College of Magic
It's funny right? How sometimes the most important things from the past can barely be remembered by people today. Maybe not funny, maybe it's sadThe College of Magic once dominated the politics and leadership of the whole of Tairos; so much so that only the Balmoran Empire and Melanthris help more influence. magicians of all sort would petition for acceptance into any of the College's institutions or even the flagship citadel in Balmoral, hoping to learn from the accumulated knowledge within their vaults. Members of this prestigious organization were offered access to the elite of circles and given the most lucrative of opportunities. The rulers of some of the largest nations sought everything from the College's blessing in politics, council in matters of states, and aid in war. The College was everywhere and believed to be as eternal as the magic they harnessed but none could fathom the one disaster that could topple their dominance, the death of magic
Early History
The College's history begins in Melanthris shortly after the city's founding. It's here that the elven shamans from across the continent would gathered alongside the tribes they served. While the tribes began their work of fortifying the city and securing their borders, the shamans came together and shared their knowledge. This was the first opportunity that magic users from every corner of the continent had to compare their different masteries of the arcane and to study as one single body. Many of the most well-known spells to modern casters came from these elven thinktanks. It was also during this time of innovation that elven shamans began to abandoned their shamanistic traditions in favor of what would come to be known as wizardry. Totemic spirits were cast off and left to those in the woods who shunned the burgeoning push toward civilization and in their place the first libraries of magic were born. Some of these first tablets and scrolls are said to still exist in the vaults of the royal family of Melanthris to this very day. These first wizards oversaw the training of new members, helping to expand beyond the original shamans. However; it quickly became apparent to them that magic transcended just elven kind. It was the one thing that bound all the people of Tairos together, crossing language, culture, and species. While the leaders of Melanthris worked to elevate their own blossoming empire's position, the early College of Magic realized that diversity was essential for their success. The nobility of Melanthris was quickly saw the College as a rival power that may soon vie for leadership. College masters witnessed this growing ire among the nobility and came to an easy decision - spread our power out while they consolidate. It is this one decision, one meant to remove themselves from the crosshairs of elven nobility, that would eventually make them one of the most influential groups in Tairos' history. Schools were opened in locations all across the continent and where a College tower was built, cities would follow. Many of humanity's earliest hubs gathered around these towers to learn from the elven mystics. The ancient ancestors of Ghal Ankharan dwarves refused the College entry into their mountains but allowed them to establish land nearby and to bring trade, education, and magical secrets to their tower outposts as well. Most of these College towers had only the best of intentions, helping younger species learn wizardry while studying magical secrets belonging to these primitive people. Yet, not every tower operated with the most altruistic intentions or softest approach. Some towers allowed themselves to be viewed as divine beings who wielded the very power of creation. Others were more eager than patient when it came to learning new magical secrets. Simple villages could be raided, populations enchanted, and sacred texts stolen, all so that a tower might have new magic to study. These insidious towers were far from common and most were decommissioned by College leadership (and often scooped up by elven nobility to serve as house magicians). Through tumultuous beginnings the College would rise to greater and greater heights. Membership quickly opened to include dwarves, humans, and halflings, as well as tribal elves that never accepted Melanthrin dominance. It also widened its acceptance of what wizardry meant. Bardic traditions for example were viewed as equally valid. Also, druidic practitioners found themselves welcome within the folds of the College, mending a rift from ages earlier. This success would position the College for its first great challenge... the Fang Crusades.The Fang Crusades
The Ximezci arrival in Tairos represented a threat never before encountered. Unlike previous dangers faced by the early nations such as orc hordes, rogue elements of the College, and giants from the north, if the Ximezci were to succeed it would mean the erasure of all living creatures. It was the College of Magic who first became aware of the Ximezci's intrusion as it sent ripples of entropic energies through the leylines. Melanthrin forces would swiftly move to confront and contain the spreading Ximezci presence while the College of Magic coordinated a response with the rest of the nations of Tairos. Melanthris' forces were, at first, an overwhelming force for the Ximezci to confront but with each new city the serpent-people "pulled forth" from their oblivion home the more the elven armies faltered. Horrors beyond reckoning were being unleashed upon the elven legions but their refusal to yield bought the College precious time. The College was able to bring representatives from all nations together to discuss a unification, a central body that could drive responses to dangers that threatened the entire continent. This was the The Grand Concordance of Tairos and the rulers of Melanthris were the first to sign. It was they who brought evidence of the Ximezci invasion to table for all to see. And they were the first to offer up one of their fortresses to serve as the headquarters for the war effort. Melanthris would claim to be the architects of the Concordance and the College was happy to allow them such a boast. Afterall, the College wasn't a nation and couldn't sign on to the Concordance as a member, but they were critical in convincing (and in some cases manipulating) the other kingdoms to join. United, the College along with the Concordance nations, were able to exterminate the serpent-people to the last and banish their cities back into the void from which they rose. Yet, it was not without cost. Countless legions of corpses lay buried in the Serpent Lands, rotting beneath the sweltering heat of the jungle. And with them, the artifacts left behind by the Ximezci.The Plague of Undeath
To win the war against the serpent-people much had to be sacrificed. For the necromancers within the College that meant surrendering their traditions of healing and repose. Doctors were not what was needed to hold the lines, it was able bodies. The College had long possessed relics and teachings from the age of the Skyriran empire; lost spells and items of dread power. Only the College's necromancers could unlock these secrets for use against the Ximezci and leadership within the organization all but forced them to do so. With the Skyriran magic in their hands the College necromancers were resurrecting fallen soldiers by the legion, bogging down the Ximezci. The necromancers also wielded spells not cast since the days of the Golden God's conquests. These new assets were pivotal in the execution of the war and its eventual victory, but the cost was dear to the College's necromancers. Not only did it cause them to question everything they knew about their craft, but it maligned them in the eyes of all of Tairos. There was no going back for the College's necromancers. Word traveled quickly of the profane magics they used to raise the dead into shambling armies or cull forth spirits of the deceased into ethereal hosts. The sick and the dying, who normally sought out the healer-wizards, now shunned and detested them. Even their fellow College magicians were shocked by the horrors the Skyriran spells wrought in the hands of the necromancers and wished little to do with them after the Fang Crusade. Determined to cleanse themselves of the sins they committed during the war, the necromancers began work on gift for Tairos. They planned to create an elixir that could be mass-produced and distributed to any who needed it. This would be a cure all that could wipe away sickness, heal wounds, shatter curses, and perhaps more. They worked on this in secret, in a hidden warehouse in High Stone, a port village just outside the Balmoran colony of Frial. The flow of mana from the leylines converged powerfully in this region, which was a boon to be certain, but more importantly it was far from prying eyes who might want to shut down any experiments conducted by the necromancers. The necromancers took with them many of the relics captured in the Serpent Lands and many of the Skyriran artifacts as well. Their hope was to study these items and unlock their potential to do good, or at least to render out their power to fuel their experimental efforts. While the necromancers did their best to assemble this trove of relics quietly it failed to go unnoticed by one arcane faction, the royal wizards of Melanthris. The house magicians feared the ambitions of the necromancers, believing the disgraced wizards may be seeking revenge or dominion. With that distrust in their hearts the house magicians went to their noble lords, who in turn brought these suspicions to Crown of Melanthris. King Erondil Sorolwyn II, having just fought in the Fang Crusades, was not willing to act against former war allies. He agreed to surveillance but nothing more. This however, was not enough for his son Vaydin who viewed this entire opportunity as a means to glory and a stepping stone toward becoming the heir to his father's crown over his eldest brother Erondil the III. Vaydin and his supporters would seek out the necromancers' laboratory in High Stone. They witnessed the corpses being experimented on, the vats of strange chemicals, the artifacts from the Ximezci... they saw in this what they wanted to see. Vaydin and his cohort of legionaries fell upon the warehouse without mercy, putting it to the torch and killing any of the necromancers that tried to intercede. While they achieved their goals, scattering the necromancers and casting a light on their wicked work, it had unintended consequences. The fire and chaos mixed the chemicals together into a dangerous new form, burning them into a choking smog that billowed into night sky. Winds carried the new toxin far and wide and rainfall helped it seep into the earth. And, where this rain fell the dead stirred. So began the Plague of Undeath. Tairos was rich with rotting corpses from the recent Fang Crusades. Undead rose from hundreds of mass graves that dotted the continent. To many, these were new forms of Undead never before seen, emerging along side countless throngs of zombies. Many were seeing Vampirism, Ghouls and Ghasts, Shadows, and Wights for the first time. And the bite from most of these creatures carried with it the ability to transform living victims into undead as well. In truth, many of these strains of Undeath were lying dormant since the time of the Skyriran people and this dark cloud was helping them find purchase within the victims of the recent war. Scores of texts have been written about the events from this time, including the role played by the College of Magic. Their expertise was stretched thin across the kingdoms of Tairos, lending magical aid battle-weary regiments of soldiers forced to confront the dead. There was no easy solution, no ritual to undo the infection or put the dead to rest. One by one the dead had to be dealt with. Long decades would pass until the plague had runs its course but the damage was already done. Many of the ancient forms of undeath were now a modern reality in Tairos. The College would go on to create many inoculations that helped to reduce the number of the dead, and wipe of some strains of undeath entirely such as the zombies with infectious bites. They also had to face the fallout of this disaster, willingly or not one of the schools of magic was responsible for this tragedy. All of the necromancers and their allies were expelled from the College forever and made pariahs. No other nation would have them either. The leaders of the College negotiated whatever mercy they could for their former members; exile for all willing to take it. Those who accepting exile were marched into the Scorchlands and left to establish the nation of Baradrad. Those who refused became hunted by both their former homelands and their former friends in the College.The Queen's War
Melanthris helped conceal The Autumn Queen's presence in Tairos for many years and when she finally chose to reveal herself they acted as her greatest advocates. Just as the fae Queen swayed the elven nation to her side with the promise of Manacite so too did the College of Magic fall under her spell. She became a celebrity among the magicians with her otherworldly new spells, relics, manacite, and knowledge of worlds beyond Tairos. As more and more fae crossed over into Tairos the College helped to relocate them in cities such as Balmoral, Ghal Pelor, and Ghal Ankhar. Some of these fae were instead inducted into the College itself, in some cases even rising to the levels of leadership. The fae knew that the mages of the College would be the first to become aware of the damage being done to the leylines by the Autumn Queen's harvesting of mana so they worked especially hard to infiltrate and influence the organization. The buried them under a weight of new magic relics, new elixir recipes, sojourns to another planes, and brand new spells to master. The Shadow Court spent its time drowning the College in debate and unrest any time questions were raised about the diminishing leylines. If not for the efforts of a single dissident fae, the Queen's War may have ended very differently. Indret Gryder was a spriggan and like a small minority of his people he wanted to break the cycle of harvests that had dominated the existence of the fae for so long. Tairos, in his eyes, could be their home, and the native Tairosians could be their neighbors... not their victims. When his protests continue to fall on the deaf ears of the Shadow Court he chose to reveal the true purpose of the Autumn Queen's presence to the native leaders of the College. The College would continue to operate publicly as loyal thralls for the Autumn Queen, not wishing to reveal their true position until the board could be properly set. They secretly met with key figures among the nations, investigated how deeply the fae influence had invaded, and stifled the advance of the Queen's mana mining efforts. A great many tragedies had to be ignored while the College gathered its allies and smuggled out nuggets of truth to those that refused to believe. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of all is that they knew of the Queen's plan to break the Gnome people first and could nothing to alert them. It was a terrible sin they were prepared to pay for but in order to atone, they first had to survive. Once the war began in full the College lent their support to every Concordance force possible, helping to rebuff the power of the fae bards. Unfortunately, the longer the war dragged on the more damage was being done to the leylines and the more difficult it was becoming for the College to continue to support its allies. In order to fight back against they fae, they'd need manacite to do so, the very thing that represented the decline of Tairos' magic. It was a bitter reality suffer but anywhere they could acquire new stores of Manacite they would. Not just to assist in the short term, but if they were lucky enough to win the war it was becoming evident that they'd require the stones to fuel magic in the future. However; history is clean on the ultimate outcome of the war. Balmoral would fall, the Gnomes would be driven to the brink of extinction, and the Concordance forces would push the fae back to the Autumn's Queen's castle just north of Talbot. In the end, rather than face capture or defeat, the Autumn Queen would detonate her entire stockpile of manacite in an event that would come to be known as The Queen's Rebuke. Magic began bleeding out from the land immediately, leaving behind only the cancerous energy that fills it today. In those final waning days of magic, the College would take certain precautions to ensure their time would come again. They would construct hidden storehouses all across Tairos and fill them with precious magic items, spell books, and manacite. The hope was that the leylines would eventually repair themselves and the College would be there with their old stockpiles of acrana to help guide it. This would not be the case unfortunately. Mana bled from the leylines far quicker than anticipated and using the bleak energies that replaced it proved incredibly fatal. What remained of the College was scattered or disbanded. Many wizards returned to their homes to help their loved ones. Others stole what they could to maintain their comfortable lifestyle or steal one if they had to. Any semblance of order unraveled quickly, including an organized system to track where all the storehouses were built and what they contained.The College's Legacy
Today, the College of Magic is a thing of legend to most of Tairos' younger generations. The idea of a magic school that raised spell casters is a fanciful idea, especially to children who delight in any tale about young wizards. Older members of the longer lived races might have seen the dissolution of the College first hand. In those early days after the Rebuke there were many tragedies to witness, including the lights inside the College towers going out for the final time. Most of their towers haven't survived into today; toppled by neglect or ravaged by the desperate. A few, in cities like Ghal Pelor or Frial, have been repurposed into something new while their old inhabitants have been largely forgotten. Perhaps the most enduring aspect of the College that remains today is the mystery of the storehouses. Adventurers of all kind will chase down even the faintest rumor of a storehouse for the chance to extract its hidden treasures. Most perish in the attempt, either to the dangers along the way or the defenders left to watch over the storehouse in the absence of their old masters.Structure
The College was lead by a council of academic-minded spell users (almost always Wizards) who were each unparcelled experts in one field of arcana or another. These figures were known by the title of Provost and formed the Council of Towers. They were sometimes more casually referred to as Towers or Towermen and Towerwomen. There were 16 in total, usually two specialists in every school of magic, who made up the Council of Towers.
Among the Council of Towers is the President of the College. The President is generally considered the most accomplished magician in the entire College. They have a vote on the Council of the Towers but their primary duty is overseeing the Deans/Headmasters of individual branches of the College. Additionally, the President is solely responsible for interactions with organizations and nations outside of the College. The Council manages matters entirely internal, including the election (or impeachment) of the President.
Below the Council of Towers and the President are the Deads/Headmasters who act as the leadership for individual operations within the College. This includes both actual schools, administration centers, and even covert teams, all of which are lead by a Dean.
Professors, Associates, Adjuncts, and Aides, make up the bulk of the College's membership. All members of the College receive these ranks regardless if they actually teach or not, as they denote an attained level of mastery in their field. The greatest number of them are Adjuncts, the members who have graduated from their training and operate outside of the College but usually in some capacity that furthers its goals. The Professors, Associates, and Aides, all spend the majority of their time inside the College of Magic and serving it directly.
Culture
The College's culture was generally one of academic excellence. Those who were part of it were said to value advancement in both magical and historical study as well as the furtherance of student prosperity. This is a somewhat... polished version of the truth. In reality much of the College's culture was centered around cults of personality, dogmatism, and rejection of innovation.
Many outsiders would say the key feature of the College's culture was arrogance, indifference to local issues, and political standing. These are not untrue criticisms to levy but the College of Magic operated in a very different manner from traditional national governments or local organizations. Their concerns were transcontinental and often extraplanar, this led to the perception many outsiders shared, that being of an aloof and secretive that cared little for common citizens.
Public Agenda
To the public at large, the College's stated goals were to make sure magic was available to common people and not locked away for only a select few. This would come in the form of schools that would train students in the ways of magic (though anything more than the simplest of tutoring came with incredible tuition costs) and to offer public works in the form of magical assistance or infrastructure (often with the gratitude of local government following).
Assets
Immeasurable amounts of wealth, arcane items, manacite, and historical texts. The College also could bring to bear considerable might in the form of magical agents, summoned support, and hoards of staffers and students.
Disbandment
No official date of disbandment exists but within six weeks of the Queen's Rebuke most College structures had been abandoned.
Military
While the College has no formal military it has adequate protection in the form of magical constructs, summoned beings, and hired security.
However, it does have individuals and groups that make up something called the Field Specialist Department. The FSD are made up of loyal wizards and adjuncts who are often dispatched to handle obstacles that frequently call for violent applications of magic. The FSD reports directly to the President of the College of Magic and the Deans who answer to that office.
Religion
The College doesn't outlaw religious practice but it is looked down upon as a source for magic. Nothing is learned or earned in their eyes by having a greater power simply hand magical prowess to an individual in exchange for service.
DISBANDED/DISSOLVED
Capital
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Market economy
Legislative Body
Council of Towers
Judicial Body
Board of Adjudicator
*Note* These boards are made up of individual Deans and usually formed by the Council of Towers to oversee certain matters, mostly dismissals/expulsions or punishments. Other times they can be formed to review College laws or investigate the actions of other Councilors or even the President.
Four Towers are enough to call for the formation of a Board of Adjudicators. The recommendation of a Board is then passed upward to the Council with an automatic vote attached to it, in favor of whatever outcome the Board desires. From there the matter is voted on and decided by the Council of Towers. Once completed, the board is dismissed back to their regular duties.
Executive Body
The President of the College of Magic
Official Languages
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