The Aurimbic Tradition
Summary
The Aurimbic Tradition, based in the continent of Arlok, out of the Monastery of Aurim-Bas, concerns itself with Fate, Divination, and Metamagic. Though boasting considerably more ancient roots, the Tradition’s modern structure emerged under Keldaroth, known also as The Madman. It is the third and final Tradition to join The Council of Landezon. Those with Gifts in this area are born with a slight indentation in the forehead, thought to be a vestigial third eye.
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Aurimbics meditate in the Sounding Chamber
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Aurimbic mages study Lines of Fate near a Puzzle Wall
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Background
Aurimbic mages are an odd lot. Flowing from typical Northern feistiness, there’s little they like more than challenging their fellow sibling Traditions, and The Council of Landezon. The subject nearly doesn’t matter: if others are for it, they’re against it! Geography explains part of the gripe: the lands of Arlok are richer in magic than either Rela's or Delhiza's (home base for Berythian / Nurhetic Traditions), but their unforgiving climate leads the Council to invest few resources there; Southern Arlok (i.e. Msna, Ceweren, and Chalornok) contains 97% of Chapterhouses found within the continent. The specific claims Aurimbics make about the Council neglecting Northerners are therefore fairly well-founded, but their hermit-like tendencies cause them to withdraw from key talks and decisions that would improve this infrastructure. And so around and around they go, like a dog chasing its own tail. They’re not wholly to blame: their very brand of magic is likewise oppositional! The central finding of The Tangled Scrolls, a masterwork of theory penned by the Tradition’s founder, Keldaroth, is that magical energy is finite. This notion launched a major gauntlet at the arcane world in its day, and the truth of it took long years to confirm and, frankly, centuries to fully absorb. Though a universal pillar of wizardly thought now, its consequences beg constant reckoning, and Aurimbics are forever admonishing others for their reckless use of spells, which cumulatively they hold will bring about The End of Magic itself – one of the darkest visions in the Tradition’s collections of Prophecy. Half of Aurimbic spellwork is devoted to the study and reduction of The Pattern – the chaotic system that emerges into the world like ripples in a pond after any spell is cast. This phenomenon is impossible to track empirically because the only observable fallout from a spell tends to be its intended effect, so the magical languages of the Tradition have evolved to be math-like to deal with its abstract, a priori character. Before Keldaroth, the Pattern was unknown, so this focus is entirely consonant with him. Aurimbics’ other focus is The Sight – a gift they claim is not in fact magical, but rather a force of nature. Visions via the Sight are received by the mind unbidden, but discipline and meditation do seem to help one tune ‘The Lens’ and gain specific insight into revelations. The Seers themselves are an ancient order of hermits, said to predate even the venerable Berythian Tradition. They occupy the oldest known site in magic’s history, the appropriately named the Lair of the Seers on Lake Ama-Toh in Bimmentok, and are regarded with reverence by most northern cultures. Not all study Aurimbic magic and some see it as a dangerous diversion to the pursuit of unsullied Truth. These are purists, however. Most are indoctrinated first into the logic of the Tangled Scrolls, and develop the Sight in tandem.
"The Keep"
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