World of Æor

Once nomadic and individual, the tradition wizards have found greater strength through organization and passing on their skills through apprenticeship. Tradition wizards all seem to possess a similar set of traits; intelligence, pride, drive, and incredible patience. They study the arts as an apprentice under a wizard. Those common folk who parent a tradition wizard’s apprentice are justly proud, but seldom see their child again. These apprentices are awakened from their mundane sleep during their apprenticeship. Tradition wizards generally have one proper name that they append with titles of their power and their deeds. They speak as the noble and educated commoners only in the proper language of Tolmarain, never in the more common Tolarin familiar to peasants and beggars. Wizards read and write in Cævas Togran, a cryptic and difficult symbolic language from ancient times. Tradition wizards will never write in proper Tolmarain and read it only when necessary, even though it is the native script of only the most fortunate of apprentices.

Tradition wizards have written most of the historical records that survive to this day. To that end, they have of course been around since the beginning of recorded history. Recorded wizard history begins with Grand Archmage Vertalu who led the ancient tradition wizards out of the dark times. Vertalu is the only wizard to ever hold the title of Grand Archmage. Although his magic was not unusually strong, he was wise and his leadership is legendary. For hundreds of years he kept the entire continent’s tradition wizards unified under his single ruling council. He hunted and converted most of the non-tradition wizards to near extinction. In time however, a growing allegiance of nephandi captured and killed Vertalu. Without his leadership, the single governing body has forever been divided into no less than four geographic regions. Although four out of five wizards today are tradition wizards, most of the tradition wizards agree that they will never know what they are to do for ascension until their council is once again made into one whole.

Tradition wizards have a society and political system completely independent of those maintained by the feudal commoners and other wizards. Today, there are four geographic Domains in the lands of Æor: Domain of the Dragon in the north, Domain of Firestorms in the south, Domain of Eagles in the west, and the Domain of the Great Empire in the east.

A council called a Kalari leads each Domain. All recognized traditions in a Domain are granted a seat at this council to be filled by one wizard selected by any means that tradition sees fit. A recognized council member is known as a Kalar. Together the Kalari elect from their ranks a leader to represent their Domain. This leader is given the title Archmage. The time of Vertalu marked the only point in tradition wizard history when a single Kalari represented all of the tradition wizards. This was The Central Domain of the Stars.

By tradition, the Archmage does not cast any votes in the Kalari except to break a tie. His vote when cast, however, is worth just less than half of all the other votes combined. A Kalar can be removed from the council by a majority vote of all members. An Archmage can be reduced back to a Kalar by a majority vote of all members or by three votes – whichever is fewer.

Each Kalari has a designated meeting place. Northern Domain meets in the Spire of the Suns on an island in Shantile Bay. Western Domain meets in the Turret of Fæorn on the White Cliffs. Eastern Domain meets in the Tower of Glass on the Plains of Zimm. Southern Domain meets in Valon Temple near the city of Rivermeet where the river Aire becomes the Four Rivers of Gold.

The core rules of the Kalari are strictly enforced. Because of the power that wizards yield, few would ever argue that tight control is required to keep the order that most wizards support and require. A few of the other orders are strictly political, slightly questionable, but followed none-the-less. The seven Orders of the Sacred Trust:

• No wizard shall awaken an Outsider
• No wizard shall refuse an order of his Kalari or the Archmage representing it
• No wizard shall exercise force outside of his Domain
• No wizard shall raise or maintain an army
• No wizard shall maintain a position of power subservient to a sleeper
• No wizard shall deliberately break any of the Rites
• No Kalar shall have an apprentice while they hold a seat on the Kalari

Præsidium is the Rite of Protection. Tradition wizards may cast protection on any item they possess that contains Vis or in some way relates to Vis and the Arcane Arts. While protected, the item cannot be destroyed and the wizard who possesses the item will know if it is being moved, if it is being used, and its general location relative to where he is.

Fractura is the Rite of Breaking. All tradition wizards must grant this Rite to their Kalari and the Archmage that represents it. The Rite can be carried out by anyone given such delegation by the Kalari or the Archmage that represents it. Fractura will first remove Præsidium if it is present, and then break an object or its parts in half continuously until it is beyond repair.

This is the Rite of Challenge. It is a ceremony by which two tradition wizards create a magical dueling ground where they pit their magical talents against one another. It serves as a non-lethal way for one wizard to establish dominance and precedence over another in a specific art. You may challenge anyone to Certámen once, but you may not challenge him again until he has fought another.

The two dueling wizards must agree on an art to use in their challenge. If there is no common art to use, the challenge cannot take place. During the Rite, both wizards enter a state that leaves their physical bodies motionless, yet distantly aware of their surroundings. An illusionary projection appears above each wizard appropriate to the art they are using and representing their actions in the duel. The Rite is over when one wizard defeats the other. In the case of intervention, Certámen must begin again.

Spells are a mixture of methods and forms. Methods are what you are trying to accomplish; create, destroy, intensify, diminish, physically alter, move, and control. Forms reflect the object you are trying to perform the method upon; Vis, Essence, fire, earth, air, water, object, thought, etc. Combining forms and methods generate a spell (create water, move object, etc.)

There are two basic spell types, formulaic spells and spontaneous spells. Formulaic spells are more powerful, but also more rigid. They are designed to accomplish a specific task that conforms to specific pre-determined parameters. Spontaneous spells are more difficult to cast and more limited in effect, but are much more flexible because they are created to fit the situation as it unfolds. The more of his energy a wizard is willing to put into a spell, the more likely it is to succeed. Wizards who put a lot of their own energy into the success of a spell become physically fatigued and will have to take time to recover both physical strength and the control of their magic.

• Conjurers - Conjurers are able to create objects from a pattern or from nothing at all. Such items are usually of perfect construction and never contain any Essence or Vis. Conjurers also can transform small objects into other small objects. An apprentice conjurer may create a pebble or turn a pinch of sand into a marble; a master conjurer may be able to create a castle.

• Druids - Vim wielders, shape-shifters, and holy protectors. They are the keepers of small domains of forests and watch after the waters, flora, and fauna. During apprenticeship, druids go through a calling to identify their spirit animal and over time they learn to shape-shift into, and become, that animal–developing a special connection with them. These spirit animals often have a bane, a primary opponent, for which the druid develops a zealous hatred. A few master druids have been able to shift into the form of more than one animal, but the special connection, if any, is always with a single type.

• Ecomancers - Ecomancers work with weather. They can raise and lower tides, call forth rain and lightning, bring clouds into a clear sky. Ecomancers deal with creation and change of weather, rarely having a reason or ability to destroy anything. An apprentice ecomancer may lighten a rainstorm; a master ecomancer may be able to call violent and fatal storms of lightning and hail. Although ecomancers can also call firestorms, they cannot decide where the firestorm will occur (because the storm will happen where the underground Vis is most dense.)

• Elementalists - Elementalists are divided into two major schools, the light elements of air and water, and the heavy elements of earth and fire. Light elementalists traditionally hold the seat on the Kalari because their elements, though light, are stronger than the heavy elements. An apprentice conjurer may call forward a breeze or melt a small stone to mud; a master elementalist may make a mountain into a volcano or create a wave large enough to throw a ship onto the land.

• Enchanters - Enchanters bind Vis and Essence to objects, animate and control objects, and alter creatures. An apprentice enchanter may make a person trip or cause a cup to tip over; a master enchanter may turn a dragon into a goldfish or bind a horde of demons into a sword.

• Essentialists - Essentialists alter the Essence of objects. Most essentialists can neither create nor destroy significant amounts of Essence. By their nature, essentialists are the mortal enemy of demons and Vis-reliant entities of all sorts. An apprentice essentialist may make a wilted flower bloom, a master essentialist may move a life force from one body to another.

• Illusionists - Illusionists attempt to make an intelligent entity perceive something that isn’t really there (or vice versa). These effects are not physically real, but they seem very real to those that perceive them. A person who thinks he has been hit with a club will feel the sting any may even believe he sees the wound when none really exists. An apprentice illusionist may make himself appear a foot taller than he really is, a master illusionist may be able to make a man die of shock after thinking a pack of imaginary wolves has dismembered him.

• Necromancers - Necromancers bind Essence to living material and control these objects. It isn’t exactly known where it comes from, but necromancers are able to summon large amounts of Essence to bind with the existing Essence in living materials. Necromancers are generally regarded as murky and chaotic, despite any real evidence. An apprentice necromancer may make a recently dead turtle get up and run around the floor for a few minutes, a master necromancer may bring an entire graveyard up from the ground as screaming and wailing zombies.