Six months ago, you remember a party of heroes passing through your town. This isint super unusual, theres usually a few a year. They pass through towns, often helping out with mundane and magical issues, sometimes for a fee, sometimes for food and shelter. They usually have at least one magical user, which arent very common. Most of them are at the Academy, which is where any child with magical promise is sent to to study. Officials travel across the land to find these kids. There's been a few in your town, but you havent really heard from them since they left.

You remember that party because they were on the nicer side. It's not unusual for these "adventurers" to be rumboctious, snobbish, or even plain rude. Especially if they're with the crown. Like police officiers, they tend to think of themselves as the Law. That party wasn't, however. An indipendant party, which is rarer, and usually more risky; they're not exactly legal, sometimes threading into gang territory. These ones weren't, tough. They just stayed a few day, paid for services, helped a few people around town and left. But you remember them putting on a little show on their last night, where they explained in performance they were on a quest to free magic from the curse holding it back.

When they left, you quickly forgot about them. Another band of merrymen with big promises but not much more. That was until 3 months later when, well, they did it. A huge ripple seared through the skies, filling it with aurora-borealis like strands of magical light for almost a week; during which more and more people started displaying magic potential. Some animalkin's traits became supernatural, antlers growing flowers or fur gaining colorful markings. Humanoids started growing special ears, horns and tails. Anyone could sprout a pair of wings or suddently be able to manipulate elements with their mind. For some people, it happened overnight, for others, it took weeks.

Regardless, it was quite joyous at first. Everyone reveling in their newfound powers and the beautiful sky above. But it didn't take too long for the crown to set its foot down. Strict restrictions, mandatory registration, scholarly drafts and the likes. For everyone's safety, they insist. But families thorn apart and civil unrest make this operation look more like a warzone than the free arcane utopia the party promised.

So far, you've managed to doge those drafts; your ears and tail took a while to come in, and with the Crown's agents busy as they are, it isin't too hard to slip between the cracks. But they'll be coming to your hometown again soon; and you're not sure you'll be able to hide this time. You're starting to attract quite a bit of attention around town; and whispers of rewards for reporting magically potent neighbors sows distrust amongst the residents. To escape this facist fate, you've packed your essentials and skipped town. You're not sure where to, but it beats waiting for the wolf to come get you.