Sandstorm Magic University

A Piece of Human Experience

OLD UNCLE

Three years have passed since Sandstorm was founded. Only three years.
The foundation of a Mage University is a rare event on Sharitarn planet, seldom happens once in ten thousand years. Those are the pride and the power of their nations. What distinguishes proud local forces from Global Powers, what distinguishes humanity from all other intelligent species on the planet.
Since Imperial Age no institution of that kind was founded with so little involvement of Mage’s Brotherhood. And rarely in History it was achieved during a Transition Period of the Vortex.
Rigmir Milk-Scorpion became a wild sigrax in the year this University was founded, his noble mother being a Yellow Lizard, one of the many daughters of King Altair, he had been involved in the process of make the University viable since he passed the test of magic potential. The boy liked the old ways better, and would have preferred to stay a wild sigrax all his life instead of enter the University and risk the Second Test.
His mentor persuaded him to add the studies of a civilized sigrax to his wild practices, by showing him the differences between a sigrax and a mage.
Rigmir had learned the wild tradition, he would always be able to teach other sigraxes by himself. And would never be as versatile as he could have been if he had done his First Test at any University. However, there is no Second Test for wild folk. No wild mages, only wild sigraxes. As Ouban White Eye, his mentor, reminded him: “our Way, the Way of magic I am bound to teach you and you have sworn to follow, had no mage for thirty Ages. Only wild sigraxes. By your honour and mine, if you have a chance to be the first, you must try”.
Today he succeeded. Rigmir Milk-Scorpion had survived the Second Test, achieving the status and power of mage. First Windward Mage since long before the Piwag Desert was formed, before the Lost Pride Mountains raise from forgotten seas.
As a Weather Sigrax, a Windward, he would have had an imposing personality, and a scary reputation. Windward spells are hard to control, and they seldom can be targeted. That limitation is compensated by their scale of action, since those sigraxes move winds hundreds of kilometers above their heads, they low or raise temperature just a little bit at day but do so in areas of dozens of miles. His commanded sandstorms and could wake oasis or send them to sleep bellow the surface and beyond the reach of enemy tribes. It had seemed impressive.
It was nothing. A grain of sand in the Piwag.
Rigmir looked at The City of All Tribes, fresh and clean stone. Still mostly in construction 55 years after the first stone was set in the core of the city. Even their Main Market is only half completed. The young mage man could barely see the place where he had expended the recent years.
He realized without effort that he was not feeling the sun in his skin, for the last few minutes while standing on the top of the stairs that lead to Sandstorm main gate the mage had been feeling the sun, but not in his own skin. He had been feeling it on the surface of Open Sea. The vast body of water between Guadlu and Micula, where the proud nations of Mimbao and Lutianen stand on small pieces of rock.
The Milk-Scorpion eild boy, just turned a civilized men by his admission in a urban Mage Caste as mage, was realizing now the curiosity his awakening to magical senses had caused. In all directions, powerful and sensible mages, and other things even more dangerous, had noticed the uncommon presence in the atmosphere. The mind and the will in the winds, pulling and pushing clouds without deliberation but not without intention.
For a moment that was a drop in that temporal ocean of a couple minutes the entire mage net tensed. Then, as each mage and archmage remembered who he was, the tension dissolved.
_Clumsy_ said the small elven children behind him.
He has noticed her a couple of times in the last years, always inside the University. Followed by two or three tutors. Likely some important noble elf of Erevy, grand daughter of their diplomat perhaps.
She looked like the most gorgeous nine years old girl he could have imagined. Like the young sister any one would love to boast about.
However, being an elf she probably was older than his 14 years. Rigmir wasn’t sure how old she could be, bit had a broad notion that if could be more than 100 years. If she was high noble blood, and seemed likely.
_Did you felt that pig-head? _ he asked, incredulous.
They say elves have a natural sense for magic. Even those born without potential for became magic users. But still, how could she feel Xar interactions in that level, when he was a mage and could barely believe what had happened.
_You have attracted far too much attention, old uncle. It will bring you trouble eventually. I suppose is hard to avoid, considering you magic Way. Windward sigraxes call a disproportional attention when they use their spells, and is worse for mages. Even more now, that so few players can remember the Ages when there was Windward mages all over the globe.
_I don’t think we have met yet, pig-head, but you look like a very nice girl. That’s not the safest place in town for a pretty lady like you. Much less one who is a foreigner. Why we don’t go back inside and look for one of your tutors.
She looked at him whit suspicious.
_Aren’t you planning in steal me from my parents to brand me slave, are you old uncle?
The young mage laugh out loud. She was a sweet treasure.
_I would certainly love to! Is wise of you to have doubts. However, I have seemed you a couple of times inside the University, and by that more your clothes I can guess that you are a Caste Sister. And probably from an important family. Steal you would likely cost my Nation something important, perhaps the friendship of Erevi. Would an honoured mage do something like that just for the pleasure of get himself a pretty slave child to play with? Besides, we are going to walk back to the University, where you came from and where I imagine your guardians must be.
The pretty elf smiled, satisfied.
_You are sweet, old uncle. Lead the way.
As soon as they enter the girl saw a group of mages from her people, who where talking with mage professors of Sandstorm. She insisted he accompanied her, saying she wanted to present him to her friends.
_Came, old uncle!
When they approached, conversations died and all attention turned in their direction.
_Archmage Eondoyo_ deferred respectfully the Head Mage of Sandstorm.
_I have my decision, caste brother. Starblood House will help you replace one of the teachers you lost, I will talk with my nephews and see which one of them can stay in your city for the time necessary to replace your staff. They are both experienced masters of magic used to teach humans. And I will personally redraw the contention sigils to prevent a second accident. In exchange for this service, you will accept one student indicated from my house every three years, for as long as your institution remain active.
_I am sorry archmage, but you know that will add to the tensions in the Net. One new elf studding beginning the study of Magic in a University, every three years… that would obsess many human archmages! _said one.
_Besides, we would still be one mage bellow the lower possible number to keep an University functioning. _added the Head Mage.
No one in this circle was from Piwag Desert, except for Rigmir. The tribes having no mage University before Sandstorm, had no mage either. All professors at Sandstorm where war prisoners, in a sense. Only in a very loose sense of that expression, however.
Mages, are mages.






_I can understand your concerns. However, elven race has few mages left to offer. You can try negotiate deals with other Universities for the mage you still need. Perhaps offer the position for some undeads. I am sure even a lich would not represent much risk if he stayed here for a decade, or two.
_The archmage must be kidding! _ protested the same professor who had pointed the growing tension in Mage’s Global Net.
_She is far too old and powerful to make jokes about situations like that, professor. And he knows as well as we do that our options are accept her terms or inform the desert king that he will not have his University any time soon. The sigils must be restored before the configuration brakes completely or the class we just tested will be the last of this institution. Some of us have families in this city, and we all are bond by honour to do everything in our power to make Sandstorm survive and grow. Lady Starblood has all the cards in present situation.
_The Brotherhood will burn us to the ground before they accept a new influx of high noble mages!
_That’s possible, but the process of make a new mage is long and difficult. And we will be accepting new students to prepare them for the First Test now. Not for the second, yet. However, we cannot do any test, nor even prepare students for them, without 25 mages. The archmage knows that too.
The small elven, who looked much like a nine years old human child, agreed.
_You cannot make another mage until you have the minimal number, what means you can accept my terms without raise too much concerns. The Brotherhood will have time to digest the deal we are making here. And I will have time to sell the idea to my own people as well. Not all citizens of Erevi will like it as much as you may think. If you fail in obtain the professors you still need for you institution, Sandstorm fails, and I gain nothing for my investment here.
_That’s true_ admitted the reticent professor.
_Yes, I see your point!
_But you mean “professor”, not “professors” archmage. Whit the nephew you are leaving us we will be only one mage bellow the necessary minimal.
_Not really, old uncle. Because I am taking you with me to Erevi. So you can initiate a few young elves in your Way. And share some ideas with those who thought Weather magic to the first human followers of your Way.
That was a surprising revelation for all, specially for Rigmir. However, there was nothing left to discuss at this point.

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NECESSARY CONTEXT

The Wild Lineage of King Riagare Yellow Lizard has its roots deep in Barbaric Times. The Desert King responsible for unify the Piwag Tribes practices a Wild Way of Magic that was never taught in Universities. His particular branch of Self-Somatic Transmutation is barely death when the tribes are unified, he is the last follower of this branch of his Way.
The human tribes of Piwag desert are far more recent that the Magi Way followed by Riagar. As the Piwag Desert itself also is.
The lineages are wild and ancient, but they walked other lands before there was a desert in this region. The surface of Sharitarn do changes more often and violently than the surface of Earth has changed in the past. Their topography is affected by constant accidents caused by the Vortex, and by magical interventions in large scale.
During this Age, and some Ages before that, the apex of Civilization has been the State City.

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Sharitarnes organize their Planet History in four periods (five if you count the Desolation Times, what most don't). Thanks to their Divination spells a lot of what we consider a middle ground between mythology and science on Earth is actual fact among them.
The product of Divination Magic is not even as uncertain as Scientific Theories are. Mind you, our natural sciences are entirely based in inductive logic, which by its own nature is never 100% certain. There is always a chance that all we think we now about the Big Bang or the Evolution of Species could be wrong, a lot of mistakes based in what looks to us like a huge volume of evidence. Maybe this volume isn't large enough. Or maybe we are just not smart enough to analyze it. People who says things like "Evolution is fact, not theory" may have their hearths in the right place, but they are shameless lying.
In our Universe, New-Darwinian Evolution, with its random variation of characteristics in individuals and its natural selection, is and always will be a Theory. A possible way to explain a large but limited collection of data, that follows principles like simplicity. Is the best thing we have to produce useful knowledge, but is just that. Divination magic does not always provide answers, and sometimes it does not provide certainty. However, when a Divination Spell gives you a information that comes with the certainty of true, that information has absolutely no chance to be false. You can make bad deductions from the information, later, but what Divination gave you is beyond any possibility of mistake: that is the nature of Divination, same way that extrapolate from know facts is the nature of Inductive Logic.
Unlike what happens on our Universe, Evolution is not a Theory on Sharitarn. Nothing that follows is. Since the Early days of humanity, about any barbaric tribe on Sharitarn whit access to Divination spells had access to the same basic source of information still used by civilized mages today.
Only the classifications change. Different Scholar Castes focus on different aspects of what Mage Castes produce as knowledge about the past.
There was a time before life evolve on Sharitarn, a very long period of time. About 345 billion of years long. During this time Sharitarn was a lifeless planet orbiting his star. There is a lot of details available in Main Libraries about this exciting period, and they mean nothing to anyone except possibly ii Geologists and Physicists. And native students of the Vortex, trying to find constants in the behavior of the phenomenon. The Vortex was active, but didn't brought anything alive.
Next you have the history of Non-talking Life. It evolved on Sharitarn, and short after that living things started arriving from Parallel Planets. Non-talking living things. Took 62 billion years for a talking specie evolve on Sharitarn. That was humanity. After humanity evolve the Vortex started bringing other talking species. That is where most classifications begin. Meaningful things only now start to happen.
BARBARIC TIMES
We have mere 8 billion years of what is called "Barbaric Times". Not much if compared to what came before, but still considerably longer than the entire Natural History of planet Earth as we usually tell it up there. Native humans lived in tribes, the oldest sigrax lineages stars in that period. Native humanity was treated as cattle by more powerful non-human races, and for the eventual human colony of iis arrived with advanced technology.
The Barbaric Times end with the Age of Spiders, when most species on Sharitarn became extinct. Survivals becoming deeply traumatized, cursed by terrible nightmares that echo in genetic level.
DESOLATION TIMES
After the Barbaric Times there is a period know as Desolation Times, when land recovers and humanity organizes itself for the first time. Native humans recognize themselves as the only talking specie that evolved on Sharitarn.

THE AGES

That is the period when most relevant things happen, in the understanding of Native Humans. What is meaningful for them is almost always found here.
We are looking to a period of about 65 million years here. Divided in periods of about 100 thousand years each, called "Ages". There is no objective temporal criteria to say when an Age ends and the next one starts, therefore you can count whit a lot of imprecision and contradictory information. Still, is more or less that.
Consider that takes on average, more or less, 1 thousand years for the Vortex have a Period of Normality and a Period of Transition. We have them more or less 100 planets tuned by the Vortex on each Age. And the same number of Transitional Periods. But the Vortex is unpredictable and those values can wildly variate.

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However, there was periods in the past when the State Cities where a small exception. When Sharitarn was controlled almost entirely by countries. That unified themselves eventually in a few might Empires.
During the most recent of those Ages when the world was full of large nations, the Age know as Imperial Age, the humans ruled most the world but where ruled by a strange specie of immaterial beings that we could probably call "deities". The dragons kept a part of the world, at North East of Main Continent, apart of the rest, and up there they where the worshiped as gods. The undead mages of Mimbao had their city independent in its island, and it was called "The Capital of All Sailor Castes" instead of "The Undead City". However, exceptions apart that was a time of human emperors ruling theocratic governments, under the guidance of non-human iis.
The Age of Empire ended when a race know now only as frog people developed a way to imprison the deities worshiped by humanity and use their power as fuel for their own spells. Short after the unification of all Human Tribes of Piwag the first deity imprisoned by the frog people escaped. Zagdon, the God of Evil Magic referred by Altair as "Lovecraftian Monster", if openly worshiped now in the City of All Tribes.
No one knows if Riagare embraced this power, or if his heirs converted themselves to the faith. Still, the few who know the reality about the end of Imperial Age consider expressive the coincidence. That should be precisely after Zagdon regain his freedom the establishment of a new national power based in the unification of authority strongly rejected by those who consider themselves as citizen of state cities.
There is no civilized nation under the domain of Riagare, the desert king. Least not yet.
The wild tribes had their turbulent history in the desert, apart of civilization. Their lives where extremely hard, and few among the larger tribes had constant relations with the Merchant Caravans.
Riagare returned to his people after a banishment of 500 years, severely wounded by a fight against a mage but with treasures beyond the dreams of any tribal chief. His tribe was the last among the Main tribes of Piwag Desert when the banished sigrax found it. The Yellow Lizard had endured had times.
Now that feels like a past as distant as the Imperial Age, for those who look at the capital of Riagare's nation.
The City of All Tribes is in construction, materials coming from all directions where is possible to travel. Port Niore, the mining village that motivated the unification of all desert tribes, grew fast. Half hundred trade posts and oasis lost in the Piwag gained walls and structures for store water. Long lost temples and cities buried and protected by magic in ancient times are reappearing and the treasures found in those places are slowly buying great things. 
Creation mages travel from Lutianen and Micula to create large quantities of pure water in the desert, in exchange for different sorts of treasures. Even the reclusive citizens of Ziicrix, the Insect City, send gifts and show interest in enjoy the hospitality of king Riagare. 
Iborn, the Dragon City of Imperial Age in Crescent-Moon Peninsula, place from where the dragons ruled over their Empire, is being rebuild now as well. By a lady dragon who is a former ally and a good friend of Riagare. Ins't clear yet if Xiirsh intends to expand the power of Iborn over the region the city once ruled, but seems a plausible possibility. 
Whatever the case may be, the dragons already have a fortress for their diplomat on Piwag city. It was one of the first buildings to be finished. Even before the Royal Palace. 
The most impressive conquest of Riagare however, is Sandstorm. And the necessary correspondent of it, that was not build as a normal building but appeared in the designated are at first sunlight one morning. The Mage Tower of Piwag City.
Where exist a Mage University must exist a Mage Tower. The glowing dark needle is the physical manifestation of the blessing of Mage's Brotherhood. 
Well, "blessing" may sometimes be a world excessively intense. It is an official recognition, the acceptance of the basic fact that this nation is now able to create mages. And therefore, whether the both sides like it or not, it is bond to the Brotherhood. Because to be a mage is to be a member of Mage's Brotherhood, there is no alternative. 

UNIVERSITY CAMPUS 

(to be continued)






















 


 






























(to be continued )

Type

University / Educational complex