Mage’s Guild (Seekers)

The Mage guild is based in Eis’Lasan one of the most magical places in the world. This guild has access to vast libraries and arcane laboratories. Members favor experimentation and above all else the practice of magic. This is perhaps the oldest guild despite being the smallest of the world-renowned ones. The mages guild was founded within Eis’lasan, while it is the smallest of the major guilds it is also the oldest. It dates back hundreds of years to when the mages met and created a non-aggression pact with each other and vowed to work within certain rules to prevent further damage to the Arcane during the aftermath of the fall of the Golden King. This means they were in operation during the dragon hunting and cataclysm they were however, unable or unwilling to do much to protect the dragons themselves they are responsible for helping to keep the Arcane, mostly intact having outlawed demonology and necromancy in regards to reanimation and rather zealously hunting down any who disregarded this ruling by the implementation of the Sentinels. The true golden years of the guild are behind them as over the years they have fallen out of prominence now they are less of an authority on all magic, and most mages who join do so to advance themselves with better resources available to them and as a way to hopefully enter the Voltaris Academy as either a student or teacher.
What they still do have is the Tenants of Thaumaturgy that are the standard for all mages to adhere to within the Mortal Empires. The one arm of the guild that remains as strong and prominent as ever is the Sentinel’s, mages dedicated to enforcing of the Tenants of Thaumaturgy who often specialize in abjuration magic and techniques on how to counter, dispel, or otherwise disrupt or interrupt spells from mages in the pursuit of their task. They have jurisdiction on all magical related crimes both in solving and punishing them. The guild’s services are widely sought after by governments and military leaders as advisory and enchantment roles. On rare occasions, the call for a battlemage can be answered. The Mage guild battlemages are generally offensive casters and spell and blade warriors. The guild does not discriminate based on the source of magic, though members might be less welcoming to others, Sorcerers tending to get the most hazing from Wizards.
Reasons to be a part of the guild are having safe a haven to experiment with magics, access to the Arcane Athenaeums which are vast libraries second only to those of Mol’Amoroth to which being a member has an increased chance to be given access to that library with a high membership. Legal protection, living space, and cheaper magical supplies.
The capital cities do have teleportation circles often to transport very important materials, however this is not always the case as some materials react poorly to teleportation and the cost for the average person to use such a method is prohibitive. The common person is generally afraid to use it, feeling they will be teleported into another dimension, come out the other side evil, or not come out the other side at all, despite the efforts of the mages the fear is a common one.

General rules and dismissal

The rules for the mage guild are fairly straightforward in that attacks against each other are not tolerated outside of designated training areas with wards that prevent death but otherwise allow for spells to function (No damage can bring a person below 0 hp, Death spells reduce to 0, and all bleed outs are stabilized) As they use live fire style teaching methods. Theft of knowledge is a frowned upon thing, as well as theft of supplies, and both are readily available anyway through proper channels, stealing them indicates wanting to hide something that is frowned upon. Necromancy (Animating the dead), Harboring of undocumented dangerous artifacts. Breaking of the Tenants of Thaumaturgy.

Sentinels

The Sentinels maintain a guild hall near the Voltaris academy within Eis'lasan which itself is one of the Arcane Athenaeums, the largest of them occupying an entire disc on the seventh level of the city. The exact one is unknown as the Sentinels keep their base secret to those outside of the order as they have many relics hidden away that are too dangerous to be free in the world but are beyond their ability to destroy. The Sentinels are known for their use of Abjuration, but they also make use of divinations to find necromancers, demon cults, or those who break the Tenants to send a Sentinel or a purgation squad. The Sentinels have cream colored robes with a hood that rests over a Gi style shirt and pants often in white, but this can change based on their mission, the bright colors are often as a show of their membership in the Sentinels. Many choose to wear face masks that are designed to help focus the Sentinel’s concentration or provide magical senses of some kind, these masks are made of arcane crystals formed into a smooth disc obscuring the Sentinel’s face only having small slits for breathing and speaking. While rare there are examples of Sentinel’s dawning a scarlet red Gi and black robe, but this is only done when dealing with a significant threat, and most assume the different robe colors are a sign of more heavy enchantment and or rank. The weapon of choice for a Sentinel is an Escinian Great-Staff with at least one pearl of power socketed into the staff.
Initiation Joining the Seekers is not overly complicated, going to one of their branches and stating your desire is enough to get the process started. They will test what you are capable of and if it meets with their approval you will be issued your initiation quest, The Maervarious.

The Maervarious

This quest is to create a staff for yourself something that is as unique to you as your own soul so deeply intwined is this connection to your soul it is possible that you could choose elements from a past life especially if they too were a mage. They are brought before what is called ‘The Augur’ which appears as a lantern archon or Will-O’-Wisp held within a sphere of spiraled silver, the entity is an Arcane consciousness that wants to observe the mortals. When brought before the Augur it will evaluate their essence and offer hints as to what they should seek but will never tell them exactly what they need, nor will it be bothered if they choose something else. Often its suggestions pertain to another life, and should they create a staff made exclusively out of parts of a past life the Augur will welcome them back and refer to them as ‘Hrasis’ which the Augur will reveal is what it refers to those who connect with their past lives as.
Once The Maervarious is complete they will be a full member of the Seekers, not many ever actually complete The Maervarious and so remain initiates or eventually give up and become an acolyte or archivist within the libraries and helping the actual members with their tasks. Once a full Seeker their staff becomes a symbol of the position.

Structure

Archon Assembly
Sentinels
Seekers

Culture

To collect and germinate knowledge of the Arcane, the whole culture of the Seekers is to gather knowledge and to explore what is know about the Arcane. They help those who seek to research magic and find new ways to use it and learn from it. Those within the Seekers are there to further the development of magic, either their own or magic as a whole. The vast majority of the Seekers follow the Tavori methods, with some Scorathi being members but they generally keep such affiliations quiet.

Assets

Teleportation Nexus

The Seekers maintain teleportation circles between major cities as well as a central hub that can connect mages and travelers between different circles. The physical location of this nexus is unknown to all save the Archon Assembly and any Archmages within the Seekers. Within the nexus an Archwizard known as the 'Master of Keys' or 'Nexus Master' can give the sigil combinations to other teleportation circles as needed and knows all the circles known to exist by memory. This nexus is attached to an Arcane Athenaeum in the major cities.

Related Traditions

• Trial of Ascendance

Controlled Territories

• Hadreon's Bastion