When Halley’s Comet was destroyed above our Earth in May 1759, so was our old way of life, along with the natural science I had studied so intently. The Sundering did just as its name suggests: it sundered the Old World from the New.
This dramatic event created an entirely separate American continent where the laws of magic vie for equal, and sometimes superior, place with the laws of nature. The Sundering created an America where sorcery and science sit in unlikely and uncomfortable partnership. As for Europe…no one knows. That continent is lost to us. The great barrier across the Atlantic has proved impenetrable to all our best efforts, even mine, even now that I control the powers of lightning!
But Europe need not be lost to us forever. The passage east across the ocean appears closed permanently. So, my darling Keira—and any else who read these words—we must consider that the way west may be open! Unknown, yes. Perilous, undoubtedly. But open for anyone who dares to explore.
Ah, would that I were seventy again!
—From The Arcane Autobiography of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Printer, Scientist & Mage