The Four Aerial Courts
The age of the Four Aerial Courts is considered by modern historians to fall between 2076 APC (after the collapse of the New Pale Empire) and 2412 APC, lasting almost three hundred and fifty years. It did not have such a grandiose title at the time, beginning as a humble and pragmatic continuation of the centres of district governance that had been only recently established with the service of a greater Empire in mind. There were significant technological and arcane improvements in air travel at the start of the period and this led to the rapid development of sophisticated airforces to complement powerful navies.
Magic and its arts and practices, had already begun to return to the centre of public life under the New Pale Empire and this process continued under the Aerial Courts. Each of the four major cities which gave their collective name to the age, were known as Hub Towns; Sunrock,Nephatar, Quarowl and Highloft. They were friendly rivals and competitors but they shared an interest in maintaining aviation links with one another.
The Aerial Courts were never politically unified despite their common culture, but in so far as their model of goverment and trade dominated world politics, the Market Tribunal was the closest they came to acknowledging global rules and so in this article they are represented by its symbol.
Culture
Magicians' End - Fisher Queen Aketheema 02 by DMFW with Midjourney
Under the Market Tribunal an exotic and complex aristocratic society was able to thrive based on the increasing mercantile wealth of the Hub Towns. There was a preoccupation with gossip, fashion and the lives of the rich and famous. As the age wore on, the wealthy increasingly competed to out do one another with sophisticated and extravagant parties.
This trend reached its apotheosis with the coronation of the glamorous Queen Aketheema of Nephatar in 2231 APC.
Music and the arts flourished, benefiting from the indulgence of plutocratic patrons, although little of the work they produced was considered worthy of note by later generations.
History
Terms of trade and taxation rules operating between the cities were put on a more formal footing in 2125 APC at the Great Summit of the Fleets which met at the island of Saltcross off the eastern coast of Tinturbean. This established a small intercity judicial court, known as the Market Tribunal which ruled on disputes between the Aerial Courts. Its location rotated between the Hub Towns. The image at the head of the article shows the diplomatic fleet of Quarowl, sailing to the Great Summit of the Fleets.
The city of Quarowl, jealous of the power that control over Arcane Amplificaton Perfume gave to Highloft, sponsored the creation of the Institute of Magical Analytics (also known as the IMA) in 2280 APC with a view to researching alternatives. Nothing came of these efforts during the age of the Four Aerial Courts although they would eventually bear fruit in later centuries. The Free Union of Magical Scholars split from the IMA in 2291 APC and the town of Greystow was founded at this time.
In the 24th and early 25th centuries, there was a public shift in attitude against magic and magic users, affected by three events. The first of these was the appalling outcome of the North Western Myruthean Soil Fertility Project. The scandal of the discovery of the Green Eye further undermined trust in the old Society of Arcane Adepts but it was the Jebbin City Mage Riot in 2410 APC that was the final trigger for the formation of the Moderators' Council, created in 2412 APC to limit the excesses of uncontrolled magical practitioners. Over time this Council would go on to assume more and more power and take authority from the formerly independent cities until it became a world government.
Disbandment
The Four Aerial Courts were never officially disbanded but they began to cede important international power to the Moderators' Council after 2412 APC and this date it usually considered to mark their end.
DISBANDED/DISSOLVED
Founding Date
2076 APC
Type
Geopolitical, Co-rulership
Predecessor Organization
Successor Organization
Economic System
Mixed economy
Currency
The Four Aerial Courts introduced their own currency for trading between one another, known as "Aerial Currency". The use of new currencies by new political groupings is not particularly unusual in the history of Magicians' End, but "Aerial Currency" was unique because it was the first to be decoupled from the metal based coinages of earlier eras. Aerial Currency relied on the central production of arcane imbued glass beads with a governmental signature that could easily be verified by trained mages. These types of arcane currencies were popular for many years after the end of the Four Aerial Courts, and although they went out of fashion for a long time at the start of the Age of Shadows, they were reintroduced by the Jewelled Queendoms and, in other forms, continue to support trade and commerce in the modern world.
Judicial Body
Each Hub Town had its own local laws and legal systems but they were partially harmonised in respect of trade at least, under the auspices of the Market Tribunal, which rotated its location between the four aerial courts.
Location
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