Arised's Four Colleges of Magick
Arised is the home to the Shar Order's University of Wizardy. There are four colleges, each a dedicated tower, that teach the basic and advanced aspects of the primary methods of Magick.
When the Shar Order contributed to the establishment of the city of Arised, they annexed land on the northern side of the Great River to build a vast campus for the study of magick. Here they tested and trained potential apprentices in the fundamentals of the four primary methods:
The Enchantment Spire, this college focuses on developing skills of binding, imbuing, and inscribing the forces of magick into items, places, or even beings.
The Loom of Divination, is the famous college of seers, scryers, and students of the unknown aspects of The Pattern, the laws of sorcery & magick.
The Channeling Minaret, is where students are taught to harness and control the elemental, totemic, and universal aspects of magick.
The Turret of Transmutation, this college specializes in the alchemical conversion process, shaping of the permutable, and brewing potions, balms, salves, and elixirs.
Each college uses a similar format of skill growth that requires its fundamentals to be mastered before proceeding to more advanced studies. The lower levels of each tower are dedicated to new students who become initiates by learning, studying, and experimenting with their skills. However, each college has ancillary buildings around the main tower that act as laboratories and common areas for debate and practice outside of the more rigid and controlled spaces within the towers.
Initiates in each tower’s methods may apply to become apprentices and later ordained in each respective discipline. The mid and upper levels of the towers are for advanced study and are only available for use by the ordained mages of the Shar Order and their apprentices. This is where the apprentices and their masters work together to improve or refine existing spells and develop new ones.
The Enchantment College (Spire)
This is often one of the earliest colleges for an initiate to gain access to, here the history of both elven and dvarfolk enchantments are taught to young students as a foundation for their understanding of The Pattern. Runic inscriptions, the proper use of materials for inlaying magical properties, and even the rituals for summoning and binding lesser spirits are learned. Many initiates will begin tailoring their books, robes, and tools with various simple enchantments to augment their skills in other methods during their first months at this college.
The preference of wands or rings, staves or orbs, are generally personal in the early years of attendance at this college, but once ordained a young apprentice will develop a need for all these and many other tools. This usually is the gateway to needing a dedicated laboratory of their own, which a mentoring master will provide on the grounds for their apprentice to use as they master The Pattern and transition towards truly complex wizardry.
The Divination College (Loom)
At the college for the all-knowing, a talent for scrying is a requirement for entry. Some students will display this in the recruitment process and may become students here first, however, the vast majority of students study Enchantment first, using orbs, scrying bowls, and other tools to pass the entry tests, rather than relying on natural talents and skills. A rare and celebrated student is already a seer before taking the test, with the ability to know about the future or past of a person, place, or object.
The intuitive understanding of the nature of the universal patterns of magick is at the root of excelling in studies at this college. The strange and enigmatic masters of The Loom are challenging for most students to accept and deal with without the protection of a mentor master. Once ordained, many apprentices regularly visit this college to protect their teacher’s reputation, holdings, and secrets.
The path to becoming a full Wizard in the Shar Order requires achieving a reasonable acceptance from the masters of The Loom, through either skill in Divination or by allowing a deep reading of your future. Some Wizards prefer to focus on the other colleges and allow the Divination Masters to guide their decisions carefully, instead of devoting themselves to the difficult work of opening their mind to the raw power of The Pattern itself and finding their path through destiny.
The Channeling College (Minaret)
When most folk of the continent think of a powerful Wizard, they think of an awakened figure able to tap into the forces of nature, wield the power of the elements, and become one with the energy flowing through the pattern. But that is only what a channeler does, but it is not all that a channeler can do.
The Minaret for Channeling is easily the most competitive amongst the young students who come to Arised who seek to find a path to awakening and to distinguish themselves. Here the best and brightest minds seeking to join the Shar Order learn about The Pattern and the application of universal power.
Three distinct methodologies are taught at the Channeling College: Mastering the Elements, Enhancing the Body of yourself and others through Totemic Magicks, and being a Conduit for The Pattern. Due to the unique perspective of the Shar Order, most of the students that show an early gift for Channeling are courted by the Crimson arm of the Order and prepared for the journey by studying the spells that will allow them to be War Wizards or Inquisitors. However, this can be a difficult path to becoming a Channelers since so few apprentices are fully ordained by the Crimson Council.
Rarely, a student who passes initiation and enters the Order has not performed well at the Channeling Tower. However, the Emerald arm prefers those drawn towards naturalistic methods of magick, in line with the totemic and conduit methods, instead of raw elementalists. The Obsidian Order tends to recruit those who see Channeling as a means to an end, not a focus.
The Transmutation College (Turret)
The tower farthest from the Enchantment College in Arised, is also the one closest to the ports because it is the workhorse of the city’s wizards. Here the magical potions, elixirs, and ointments of the Shar Order are brewed and prepared by legions of apprentices and stored for negotiations. Alchemy is the primary methodology taught here at the Transmutation College, but not the only one.
The alteration of a material’s essential properties can also be achieved by the masters of this tower and many students seek to unlock the secrets to creating alloys and compounds that enhance the base materials. The paradox of this discipline is that anything can be changed, its pattern altered, but once altered it is irreversible…unless precautions are taken to ensure its lack of permanency.
A lesser-known, but valuable skill, that apprentices can learn from The Turret is the ability to reshape beings. Temporary manipulation of a wizard can result in taking on other forms, such as animals, or simply gaining claws or wings. It is common for those with totemic gifts or talents to study the reshaping process, along with their Channeling studies. This can be extended to others, but there are known issues with the non-awakened mind being ‘reshaped’ without proper indoctrination.
Notes on The Pattern
The modern understanding of the universe’s origin is such that the first two forces to manifest were light and darkness. When viewed from the divine perspective, nature was born from a union of the first two forces, and the Wold was birthed from Nature itself. The Pattern was next, forged by a being known as Chains. While light, darkness, and nature are viewed as truly godlike forces in the universe, Chains is the first being to be understood as an omni-prescient being.
The numerous godlings that came to the Wold and shaped Ar’rin can be viewed in 2 ways:
They are the “de facto” children of the first forces and Chains or
They were a by-product of the forging of The Pattern.
The immortal races who have memories of Danika, Arkon, and other godlings tend to lean towards the 1st perspective, while the more ‘learned’ Wizards of the Shar Order tend to agree with the 2nd belief system. However, in either case, the godlings had a intuitive understanding of how to use The Pattern to create and alter the Wold.
The Pattern was established to ensure that chaos could not be created from the whims of the godlings, or later the mages. Danika and Arkon taught competing ideologies to those who learned how to use magick in the Age of Myth, Danika was beholden to a harmonic balance in the Wold, Arkon sought control that was only limited by his will and imagination. Unifying these two competing ideologies was how the Shar Order was born. The Crimson Wizards were seen as a necessary outcome of the conflict inherent in the opposing ideals.
Learn more about the Magick in the Wold of Ar’rin
Learn more about the City of Arised
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