The Magus known as Kalzana was brilliant, even as a child. At the age of eight, he quickly grasped the basics of spell-craft and was soon recognized as a child prodigy. By the age of 12 he had mastered his first discipline and moved on to major Arcana. By the time he was sixteen, he was as skilled as Magi twice his age. At the age of 20, he was even granted an honorary professorship at the College of High Art in Droma, an unprecedented honor for one as young as he. When he went on to act as an invaluable helper and commander in the Orchid War, even greater honors were heaped upon his shoulders by the Kingdom of Edar and the Brotherhood of the Wise-Gifted.
Yet all was not as rosy as it appeared. Kalzana had grown frustrated with the stubbornness of his elders and their refusal to investigate topics he felt worthy of study. He felt the Brotherhood had become more interested in politics than pushing the boundaries of High Art. On top of that, he felt them arrogant, denouncing any unconventional study as "frivolous", when they did not outright outlaw it. His proposal to expand magical research into previous restricted fields of study were dismissed out of hand, returned unread. As such, when Kalzana was refused the rank of Master Magus on the grounds he was too young, he vowed vengeance against the Wise Teachers and stormed into the night.
Timothy Bartimaeus and Burning Star
1d6+Atk
A thoroughly unimaginative and utterly uninteresting looking fellow, Timothy Bartimaeus more resembled a bank manager or a small-minded bureaucrat than one of the Wise Teachers, a group that composed the 12 most powerful Magi in all of Edar. Yet looks were often deceiving, for Bartimaeus was an incredibly talented Evoker, with a strong affinity for fire. It was said he could evaporate a bathtub full of water with a breath and walk through an inferno without so much as getting ash on his clothes.
Bartimaeus wielded the staff Burning Star- a weapon of his own making. Unlike it's drab master, Burning Star was made of sanded birch, pale in color and topped with a large chunk of obsidian, the volcanic glass attached to the wood through a network of wires made of red and white gold.
Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Burning Star grants +2 to any roll made to use Fire Magic.
- As an action, the user may direct a blast of fire at a target, doing 1d8 fire damage on a hit.
- 1/Day, the user may make himself immune to fire and fire damage for 10 minutes.
- 1/Day, the user may transform himself and all of his equipment into a column of flames with the ability to fly. The user will remain as a column of flames for 10 minutes or until he wishes to transform back. While a column of flames, the user cannot be harmed by anything that could not harm a large fire, but cannot do anything that a fire could not (such as touch someone without burning them).
Bartimaeus was the first to be killed, as Kalzana thought him an easy mark. However, for all his genius, Kalzana underestimated the Teacher of Flame. Bartimaeus managed to catch him off guard and nearly killed him after obliterating the younger Magus' defenses. Unfortunately for us all, when Bartimaeus attempted to strike the rebellious student with Twin Star Cleansing Flame Spiral, Kalzana managed to deceive him with an illusion, causing Bartimaeus to burn the area where he thought Kalzana was. When he saw the student die, he let his guard down, allowing Kalzana to penetrate his formidable wards and slay him with a conjured blast of pressurized water and hardened ice.
When Bartimaeus fell, Burning Star fell from his hands and was swallowed by the Earth, ever the ally of fire. It is said that the staff is looking for someone like Bartimaeus to take it up once more, but so far it has yet to find anyone like him.
Shin Hawthorn and Golden Carp's Glimmer
1d6+Atk
Shin Harley was a bit of an outcast, his half-breed status and unmarried mother leading many to believe he would never amount of anything in life. Yet where others might have grown to resent their absent father or the society they grew up in, Shin vowed to make something of himself and provide for his mother. As a young man he worked hard, doing whatever he could. When he discovered he could manipulate water, he used it to vastly improve the efficiency of his mother's laundry business.
This crude use of barely-shaped mana led his Mother to send him to study High Art. Though many turned him away for his lack of talent, his lack of a proper bloodline or his half-breed status, Shin's Mother refused to surrender. Finally, in an act of brazen courage, she wrote a letter to the President of the College of High Art in Droma, Alexius Sixstars.
A lesser man might have ignored the letter, after all, Sixstars received hundreds of such letters monthly, each asking for a special exception for their son or daughter or cousin or brother, but Sixstars was intrigued by the fanciful tale. So he invited Shin and his Mother to the College. And while Sixstars found Shin to be only moderately talented, he decided to take the boy on and allow him to attend the following year as a twelve-year Initiate, to see if he had what it took to stand against gifted children who had been taught how to work mana since they could talk. And to everyone's surprise, Shin was a fearsome and capable student, growing into a monster of a Magus.
The finest expression of his Art was Golden Carp's Glimmer, a staff of carved driftwood, sanded with sharkskin and covered painstakingly in the magically-conductive scales of the golden carp.
Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Golden Carp's Glimmer grants +2 to any roll made to use Water Magic.
- As an action, the user may fire a blast of water at a target, doing 1d6 damage and forcing that creature to save or be knocked prone.
- While holding Golden Carp's Glimmer, the user may walk on water as if it was spongy ground.
- 3/Day, when targeted by a spell, the user may attempt to ground the spell and drain it of mana, funneling it away from himself. This forces the user and the caster of the spell to engage in a contest of will. If the user of Golden Carp's Glimmer wins, the spell simply does not affect him, as if it was never cast. If the caster of the spell wins, any damage done by the spell is reduced by the damage roll of the user of Golden Carp's Glimmer. If the spell would instead produce a harmful but non-damaging effect, that effect is halved.
A personal friend and student of Alexius Sixstars, Shin was sent to investigate the death of Timothy Bartimaeus, his fellow Teacher. As he did so, he stumbled into Kalzana's trap! Kalzana ambushed him and attacked him with a flurry of killing spells, but Shin was able to parry them with little effort, his great skill in Water Magic giving him insight in how to redirect the flow rather then fight the current. Kalzana had to resort to cruder methods, using Earth Magic, the enemy of Water, in the hopes of neutralizing Shin's advantages.
This did work, until Shin launched a furious counter-attack and put an end to that attack. Kalzana was put on the backfoot, but he was not overcome. Shin attacked again and again, but Kalzana refused to fall, no matter how much power Shin threw at him. When his last attack broke against the student's wards, Shin realized his mistake. His defenses were superb, but his offensive abilities weren't nearly as developed. As such, he burned through too much of his stamina and overextended himself. When Kalzana attacked again, even Golden Carp's Glimmer could not protect him.
Golden Carp's Glimmer was found half-broken next to the body of Shin Hawthorn. It was returned to his students, who vowed to repair it and use it to destroy Kalzana, to avenge the crimes he had committed against their Teacher.
Ida Indigo and Strongbone
1d6+Atk
Ida Indigo was a small, cheerful woman with a youthful face and relentless cheer. She was often seen walking barefoot through the wilderness or in the wild places at the edge of the cities. She hated the cities and only visited them when absolutely required of her as the Teacher of Stone. She was known for her down-to-earth perspective, her gentle encouragement and her motherly kindness. She was adored and revered by all who encountered her, which led to her being called The Rose of Edar.
Yet despite her gentle demeanor, Indigo possessed a powerful affinity for Earth Magic and applied herself thoroughly to it's study. She exceled both in more suitable uses, such as helping farmers find the most fertile soil and in dramatic displays, such as when she sealed the two-mile wide Goldsnow Pass by herself, erecting a wall of stone that was only defeated when she had to rest after protecting it from magical and physical attack for ten hours.
Through all of these, Strongbone was her great companion. Carved of a strange red rock, Strongbone is much lighter than carved stone should be, yet Indigo was able to twirl it like a length of wood. Strongbone is unadorned in any other way, but it seems to be almost unbreakable, as it has never been damaged, even superficially in all the years since Indigo carved it. It is not even known how she shaped the stone.
Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Strongbone grants +2 to any roll made to use Earth Magic.
- As an action, the user may levitate and move any stone that is smaller than a man and manipulate it as an action, moving it as he sees fit.
- 3/Day, the user may reshape a piece of stone into any shape he desires, as long as that stone is no larger than a horse. If the user targets a stone that is too large, a chunk of stone equal to the mass of a horse will be removed from it.
Indigo was special among the Teachers, as Kalzana seemed to actually care about her. So when he was confronted with the fact that he had sworn to kill her, he shied away. Instead, he tricked her and caused her to make herself a target of her own spell, petrifying her. He then confused the spell, making it such a tangled web that it was impossible(?) to unbind it. To make sure she was not rescued, he then hid her statue. It was not discovered until almost a century later when a group of village youths looking for a quiet place to kiss found an amazingly detailed statue of a middle-aged woman hidden in a cave.
Strongbone was found by her statue and remains near it when not being used. It is believed the staff holds the secret of freeing the ancient Maga from her imprisonment, but no one has managed to unbind the spell yet and conventional remedies for petrification have proven insufficient.
by
JasonTNFinn Cloud Sterling and Silkbreeze
1d6+Atk
An honorable and proud member of House Sterling, Finn Cloud was a descendant of one of the ancient Mage Bloodlines that helped to found Edar all those centuries ago. His Clan had a near monopoly on Air and Wind Magic at the time and though they have weakened over time, they were still a proud house when Finn Cloud lived. His true affinities and talents are not known, as he began training early as all scions of the ancient blood do and by the time he joined the College as an Initiate, he was already a paragon of his family's ancient traditions and methodology.
He could have graduated on the strength of his name alone, but Finn Cloud proved to be both a capable Air Magus and a talented Battle-Mage, winning a dozen duels before he graduated at eighteen, two years early. He continued to excel into adulthood, winning glory for his House in the Orchid Wars and as an enforcer for the Wise Teachers as an Augurist, where he as responsible for the arrest of many renegades and black magi. When he was welcomed into the Teachers as the Teacher of Wind, it had been a foregone conclusion for years.
Finn Cloud's favored tool through all those years was not a weapon of his own making, but a staff wielded by one of his ancestors. Named Silkbreeze, it was made of translucent glass and filled with holes that could be used to play music by channeling air through them in the proper patterns.
Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Silkbreeze grants +2 to any roll made to use Wind Magic.
- As an action, the user may strike a target with a blast of wind that does 1d6 damage and forces that creature to save or be shoved 10' backwards.
- While holding this staff, the user takes no fall damage.
- 3/Day, as an action, the user can launch themselves up to 100' vertically into the air or up to 50' horizontally.
Finn Cloud was the Teacher of Wind, but he kept his position as Chief Augurist, so he was the first to investigate the killings of the other Teachers. However, when Sixstars meddled in his investigation he stopped reporting to the other Teachers or his own staff, in the hopes of catching the killer himself. Ever hungry for glory, he was alarmed and excited when he received a note from the murderer challenging him to an honorable Wizard Duel. Finn Cloud accepted, with the intention of trouncing the killer and bringing him back, alive or dead. When he found out it was Kalzana, he was shocked, but not entirely surprised. To this day, no one knows how Kalzana, ordinarily so adverse to direct confrontation, defeated him. To this day, House Sterling insists that Kalzana must have cheated.
Silkbreeze was returned to House Sterling after it was discovered next to the body of Finn Cloud, the greatest Magus their house had produced in decades.
Charlotte "Charlie" Darkmoon and Kalamantha's Needle
1d6+Atk
Draven Darkmoon, though he paled in comparison to Kalzana, was an outlaw Mage who wreaked havoc on Edar with many years, sacking whole cities, plundering strongholds and defeating everyone sent against him. He was not the strongest, nor was he the most talented, but he had an uncanny knack for escaping danger and slipping out of any sort of trap that he was faced with. The Teachers suspected that perhaps there was a mole among them, but investigations turned up nothing. This process could have gone for decades, but the novice Battle-Mage Alexius Tristar believed he knew of Darkmoon's location and wanted to go in pursuit of him. The Teachers were ordinarily hesitant to grant such a request, but decided that he could do no more damage than their failures had, so Alexius was permitted to go on his wild goose chase.
Alexius arrived at the location and found the hidden stronghold his source had told him about, but instead of Darkmoon, he found a pair of young girls being cared for by a cadre of mind-controlled servants. When he spoke to the girls, the younger one asked if he was a friend of her Daddy. When Alexius talked to her, she told him about the game she and her Daddy played. She showed him a number of dolls, each corresponding to one of the Teachers, the King and his Marshals. There was even one of Darkmoon.
The little girl explained how Daddy would ask her questions and she would show him on the rug, which was patterned to look like the land of Edar, where each person was going to be and what would happen if they met up. Alexius sensed magical potential in the girl, but wasn't sure if his hunch was true. So he asked her if she knew he was coming. She replied that she had seen it many times, but since Daddy had never asked her about it, she had never told. And that was the story of how Alexius Tristar discovered the most powerful Diviner since Kalamantha the Far-Sighted.
Charlie Darkmoon was adopted after the war and trained from a young age to harness her incredible abilities. Her letters to the King became common place and soon no decree would be issued without her advice. She grew famous and influential, but never allowed it to go to her head, remaining humble and generous, never allowing her father's long shadow or the envy others felt towards her status to embitter her. This, along with telling the fortunes of any who came to her remote mountain cottage endeared her greatly to the common people, who regarded her as a national treasure.
Kalamantha's Needle was the work of many long months for Charlie, a long shaft carefully sheathed in silver and topped with a metal ring from which hang smaller rings of gold, copper and tin. She even incorporated the bones of the famous Seer into the staff, lending it frightful power even before spells had been worked into the metal.
Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Kalamantha's Needle grants +3 to any roll made to use Divination Magic.
- 3/Day, when a creature attempts a roll, the user can grant that creature advantage. That creature may roll two d20s and take the higher result.
- 3/Day, when the user attempts a roll, the user can roll three d20s and use the best result. Alternatively, if it is a task that could be solved through enough tries (such as inputting a numerical code, picking a lock, guessing a password, if the user has 10 minutes, he automatically succeeds, no roll needed.
Charlie Darkmoon was targeted after Finn Cloud Sterling, Chief Augurist and the Teacher of Wind was found dead. Somehow, Kalzana had managed to shield himself from her divinations until then, but when her eye fell on him then, he was unable to hide for long. So knowing how great a threat she could pose, he attempted to kill her. However, she proved as slippery as her father, evading ambushes and dodging assassins before they even got close to her.
She outlived many of the other Teachers and was one of the last ones killed. Some say this was because it was easier for Kalzana to target the other Teachers, while others argue it was because Kalzana was angered by her defying him and wanted to hurt her by killing her friends and taunting her with the knowledge that though she could see their deaths, she could not prevent them.
When she finally died, Kalamantha's Needle disappeared and reappeared next to the person who needed it most. It remains with a user until they have no more need of it or are strong enough to stand on their own, then it disappears.
Francine Shimmerdrop and Panopticon
1d6+Atk
Francine Shimmerdrop was a plain looking woman with auburn hair, a few freckles and a nice personality. She resembled a bored housewife to a rich merchant more interested in his ledgers than her, making her the ultimate case study in that it is what is on the inside that counts. From a young age, Shimmerdrop proved herself to be especially gifted in Mind Magic, able to read first the intentions, then eventually thoughts of anyone she wished to. This allowed her to rapidly rise through the ranks through both her unique talent and her ability to see any threat or ambush coming.
She was extremely useful during the Orchid Wars, using her rare talents to extract information from captured prisoners of war and influence the minds of the enemy commanders into making small errors that inevitably led to defeat. Soon the enemy was so paranoid that they nearly destroyed themselves, first hunting for imaginary spies, then by not trusting their very thoughts. Shimmerdrop became a figure of terror, a spectre of doom so horrifying that even the rumors of her at a particular battlefield could throw the enemy into disarray.
Yet for all her glory, Shimmerdrop was never particularly well liked by her comrades. Mind Mages are almost always distrusted for obvious reasons and given her talent, Shimmerdrop was always held at arm's length by those around her. She had few friends and became more isolated even as her prestige grew. When she was granted the position of Teacher, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, for the Teachers had little contact with most ordinary people, devoting all their time to defending the nation of Edar or engaged in esoteric research that keeps them isolated.
While they would not have said so aloud, they were glad they didn't have to interact with her on a regular basis. Some of the other Teachers even seemed to agree, keeping Shimmerdrop busy with reforming the government by tracking down corruption, learning the truth about various crimes and continuing her work during the Orchid Wars by interrogating war-criminals.
Shimmerdrop created her primary weapon, Panopticon, as an act of defiance towards all those who rejected her. It was an ugly thing, made of crushed glass of different colors melded together and smoothed down into a length of eye-bleeding color and asymmetry. It was topped with a small sculpture of an iron head, the face twisted into an expression of horror while the skull peeled open to reveal an exposed brain. It was nauseating and terrible to look at, so Shimmerdrop kept it concealed most of the time. When she took it out, it was known to chill all but the most hardened of monsters.
Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Panopticon grants +2 to any roll made to use Mind Magic.
- As an action, the user may fire a bolt of psychic energy at a target, doing 1d8 psychic damage, save for half.
- 3/Day, as an action, the user may learn one secret or deep memory from a target within 10'. For example, if the user wanted to know why the serial killer only killed blonde women, he could learn the reason why. Or if he wanted to break into a lich's mind to learn how to turn off the magical doomsday bomb, then he could learn how to do so. The target of this ability is always aware that their mind has been plundered for secrets.
Francine Shimmerdrop was killed by Kalzana in a wizard duel near the village of Twinbrook. Many people saw their clash and could distinctly recall the moment when Shimmerdrop was overcome and fell. Yet upon closer examinations, the memories of several of the townsfolk was found to have been meddled with and there was little duel of a Wizard Duel at the sight it was said to have occurred. Given the power of the two Magi clashing there, there should have been auras and traces of their spells that lingered for weeks, if not longer. Yet there was nowhere near enough to indicate a proper duel. Some theorized that this was because Kalzana took Shimmerdrop by surprise and ambushed her before she could fight back properly. This was not the only theory of what happened at Twinbrook, but it was the most socially acceptable one.
After the death of Shimmerdrop, Kalzana recovered Panopticon and gifted it to a powerful Demoness who accompanied him for the rest of his campaign. This creature was named Dreamweaver and it had the ability to read and control minds, which it utilized with the effectiveness of a High Maga, using it's power to create an army of brain-washed slaves to assist Kalzana is his attempt to displace the Wise Teachers and take total control over Edar.
Glinda Goldilocks and Silvershine
1d6+Atk
Glinda Goldilocks was a joyful, laughing girl who loved nothing more than being admired and adored. While she was never the prettiest or wittiest, she discovered a talent all her own- she could turn the most worthless materials into treasures. With this ability, she quickly became fabulously wealthy. Most students of the University of High Art scrape by, living on meagre stipends from either their sponsors or from the Master they happen to be working under at the time as part of an apprenticeship. Glinda, meanwhile, wore silks she spun out of straw, ate delicacies made from garbage and lived in a mansion purchased from a wealthy merchant. She became known for throwing lavish dinner parties and being the number one debutante around town. Everyone wanted to know her and she reveled in the attention.
As she grew older, she proved herself to be an agile business-woman as well. While other Magi consider the business of the market beneath them, Glinda proved a ferocious negotiator with a knack for predicting market trends. She was also extremely creative and willing to get her hands dirty. When she started a business to collect people's garbage and clean up the streets, for a small fee, most thought this little more than a gimmick to win some cheap goodwill with the people. By the time people realized that she was collecting the garbage and transmuting it into re-sellable products, she was already raking in gold hand-over-fist. By the time she reached middle age, she was comfortably among the ten wealthiest people in the whole land and had interests in wool, tobacco, coffee, wine, gold, iron and all sorts of other goods.
And while many griped her elevation to the Teacher of Gold (she insisted) had as much to do with the generous loans she offered to the University and the King as it did her skill with High Art, she silenced them through the crafting of her signature staff, Silvershine. Worked from a single piece of pure silver, it was woven into a beautiful and elegant design by moonlight. The shaft is ribbed for easy handling and a solid grip, while the top is crowned with a petrified chrysalis and a pair of silvery butterfly wings that emerge from the sides.
Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Silvershine grants +3 to any roll made to use Transmutation Magic.
- As an action, the user may freely transmute one of the 10 Essences into another one of the 10 Essences (see below).
- 3/Day, the user may transmute a willing creature into a living statue composed of a material the user can touch. This transformation lasts for 10 minutes or until the user decides to end it. For example, the user could transmute themselves into a living iron statue if he was holding an iron ingot.
When Kalzana ambushed Glinda at a party, he thought he had her. This fat old woman was no match for him. Only when the guests were shuttled to safety did he realize his error when she turned the entire ballroom into glass. Only some truly inspired abjuration saved him from being turned into a statue. His second great surprise came when she turned herself into an iron statue and punched him through a (non-glass) wall. From that point, Kalzana ran as Glinda smashed her antique furniture and ploughed through walls in an attempted to seize and crush him.
When she wasn't doing that, she was transforming her possessions or sections of air into acid or fire or broken glass and hurling it all at him. Kalzana proved himself a master of defensive magicks that day, as any lesser mage would have been reduced to a red smear on her wallpaper, if he hadn't been turned to stone or smoke by one of her spells before that.
Still, it wasn't enough. Glinda finally managed to get her hands on him. She was about to pulverize his head when he spat one desperate spell and froze her in place. He couldn't turn her back, so he turned her advantage into a weakness. A human being is hard to control, being a complicated mix of different substances. Metal, on the other hand, is much easier to control, especially when you know how to use lightning magic. After freezing her tongue she couldn't cast, it was a simple matter to finish her off.
Kalzana would have taken Silvershine, had he rightly feared stealing from the Teacher of Gold. Glinda was absolutely infamous for placing magical booby-traps on all of her arcane treasures and he had no doubt that her most fearsome weapon would be protected by the most devious hexes she could concoct. So he simply abandoned it amidst the ruins of her manse, confident that no one alive would be able to use the weapon against him. And in this way, Kalzana once against underestimated Glinda Goldilocks.
<Sidebar>
The Ten Essences of Alchemy are as follows:
1d10
1- Air.
2- Water.
3- Smoke.
4- Fire.
5- Wood.
6- Blood.
7- Oil.
8- Metal.
9- Stone.
10- Flesh.
</Sidebar>
Lord Hazim al-Hurabi and Ourubian
1d6+Atk
Hazim al-Hurabi was a foreigner who came to Edar many years ago. Initially he was a guest of the royal court, as he was a Prince who had fled from his nation as a child when violent revolution overtook his homeland. When he became an adult, he made several attempts to stir up political support for invading his homeland and restoring the monarchy, but the people of Edar had little interest and after marrying into the Edarian royal family, Hurabi changed his focus from politics to magic. He was a skilled Magus and had been for many years, so when he was granted a teaching position at the University it came as little surprise. What most did not realize is how he would revolutionize the practice of Biologic Magic.
Unlike the Edarian method, which did not really deal with Biologic Magic, either considering it part of Evocation or Transmutation, depending on the function, Hurabi came from a theory that divided High Art not by what was done via magic, but what it affected. For him, all Biologic Magic, or Fleshcraft, was one and the same. Things Edarian Mages considered different, such as shapeshifting, transmuting flesh, controlling animals and plants were all part of the same category for him.
The combination of these two schools enabled him to make great advancements, become the most capable shapeshifter that Edar had seen in decades. Watching a man effortlessly transform into an exact copy of another man, then a bird, then a tiger and back was a sight that was both disturbing and utterly astounding. It was this, along with his advances in healing magic theory that propelled him to the status of Teacher.
When he became the Teacher of Flesh, Hurabi created an instrument that would enable him to take his magic to new heights. To do this, he created Ourubian, a staff made of crushed wasp exoskeletons, butterfly chrysalis, snakeskin, urchin and crustacean shells, octopus tentacles and frogs. Ourubian came to resemble a length of white opalescent material that, whenever it is touched by a new user, changes color and alters it's length and the shape of it's top. Sometimes it is a plain staff, other times it sprouts a blade or pick or shepherd's crook, it all depends on the user.
Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Ourubian grants +2 to any roll made to use Flesh Magic.
- 3/Day, the user may take the form of any creature he has tasted the blood or flesh of. Use the Wild Shape rules to determine what effects this causes to the user's body. When a transformation takes place, only skin-tight clothing and anything else pressed tightly to the body can be accommodated. All other possessions are left on the ground or fall off once the transformation occurs. This is why shapeshifters usually strip or walk wearing nothing but long, easily removable robes.
- Ourubian will also transform, attaching itself on the body of the user's new form. If the user becomes a tiger, it might become a ribbon attached to the tiger's tail or a collar around his throat.
al-Hurabi was a threat that Kalzana delayed in attacking, for he was Edarian and did not consider Fleshcraft that impressive a discipline. So he ignored the Teacher of Flesh until when he attacked a fortress with the intent of taking some of Edar's nobility hostage, he was ambushed by a Dragon. When he attempted to strike down the creature with anti-Dragon spells, the Dragon changed into an eagle which sliced his face, then into a poisonous snake that tried to bite him. Kalzana had failed to consider that the fortress he was besieging held Hurabi's wife. This led to a clash as Hurabi changed forms rapidly, become human occasionally to sling spells. Kalzana was able to injure him, but as a Master of Fleshcraft, Hurabi could repair almost any damage done to him. So Kalzana tricked him by shrinking himself and attempting to hide.
When Hurabi took the bait and pursued him in the form of a snake, Kalzana bound him, trapping him in the form of a serpent and sealing his mind, so that his higher reasoning was shut down and he was left with only his own instincts and that of a venomous snake. From there, Kalzana effortlessly managed to capture Hurabi. Rather than kill him though, he kept Hurabi as a pet, holding him in a glass enclosure and feeding him live mice and humans shrunk down to the same size. He was quoted as saying "al-Hurabi is still there, inside his mind, unable to escape, forced to watch as his body moves and acts on it's own." This always made him laugh.
Ourubian was confiscated by Kalzana and kept as a trophy, a testament to his defeat of the Teacher of Flesh. After his defeat, it was lost, stolen during the chaos as his force splintered into a dozen competing factions and war-bands.
Cecilia Darkmoon and Heartpiercer
1d6+Atk
After she was nearly killed the first time, Charlie Darkmoon went to shelter with her sister, Cecilia Darkmoon, who had also achieved the rank of Teacher. She was the Teacher of Ways, known for her mastery of Conjuration Magic. Unlike her sister, Cecilia was beautiful and vivacious, arrogant and domineering, with a flair for the dramatic. She held court in the capital of Droma and was known to mingle with the most important people in the Kingdom. She was famous for her power, her beauty and the trail of broken hearts she left in her wake. Yet Cecilia had one particular weakness- she was awful at divination. While her sister was known as the Teacher of Seers, Princess of Fate and the Author of Futures, Cecilia couldn't divine whether the sun would rise tomorrow.
Few knew this about her, for why would Cecilia be jealous of her sister? Where Charlie was average and plain, Cecilia was raven-haired and elegant. Where Charlie lived in a cottage, she lived in a manse, when she wasn't being invited to the palaces of the great and mighty. Where Charlie was only good at divination, Cecilia was killed not just in Conjuration but also in Word and Earth magic. Yet Cecilia was genuinely insecure mostly because she had always suspected that people never liked her as much as her plain little sister. This meant that despite being older than her, Cecilia was the immature one who not-so-secretly resented her sister and wanted nothing to do with her most of the time. She both secretly admired and was horribly envious of her sister.
Cecilia made many staves, most of them attempts to try and create a tool to help her divine and surpass her sister. All of these failed or were only middling in their power. Her greatest achievement was the last stave she ever made, an instrument of vengeance that she poured all her hatred for herself and her sister into. It was a length of curdled, malformed metal, oozing filth and sorrow and wrath, so much that it made those who saw it uncomfortable by it's mere presence. She name it Heartpiercer, for that is how it made her feel.
Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Heartpiercer grants +2 to any roll made to use Conjuration Magic.
- 3/Day, as an action, the user can open a portal to the Void between the Stars. This forms a vacuum that sucks in everything nearby. Creatures that fall in pass away into an airless, lightless, lifeless void that goes on for basically forever (think interstellar space distances). This portal lasts for 1 minute or until the user closes it as an action.
- 3/Day, as an action, the user can teleport anywhere within visual range as an action.
While she was willing to shelter Charlie, Cecilia still didn't like her. In fact, she was in one of her wrathful moods when she received a letter from Kalzana. It is not known what the letter said, but it was thought that it contained everything that Cecilia hated about her sister, condensed into a single sentence. Some insist that it carried a potent enchantment, but the more cynical doubt that magic would have been needed.
Charlie could see all threats coming towards her, but all diviners have blind-spots. For Charlie, it was her sister. She knew Cecilia didn't like her, but she never imagined the depth her sister had sunk in her hatred. She was looking for a reason, so when Kalzana gave her one, she murdered Charlie. When Kalzana came, she knelt at his feet and swore allegiance to him and he accepted.
Heartpiercer remained Cecilia Darkmoon's weapon of choice until the death of Kalzana, after which his coalition splintered. Cecilia attempted to take control of his host as his heir apparent, but the Dreamweaver challenged her and their magical duel, though it was inconclusive, led to Heartpiercer being shattered. Cecilia, in her rage, took her own faction and left the field, leaving the rest of Kalzana's lieutenants to squabble over command and splinter their leader's forces behind her. After the battle, Magi from the University of High Art attempted to reconstruct the staff and succeeded, though Heartpiercer was said to never be as strong as it had in the hands of Lady Darkmoon.
Alexius Sixstars and Star-Crowned Sovereign
1d6+Atk
Alexius Sixstars was born for greatness. The child of two powerful Magi with an older brother who was also exceptionally skilled, Alexius quickly demonstrated his natural talent. At a young age he was shown to have three prime affinities, something almost mythical is this degraded age. He flew through the ranks, devouring every resource placed before him. He was considered a prodigy, a genius, a once in a lifetime miracle child. He ascended the ranks quickly and served as both royal advisor on magic to the King, President of the University and finally as First of the Wise, the highest-ranking of the Teachers. Known in his early days as Tristar for his three affinities he changed his name to Sixstars when he became the Teacher of Seals.
Alexius referred to his signature staff as his "masterpiece" and even his harshest critics found it hard to dispute. Created from the bones of an ancient demon, thrice-purified and bound with potent, nigh-unbreakable enchantments, Star-Crowned Sovereign was the ideal weapon through which he could effortlessly dispatch all but the most dangerous of foes.
Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Star-Crowned Sovereign grants +3 to any roll made to use Abjuration Magic.
- 3/Day, the user can grant a willing creature immunity against any type of elemental damage. This immunity lasts for 1 hour or until dispelled by the user as a free action.
- 3/Day, the user can create a warded space around himself that extends up to 100' around himself or covers the entire room he is in. These wards can either make it harder to cast one particular type of magic or make it harder for all creatures who do not know the Ward's layout to use any form of magic. Either way, this increases the difficulty of any roll made to cast a particular type of magic or any magic at all by +1 to +3.
Alexius Sixstars waited for Kalzana Thrice-Cursed on the Plain of Testing, a plateau that overlooked the city of Droma, capital of Edar. In the valley below, Kalzana's army gathered to lay siege to the City, but here it was just them and their bodyguards. Sixstars and Kalzana had long been enemies, but this was the first time Alexius acknowledged the younger Magus as being worthy of facing him. Alexius attempted to convince Kalzana to abandon his war, but Kalzana insisted that he would not be denied his vengeance, nor his position as the strongest in the world. So Alexius readied himself.
The Wizard Duel that followed was the stuff of legends. The sky split and the earth quaked. Stars fell from heaven and lesser men were driven insane by the powers unleashed there. A hundred volumes could not describe the masterful spell-work that tore craters into the Earth or reduced that area to a hex-riddled wasteland, even to this day. What is important to remember is that for all of his power, for all his glory, Sixstars made one fatal mistake: he had thought himself the most talented Wizard in the world. Twenty years ago, that might have been true. He did not ever think someone could come along who was stronger than him. So while he was still superbly powerful, he had gotten soft after twenty years of feasts, awards and lavish parties thrown in his honor. Kalzana, who might have been his equal two decades prior, was more than a match for him then.
After his death, Star-Crowned Sovereign remained by the Archmagus' corpse, refusing to fall or bend to any other. It is still there, to this day. Occasionally, foolish Magi will attempt to cross the Plain to snatch it, but they inevitably end up falling to one of the hexes, spells or enchantments left behind after the duel, still lurking to snatch the unwary. For reasons of safety, the Teachers have forbade any to attempt to claim the staff without their authorization.
Andronicus Hexial and Soulspinner
1d6+Atk
Adronicus Hexial was a hold-over from a previous era, the last of the elder Teachers who were gradually replaced by Alexius and his allies. He was known as the old fossil, a living museum exhibit who kept his post as Teacher and professor at the university mostly out of seniority and for the sake of tradition. Even though he still lived, Adronicus had been largely forgotten. Perhaps he had been great when he was younger but approaching what surely must be the end of his life, what more could he do?
So when Kalzana began to protest against the state of magic in Edar, Adronicus was the one who cautioned against him, arguing he should be placated and given some position of honor. The other Teachers ignored him. When Kalzana began to act against them, he argued they should pool their resources and attack, but no one thought this upstart, talented as he was, could truly oppose them. Even as the Teachers began to die, Alexius still refused to heed his warnings. And so Ancient Adronicus was the last man standing.
Andronicus had long created his staff from melted Slake-moth chitin, fused with Dream-Demon Essence and carved with runes stolen from the soul-stealing Hags hailing from another plane, Soulspinner was a length of lacquered blue wood, topped with a carved moth that cradled a large, clear crystal that cast rainbows across the walls. The other Teachers considered it gaudy, but Andronicus always smirked and pretended not to hear.
Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Soulspinner grants +3 to any roll made to use Illusion Magic.
- 3/Day, the user can, if they have an active illusion, can anchor it to the staff. The staff will maintain the illusion as it was cast for up to 1 hour or until the user dispels the illusion. The staff can support up to three active illusions.
- 3/Day, the user may allow a creature to interact with an illusion if it was real. Illusory food will fill him up, an illusory bridge will feel solid under his feet, an illusory wolf will cause him pain and do damage to him as phantom fangs tear at the creature's flesh.
Andronicus was targeted last by Kalzana, who by now was flush with glory and stolen power. By slaying the Teachers, he had proved his superiority and by raiding their vaults he had been able to make himself far more powerful than he had ever dreamed. So when he came to destroy Andronicus, he did not fear the old man. If anything, he felt sorry for him. Andronicus did not intend to go down easy though. He attacked the younger Magus and their battle destroyed half a wing of the University. Kalzana was younger and stronger, but Adronicus was far more experienced, with a deep knowledge of the University's wards. He was able to distract and trick Kalzana, sending him on a wild-goose chase for much of the fight.
Unfortunately, this did not work for long. Kalzana was an illusionist too, who had even studied much of Andronicus' work, so he was quickly able to realize that he been tricked. So he pursued and found that the elder Mage had somehow made it all the way back to his headquarters. When Kalzana made it back to his pavilion, his own servants attacked him, believing him to be an imposter. He tore the illusions deceiving them apart and killed a few for their insolence, then sent them all away so he could pursue his enemy without distraction. And there, hidden in his private spaces, he found Andronicus. He pounced on the elder and was about to kill him when Andronicus revealed a second staff. With a flash, he transformed himself into a statue of clay.
Kalzana was outraged! Andronicus had stolen Silvershine from his dead compatriot! Still, he had beaten Glinda Goldilocks, so he could put down this old man. Andronicus wasn't done yet however, using the aid of the staff to unbind the transmutation spell that kept Hazim al-Hurabi as a snake. The Teacher of Flesh transformed back into a man and this broke the seal placed over his mind, freeing him to think once more. Kalzana moved to speak, but al-Hurabi used Fleshcraft to seize control of his tongue and prevent him from vocalizing properly. This slurred the death spell he was casting and when it rebounded, Kalzana destroyed himself.
In the days and weeks that followed, Kalzana's coalition broke apart into dozens of smaller groups that attempted to consolidate gains or menaced the countryside as raiders for years after. Andronicus and al-Hurabi worked with the civil authorities to rebuild the damage done by Kalzana's War, as it was later known, as well as to rebuild and reform the Laws of Magic in Edar so hopefully nothing like this ever happened again. Andronicus served as First of the Wise and helped to raise up a new group of Teachers to try and replace those who had died, but his age caught up with him.
He retired to joyful cheers and anguished moans, spending the rest of his life in solitude, working on his research. He died two years later, his heart finally giving out. He was mourned as the greatest Wizard of the Age and a memorial was constructed to immortalize him in Droma. In the University, the destroyed wing was rebuilt and renamed after him. At his funeral, al-Hurabi, his successor as First of the Wise, described him as "A man unappreciated in his own time, who gave everything to save a tomorrow he would never see." He then added, "He was a great Magus, a scholar without peer and a Teacher of Wisdom. Most of all though, he was a father to manyand a friend to all, especially me, a stranger. Goodbye, old friend. I'll miss you."
