Page "The Saga of Recluce" Paragraph 25

Those beings who possess this magical ability are all descendants from 2 groups of people that are not native to the world in which the series is set.

We learn of their origins mostly through legend, though The Fall of Angels provides a brief glimpse of the home universe for these beings.

They are members of two opposing factions who had landed on the planet 400 years apart, the Rationalists and the Angels.

These factions are technologically advanced, space-faring people immersed in a prolonged war.

There are a number of obvious similarities between the Angels ' weaponry and order magic ; similarly the Rationalist weaponry is very similar to chaos magic.

One group of Angels is caught in a high energy explosion during a battle, but instead of being destroyed, find themselves stranded in the unknown universe on the planet with the island of Recluce.

Once there, the angels begin exhibiting various talents and physical changes ( such as hair colour ) that would ultimately become linked to order magic.

Through various legends and history tales, we learn that a group of Rationalist ( sometimes referred to as " demons " as their existence becomes legend ) has already landed in this world, centuries ago, and evolved into the chaos mages.

Both groups then pass on this ability to their offspring.

Ultimately the " Angels " and " Demons " would both become legendary figures.