Order of Edlam

Wardens of the Northern Sea

The Order of Edlam is an association of Mages with its seat in the city of Edlam. The Order is part of the Empire of Illodia and makes up a substantial part of its military force.

Origins

The exact age of the Order is unknown. It is said to have existed prior to the Age of Dauler, but was at first a loose group of seapriests. In this way it was no much different from the circles of Druids known from the island of Alwaein. At some point in their history, the Order began to associate itself with elven sorcerers, which changed their attitude towards the Gift of Magic. Instead of being just a mere collection of seapriests, they decided to become a gathering of mages to find and school new mages.

The Lords of Edlam

Edlam was never ruled by a monarch. Instead its leadership consisted of two parts. One of them was the Order of Edlam, which had sworn to protect the city and the realm. The rest was a loose council elected by the citizens of Edlam. Edlam was a free city and known for its wealth early on. The mages were responsible for protecting the realm, enabling them to build up a large mercantile fleet. They rose to considerable power already prior to the Age of Dauler and dominated their surrounding regions. Illodia at the time was under the influence of Edlam, but apart from that, mostly insignificant.
Ironically and very contrary to their later attitude, they allied with Dauler the Great right away. Dauler himself was also gifted with magic. In him they saw an icon for the betterment of humanity and voluntarily joined his efforts to unite humanity.

The Brother of Illodia

Edlam is often refered to as the elder brother of Illodia. This epithet bears much truth as Illodia grew under the influence of Edlam. In later centuries, when Illodia became more dominant, Edlam chose to side with Illodia and became an integral part of the Empire of Illodia.
How did it come to this? The attitude towards the Daulerim Empire was very positive at first. The Order of Edlam did indeed begin to train mages from all over the Empire and greatly advanced human knowledge of magic. This changed greatly during the War of the Crownless. The Order was deeply disappointed with the Empire. They were furthermore very disappointed when it seemed that its people wanted a hereditary rule instead of a meritocratic system by mages. In fact, while Dauler and his grandson and heir, Astalan, were great mages, many of the daulerim pretenders were not. The Order saw this as a return to the rule of lesser people, essentially even as a return to barbarian rule. They chose their independence for this time and protected it.
When the realm of Illodia rebelled they joined them in their efforts and began to support them for ever since. The Order made the decision to strategically influence Illodia and to elavate it to its current status. Lest that Kaldan II. joined the Order himself also. When Illodia became a proper Empire, they chose a triarchic rule. The Emperor was from the royal family of Kaldan II., one ruler was the leader of the military, while another was the grandmaster of the Order. The Order began to become the central authority of mages in the Empire. While mages in the Daulerim Empire were mostly free to themself, they were a conscripted force in the Illodian Empire. The Order was therefore also responsible for the matters of every mage in the Empire. Children with magical abilities were usually sought and conscripted to be trained, not rarely taken from their families if they'd resist. Not every child was indeed conscripted, many children of the lower class where overseen. Examples for this are Ragaster Telve and his adoptive daughter Sirta.

The Thalassocracy

In the year 691 a new grandmaster was elected by the name of Ragaster Telve. Ragaster had been previously already a member, but left again. He had a pronounced discontent with the leading establishment of the Order. Yet after years of hermitage he rejoined the Order, not because his strained relation had become better, but because the Order was convinved of his might. They chose him as ally as else he might have been a formidable opponent. Ragaster gained himself the title of a Thalassocrate. His powers were immense and it is not an understatement to place him among the most powerful mages of this age. Under his rule the Order was transformed. He disposed of the old establishment, while recruiting more and more pupils. At the same time grew his influence in the imperial court. The Order had previously already been a military power, but increasingly crew into an even more powerful tool for the Empire. To those who knew Ragaster his goal was clear.

Type

Guild, Mages

Alternative Names

Guild of the Seapriests

Leader

Ragaster Telve

Parent Organization

Empire of Illodia

Notable Members

• Ragaster Telve
• Sirta

Related Ethnicities

• Illodian