Magic in Erudon, at least on the Prime Material Plane, has been studied by the arcane elite for thousands of years. So far, the greatest magical minds in the world have been able to conclude that the power of magic is laced in every object at its very core, channelling through the most elementary parts of all things. In the recent years, starting with Rufio Trifflebottom’s Theory of Positive and Negative Magics founded in 3E754, major discoveries revolving around the ebb and flow of magic through the Material Plane advanced at a rapid pace culminating with the first ventures into the Positive Magical Plane (PMP) as the beginning of the Fourth Era (yet to be named).
Against Rufio’s wishes, many leading arcane researchers at the Institute for Magical Advancement and Growth of Interplanal Exploration (IMAGINE) sent objects into these new Planes. Non-sentient objects were sent first. Initially, all objects were lost to the unknown voids of the Positive and Negative Magical Planes (NMP). Over the next two decades, researchers were able to retrieve objects with high success rates. These objects became incredibly unstable in the Material Plane, often maiming or killing the mages involved in the research. The first Arcanium ores were crafted after successful containment of the objects send to the PMP. The Arcanium was a semi-solid mass that poured pure arcane force, which rapidly decayed into a stable object that could be contained within magical glass or folded into forged armors and weapons to be used as incredibly powerful magical objects. Research proved even more difficult with the NMP. Objects sent to the NMP were impossible to recover and still remain as such to this day.
IMAGINE continued its research with lower life forms, such as small rodents, eventually moving up to dogs and cats. At first, the animals appeared to suffer no ill effects, but without fail the animals would alter or suffer great effects ranging from rapid growth and ultra-intelligence to breathing fire and spontaneous gooification. Arcanium was gathered and woven into Preservation Suits for the animals. The animals sent to the PMP in the suits were unaffected by the PMP, although were all lost to the NMP. Research slowed until the first volunteer traveller to the Positive Plane, Wilma Honeysuckle, was instantly obliterated by pure magical force, despite a Preservation Suit and strong protection invocations. Attempts to reclaim her soul were completely unsuccessful, with even the most powerful clerics and wizards unable to even connect with her life force after her vanishing. IMAGINE promptly ceased this type of official research on the PMP and NMP following a cease-and-desist proclamation by the Council of Mages.