The Wizard Towers of Eeldir

The pillars of the era of magic

Written by Green Dragon

"Oh... blast! I probably shouldn't have seen that," she snappily mused. On the clawed crown of the Tower of Bones the Archmage turned from his ritual, deftly signed a series of sigils and violently thrust his bony hand toward the intruder blasting forth a surge of deathly energy that whizzed over the brilliant sunset of hair that had just dove off the precipice. It seemed strange to Res'i that just days earlier she had emerged from her trek over two Realms in search for a cure for her grandfather. Now the renowned savior, from whom she anticipated help, shouted hellfire down upon her as she plummeted from the pinnacle along sleek surface of the necromantic tower. With the practiced dexterity of an adept acrobatic she slowed her haphazard fall with periodic touches to the the grooves on the walls. Swooping off of the lip of a gate near the bottom she crashed into the seat of her chasm racer in which her grandfather waited. Cutting off his startled cry she laid yet another truth into him. "Hey there- looks like this ain't the place for us. Let's fly!"

Purpose / Function

Above the diverse and sprawling landscape of Eeldir, the Wizard Towers serve as a testament to the might of wizardly ways and the seemingly unending vitality of the current era. These colossal monoliths stand in very deliberate locations: at the far reaches of the cataclysmic chasms that were formed at the end of the Second Age.
These towers serve as the power nodes to a vast magic circle that performs a dual function. Firstly, the towers are the cold metal nails that reinforce the coffin of the Great Demon who still breaths beneath the stone. Despite the absence of significant tectonic activity currently, earthquakes are not uncommon. Additionally, the magic circle serves as a collar made from the combined arcane strength of all eight Archmages to restrain the Magewinds. At all times at least seven of the eight archmages must remain in deep meditation to maintain control of the Magewinds. The remaining great wizard is left to exert power or give council where they may. Because of this, there is not much supervision on the free wizard. Who knows what will happen….
Like a fish out of water, an Archmage is seldom seen outside its tower. Although generally the Archmages publicly stay out of the masses’ splintered politics, the towers remain a "friendly" reminder to the populace of Eeldir what was done for them, who is right, and upon whom not to tread.

Denizens

Those who have devoted themselves beyond moral quandaries and champion the practices of magic are brought to live in the tower of their choice to study under one of the Archmages.

Alterations

There has been no alterations made to the surface of these towers. These towers, in fact, seem to be frozen in a strange stasis where time takes no toll. Although they have stood grasping the skies for millennia, they seem to be as unnervingly timeless as their individual owners.

Architecture

These eight towers are frightening reminders of the "hope" the Archmages brought. With glistening adamantine walls soaring upward from the bloody depths of the abyss below these relatively empty, solitary fortresses are each the size of a small city. Strangely there are scatterings of parabolic and spiraled inlaid glyphs of bronze-colored metal along various lines up the surface of the sleek black exterior.
The tops of these towers grasp at the sky thousands of feet above the misty chasm floor. There are very few windows visible from the outside and only one publicly known entrance to the main floor. Right above the Magewinds lies several platforms where airships can land and bring supplies in or out through cleverly warded gates. This is also the level that is used to dispose of unwanted materials and failed experiments into the abyss below the Magewinds.

History

In the times of eld, magic was a lifeblood to be lived with and there existed a harmony between those who asked for power and the forces that wove the natural world. Near the end of the Second Age, while the Root of the Primordial was yet young in its mission of restraint, the Great Demon grew restless. After gathering itself in its prison in the very roots of the Planar Mountain of Eeldir, the Great Demon, spurred on by its spawn, the murk of foul hate it relished, lunged forth with a crushing force to raze the world again. The Root held, with a cost. It was with an earthquake of apocalyptic scale that the Demon wrenched at his bonds. On the surface the earth trembled, civilizations decimated, legacies tore, and hopes dashed. At the borders between the Realms, however, the very stone itself split asunder against the Demon's lunge and spidered eight vast yawning chasms that seemed to delve forever down and down. These chasms remain as the eight borders between the Elemental Realms. That was the end of the age full of creation; the Idyllic Age was no more.
The Dark Age reigned. The spawn of the Great Demon stalked the Realms and feasted on sheep in pens of cities residing on the mountain of Eeldir. The people grew more like that which hunted them. Some even sought to coexist among the demons. Over time, through their sacrifices to survive, the folk of the surface came to forget who they were before. They lived in the shadows of the caves their predators once invested.
After humanity had wandered in the dark fen of their existence, a sudden light was seen far off in the gloom. A shocking hope glowed in the shadow and led, bobbing, toward an unknown future. Humanity would crawl at last back to the surface. This flare that lit the fire of hope was the appearance of the glorious Wizard Towers. With a tremendous roar that heralded a new beginning, the eight pillars that would hold up this new era and nail down the past erupted forth from the depths of the chasms. These towers were found each under the lordship of a different being of strange and mysterious powers who called themselves masters of the natural forces. The chasms flickered with a ghostly breath as the towers glowed with the incantations of the first spells the mages cast forming a veiled magic sigil that encircled the world. This great circle tore the bodiless annihilation known as the Magewinds from the aether of the Empty Realm and bound it to the lower levels of the Chasms. Because of the immense power of indiscriminate destruction the Magewinds possess, the Wizard Towers remain as the physical anchor for the lay lines of power in the sigil that hold the deadly winds captive. The Magewinds summoned by the Archmages are the great double-edged sword of protection against the demons, the incorporeal beast that devours anything that trespasses into its domain.
These legendary saviors taught that the wisdom of old-way living with magic was an ancient fallacy. They presented an alternative, and guided humanity to dominate the untamed spirit of the wild. It was through such that the first wizards were born. The Arcane Era and its wizards reign supreme to this day and the very magic brought in by these trusted masquerading princes of shining armor is integrated throughout every aspect of society. Is there a wolf among the wool, or is a knife simply in every hidden hand?

Alternative Names

The names of the eight different towers are: The Tower of Bones, Tower of Gold, Tower of Eyes, Tower of Smoke and Mirrors, Tower of Chains, Silver Tongued Tower, Tower of Bastions, Tower of Lightning and Fire

Type

Tower, Mage