Mysterios/Mysteria

All functional nations of Ta Mando require capable practitioners of magic to remain relevant in their day to day! Few nations are able to spread their magic from border to border, however, like Kanda has been able to. In order to facilitate the almost complete ubiquity of magic within their nation, however, those who practice magic must be not only capable but extremely proactive and loyal to a fault; for Kanda is a nation surrounded by dangerous magical forces that would see it fall as well as full of dangers that would tear it apart from within!
The answer to these needs is and has always been The Mysterios!

Generally clad in dark robes and of gaunt appearance from years of their craft, the Mysteria consistently dedicate their lives to hunting and destroying dark forces that would cause harm, disorder and inconvenience to the Empire of Kanda.
Often dour sorts who have seen too much, Mysteria are not known for being particularly pleasant and generally have a dark sense of humor, though CAN be male or female with little difference in practical skill level between the sexes due to the extremely diverse nature of the profession.
In recent decades, with the introduction of the Tuniswe as a court standard, The Mysterios is not generally responsible for nearly as many duties as they used to be. STILL, the Mysterios is a necessary role for the destruction of abominations and outside magical forces that threaten the Empire! They are uniquely trained to use magic specifically to destroy; something to which few other professions have access.
The fact that Mysteria must also learn all other forms of magic allows for them to be extremely diverse practitioners of magic and useful in many situations.
They Truly Are The Supreme Wielders Of Magic In Kanda!

Career

Qualifications

A Mysterios Must, first and foremost, have a strong will and a capable understanding of Magic!
Though possessing The Gift is not strictly necessary, almost all Mysteria start their careers having been identified as holding The Gift by some senior Mysterios, who proceeds thereafter to take them under his wing.
It is also a popular decision for a Mysterios to take orphans as apprentices; as any orphan child who can survive on the streets whilst avoiding the prying hands of alley-combing slave traders must have a strong will and be resourceful and intelligent enough to understand pain and darkness; how to avoid it and how to work with it and beside it.
Even if these individuals do not possess The Gift they are often good choices, as their strong will ensures they will have the patience and discipline to delve deep into the academic aspects of magic.
Aside from The Gift and a strong will ALL Mysteria benefit from good reflexes, quick thinking, a relatively developed physique, a solid understanding of right and wrong, no shortage of patience, a keen eye for the suspicious and a thirst to learn and understand the world around them.
While all of these can be easily beaten into a child from an early age and lacking one or two doesn't automatically disqualify an aspiring Mysterios, these traits will easily give any student of magic a leg up on the competition and any aspiring Mysterios can do absolutely no wrong in having any or all of them upon being chosen by their teacher.

Career Progression

When A Mysterios takes an apprentice that apprentice stays with the Mysterios until they become a man (or woman) at 16.
Thereafter the Mysterios will put the student through a set of Trials and, if they succeed, they are marked with a special amulet that labels them as a Junior Mysterios.
They will thereafter hold some authority of the title and will be encouraged to wear the traditional garb at all times instead of just when on the job. In Being a specialist in magic, Mysteria are not required to join the Military before they turn 18; worth far more to Kanda in learning magic rather than being wasted on simple field combat.
HOWEVER, A Junior Mysterios is still officially recognized as fully fledged until they are at least 25; after which they go through another set of trials to ensure that they are truly ready!
If they succeed in this far more dangerous set of trials, a Junior Mysterios is finally recognized as fully fledged and must choose a Mysteria Name; normally the name of a disease and/or condition. (Though MANY Young Mysteria Choose Their Names Upon Receiving Their Amulets!)
Inflammatory Conditions, Pox Diseases and Respiratory Ailments are all common themes for Mysteria names.
Most often a newly recognized Mysterios will choose their name based off of their desires in the field. They will choose a particularly terrifying ailment if they want to be known as very strong and powerful. Alternatively they will choose the name of an incurable genetic condition if they want to be steadfast and reliable. Some Mysteria choose the names of particularly subtle and slowly crippling diseases to symbolize their craftiness and patience.
The claim behind this naming structure is that one must take on the name and nature of the darkness in order to know it best and thus hold ultimate power over it. If a Mysterios is to devote his or her life to destroying the powers of darkness they must wear its very name!
Regardless of what name they choose for themselves, All Mysteria are thereafter expected to dedicate themselves into:
The Military
The Nobility
The Central Bureaucracy
The Common Folk
Or One Of A Few Other Classes Of Service To Kanda Depending On Their Preferences And Skills.
Many Junior Mysteria think about exactly what they want to get into for many years before they are able to properly decide and so they generally make the decision on their class of service long in advance; aiming their education and progress in magic toward the type of Mysterios they want to be when they become fully fledged.
Necessary Training in their Class Of Service, of course, is something they are immersed in almost immediately by the powers that be.
Perhaps their previous master might already have considerable insight into the field and has passed it down to them dutifully as all good teachers should!
If this is not the case, however, the government at large generally foots the bill for a formal education in any given Class Of Service to facilitate the further usefulness of any individual Mysterios.
Therefor it is very common to see Military Mysteria being run through basic training and drills before being fast-tracked to leadership and/or battlefield engineering.
Noble Mysteria are immediately immersed in courtly finery and etiquette.
Bureaucratic Mysteria are taught the "Magic Of Recordkeeping," wherein they learn how to instantly pull all of the knowledge from a book or craft magical quills that can write at the speed of speech or develop spells that allow parchment to record more words than they could possibly hold. Peigee Fuwa is a spell developed by Bureaucratic Mysteria to facilitate better recordkeeping.
Obviously the many Classes Of Service are much more diverse and deeply complex than what we've shown above but they will require their own articles to properly explain.

From their new position in their chosen Class Of Service a Mysterios works essentially the rest of their life, though they may well be forcibly retired by the Imperial Bureaucracy for one reason or another; often impressing the imperial courts with many decades of dedicated service.
During this time a Mysterios might venture deep into enemy territory to study enemy magic for weaknesses
Travel to allied nations to reverse engineer THEIR magic for the Kandia military
Explore unknown lands to find potential threats to the Empire
Investigate the inner workings of Kandia society to uncover and extinguish dark plots from within
Study strange creatures and spirits that are not wholly familiar to Kanda
Act as counter-spies for the Empire
Join hallowed, secret orders of high Mysteria to fight back unknown dangers that even the kandar cannot know about
Fight random monsters
Deliver damsels in distress from the bowels of horrific dungeons
Typical Wizard Stuff!
While the practice of Dragon Hunting has been banned throughout the Empire for no less than a thousand years, the odd Mysterios is still heard about running across one and doing great battle with it!

Payment & Reimbursement

While a Mysterios is typically paid per act, many are paid on retainer for nobility and/or military service; at which point they are generally able to work out their own stipends/wages with their employers.
In being one of the few professions whose membership is not required to serve in the Kandia military by default, many instead seek to live with and work under their employers in relatively comfortable lifestyles of study and scholarship.
However, it is not unknown for the best Mysteria to hail from military backgrounds, having learned to cast powerful spells into huge groups of enemies or to launch pinpoint magical strikes while nearly blind during fights with hideous creatures of darkness.
Because of the inherent dangers of being a Mysterios and the necessity of their position in chasing out foul spirits from most communities, almost all Mysteria are paid quite well for their duties in almost any community they might enter.
However, their standard rate of pay has slowly dropped in recent decades as the Tuniswe have moved into the Kandia culture and usurped many roles that the Mysteria used to monopolize;
Such as making healing potions
Tending to injured animals
Curing sickness
And delivering babies.
While no self respecting Mysterios lacks the appropriate knowledge to perform such services their methods are somewhat less efficient in these fields than the Tuniswe can manage and their less approachable demeanor has driven the general populace to the more jovial and humorous nature of the latter practitioners.
Mysteria exist, solely, for Kanda on the whole so they tend to understand the needs of the weak and the many.
Often, when called to kill a monster or exorcise a dark spirit from a community they will work for free or "For The Good Of Kanda," whereafter they'll ask for a letter of thanks from the community, which may be turned in for compensation by the Imperial Kensaria; a practice grandfathered in several emperors ago when the number of Mysteria in the Empire started waning.
Many also tend to work for "Parts" of the creatures they slay; which may be used in powerful rituals or potions that they may capitalize on!
In this fashion the Mysterios appears charitable and generous but, in actuality, them providing communities good service and protection is far more profitable a venture than any compensation said communities could possible provide.

Other Benefits

While Mysteria are certainly not seen with much positive social regard, they are still seen as absolutely necessary to the order and infrastructure of the nation and it is from their hard work and attention that the capital and much of the core has streets lit by ever-burning lanterns and is free from the incursions of darkness.
... And because of them that the nation is at such peace with the local spirits wherever new cities are built!
Furthermore, NO Mysterios has EVER turned against Kanda even in the most dire of times and so their position is revered in the culture as one of loyalty and power!
A citizen of Kanda might not want to talk to a Mysterios but would start a fistfight in support of their worth in society.
Because of this, the role of Mysterios is one fraught with all manner of social benefits!
While perhaps not considered very lively, many Mysteria are regularly invited to private parties and functions wherein they might gain all manner of political favor and make any number of shady deals with the less savory members of society who manage to find their way in!
Their near constant adventures also give them no shortage of stories to tell at these functions; driving all manner of thrill seekers, writers and adventure enthusiasts to their side just to hear of their latest exploits!
Biographers the world over constantly seek for an exciting Mysteria adventure when they can get it!
Not merely paid in money, extremely powerful Mysteria might well earn titles and imperial recognition during their career receiving:
Land
Horses
Servants
Slaves
Apprentices
Special Materials
Rare Artifacts And Trinkets
Letters Of Recommendation
And all manner of other courtly delights just for practicing the magic that they do.
Many lords and ladies jockey to get the attention of certain noteworthy Mysteria to coax them into moving into their estates and living under them on retainer.
Because of this countless extremely powerful Mysteria live in lavish manors in the core and out in the most developed Longia; held indefinitely in service to their constantly overpaying, under-stressed, noble bosses who largely have little for them to do but practice their craft!
If a Mysterios has done particularly well for themselves they may even be offered the daughters of various higher officials in the Empire so as to secure their loyalty and ensure that they have even less reason to turn on their people.
These Mysteria tend to go on starting great schools of magic and local dynasties that produce long lines of worthy Mysteria for Kanda to pepper over the pages of history!

Perception

Purpose

A Mysterios Seeks Out And Destroys Demons, Abominations and Dark Forces!
Although they specialize in this, a Mysterios must learn as much about all branches of magic as possible and can perform any contemporary magical practice imaginable; from making healing potions and throwing fireballs to presiding over fertility festivals and helping to deliver children safely and with the appropriate blessings for good health and worthiness.
Perhaps the most important "Purpose" they are labeled with is simply the practice of higher magical arts.
MUCH of the population of Kanda has or has access to basic forms of magic.
For the right price anyone might buy an Ever-Burner (A Lantern That Never Goes Out) or study just enough from local practitioners to have a spell that helps around the house or out on campaign.
Very few Leconia lack at least one or two magical trinkets that can give them an edge in combat; thus making each unique from the hundreds of thousands of otherwise identical Leconia of the empire that fight beside them.
However, While such smaller magics are commonplace, the practice of Higher magical arts is less common and generally reserved for the Mysteria, Entheria and Tuniswe of Kanda.
These career practitioners of magic do not merely incorporate a little magic into their day to day but rather immerse themselves into deeper study to dissect magic itself and use whatever they can of it.
The Enthiros gets much of her power from the gods that she serves and from the study of pleasing the gods and spirits.
Therefor her ability to use magic is much less skill and much more a Power tool. She must understand what she is doing and how to use the magic she is given but she doesn't need to spend years learning how to access the tool or finding out all of the other alternatives to the tool. Merely understanding how it applies and how to keep it from going out of control is all that she needs unless she happens to be a Divine Specialist; which is a different subject entirely.
In stark contrast the Tuniswe is a devout researcher!
However, he is entirely a specialist and nothing else! No Average Tuniswe will understand how to destroy dark spirits or how to suck knowledge from the text of unopened books or how what to watch out for when walking into dangerous Daroba ruins.
They merely specialize in medicine and the more jovial aspects of everyday life.
The Mysterios, of the three mainstream magical practitioners in Kanda, is the most single-minded and dedicated to Magic as a whole!
The Mysterios is proficient in ALL aspects of magic whenever possible!
They are jacks of all trades, masters of some!
A Mysterios is perhaps less efficient with medicine and the magic of life but can still make potions and heal individuals if need be without difficulty or delay!
Meanwhile the Enthiros may do most of the work with the Divine but almost ALL new gods to the Pantheonic System pass into it through the arrival of a Mysterios; who alone can handle some lesser deities singlehandedly!
Through countless hours of study the Average Mysterios has the skills: (both academic and practical)
To Act As Interpreter For All Manner Of Magical Events
Encourage Fields To Grow
Oversee Any Festival
Appraise Magical Goods
See Through Any Sort Of Non-Divine Trickery
Tame Magical Beasts
Negotiate With Local Gods
Exorcise Demons 
And otherwise pull off any number of badass magical powers what would make the average peasant need a change of underclothes!
If the average Mysterios has a "purpose" it is to be as broadly skilled in any and all possible magical fields.
They Are The Repositories Of All Magical Knowledge Within The Empire Of Kanda!

Social Status

The Mysterios Is Largely Regarded As A Gaunt And Unpleasant Figure...
Because of their grim lifestyles, niche interests and overwhelming pool of extremely dry and academic magical knowledge they are often seen as boring or even creepy.
The black and gray robes they tend to wear, often without any form of adornment or ornamentation other than a few modest symbols of their position on a sleeve or pinned to the chest, make them appear weak and without impressive body features.
The great hoods they tend to wear also conceal their hair and even sometimes their faces; giving most Kandia the feeling that all Mysteria are the same and do not have noticeable personalities.
Simply put, they are not regarded so well by the bulk of society!
While Mysteria are generally regarded as creepy and hard to get along with, however, there isn't a single sane parent in the empire who would not delight at the idea of having one of their children taken as an apprentice to a high ranking Mysterios!
Some noble families even spend considerably to have a Mysterios live with them so as to be on call at all times. They sponsor their children to learn under Mysteria even if they do not display The Gift; such that Mysteria seldom want for opportunistic apprentices looking to benefit from the title, reputation and pedigree.
However, more often than not a Mysterios will choose a single apprentice from the lower classes who has either displayed considerable discipline and hardiness AND/OR has The Gift and a ready understanding of its possession. This tradition continues, much to the chagrin of the upper classes; who cannot challenge this status quo even if they disagree with it.
Mysteria also bear significant authority in all matters magical and everyone knows it!
A Mysterios is often turned to first and foremost when the populace of a region starts acting strange, when new spells are developed by any field of specialist and when talk at parties and during political functions inevitably flows to fanciful stories of family possessions and boasts of youthful adventures long past!

Demographics

About A Fiftieth Of A Percent Of The Kandia Population Are Mysteria.
However, Once Upon A Time It Is Rumored That A Tenth Of A Percent Of The Population Were Mysteria!
Furthermore, Recent Magical Scholars INSIST That The Gift Is Present In Perhaps An Entire Percent Of The Empire!
The Process of testing a child for The Gift is a long and drawn out process that takes an entire day of dedicated patience and experimentation on the part of a fully fledged Mysterios.
Testing is therefor both costly and sometimes very disappointing for a Mysterios, who must pay for all such resources out of their own pocket.
The Mysteria of Kanda feel that testing for The Gift has fallen considerably in recent centuries and believe that there would be many more apprentices if the Imperial Bureaucracy were to pay for testing more often.
Perhaps if Kanda were to mandate testing for The Gift as it did in The Founding Era they would be able to pull off the One In A Thousand Numbers that allowed them to dominate the Peninsula during their formative years.
For now, however, such ventures as regional testing for The Gift are strictly private ones.

Operations

Tools

Mysteria work mostly with parchment and ink; like so many other scholars.
However, required work attire includes their typical black or dark gray robes and a pendant marking their station as Mysterios; though this pendant need not be worn publicly, as the robes tend to mark their identity enough.
It is not unknown, however, for Mysteria to carry around many baubles and trinkets of their own make or the craftsmanship of another Mysterios that have spells, affects or otherwise magical enchantments that can empower them or their tools to aid in their job.
Common examples include:
Ever-Burners With Blackout Caps
Shadow Tokens That Create Bubbles Of Darkness
Strings Of Beads That Can Extend To Entangle An Enemy
Two Prick Knives
Magic Seeing Stones
And Demon Capturing Bags!

Materials

Mysteria have a... strange repertoire of materials that they desire.
Some who work in the military are fond of clay and wood and metal so that they may carve charms and affects into the weapons, armor and ammunition themselves; which may be charged and produce special effects like the Famous Spellbreaker Bolts, Light Tokens And Spirit Chains!
While these special items are made of completely mundane materials they are also very time consuming to make and require considerable effort and patience both to create and charge.
It can be so tedious, in fact, that most Mysteria assign their creation and charging to apprentices and juniors.
More commonly Mysteria will require all manner of stranger and less common ingredients:
Frogs Guts
Eagle Eyes
Crystals That Shine In The Dark
Strange Powders You Aren't Allowed To Touch
Gooey Liquids That Shrink Away From The Light And Will Crawl Out Of Their Container If Allowed
And Strange Creatures Suspended In Jars Of Alcohol.
There are no shortage of shocking things that Mysteria get their hands on to facilitate the many rituals and unknown schemes they work against the forces of the dark.
While they get into all manner of spooky ingredients there is also necessity for the more mundane things in the life of a Mysterios!
Parchment
Quills
Ink
Dusty Old Codices
Reading Stones
All Manner Of Pigments And Various Simple Ingredients To Make New Inks
Wood Alcohol
Paper If It Can Be Spared
Wax And Sealing Supplies
Such things are wholly mundane but also absolutely necessary if a Mysterios is to keep their life even halfway well managed; writing, erasing, sealing, jotting and otherwise doing all manner of "nerdy" things that you would imagine a dusty old wizard doing!
Prossibly with a dusty old cat hiding out somewhere in their laboratory!

Workplace

While a Mysterios can work just about anywhere so long as they are well fed, hydrated and rested, Mysteria tend to like working in alchemical laboratories with many experiment tables, shelves for reading material and specimen jars full of all sorts of body parts, critters and critter parts.
The lair of a Mysterios seldom smells good and is seldom well lit.

Every Mysterios has preferences and specialties, so every laboratory can be very different from the last or next.
However, the sound of bubbling and the sight of flickering lights is near constant in almost every Mysteria Laboratory and all manner wispy smoke and fog fills the air; as most Mysteria take up residence in a cool and easily isolated underground space if at all possible... for similar reasons to the average Prosernos.

Provided Services

While the great and mighty power of the Mysterios is extremely diverse and well researched, MOST people do not come to Mysteria explicitly to defeat monsters or exorcise dark spirits from a community!
Certainly powerful lords and villages in need recruit them for these very reasons but the AVERAGE Citizen will come to a Mysterios for considerably less dangerous concerns.
Perhaps a nasty rash has developed on a man's ass and no home remedy will work while the local Tuniswe is away or doesn't exist. A Mysterios will produce a burning unguent that will remove it in a single hour! It won't be pleasant but say no more to that rash!
Maybe a gnarled creature has taken up residence in a clan well! A Mysterios has all the tools, knowledge and magical leverage to clear the little bastard out where no trapper can; as well as probably harvest it for parts to be used in any manner of ritual or potion! PERHAPS he'll even accept such parts as payment and consider the job profitable without need for other pay!
A Lord MIGHT need his son to straighten up and learn something important before he join the ranks of the military. For a nominal fee as well as room and board a passing Mysterios might tutor the child whilst going about the community and righting wrongs whilst discretely charging for such services on the side!
MANY Mysteria dedicate themselves, indeed, to more civilian lifestyles; learning to manage books and scrolls and parchment on top of maintaining spiritual health in a community and maintaining the general safety of the people within.
It's not entirely unrealistic, especially if a Tuniswe is not present, for a Mysterios to maintain any and all potential medical needs for the community; from curing the aforementioned rash to delivering children to general checkups to making healing potions for the masses with a more or less standardized process they've mastered over the centuries!
Perhaps one of the most common roles a higher class Mysterios may slide into is the court sage or household advisor!
Particularly wealthy officials might have the good sense to invest their money into calling forth a well established and powerful Mysterios to maintain a position in their courts and advise on even the most trivial matters with a magical perspective.
These Mysteria live comfortable lives, but not ones without difficulties of their own! The highest powers in society are steeped in no shortage of intrigue and risk!
Such "Domestic" Mysteria must be careful and maintain constant vigilance for their hosts and patrons or risk falling to the same potential fates as the ones they're advising against!
While perhaps not as common in recent years, Military Mysteria offer all manner of more violent solutions!
Most often found  in dedicated military units, some Military Sworn Mysteria wander about in smaller, independent bands doing niche work on the fringes of the Empire where the patrolling gets less frequent.
Charged with protecting the people at large and generally assigned a capable group of protectors, these Mysteria often seek out communities in trouble just inside and just outside the borders and do business with them to ensure very real existential threats are stamped out before they become a hot issue! 
While never truly stationary, these Mysteria can also be convinced with appropriate compensation to remain in the same location for some time provided they have something to kill!
While all Mysteria are likely capable of delivering the same sort of magical punishment upon what ails these such communities, it is seldom that a Military Mysterios cannot make "the bigger boom" and they tend to come with backup and military authority that other Mysteria simply lack. Moreover, Military Mysteria tend to have the power to indulge in any Military construction and standardization.
A Good Military Sworn Mysterios might well leave the community with a freshly built Castan or a newly dug well or any number of other strictly mundane but useful additions to the community!

Dangers & Hazards

In being the traditional conquerers of demons and darkness in Kandia culture, Mysteria have a very dangerous job that offers no guaranteed retirement benefits...
Demons and the Empire's Enemies are dangerous and many Mysteria find their lives cut short at having underestimated their targets. Even MORE Mysteria go mad from interaction with such dark forces and kill themselves before they can be turned against their nation and loved ones.
Indeed there is no shortage of hazards relating to the job and to list them all would be a waste of everyone's time.
Consider what someone who fights demons and curses for a living might have to contend with on a regular basis... Then consider all of the intrigue and backstabbing and scheming of any good society and that's about what all Mysteria have to worry about.
The life of even more domestic Mysteria is never a boring or even a safe one.

Alternative Names

Robes, Darks, Gaunts; All Are Generally Derogatory.

Type

Arcane

Demand

There Is At Least One Mysterios In EVERY Community On The Shar Level

Legality

The Mysterios is a state sponsored and subsidized profession.
Every community with a name MUST have a Mysterios, though there are no legal conventions in place about how many apprentices a Mysterios must have nor that they must have an apprentice at any given point.
Mysteria enjoy numerous legal protections and authority (not unlike modern police) that no other class enjoys.

Famous in the Field

• Meningitis

Used By

• Kanda