The Argyle Magician's Association
Structure
THAMA is more structured than most other groups in Argyle, with several different posts to be filled. They are not always all filled, and sometimes one person holds several roles, but nobody seems to mind.
Chief witch/wizard/mage/magician
The current magic user (or users) in charge, organizes all the meetings, fundraisers, and just about everything else. Technically has seniority over everyone else, but the group is incredibly democratic and if the person in charge is in any way abusing power they will be deposed and someone else will become the leader.
The current leader is Kate Wallace.
Potion Expert
This person is, as you'd expect, the resident expert on potions and other magical beverages. They are generally the one who decides what the group should focus on making, and the one who tells the leader what they are running out of in terms of reagents. They are also generally a very good forager and are often the head of any foraging teams.
The current Potion Expert is Akira.
Chief Horticulturalist
Though this role often ends up merging with that of the Potion expert, when the group does have a dedicated horticulturalist they are in charge of all things plant based, including growing and harvesting reagents, foraging for wild plants, analyzing the effects of magic upon plants and plant life, and educating other members on what should and shouldn't be grown and how to grow things.
The current Chief Horticulturalist is Akira.
Familiar Expert
This person is the current expert in familiars. They are someone who loves animals, is good with animals and can tell magical ones from nonmagical ones. They are also usually quite good at returning lost pets to their owners. Sometimes this person and the monster expert may be one and the same, or be working closely together.
The current Familiar Expert is Marinus.
Monster Expert
This person is the current authority on monsters and other supernatural phenomena. They are in charge of organising monster research, educating people on the abilities and dangers of different monsters and how to protect themselves. They also tend to work in close tandem with the Cryptzoological Association, if they aren't already a member of it. They are the most likely person besides the historian to understand any monster languages, so often people (and the occasional monster looking for someone who can understand them) will come asking for help relating to such things.
The current Monster Expert is Chip.
Chief Historian
The chief historian is one of the roles that is almost always filled. They are in charge of researching and curating all historical magical documents and stories, whether they are monster or human, and deciding which are safe to allow free access to and which need protection, usually for the safety of the piece rather than others (since some of these books and recordings are incredibly precious and/or old.) They are also in charge of collecting knowledge and accounts from supernatural creatures and phenomena, and often work with the monster expert. Their role often coincides with that of a librarian, and even those who are not magical often ask to peruse the collection. Since they have to deal with a lot of things from different sources, the historian is often known to be a bit of a linguist, too.
The current Chief Historians are Derek Peters and Violet.
Chief Baker
This person is in charge of baking the cakes and other sweet things for meetings, creating and knowing a lot about magical foodstuffs, understanding what is and isn't going to work together, and knowing what flavours mask or work well with the different magics. Needless to say this is a very important role.
The current Chief Baker is Chip.
Scientific Advisor
This person focuses on the science aspect of things, such as researching the effects of magic upon local beetle populations, reading up (and occasionally writing) scientific papers, learning about soil compositions and food webs and what effect certain things might have upon the environment. They are the analyst of the group, and often work closely with the leader to decide on the best course of action to take with things.
The current Chief Historian is Jade Morrigan.
Enchanting Expert
This person is one of the roles often in high demand by everyone, including people outside the group. They are in charge of researching, creating and performing enchantments upon items, clothing, weapons and such. Each person has their own preference on enchantments and items, but as a general rule they can make most things better. Or worse, if they want to.
The current Enchanting Expert is Violet.
Transmutation Expert
The transmutation expert is the head of what most games and books would (wrongly) call alchemy; the creation of something different using a mix of other things. They can't transmute lead to gold, but they can transmute wood to iron and sand to glass and other such things. They are a role very rarely filled, but often work in close tandem with the scientific advisor and enchanter, assuming they're aren't all the same person. They also tend to be the person in charge of looking after the funds and doing the books.
The current Transmutation Expert is nobody. The position is unfilled.
Public Agenda
As it is written in their manifest: "The Argyle Magician's Association is dedicated to the study, furthering, education and creation of magic and magical things for the good (and fun) of all people in the town."
Assets
THAMA is a relatively small group, but they do have more money than a lot of the others (mostly owing to their incredible bake sales and town faires.) They have a lot of magic on their side, and often the good graces of more monsters than you'd expect. Oh, and since THAMA generally operates on a principle of sharing and working together, most all of the members are more than happy to give up their homes for a few hours if they're needed for any emergency meetings, so depending on who is currently a member they can have any number of safehouses and their assets can stretch from an underground forge to a wonderful rose garden to a small library worth of magical tomes and cake recipes. As for equipment, that yet again depends on who the members are, since they all bring their own things to the table. An enchanter might have a crowbar that burns like ice, a potion expert might have drinks that could turn your breath to fire, a monster expert might have weapons never meant for human hands.
As a general rule though, they've got a bit of this, a bit of that, and a lot of contingency plans.
History
THAMA as it stands now is a relatively recent creation. There has always been magic in Argyle, probably even for longer than there had been monsters, and always people have been luckier than they should or quicker than they'd expect but anyone who was able to pull forth the magic in the ways of spells and such generally kept it hidden, since old accounts mentioned a local mage facing a pretty terrible fate for using their magic out of turn. Magic users banded together, yes, but meetings were taken hidden in cave systems or deep in forests, and since they were so insular they never taught anybody else and eventually the magicians died out, taking their secrets with them, their books hidden away under floorboards and locked doors.
But times change, and so do people. The next one to stumble across some of their books did not recognise their power. In fact, they were just renovating a cabin. They took the books back and showed their friends, who in a jovial mood, tried to pronounce some of the oddest looking words and ended up making a hatstand glow like a beacon. After this, they knew what the book was for.
One suggested keeping it a secret, keeping it hidden for fear of what it could bring. The other said that it was a new discovery, and needed to be studied. The third said that if they didn't want this to turn into some supernatural horror film then they needed to give it to a smart trusted adult who would believe them and know what to do with it. So, of course, they took it to the local librarian.
He wasn't entirely sure about what was going on with it, or if this was a joke, but he looked it up to try and find out what it was, contacting other libraries to see if they had seen a book like this or knew what language it was in. Asking around brought attention, and soon enough several people turned up at the library asking questions. He directed them to the three who had given him it, and questions were asked and exchanged.
As it turns out, magic was not that rare. Many people had their own small magics to them. It's just that people didn't tend to develop it, and those that did kept it secret for fear of causing mass panic or being persecuted. They were told in no gentle terms to continue in secrecy, if at all, or the consequences could be severe.
The strangers left, and the friends stopped asking questions. They studied the books, but not too much, for fear of arousing suspicion.
Then, an odd thing happened, in the shape of a poster stuck on the Moth and Candle's door.
"Cryptzoologist's meeting, 7:30pm, Wednesday. All welcome."
The town generally didn't talk much about the weird things in the forests, so this was a surprise to everyone. It made sense that monsters would exist if magic did too though, so several of the group turned up to see what exactly the meeting entailed. And yet again, they were surprised.
Quite a few people turned up. Mostly younger folk, adolescents and young adults. The head of the meeting was the landlady, oddly enough. And the amount of tinfoil hat conspiracies was close to none. The monsters were discussed like any other creature, the only theories were on things like hunting tactics and how sharp their senses were and their levels of intelligence. There was enthusiasm and humor, but it was about understanding and classifying. And at the end, Miss Banks took names for the next meeting, and started handing out magazines.
STARLLIGHT, the cover read. While they were trying to stay hidden, she'd gone and made a magazine full of the supernatural.
Within weeks, everyone in town knew about it. And surprisingly enough, people didn't mind. It seemed everyone knew about monsters, they had just assumed everyone else didn't.
And it seemed kind of silly to hide the existence of magic when people were arguing over ghosts.
Soon enough, a page in the STARLLIGHT was advertising their existence, and they set up a meeting time and place for curious people. Their small group grew fast, and with it, their knowledge. They needed a name, so they came up with one. They needed organisation, so they chose a leader. Everything else came from there.
Type
Guild, Mages
Alternative Names
Magic Club, Witch Central, THAMA,
Demonym
Mages, Magicians
Location
Related Items
Notable Members
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