Exiles — Melanie Rawn

The first in a trilogy “full of action and romance . . . politics, subterfuge, and magic” as family secrets and intrigue threaten an entire nation (Locus)

A thousand years ago, Mageborns fled prejudice and persecution to colonize the planet Lenfell -- pristine, untouched, a perfect refuge for those whose powers were perceived as a threat by people not gifted with magic. But the greater the magic, the greater the peril -- and Lenfell was soon devastated by a war between rival Mageborn factions that polluted land, sea, and air with Wild Magic and unleashed the hideous specters known as Wraithenbeasts.

Generations after that terrible war, with the land recovered from crippling wounds and the people no longer threatened by genetic damage, Mageborns still practice their craft -- but under strict constraints. Yet so long as the rivalry between the Mage Guardians and the Lords of Malerris continues, the threat of another war is ever-present. And someone has been planning just such a war for many long years, the final strike in a generations-old bid for total power.