Before humanity crawled from the primordial soup, there were the Syrneth - beings of many shapes, with magic unlike anything the world has ever seen before or since. They shaped the world to their advantage and ruled for time unknown, until they suddenly disappeared, leaving their magic, technology, and cities buried in the soil of the world for any to find. No one knows what happened to them; some believe Theus, creator of the world, wiped them from it during the pre-Numan flood. Others believe the Sidhe were responsible. Others believe Theus and the Sidhe were the Syrneth. No one knows. All that is known is that they are gone, and their magic is there for the bravest or most foolish to claim.
The recorded history of Theah begins with the founding of the first human city: Numa. Located in what is present day Vodacce, Numa created the first Golden Age of humanity. Numa was a republic, with senators elected from the noble families. It brought about science and philosophy that all Theah still discuss and worshiped gods inspired by the visible planets. But, as with all nations, Numa became corrupt over time until, after 700 years of rule, the republic fell and the Numan Empire was born. In an attempt to preserve their power, several Senators used artifacts from before humanity to make a pact with otherworldly powers, becoming the first sorcerers. After years of bloody civil war, a truce was made, with each noble family claiming a province of the empire as their own and paying lip service to the Imperator. For a while peace was restored.
Then, 50 years after the pact had been struck, the first Prophet appeared. He claimed to speak on behalf of a god called "Theus", and preached that Sorcery was an abomination. He argued that intelligence and free will were all the powers humanity needed. He preached his message on the floor of the senate for one day, before the families of the pact arrested the prophet and saw to his execution. Two centuries later, the cult had grown so powerful that the Imperator declared the church of the Prophet the one true faith, and banished the noble houses of the pact and their forces from the capital and to the outlying regions.
Eventually, the Empire again grew too large and fell to the barbarians of the north and the "dark age" fell across Theah. It was during this time the Second Prophet emerged. Unlike his predecessor, the Second Prophet made war against magic in all its forms. Magic was not only an abomination, but one to fight against with all your might. Many crusades were forged of this theory.
The Third Prophet continued this trend, preaching of war against magic. He drew upon the power of the Vaticine Church and Theus himself to rid Theah of magic once and for all. He began in Castille, throwing the noble family who ruled there using their sorcery, out of power and riding the world of it's taint forever. He moved the base of the church from Vodacce (corrupted by its own magic) to the newly liberated Castille. The Vodacce, disgraced by the loss of their religious seat of power, rebelled against their noble families, stripping them of their power and the Montaigne fearing conquest or revolution, surrendered their magical tradition in return for maintaining their right to rule. The Third Prophet agreed, and the new pact was struck. With it, the known sorcerous lineages were gone. The third Prophet reorganized the church, choosing the first Hierophant - leader of the church - as well as several other changes, then left never to be seen again, only foretelling that a fourth prophet would come, signifying the end of the world.
