Amica. The mages vowed to obey the demands.

The magicians of Lantana returned to their scholarly studies, but they did not remain in isolation. They needed supplies from the mainland, but they were hesitant to allow outsiders to their island. Eventually, they created mage ships to trade with the ungifted peoples of Amica. As that trade grew, Lantanan ships became the dominant shipper in all of Amica, and shipping warehouses and offices were built in every major port of the mainland. This enterprise not only brought great wealth to Lantana, but also kept the mages informed of what was happening in every area of the mainland. With such knowledge and wealth, the temptation to ignore the age-old vows grew, but the Supreme Council of Mages in Lantana was determined to avoid any dangerous entanglements with Amica. It kept most information about the mainland among the twelve members of the Council, but there were hundreds of mages on the mage ships and on the mainland managing the shipping offices. The task of the Supreme Council was a difficult one, yet their efforts had worked for centuries.

The peoples of Amica nurtured their devastated lands, and the nations of the mainland flourished and grew in peace for hundreds of years. Yet there are always those who desire more than the status quo, and rumblings of conflict eventually began to grow. As the Amica Saga begins, some people in the small nation of Kor began to rebel against an increasingly demanding king. For the first time in centuries, black clouds of turmoil gathered over the small nation occupying a corner of the continent. The Great Peace of Amica was beginning to unravel. Thus begins the Amica Saga.

 

Book 1 of Amica Saga Book 2 of Amica Saga
When a mysterious stranger appears at his family's blacksmith shop, Marcus's life is turned upside down. The young blacksmith loses everything in a single day and is driven to become an assassin for the rebel army seeking to overthrow the corrupt government. Others rally around the Avenging Shadow, but each of them has a different motive for helping, and those motives could mean his death.

 

What starts out as a short trip to a temple turns into a race to stay alive as Marcus and Antioch are pursued by a mage enforcer and bounty hunters. Prodded by a priest and a caravan warrior, Marcus finally accepts his fate as the Avenging Shadow and dives into a deep conspiracy that is enslaving the population of Grim and cornering the market for iron.

Book 3 of Amica Saga

Book 4 of Amica Saga

Thefts, assassinations and political corruption rock the Amican Riviera as powerful rouge mages intent on world denomination quietly work their blood magic. The authorities seem incapable of stopping the crimes as the Avenging Shadow joined by old friends and new allies leaps into the fray but will it be enough to stem the rumblings of a resurgence of the ancient Mage Wars?

 

Posing as a merchant's warrior, the Avenging Shadow sneaks into the Northlands to learn what the rogue mages have in store for Amica, but the enemy is waiting for him and seals the mountain pass that is his only path of escape.

Book 5 of Amica Saga

Book 6 of Amica Saga

A terrible war is coming to Amica. Rogue mage lords control the north where armies are massing for a spring offensive; new breeds of mage beasts are ready to destroy everything in their path, and vile blood magic controls the masses. Only the Avenging Shadow and his band of ragtag followers have seen the truth. With time for preparations running out, Marcus sets out to form an Amican Alliance amongst the twenty-nine countries south of the Northern Wall, but he has no proof to present to the skeptical and capricious kings. When he enlists the help of the few kings who know him and believe in him, the rogue mages begin a campaign of intimidation and assassination to derail the efforts of the Avenging Shadow. The only path left open to Marcus is to reveal his identity to convince the kings, but that move makes him a target as the rogue mages of Lantana learn of his true identity. Over four hundred years ago, Terrus the Liberator ended the Mage Wars by banishing the mage lords to the island of Lantana. The world was at peace, but that era of peace has ended. Alfor and his rogue mages have seized control of the Northlands of Amica and are bringing about the return of the mage lords. As the world rushes to war, the Amican Alliance is faced with an ever-widening front in the north while Alfor tries to bring the mages of Lantana into the war as his allies. If all of the mages unite against Amica, the world is certainly doomed, but there is a single ray of hope standing in the way of that destruction. The Avenging Shadow wields the Sword of Articus, and he plans to take on Alfor and the mages, even if he must do so alone.

Book 7 of Amica Saga

Book 8 of Amica Saga

As the battle lines are drawn, an awesome weapon is forged in the north, an army that will destroy the Alliance before the war has even begun. Join Marcus and his allies as they race to prepare for war. In this penultimate volume of the Amica Saga, they must face Alfor's plots and the fearsome machinations of his nefarious rogue mage infiltrators, but the true danger lies in the coming Blood Army. Vastly outnumbered, the tiny armies of the Amican Alliance brace for the coming onslaught that will destroy their world. As everyone teeters on the edge of doom, the Avenging Shadow bets everything on an unorthodox strategy to turn Alfor's strengths against him.

  

 

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