Order of the Magi
We saw the Magi, the disciples of Zoroaster. Behold, new one, the guardians of man for much of man's history. Will you become such as they, safeguarding your parents in their decline, or will you become as that which feasted upon their supple minds at the end?
It began with Simon.From Codex Arcana Nomina, first appearing in the 1st century edition. Revisions and commentary were added by each of the Magi to wear the mantle of leadership, with the most recent being Magus Fargo in the 21st century edition.
Structure
An Apprentice is typically taught on an individual basis of by a Magus, while the Magi as a whole answer (at least in part) to the Archmage. Traditionally, upon being elevated to the rank of Magus, an apprentice sheds his old name and adopts a new name, signifying a break with their old life.
Public Agenda
The Magi seek “places of power” (exothaumic springs and endothaumic drains) and people bound to those places. Whoever they find, they observe. If the individual could potentially serve as a magus, the organization brings them in and helps them bind other places of power. If the individual is not a likely candidate, but not a threat, they are left alone until their natural death, at which time a magus seizes their link to the place of power. If they are a threat to themselves and others, a magus or team of magi will kill the person and take control of their link.
History
The Order of the Magi are a brotherhood of thaumaturges with a recorded history beginning in the 1st Century, A.D. The founding member of the order, Simon Magus, is the only one lacking a detailed biography within the Codex Arcana Nomina. According to unofficial tradition, he was the same Simon Magus that appears in Zoroastrian and Christian mythology and briefly in various histories, though the writings of Archmage Salomus, his successor, claimed the identical names were coincidental.
The organization was openly Zoroastrian until the fall of the Sasanian Empire. Policies of the Abbasid Caliphate led to shifts in the religious demographics in the population the Magi recruited from, resulting in a slow evolution into factions supporting a Zoroastrian organization and factions supporting an Islamic organization. This resulted in a complete schism in the 13th Century and a small-yet-fierce war between Magi, resulting in the traditionalist organization migrating north into the Baltic regions, while the other adopted its own traditions and disappeared from the histories kept by the Magi. The organization was based in Bulgaria throughout the rest of its history. Lacking Zoroastrians to recruit from, the surviving traditionalist leaders slowly secularized their traditions over the course of the 14th century, shedding the last vestiges of Zoroastrianism in 1387. Today, only the traditional emblems and symbols remain.
The first history was kept by Archmage Salomus, who wrote little of Simon Magus himself and focused on the establishment of the Order of the Magi and the construction of the temple in Gundeshapur. Archmage Salomus also recorded the decree that no member of the order was to have any involvement with the African continent, based on warnings from Simon Magus.
Type
Religious, Other
Controlled Territories
