The Golden Tower
"The Golden Tower is an engineering marvel. Its name is no mere metaphor: the whole edifice is a single contiguous mass of gold. What's more impressive is the likelihood that the metal is the result of a massive transmutation project, turning the engineering miracle into an arcanoengineering dual wonder.
"And even for all that, the Colossus that stands next to it makes the feats of the past seem like baby steps towards a brighter tomorrow."
~Abide Baht Mig, Caravaneer
Structure
One Grandmaster has executive power within the tower. They make decisions and identify day to day tasks that need to be delegated out, as well as making overarching decisions on which magic is available for learning by their students. Finally, they are the face of the Tower, and the most active politically of the three Grandmasters. They are nominated for lifetime appointments by the Parliament, usually from among the Parliament itself.
Beneath the Grandmaster is the Parliament of Masters, consisting technically of every master-rank mage in the Tower. In practice, usually only 200-400 masters are in attendance at any given time. They argue over rules and minutiae, normally with much more passion than these issues technically deserve. Their real power is limited to sending recommendations to the Grandmaster and voting on delegate appointments.
The masters are ranked over the journeymen, who tend to do the heavy lifting of the Tower. Journeymen are organized into work details called Delegations. These Delegations fulfill tasks by order of the Grandmaster both inside and outside the Tower. When not assigned to a Delegation, the journeymen are free to pursue their own aims with reasonable access to Tower resources.
Masters and journeymen see to the training of apprentices, mages aged 5-20. Apprentices may accompany Delegations or attend Parliament meetings, but their only task is to learn. The only duties they perform are educational in nature, though it's not uncommon that a class will create or repair a golem or other more practical lessons in the course of learning. Apprentices who are finished with their training but have not been accepted as journeymen fulfill menial tasks for the tower or pursue their own researches as tyros.
Public Agenda
The Golden Tower's concern is progress. It conducts magical research and innovation, promotes tolerance towards magic users, and generally attempts to stymie The College of Questions in their pursuit of witches. They study the nature of magic, and seek to understand its laws.
Assets
Wealth Score: 6d6
Caravans: Six trade caravans are based out of the Golden Tower, and are responsible for the majority of the common magic item and trinket trade.
The Mystic Mythic: 2d6+2
Siphons and Souls: 2d6-1
The Unicorn's Horn: 2d6+3
The Nightmare: 2d6+2
The Tenth Ring: 2d6+1
The Bigger Gnome: 2d6
The Golden Tower sits in the middle of a circle of land 24 miles across. On this land is a small village called Zhet which has an economy entirely dedicated to servicing the Golden Tower. Most of the land is owned by various mages as either private residences or landlords.
The tower is protected by three companies of golems. These companies operate on simple law enforcement programming, but in times of emergency the mages can assign delegations of Journeymen to lead them. Additionally, a massive golem known as the Colossus stands next to the tower, dormant since its creation. While The College of Questions insists that The Colossus of the Golden Tower is actually a statue and a massive bluff, if they are wrong then it is the largest golem ever constructed.
The vaults beneath the Golden Tower are stocked with an unknown trove of artifacts and magics.
Look to the Horizon
Founding Date
Year 830
Type
Guild, Mages
Alternative Names
The Mage's Tower, The Shining Tower, The Parliament of Mages
Demonym
Parliamentarian
Leader
Subsidiary Organizations
Manufactured Items
Notable Members
Comments