Details

Category: Special Locations

Trade guilds are hugely important and incredibly powerful in Astaria. They form an important counterbalance to government and military might. They are at the same time authoritarian and egalitarian, both sharing and hoarding knowledge.

The biggest and baddest of them all is the Guild of Magicians, which is the source of nearly all arcane knowledge in the world. It controls the use and progress of magic primarily through the system of Universities; centers of magical learning.

Each University is accredited by the Guild Council. In order to receive this accreditation, the University must first and foremost support the responsible use of magic in the world. This includes high standards for admission, a quality curriculum, excellent instruction, and a code of conduct both for teaching and for practitioners.

Universities must include the eight Major Schools of magic for study, though many schools stress a few over the others. These are the schools that the majority of wizards specialize in, producing Evokers, Transmuters, Abjurers, Diviners, Enchanters, Conjurers, Necromancers, and Illusionists. They may also offer study in one or more Minor Schools, producing Elementalists, Artificers, Metamagicians, and Warlocks (Binders). Some Universities are associated with Colleges of Bards, Mystics (Psionics), Eldritch Knights (Battlemages), and Theurges (Divines). Finally, many Universities offer Eldritch Societies where Sorcerers can gather to train and share, including Wilder (Wild Mage and Storm), Draconic, and Deific (Favored Soul) Societies.

At the Guild Core, each of the schools, colleges, and societies has a Guildmaster that sits on the Guild Council. Each of these groups can choose their Guildmaster by seniority, election, ability, exhibition, combat, or the casting of lots. The Guild Council is supposed to be an assemblage of equals, but in practical terms the Guildmasters of the eight Major Schools hold more sway than any other members.

Graduates of each University wear a small charm or token on the cuff of their left sleeve showing the symbol of their University. School graduates also wear colored piping down the left arm or ringing the cuff, colored to show their school of study. As they ascend the ranks, they wear more and more elaborate piping. Some graduates were these every day, while others put them on only for special occasions or while in formal dress.

Graduates of a Bard College are entitled to wear a colored aiguilette on the left shoulder showing their college of study, with their University charm dangling from the end.

Members of Eldritch Societies simply wear a small Society Charm on their left cuff above or beside their University charm.

The Universities themselves range from sprawling campuses in major cities to a dozen mages in an abandoned tower. The Guild of Magicians is located in a magnificent tower called Drai Ochtan, northeast of Hollyport between the Swiftwater Channel and the Magesea. The tower is almost completely surrounded by a lake called The Wizard's Eye.

Type: Education, Magic