Mage Guild

The Mage Guild is a guild of Mages, powerful magic users from who can call upon Arcane and Divine power. It exists as an intellectual society designed for the purposes of understanding the Hidden Realm, and also for unlocking the secrets of Arcane and Divine Magic. It was created for the purpose of understanding why the Hidden Realm has been separated from the other Realms, and how to possibly reconnect it again. In addition to their research, they also collect as much information on the Hidden Realm as possible. It's partially due to a desire to continue their research, but a large part of it is just a drive for knowledge.

The Mage Guild has large libraries in all of their locations, with some standard books for studying, but also some more specific books written about the region, or the flora and fauna nearby. This knowledge is guarded, but is often shared with the Martial Guild as required. As a general rule however, the libraries are off limits to everyone except guild members. There are rumors that the Mage Guild has portals setup between all of their locations around Veland, but if true no guild members will confirm the rumor.

Founding

It was founded by Ilyana Torcaryn in 4 AH. She founded it for the purposes of expanding her understanding of Divine and Arcane magic, and dedicated her life to that research. The numbers of members grew over the years, as more Mages contributed their research and assisted as needed. It also grew as the Martial Guild, at one time called the Guild, became more strict with its membership due to the policy changes of Bil Fyn, forcing many previous members out as they no longer met the requirements. They instead joined the Mage Guild, and continued adventuring with the resources provided to them by the guild. The agreement being that they would also provide their research as well to further the goals of the more academic members. It is said that during the founding of the guild during the time of Ilyana while she was still the Guild Leader, she invented a combination of Arcane and Divine magic to bypass the separation of the Hidden Realm and open a portal to another Realm. However, due to the Black Dragon, Malataxes, this research was lost and has never been reproduced.

Mage Guild in 13^th century AH

Operations

The Mage Guild in the 13^th century AH has changed slightly since it's original foundation 1200 years prior. Ilyana founded it as a brain dump for the brightest Mages in Veland so that together they could combine their knowledge of different schools and domains of magic to better understand the Hidden Realm and its relation to the other Realms. By the 13^th century, it now operates as a collection of knowledge. As a kind of "living compendium" of all things related to the Hidden Realm. There are still those that are attempting to replicate Ilyana's successful research, but none have come close. Long gone are the days of the brightest Mages who were brave enough to experiment with the bastardization and combination of magical rituals and spells. Now, most research is done using theory by intellectuals at Universities or in the Guild Halls, and almost none of it is original research, merely copies of already attempted research in order to attempt improvements.

However, there are still members who push for the furthering of knowledge through trials and adventure. These members often look down upon the "decline" of the research conducted by the guild, and instead often choose to partner up with Martial Guild members, who they often feel they share more in common with. This mix of personalities and approaches is very conducive to the goal of knowledge growth the guild, but it also creates a far less homogenous environment than the Martial Guild, making every Guild Hall feel wildly different from the last, and each Hall having very different objectives from one another.

Structure

The structure of the guild has grown to keep up with the expanding guild membership. There is still a single Guild Leader, who at the moment is Thalanil Ralora, a bookish wizened half elf. He is known for his immense knowledge of all forms of magic. It's said that he has forgotten more spells than anyone in the world has ever known. He oversees the objectives and administration of the guild.

Then, there are Guild Captains that oversee each Guild Hall. These Captains make sure the research being conducted is useful, and make sure that the members who are more prone to gathering knowledge through adventure properly contribute their share back to the guild. They also oversee regular administration of the Hall as well, and report any important findings back to the Guild Leader.

Below them, are the Guild Lieutenants. The Lieutenants act in a way as diplomats between the adventurous Mages and the Martial Guild. They make sure that the other members who seek knowledge through action rather than study are properly connected with a fellow Martial Guild party, so as to not waste the time of the Mage Guild with useless or duplicate information. In a way, they handle the "missions" that the guild members undertake, although they're taking it for knowledges sake rather than money or glory like Martial Guild members.

At the bottom of the totem pole, there's the regular members. These members range from University professors who are members on the side and contribute any theories or knowledge they may have, but don't work full time for the objectives of the guild, to borderline adventurers who by all accounts would be a better fit in the Martial Guild, and in some ways are honorary members or full time party members of Martial Guild members. This wide range of membership in turn provides a wide range of application of knowledge, to be better shared and tested. Some researchers even choose to send these adventurous guild members out to test some of their creative spells on their adventures, although those who are attempting to create their own spells are a handful at best.

Type

Guild, Mages