This age is marked by the ungifted taking over in an effort to destroy the scepters. The Guardians hid the scepters until power could be restored, but it never did. Some believe the ungifted were supplied with the tools to overwhelm the kings by spies from the Dark Lands.

A question I asked myself was, "Why would the ungifted want to get rid of the very powers which are keeping their land safe?" (Remember that the white and pink powers of light and protection against evil magic are responsible for keeping the darkness from spreading into their lands.)

One answer is a revelatory piece that connects this lower level tech society to the advanced society in my novel which sees the scepters as myth -- a truce!

This leads to a few more questions:
1) Why would the Dark Side want a truce?
a) They are afraid that the people have united behind the scepters and will take back their lands. Without the scepters they can't, but the people on the Dark Side are unable to breach their defenses (as seen in their failed attempts during the Republic Age). In fact, the Revolution was started by spies from the Dark Side with bribes.
b) They realize the planet can't survive entirely covered in darkness.

2) Why do they need the darkness?
a) Originally, the idea was to just for defensive purposes, and with the visionaries (Peripels) able to see in their land from great distances, they had to keep it up even when no troops were near.
i> This may be the other great reason why they need the scepters out of commision. Once the Peripels are powerless, they won't have to keep constant darkness within their lands, thus giving them daylight to grow crops and keep warm (and one addition to the scepter powers would be that when the scepter is no longer actively powered by a Guardian, all his siblings lose their powers as well).
b) But, what if in their magic, they grow plants that feed on darkness and animals that are fed from the power within the cloud instead of the sun? Then the truce wouldn't be to be able to release the darkness, but to secretly steal the scepters under the guise that they were captured in the revolt and buried somewhere safe.

I could use some feedback on these last two options, because I can only pick one.

Why does the Dark Side want a truce?

A) Because it needs light to survive (plants, animals, climate, oxygen from plants). This could include either that they need light on their side, or that at least some of the world needs to have sunlight.

B) Because the revolt of the ungifted is really a ploy to steal the scepters so they can mix their powers.

Another question is, "Is the darkness helpful to their food and oxygen supply?"

If the answer is yes, then the truce would be made to gain the remaining scepters and build up a super race and then invade and make the rest of the world covered in darkness.

If no, then they would make a truce so they can let down their defenses (dark clouds) and only place those where magic is being brewed. They use this darkness to enhance their powers as well as keep the Peripels from seeing them.

Another question is, "What would they bribe the ungifted with?"

The obvious answer would be powers promised to their families. Remember that once someone takes a scepter, they lose their other powers. These ungifted families could be promised that a woman from their tribe would be the Guardian who would wed one of theirs and make children who would both align their families under one "flag" as well as protect them by shifting power from the gifted families to theirs. When the Dark Side invades, they will be given land and dominion.

Can you think of something better to offer as part of the bribe?

More ways a truce is appealing:

* The Guardian Children lining the coasts have to keep constant watch for enemies in order to use their powers to defend their people. This has to get old, especially if the Dark Side holds off on attacks for a while as part of their plan to soften their enemy.

>> In reading the Dune prequels, a fact was illustrated that people who live their whole lifetime in war are willing to compromise truth for peace, especially if they are in a stalemate period where they are only fighting because of something that happened a long time ago, maybe even before they were born. The Dark Side could only attack advances to make it seem like they are willing to consider peace, but the gifted ones won't have it. The only way they can have peace would then be to take the gifted ones out of power.

* Let the people think that there are other things to be afraid of, and that the darkness is actually an ecological side effect of all the magic use.

>>This would be good because at the time of my novel, I want people to have gotten used to life without the scepters so much so that no one knows where they are or cares to find them. (This could have been taught through modifications made to history books by those in charge of the truce, as well as their descendent's who are making "money" off of that lie.)

Some thoughts that generated as I read this thread...

Perhaps, the Dark Side discovered that they couldn't beat the other scepters with darkness... so they wanted to control them, and the lands under them. If you can't beat 'em, assimilate 'em.

As for the ungifted, it's very realistic to say that they thought the gifted were dominating society with their powers. Racism, almost. Perhaps they thought the gifts should be more evenly distributed. Perhaps they wanted to take the scepter from a gifted... and give it to an ungifted that promised to treat everyone better.

What if one scepter got destroyed (or otherwise fell out of use), and the people survived? Once people saw that they could live without the powers, they might want to overthrow the gifted... once that fear of not-surviving is lifted, the respect for the gifted might drop...

It makes sense that, if the darkness was primarily for defensive purposes, defeating the scepter that gives the Peripels their powers would remove that need for darkness, giving necessary light to the land for warmth and crops. Very reasonable, there.

Another thought is that, if governments are failing after Tarin's death (did I get his name right?), perhaps the people are dissatisfied and want to take away the scepter-holder's power and free themselves from that "slavery." Perhaps there are also those that feel the current scepter-holders are not doing a good enough job of fending off the darkness (again, this works if the rulers of the Republic age are self-serving, bickering, or otherwise insufficient), and they want to seize the scepters, unite, and do a better job of fending off the darkness. You could either say that all the commoners from all the people-groups banded together to do this, or perhaps one group revolted against their leader and got the ball rolling.

Another idea is that perhaps one scepter-holder tried to steal a scepter from another, to combine their powers or perhaps have an advantage - maybe even annex their countries. In the resulting war amongst the high-bloods, the people either rise to defend their masters... or revolt all together.

Hope my ramblings were helpful in some way!

Very helpful thanks. *Wishes I had time to flush these thoughts out*