Mhach

The Dark City of Mhach was a city-state of mages formed in the fifth century of the Fifth Astral Era. Once the ice from the Fifth Umbral Calamity had subsided and the lands thawed, the fresh water flowed down the mountains of Abalathia and created the White Maiden, eventually bringing life to the land and making the earth fertile. The people in the region came together and established the city.

Beginnings

At the time of establishment, Mhach was just one of twelve large cities doing everything it could to survive. They were still a smaller power, and Amdapor was the dominant force in Eorzea, influencing the other surrounding cities. This power dynamic remained until the eighth century when a mage named Shatotto discovered a method to infuse ambient aether into her spells, offering a massive boost in their power. This study of magic of overwhelming force became the first recorded example of modern Black Magic.

Using their newfound power, the people of Mhach were able to bolster the strength of their military and stand above the other city-states in the constant feuds for power and land, quickly becoming one of the major cities in Eorzea. With one of the most powerful militaries in the land, Mhach soon set its sights on expansion.

Voidmagicks

The Mhachi people were not only masters of Black Magic, but had also perfected Void Magic—the summoning of the demons from the Void known as the Voidsent to the corporeal realm—as well. Voidsent have a ravenous appetite for the aether of the corporeal realm, and summoners can use this to their advantage, entering into covenants with them, an exchange in power for allowing the Voidsent to gorge on aether. However, these pacts can often be used against the summoners, leading to death, possession or worse. The void mages of Mhach learned from the Allagan Empire and the errors they made when summoning the Voidsent, weaving extra magickal protocols into their summonings, and devising protections to prevent the same fate from befalling them. To this end, the Nullstone was created, a magical device that can be used to sever the bond between void mage and Voidsent, and send them back to their realm. Mastering this power, the Mhachi judged themselves superior to all, eventually driving them to war.

Using the power of their Black Magic, Mhach was able to conquer several of the city states. Many had not yet taken up the arcane craft, and fell quickly. Only Amdapor, with their newly created White Magic, were able to keep Mhach in check, preventing them from advancing any further. Seeing this grand display of magic from both Amdapor and Mhach inspired other cities to study the arcane, and a boom of magical research began. After a few centuries, the people of Eorzea benefited greatly from research into magic, improving their lives and society in a manner similar to the way the Allagan Empire did with technology.

However, despite the age of enlightenment, tensions were extremely high. On the surface, each city maintained the facade of peace, while each secretly mastering their offensive magicks. Soon, military posturing grew rampant, and though the final catalyst was lost to history, the conflict known as the War of the Magi was on the horizon.

War of the Magi

Mhach marched on several of the other city-states, using their void army to quickly overwhelm them. Most of the other cities had yet to develop powerful enough magicks and were unable to counter the Mhachi threat. Nym held their own during the war, however even they eventually fell to Mhachi scheming, when they planted an amphora housing the Voidsent Bitoso in the city, cursing everyone it came into contact with to suffer the Green Death. Even Amdapor lost their first line of defense, the Amdapor Keep, under the waves of Voidsent that were sent in against the mages. Only upon reaching the city proper and after summoning the void prince Diabolos did the White Mages of Amdapor manage to quell the tide of demons Mhach called forth and seal Diabolos. This however was too little too late, as the effect of the war had twisted and corrupted the land, each powerful spell draining the aether more and more, until the elemental balance was skewed to water-aspected. seeing the damage they had wrought, the people of Eorzea ceased their fighting and turned to the seers to try to see what was coming.

The Void Ark

With the world moving quickly towards a calamity, the city-states put aside their differences and began working together to prevent a disaster. Each city formed a special task force charged with gathering and relaying information between one another. Mhach and Amdapor worked together to coordinate evacuation efforts, however Mhach was planning something else to aid in the survival of their people. Confident in their ability to control any and all Voidsent they called upon, the Mhachi began planning to use their energy to power a massive airship called The Ark. They would use the power of the Void to fuel the Ark and shepherd their people and their supplies safely to the skies above and wait until the raging tides that were coming settled.

Yet even with over fifty score Voidsent enthralled and ensconced in stone tombs on the Ark, it was not enough to move the massive ship. The only way to power the Ark was to use an exceptionally powerful Voidsent, Scathach, the shadow queen and ruler of one of the twelve tiers of the Void. Only an exceptionally powerful void mage wielding the Nullstone would be able to control her. And so the people of Mhach turned to Cessair Blackwind, one of the most powerful void mages in the city and a major critic of the War of the Magi.

When she heard the plan the other void mages laid out before her, she was vehemently against it, calling it dangerous at best, and deadly at worst. However, as the seers predicted doom on the horizon and the tides began to rise, Blackwind had little choice but to agree. Bringing the queen Voidsent under her control and loading her into the Ark, the airship roared to life. The people of Mhach were loaded onto the ship and it set sail to the cheers of all her people.

However, the Ark was doomed to failure, and the people of Mhach would never return home. The void queen Scathach was far too powerful to be contained, even by one with such peerless control over the Voidsent like Blackwind. The Voidsent broke free and overran the ship. The remaining Mhach, in a final bid to stop the demons from escaping, sacrificed themselves to seal the Ark, and the familiar Cait Sith was left alone to man the ship.

Some fifteen hundred years later, the advancements in airship technology gave rise to increased expeditions into the unknown sky. Eventually, several reports of a massive dark airship floating aimlessly through the Sea of Clouds came back to the Grand Companies, prompting official investigations. The final Mhach relic had been discovered, and christened with a new name: the Void Ark. The Warrior of Light led the charge into the Void Ark, slaying the Voidsent that had awoken on board and were attempting to escape.