Golden Age of Luminarism (Lorica)

Golden Age of Luminarism
Luminarism was founded with a panoply of gods, foremost among them being Tel Lumin, "that of knowing", the deity of illuminating light and the god of knowledge. Luminarism was thus the religion of learning, scientific inquiry, and discovery. The religion quickly few a large following as the discoveries of Luminarism became well-known, including the discovery by the Ordera Geometrica (Geometric Order) that faera could be harnessed for magical power, in 102 AL. This discovery, and the inventions that followed, unleashed a new era in human civilization, as people learned to tap into the power of magic.

Named the Enlightenment, the cultural paradigm shift resulting from Luminarism was to change the world and propel the priests of this religion to power and influence. With the newly discovered power of magic under their exclusive control, the priests of Luminarism became the first mage-priests. The mage-priests delved deeper and deeper into the sem-invisible world of magic, using their knowledge to shine light on that which could not be seen with the naked eye. The mage-priests also raised a second god of their pantheon, Tel Loiryn, "that of dreaming", the muse of visionaries and god of invention, and wedded the two deities, in 480 AL.

The early mage-priests of Luminarism were avid supporters of spreading knowledge. They held luminars, seminars in which the populace were welcome to attend and could learn about the latest discoveries of the mage-priests. As a result, each successive generation saw more scientific and inquisitive spirit than the one before, and the ranks of the scientific-minded mage-priests swelled over the first few centuries. The technologies devised by the mage-priests became public knowledge, and fueled the scientific revolution.

Within a few centuries of its founding, aided by the power of its magic and the usefulness of its philosophy, Luminarism became a force to be reckoned with. After its official adoption by the empires of eastern Origina, the mage-priests of Luminarism were able to lead Illuminations (crusades) against the pagans of other lands. Over the course of several hundred years, Luminarism came to spread throughout much of the known world, excepting only the continent of Tyria to the south, where their presence was weakest. Under the guidance of the mage-priests, and inspired by their zeal to discover new knowledge, the peoples of the world endeavored to make all sorts of novel discoveries about magic, and civilization entered an age of remarkably rapid magical-technological progress.