MAGE in Glantri
by Pasi AniasI'll explain the basic concepts, but the rest will still have to wait a while...
Herr Gruber, a scholar in Glantri City, speaks to the young pupils of his... 'Long Long time ago our realm was ruled by a race of Technomancers, now known to us few as the Blackmoor Civilisation. They were the only ones who could shape the reality then, for they had set the Ruling Paradigms of that time. And woe, their power was great, for even the great spirits of Umbra, known for the foreigners now as immortals, could not influence their world. But they felled down, and woe they felled hard. For their Hubris was eventually so great, that it destroyed the word as it was. There were earthquakes that destroyed their cities, and there was the Great Rain of Fire that burned their fields and villages. And for a long time there was no magic save the magic of the Dragons.
And far away, behind the deepest Umbrae was the realm of Alphatia. But the realm was divided into two. The Magical Flaems and the Airmages who later founded the Alphatia You know of fought over the Paradigms to be set in their world. For the Air-mages wanted a realm of Pattern, full with Magical formulae, spells and incantations, while the Flaem wanted a world of free magic, where everything was possible, and where everyone would awake. And eventually their war destroyed their world, but with even more force than was free in our world. And the destruction made the world bare, and unsuitable to the living. And there were no magic save the magic of the destruction and entropy.
The Alphatian airmages left their world in haste. For their ruler, who was the spirit Alphatia, knew of our world. And he took his followers here to establish the realm now know as Alphatia. Free of opposition, save the dragons and some barbarian shamans, they started to shape the paradigms. The Flaem were slower to come, for they had no guides. They had abandoned the spirits who had fought alongside them, for these were much to blame for the part the Flaem had in the destruction of their world. Hence the 'Immortals' are still lawless in Glantri.
As soon as the Flaem game to Mystara, they started to shape a realm of their own. The highlands of Glantri were found to support their paradigms quite well, and they soon rooted down, unaware first of their Alphatian cousins...'
And so forth.
Basically the differences into WoD is that the Hermetics (Alphatians) are the ruling Mages, not the Technocracy (Some strange individuals in Aalban...). In the 2000 year reign of the Empire they have set the way magic works everywhere in Mystara, except for Glantri, which still survives for some reason... The Glantrian magics has some difficulties outside Glantri though... The effect of nucleus: gives magic to Glantrians. Creates rad (quintessence) to power their effect. The quintessence is stored via avatar, and is needed to use any powerful (vulgar) magic outside Glantri. The brotherhood of rad members can store more rad through the use of the Prime-sphere, which is known only to them, not to anyone else.
The secrets grafts of mages are mostly done without. The whole system of magic is the great secret craft of Glantrian magic. Instead, the spheres of magic takes the place of the secret crafts. The Prime is only known to those who belong to the rad brotherhood, and Time is most uncommon (there are few chronomancers in Glantri, the cost to learn Time is doubled). Most outside mages don't know about magic. They are too much victims of the Alphatian Paradigm. Only the most powerful ones understand.
The Timeline
We are now in Year 1002. There will not be WotI. There will come a
smaller war with Alphatia later though.
The Principalities.
- -Alhambra: Spanish-stylish Life
(shapechangers) mages? Elves, humans and half-elves. Distrusted by
others, mostly for no reason really. - -New Averoigne: Werewolves
and Correspondence. Etienne is the most powerful mage around, but
not a real Immortal. Almost as powerful though, and the Immortals
are, as said only Great spirits, so... Etienne seems a bit senile
though, but that's the problem of co-habiting many places...
- -Aalban: Forces-Life. Technomancers and Dragon hunters (able to use
dragons as Tass. Jaggar is more a Dragon hunter, Force-Life mage,
but some others are more technomancers, trying to understand some
old Blackmoorian artifacts or generating new fantastic devices. -
-Blackhill: Force (Air) with Mind often secondary. The evil ones in
the campaign at the moment. Some of them are spies. Some just
power lusty and evil. Volospin belongs to the latter.
- -Boldavia. Mind and vampires. Morphail is the oldest ruler
around, a vampire AND a Mage, and a spawn of Alphaks, even if
unwilling. Not nearly as evil person as Volospin though... -
-Ellerovyn: Elves. are they really MAGES? Mischievous purebloods.
Life (healing) mages, tending this strange Tass-producing Tree
(tass is really uncommon, due to the missing Prime-sphere. I
wouldn't trust them. - -Flaems. The Fire mages (Forces). They
believe that all the avatars came here with them. (except for those
that came with Alphatians). They are a dwindling race. The problem
of theirs is, that they don't like others to carry their ancestors
(avatars), but they don't have enough children to take the avatars
back. Some day though... Of course Klantyrians and Averoignans know
that they were mages before they came to Mystara - -Gaurence:
Matter. Money. Greedy Machiavellians. Innocenti is the same
paranoid hypocrite. Their power bases into their vast 'mines'. - -
Klantyre: Entropy. Scottish barbarians and sheepherders. came to
here through Étienne's great portal, which they 'happen' to find.
Brannart is rumoured sick and old and the rest are making
themselves ready to grab the power.
- -Krondahar: Ethengarian Spirit mages...
Werewolves.
- -Some came from Étienne's gate. Some of these like it here, some
would want to go back. Mostly good or neutral.
- -Some came from Alphatia, mostly evil. - -Then there is this
Albino werewolf-mage that wants to have a principality of his
own.
Vampires.
- -Morphail and his descendants have limited ability to magic, and
Morphail to magic.
- -Vampires were created by the entropic immortals. The 'clan'
tells who created the ancestral. Thanatos made killing monsters,
Alphaks scheming fiends, Nyx Darkness loving nobles and so forth...