Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a country located on the island of Mythos. Country is a federation consisted of Crown of Poland, Grand Duchy of Lithuania and several minor regions: Duchy of Kurland and Semigal, Duchy of Prussia, Duchy of Siewierz and Bytów-Lębork Land. The country appeared in 1619 during great Convergence ritual while people previously living mysteriously disappeared. The country borders Tiudunhaim.

History
The beginning of the Commonwealth can be seen in establishment of Duchy of Poland in 966 by the Prince Mieszko I. The resources from that time period are very scarce but it is known that new country expanded rapidly to the size comparable to present day Crown of Poland, however located a bit more westward compared to current borders. The state survived several centuries and in 1386 personal union with established in 1240 Duchy of Lithuania was proclaimed. Both states through next years got closer to each other and became most powerful entity on their continent known as Europa. The cooperation was sealed by real union in Lublin in 1569. In that moment the blessed state of Res Publica Serenissima was born.

Newly established country conquered vast amounts of land in the northeast and became even more powerful. However prosperity did not last long. In 1603 mysterious self-descripted mage and alchemist Jan Twardowski arrived to the court of His Majesty Sigismundus III Vasa and announced:

''My King, Your country is rich and peaceful as never before but I must warn You. Archangel Gabriel came to me and revealed that within sixteen years the gates of hell will be opened in the south and no warrior will be able to stop the demons which will come. Countries in Europe, Asia and Africa will bow down before the Satan.''

King however did not believe the prophet and the Senate laughted at him. However Twardowski was determinated to convince the King he speaks the truth. When he insisted, King decided to test skills of the mage. Twardowski prepared a magical artefact known today as Twardowski's Mirror in which Sigismundus saw his death father John III Vasa who repeated the mage's warning and agreed to listen Twardowski.

The alchemist said that the only salvation for PLC comes from other world. According to him if the King gather enough mages and gold they will be able to perform magical ritual known as Convergence which will move entire country to other, secure world. Sigismundus agreed, however the ritual was supposed to be performed only after the gates of hell will actually open. In next sixteen years all mages, occultists and priests of all religions worked together to prepare the ritual and tons of gold were gathered in Warsaw. On the day of fourth May 1619 the messenger from Hungary came and announced that unstoppable army of demons follows his way north.

The Convergence ritual was performed four hours later. The sky became blood, rivers turned to dust and then eternal darkness came just to give birth to new sunrise in new world without demons. Res Publica appeared on Arhet.

Magic
Magic, despite it played important role in creation of current Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, is still mysterious force. Mages or priests are not largely supposed to use magic by themselves but magical act is usually a result of multidimensional manifestation of God or one of subordinate beings known as either angels or demons.

A priest achieves connection with an angel, usually the one who bears his name, through a fervent prayer. For the greater magical acts more complicated preparation is required, fasting and other forms of ritual suffering are common. Despite this disadvantage angelic magic is believed to be mostly secure for a priest. In case of failure the spellcaster is not hurt by the conjured being, the only risk is that act of magic may destroy the priest as being too heavy burden for a novice. Several practices are forbidden by Magic Academy of the Republic as being too dangerous or impossible to perform.

In case of magic associated with demons, commonly known as dark magic, the adept must be aware that demon by definition is an evil being which would most likely try to kill the conjurer and has to be bound by other magical ritual or simply by physical force. As an advantage dark magic does not take any life energy from the mage so is limited only by the power of conjured beast.

Some magic professors argue that other source of magic comes from the ancient Pagan gods however in a behavior they are largely similar to commonly known demons, however some of them may be friendly or at least compromising to a conjurer. During the years of pagan suppression in Poland, Lithuania and early Commonwealth the knowledge about that kind of magic is limited and mostly based on folk tales without any evidence in scientifical resources.