Schools of Magic
All mages, from the greatest of Lord Archmages to the lowliest of Apprentice ex-Magica learn their art from one of the many magical traditions of Feanor. This page describes four of the more important traditions on Calenndor: Valanthas, the Land of Magic, Themhall, the College of Magic, the Wild Mages of Tigath, and Hedgewizardry, everyone else.
Valanthas
The mages of Valanthas carry on the magical traditions of Aractha, and have done so for nearly an eon. The great and ancient City of Towers was known across Feanor as a hub of magical learning until the end of the Third Age, when rampant corruption and evil helped to permanently mar the image of Valanthas, and lead to the destruction of the City in the 7th year of the Fourth Age of Calenndor. With the City gone, the mages of Valanthas were at once freed from the ideological lockdown of the ancient tradition, and chained by internal strife, as many mages vied all at once for control of the intellectual capital of Valanthas.
By the 10th year of the Fourth Age, the small settlement of Arkeen was thrust into the limelight as the new Capital of the Valanthian Magocracy. Brought about by the surviving mages of Valanthas, as well as a few mages from across the freelands of Calenndor, the Magocracy is little more than a political title. Valanthas is as chaotic as it ever was, but the new Council of Mageshas asserted enough control over the factions as to prevent the disaster that destryed the City of Towers from occuring again.
The Land
Valanthas is a roughly diamond-shaped tract of land that stretches from the Kebeyan Republic in the west to the Brandlands in the East. Across this region are arrayed many small villages and mage's towers, from the lofty spires of the College of Thaumaturgical Elementalism to the few underground floors of a prominent Earth mage's home. The forested regions of Valanthas are rife with plants and trees of many different magical varieties: evercrystal, sparkwood, bronzewood, denseoak; and the ground itself seems home to endless reagents of all kinds. To call Valanthas the 'Land of Magic' is an understatement - the land itself has been enchanted by the mages that have lived upon its hills for eons.
The Tradition
Valanthian mages are not taught with rigorous classes or coursework. They are apprenticed to more advanced mages who share their craft, and their wisdom. Not much has changed in this tradition since the Wizards first tread Feanor 20,000 years ago. However, the Master/Apprentice relationship can be at times volatile. Valanthians retain a lot of cultural secrecy and superiority, left over from the great ages of Aractha, and Apprentices are sometimes viewed as potential rivals. Coupled with the lack of official oversight of schools and degrees, many Valanthian apprentices are virtual slave labor for thier masters, or abused terribly.
Valanthas has three recognized ranks, though their applicablility is more a function of peer consent rather than extensive paperwork and diplomas. These ranks are: Apprentice, Journeymage, Master (Mistress) Mage, and Archmagus. Journeymage is an "in-between rank", those who are not Apprentices and not yet Masters. While it is certainly common for Apprentices to eventually gain Master status, many are sent the way of the Journeymage to go out into the world and gather magical knowledge, and some are simply given the rank to get them out of their Mentor's way. A mage is truly only conferred titles such as Master and Archmaguswhen others deem him or her worthy of it, or that mage's name is so well known that they must be powerful enough to deserve that title. This of course has caused famous blunders, such as Archmagus Ghawel, an apprentice illusionist who so impressed a travelling noble from Launcia with cheap tricks that he became world famous.
Feats
Valanthians specialize in one type of magic, usually the same
type that their master practices. This leads to a rather rigid series of feats
that a typical Valanthian mage can be found with:
Level 6: Keen Mind
Level 12: Lesser Summoner, Lesser Abjurer,
or Lesser Enchanter
Level 18: Lesser Elemental Mage
Level 24: Summoner, Abjurer,
Enchanter or Transformer
Level 30: Master Summoner, Master Abjurer,
Master Enchanter or Master Transformer
Thémhall (Þénhâl)
As it has for millennia, Thémhall (sometimes spelled Þénhâl) represents the height of magical learning in northwestern Pirostia. Its name is well known throughout that continent, and many aspiring mages seek to train with the mages of the grand city. Though it is practically a household name among scholars of Pirostia, Thémhall was not well known on Calenndor. Even in Valanthia, seeing a mage from Thémhall, dressed in their finery and academic garb was uncommon. The reason for this stretches back many millennia to the height of Aractha. The mages that founded Thémhall did so outside of the auspices of the ancient empire, who considered them paraiahs, and forbade contact between the mages of Calenndor and Themhall. This suited the Thémhallaners fine, as it allowed them creative freedom to work magic as they willed.
More recently, partially due to the sealing of Valanthas between 4A2 and 4A5, and the efforts of the Grandmistress (now Archmagess) Kitzibeth of Ansteorra, the Thémhallic magical tradition has reached a small renaissance on Calenndor. With the unsealing of Valanthas and the decline of its influence on the affairs of Calenndor, the traditions of Thémhall provide a much more structured environment for magical study.
The University
Thémhall is a magical university, consisting of nearly 300 seperate 'colleges' spread about a city-sized campus of 40,000 students, faculty and staff. Each seperate college is very small, headed by a mage with the rank of Archmagus, and the few hundred students are taught by a cadre of Grandmasters and Masters. A college rarely lasts longer than the lifetime of the founding Archmagus, though there are a number of colleges who trace their roots back a millennium, and a handful that were founded at the same time as the city itself.
The city of Themhall outside of the campus, is built on and in and around the ancient, weathered mountains of the Þéhn (theehn) peninsula, from which the city derives its name. Though the city and the campus cover a wide swath of land, the mountainous terrain renders much of the area empty. Towers and bridges criss-cross the landscape, melting into the natural beauty of the setting. If one did not know better, Thémhall would look built by Elves, not Furre.
The Tradition
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Apprentice
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Journeymage
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Master
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Grandmaster
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Archmagus
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Level 1-11
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Level 6+
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Level 18+
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Level 24+
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Level 30+
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Thémhallic magical tradition is one of rigorous academics, compared to the apprenticeship style offered in the Valanthian tradition. Upon arriving to the city, prospective applicants are required to have studied enough magic to allow them to pass the test of apprenticeship, which usually takes place on the first of July in the Coliseum of Advancement. Applicants must answer questions of increasing difficulty while standing alone in the center of the arena area, and then demonstrate their learned magical skill. Those that pass the test are accepted as full Apprentices.