SpellForce 3

=== Setting and characters ===
SpellForce 3 is set in a fictional fantasy world called Eo, 500 years before events in SpellForce: The Order of Dawn. Several races such as humans, elves, orcs and dwarves co-exist and magic is an important part of life. The player controls Tahar, the child of Isamo Tahar. Tahar quests alongside a number of characters that were mentioned in the first game as the mages of The Circle. Among them are Yria, an elven white mage; Isgrimm, a dwarven archaeologist; Rohen Tahir, a human mage and former follower of Isamo; Uram, a demon summoner; Ianna, an assassin; Undergast, a mage who is able to wield both light and dark magic; and Gor, an orcish shaman and chieftain.

Plot

Isamo Tahar, a powerful mage, has started a rebellion of fellow mages against the crown (known as the Mage Wars). General Sentenza Noria, tasked by the queen of Nortander with eliminating Isamo, travels with his companions – siblings Anselm and Gwen and young Betrand – to Isamo's hideout in The Eye. Upon arrival at Isamo's laboratory, they learn that his child tried to betray him and is about to be executed. Noria saves the child, but Gwen dies and Isamo escapes. Noria takes Isamo's child to the queen, who grants them amnesty and allows them to train as a Wolf Guard.
Eight years later the Mage Wars are over. At some point during the wars, Isamo was killed in an assault on Greykeep castle. A cult called the Purity of Light appears, spurred on by public resentment of the mages. The Purity preaches that Aonir, the god of gods, will return when magic use is banished. The cult persecutes the mages, an action tolerated by the queen's Lord Marshall Angar. Isamo's child (called Tahar) is now a corporal in the Wolf Guard, serving alongside Betrand in Greykeep. When the Bloodburn, a mysterious plague, ravages the kingdom and kills non-mages randomly, they travel to Liannon to discover the Bloodburn is magical in nature. While trying to stop Noria destroying the town, Tahar is attacked by Anselm, who blames Tahar for his sister Gwen's death and they kill Anselm in self-defense. Sentenced to death, Tahar is incarcerated beneath the Keep where they befriend Yria, an elven light magic user. The Purity of Light's leader, Rondar Lacaine, asks for their help to stop the Bloodburn and gives them runes that allow them to use the Godstones. He tasks them to travel to Farlon's Hope to find Isgrimm, a dwarven archaeologist looking for Mulandir, the lost city of the Shapers. The Shapers were an extinct race that ruled Eo with their advanced technology and magic millennia ago.
Tahar and Yria find Isgrimm and Mulandir where Isgrimm determines that the city's Nexus, a powerful energy source and source of Shaper knowledge, might help determine the cause of the Bloodburn. Outbreaks of the plague occur after a Shaper song is heard. Tahar establishes a base of operations in Mulandir and convinces the Mohir Elves, the human Wayfarers and the Orcish Firewielder tribe to help find a cure. They locate the Bloodburn's source inside Isamo's old laboratory in The Eye. Joined by Lacaine, Tahar travels to their father's old laboratory where they fight Noria's forces, who believe Tahar is a traitor. After defeating Noria in battle, they discover that the source of the plague is a Shaper woman, who is also Tahar's mother. In an act of betrayal, Lacaine steals her essence, seals it in an amulet and leaves Tahar to die.
Several weeks later, Tahar awakens in Mulandir to find Lacaine has taken control of Greykeep and is marching on Mulandir. After driving back Lacaine's forces, Tahar, now aided by the Lord Marshall, travels to strengthen their union. After rescuing Angar's sister, the Lady Myriah Ultran, from Lacaine's mind control, they seek an alliance of the remaining noble houses. Lacaine amasses his combined forces in The Golden Road, a region near Greykeep. Tahar's allied forces defeat Lacaine and march on Greykeep, defeating Lacaine's lieutenants and a brainwashed Betrand. They find Lacaine trying to use the essence he stole to summon Aonir, but instead summoning a beast from another world. Tahar defeats Lacaine and the beast, but Angar dies. Shortly afterwards, the queen wakes from her coma. She proposes a committee of mages called The Circle which she invites all of Tahar's companions to join. Tahar's future is left unclear but Yria mentions several things that still need to be done.