The Star Mages' Guild

The Star Mages Guild is the principal organization sponsoring wizardly magic in New Elenna. It licenses members who are qualified to provide instruction in the arcane arts, and its members support one another through research and study.

Membership Requirements:

Class: Any arcane spellcaster (spontaneous casters restricted to max Tier 3)

Level: Any (only caster levels considered for SMG status)

Race: Any. Most members are Noble Races, but Ignoble and even Monstrous Races have occasionally been admitted as long as they show arcane talent.

Alignment: The guild does not condone evil magic or acts, but neither does it pry into members' personal affairs.

Deity: Any. The guild does not concern itself with religious affairs other than theoretical differences in arcane and divine forms of magic.

Deed: For initial membership, no deed is required.

Oath: None (See ‘Restrictions’, Table C Below)

Fee: Variable (See ‘Benefits’, Table A Below)

Famous PC Members:

Firn’gaer, gnome Wizard (Children of Chaos)

Tishe’ Weaver, Mystic Theruge (Bloodpack

Background:

The Star Mage Guild is a powerful, secretive group of wizards who seek to study magic and enhance their mastery over the arcane arts. From its headquarters in the Star Tower of Plateu City, the guild collects magical knowledge, monitors the status of Teucri artifacts throughout the Wold, and endeavors to increase the influence of both the guild and it’s members.

Star Mages are often haughty and arrogant, confident in their own superiority. They openly offer their services in exchange for favors or money, but also freely offer their snide and condescending opinions to the ignorant masses. Some, based on the personality of the mage, prefer simply to laud their own mastery of any given arcane situation.

However, even with their elitism and snobbery, the fact remains that the Star Mages are an exclusive group with impressive knowledge on a wide range of subjects

Ethos

Never perform a spell casting service to the public for free. If you are an adventuring member, you may cast spells upon your followers and party associates, as it increases your chances of survival.

Never share knowledge of any spell with anyone other than fellow Star Mages.

Do not act as an official representative of the Star Mage Guild unless specifically given permission to do so by the guild, and only within the confines of that permission. Mages of the Fourth Tier or higher are not bound by this restriction.

History

The Star Mages Guild formed in the first days of the Kingdom of New Elenna, when Yatimur the Great was king. In those early days the dispossessed Elennians had just moved onto the magical plateaus of the Elennian Peninsula, and they discovered the magical wonders of the Teucri and the Living Dead. Jhemesh Krenl became fascinated with their works and set off on a path of discovery to learn how he could harness the Teucri artifacts for the benefit of New Elennia. Through intense study and teaching others, he formed the Star Mages Guild, and he became the first Archmage of the Star. Keeping the secrets they found among themselves and selling the benefit to princes who would pay, Jhemesh was able to become one of the premier advisors of Taintamur King, the son of Yatimur. With prestige, power, and the growing knowledge of Teucri artifacts, the founders quickly spread their influence across the peninsula, eventually even having outposts in every known nation in the Northern and Southern Continents.

Jhemesh is now long dead, of course, but his guild lives on. Over the centuries, the Star Mage Guild has filled its library, established chapter houses throughout the Wold, and taught scores of students the fundamentals of magic.

Organization

The Star Mages Guild is as knowledgeable.(Recommend delete this sentence, as it is superfluous.) Even more than arcane power, arcane knowledge is the mark of the Star Mages Guild, especially ancient knowledges. This includes information on the Teucri and their artifacts, Woldian Space, and unusual magical items from far-flung races.

The Star Mages Guild is proprietary. (Recommend delete this sentence, as the descriptions that follow state the same thing less bluntly, and combine with above paragraph.) Star Mages do not willingly share these Guild findings with anyone else, often not even when it would solve obvious problems. Star Mages expect kings and powerful people to beg them for knowledge and help.

The Star Mages Guild is exclusive, only accepting those who achieve their spellcasting through study and practice into their upper echelons. Spontaneous arcanists like Bards, Witches, or Sorcerers do not demonstrate the appropriate studious research that is required to fully join the Star Mages ranks. Such petty magical talents, although useful, are admitted with strict restrictions imposed on their advancement.

Adventuring wizards and wizards who diversify their training with martial or divine talents are also treated unfavorably, and treated as dabblers who do not have the focus or intelligence to commit themselves to full time study within the Star Towers. Despite this prevailing prejudice, many guild members and even some of the Archmages have began to acknowledge the specialized niche that adventuring wizards offer to the Star Mages. Adventuring Wizards, unlike spontaneous spellcasters, have been known to ascend to Archmage rank). (Recommend sentence for deletion. Irrelevant to the paragraph.)

The Star Mages are governed internally by the College of the Archmages, which consists of a single representative of each of the eight schools of magic. When there is a vacancy in the College, all the Tier 5 Starmages vote in a magical conclave to select a replacement. To centralize the power of the College itself, one of their number is elected to be the Archmage of the Star. Though an Archmage can make policy on his own whim, an Archmage of the Star usually takes counsel from the college on all aspects of guild policy, or else risks political backlash.

The current members of the College are: Archmage of Abjuration: Milet Waan - an aging human male who was once a priest of Alemi and still has close ties to the church.

Archmage of Conjuration: Bodeen Halisthan - a chubby halfling with a penchant for conjuring up pies. Bodeen is the only halfling to ever sit in the College. It's a fact that he's aware of but doesn't care too much about.

Archmage of Divination: Kielli Cardua - a middle aged human woman. She's the youngest member of the College and often feels that she has something to prove. She obtained her chair when Ahora Levinatra d'Mohi became Archmage of the Star.

Archmage of Enchantment: Sareetha Loradolsa - an old female elf. She's the oldest member of the College and has maintained her chair for a quarter of a century. She is happy in her position and has declined to serve as Star on two separate occasions.

Archmage of Evocation: Davik Stonefoot - a powerful old gnome who craves real power, though for what purpose is unknown.

Archmage of Illusion: Thov Yellis - Thov is an older human who has served in the College for 20 years, and his health is poor. It's expected that his chair will be the next vacancy in the College. He's not ready to give up his chair yet though, and his mind is still sharp.

Archmage of Necromancy: Georg Bolis - a big, hearty human male. Despite the typical image of necromancers, Georg is a happy-go-lucky wizard with a heart of gold, and he loves to hoist a mug of ale be it with a student or a fellow archmage. His demeanor has convinced more than 1 young wizard to pursue necromancy as a field.

Archmage of Transmutation: Jaret Jamusen - a stern half elf. Jaret is respected by his colleagues but is widely feared by the students in Star Tower. He's turned more than one student into a jackass for failing a lesson. The changes are temporary, of course, but they are humiliating just the same. Despite this tendency, he always has a number of students because those who earn his respect have a tendency to become great wizards.

Archmage of the Star: The Archmage Shafbaffum served in this position for a number of years, but after his abduction by the vile Sahaguin, a new Archmage of the Star was selected, Ahora Levinatra d'Mohi. She's a wise old half elf who has trained up a number of competent wizards. Ahora is a rare bird who was both an adventurer and expert in Divination. She used her experience and prescient knowledge to sponsor the opening of the Star Mages Guild to spontaneous casters, though not altering the culture of superiority.

Headquarters:

Star Tower in Plateau City serves as the guild's headquarters. There are also chapter houses in the following known locations: South Harbor, Amberlund, Dourscale, Tumblevoid, & Wellogy in New Elenna; Fokos in Fargunia; Isumbre in Zarthmoor; and the City State of Osto. Each of the Chapter Houses has a teleportation circle that connects to Star Tower. The Star Mages are also rumored to have agents and representatives in such locations as Skyhook City of the Southern Continent, somewhere in Aisildur, and the Taur Islands. However these rumors cannot be confirmed.

Politics:

Star Tower is closely tied to the government of Plateau City, and the Star Mages frequently advise the High Lord Mayor. While Shafbaffum served as Archmage of the Star this relationship was especially close, and as a result, the Star Mages Guild has had difficulty expanding its membership beyond the borders of New Elenna. Chapter houses in other nations are regarded as suspect and as possibly dangerous. Thus the guild has only a minor presence in states that are more or less friendly with New Elenna such as Zarthmoor, Fargunia, and Osto, and it has no official presence at all in less friendly areas, notably Aisildur and the Emerald Kingdom. As a result, Ahora Lveinatra d'Mohi is seeking to de-emphasize Star Tower's relationship with the office of the High Lord Mayor while remaining cordial at the same time. She wants to expand the guild and has already sent agents to meet with Parnoth in the Emerald Kingdom.

Benefits:

• Prestige:
  • Students and Journey members find that they garner little respect due to their position.
  • Star Mages are regarded as having a respectable position in society and have a social standing similar to that of merchants.
  • Master mages have a considerably higher social standing and have a status similar to that of other guild masters and master craftsmen.
  • Archmages have the same social status as nobles.
  • The Archmage of the Star is nearly an equal to the High Lord Mayor of Plateau City.
• Information:
  • All members of the Star Mages Guild have access to a wide body of arcane literature. They may use the guild library to study any standard spell found in its archives (those in the PHB), and they may scribe these spells into their own spellbooks without any fee.
  • Guild members also receive an extra 2 skill points per level for wizard class skills. To obtain this bonus, players must spend some time at Star Tower for each level.
• Financial:
  • All guild members may utilize the laboratories of Star Tower for their experiments and creations. All standard equipment is available. Guild members also have access to their fellows for help and consultation while crafting items. Thus any items crafted at Star Tower earn a +2 circumstance bonus on crafting checks.
  • Each Chapter House has a teleportation circle that connects to Star Tower. Guild members may use these to travel between their local Chapter and Star Tower without a fee. They may even use Star Tower as a hub to travel to other Chapter Houses. This service is provided as a convenience for study and the exchange of information. Use by nonguild members is strongly discouraged. However, there have been occasions when outsiders have been granted use of the circles for a fee or in the service of the Guild.
  • Masters have the authority to charge students for instruction. Students may only use the laboratories and libraries of Star Tower or the Chapter Houses if their masters grant permission.
  • Archmages may reside within Star Tower if they so choose.