The Arcanium: A Realm of Magical Supremacy

The Arcanium

A Realm of Magical Supremacy

The Arcanium is a magocracy found in the southwestern region of Velas known as the Southern Anchor which comprises of the dwarven lands of Katetia, Drath of the dark elves, Yagotzia of the hobgoblins, the Sothian Palatinate which holds the high priest of Soth known as the Thanarch, the Court of the Night which is an alliance of undead creatures that made a deal with the living, Tarkaria which contains nomadic bestial tribes, the goblin lands of Golgotzia, the Arcanium, the dragonkin-filled Samdiria, the blue Urkain inhabited Ruk, the elven land of Syldania, and the human colony of Thrale. The Arcanium is a land of magic users. It is dedicated to the mastery of magic, the mastery of the world around oneself, and the mastery over one's rivals. The Arcanium is world-renowned for its powerful mages and the colleges that produce them. It is ruled by a sorcerer supreme, one who has climbed on the top of the Arcanium's hierarchy by means of their magical strength allowing them to crush all over rivals. The realm is very small as a nation, dwarfed in size by its neighbors. Despite its smallness, it is one of the most fearsome lands to exist in the world. This is due to the massive concentration of wizards and mages who dwell within it. This massive concentration exists due to the major colleges of magic that exist within it that produce mages with great ability. At a high mortality rate.

A History

The Arcanium came about during the height of the reign Empire of Mekkhor, a powerful empire that stretched across a swathe of western Velas. During this time, the cult of Lathras put the ban on magic-users and killed any they could get their hands on. Magic was blasphemous to Lathras who provided her own miracles to her chosen clerics. The temple also had a vested interest in removing a competing power. The Lathrians were entrenched into the Mekkhorsi's governmental systems and culture and another option for power like theirs could weaken their position within the empire. So it was done that magicians, Heka users, Kah users, and anyone that did not use the energy of Will was cast out of the empire. The Aeth users fled to the Anchor, chased out by the temple. They settled the as of yet untamed land and made their own nation. The magicians held a burning hatred for the Lathrians and the Empire itself for their mistreatment. Before the Lathrians came about, they worked in concert with Hekanites, Kah masters, and others as the healers and utility mages of the empire. They were removed from their rightful positions.

Supremacy through Mastery

This hatred involved into a superiority complex that infected the entirety of Arcanite culture. In the Arcanium, a man existed to discharge their strength, all else was will to power. It was determined by the Arcanites that the strongest should rule, and the strongest were determined to be the most powerful mages that earned their power through mastery of Aeth and no one else. No charlatan priest, no dullard king, no money-grubbing merchants, and especially not the dirt of society, the common man. This thinking contributed to the birth to a new plan of world domination that was planned by the Arcanium elite and the sorcerer supreme a hundred years have they were established. This domination would not be explicit subjugation of the world but a secretive infiltration of its power structures. The Arcanium would turn mages to their way of thinking and be rid of the dregs through a dangerous curriculum used in their colleges. These mages would infiltrate the world once they had their chance and gradually change the world to their image.

Defending its Existence

The Arcanium had to defend its right to exist against multiple threats over the years. In the time of the Cold Death, the undead marched on their lands and they did battle with the liches that controlled them. The dragons of Samdiria thought to conquer the little magocracy again and again and they were fought back time and time again. The vampires that existed in the land that is now known as the Court of the Night also attempted to infiltrate the magocracy and make powerful servants of its inhabitant's copies. They were fought back again and again and the Arcanium remained.

An Opportunity

The Epiphany of Saint Bromae, by which the first high priest of the war god Alar emancipated all mages across the land from harm and suppression, became the first massive push the Arcanites needed to push their plans. They were able to keep the Arcanium as the sole place to learn mastery of Aeth for millennia by shutting down any other colleges of magic that sprung up through sabotage or secretive influence. They made a parasitic alliance with the Temple of the Five that ensured the Arcanium had religious protection against being shut down. Indeeed, the Great Unburdening, a time when rationality and science was promoted and the secular power of religion waned, was one of the greatest setbacks they had experienced. No longer could their alliance keep their works from ever biting them in the future. New colleges of magic rose and these had ample defense against the Arcanium. However, it still remained a nation and institution with a massive amount of influence in the world. Nary a royal court could be found without an Arcanium-trained court mage at a king's side. Their reputation for having high-quality education also kept them in the public eye. Their power seems unassailable

Equitianism

Although many do try to assail it. Equitianists are some of the greatest vocal critics of the Arcanium. Their implied magical supremacy goes against the movement's egalitarian nature and they are ever vigilant about any organization that makes power plays like the Arcanium. Dasili Geriov, The founder of the ministry of magicks which controls and teaches magic use in the cold lands of Equilibratist Skalovia, was a massive critic of them in the first epoch. He grew within the Arcanium under a different name, Daeglas Pearl, and became disgusted at them when he found their ultimate plans of world domination. When the opportunity arose, he joined the great radical dragon general Uhlion the Broken in his Skalovian Revolution, a conflict fought between the enthralled kobolds and their sympathizers and leaders including Uhlion the gold dragon vs the draconic Scale Prince rulers of the city-states that littered the land. He joined the revolution because he believed in Zelienism, the founding ideology of equitianism, and because he wanted to help create a state that would eliminate the Arcanium's control by way of its own resources including a magic school that was against everything the Arcanium taught. He taught that mages are not above the people, but are part of the people. They are to use their strengths in ways to help their fellow men rise past their weaknesses following equitianist ideology. True strength is found in the collective back and forth between individuals to create an equitable society. He battled the magocracy over his lifetime by skullduggery as an official of Skalovia. His successor ministers still fight that battle today. The Arcanium's alliance with nations that are foundational materielists, an oppressive economic system to equitianists, has also made the fight against them double in importance.

Today

The Arcanium still stands as one of the greatest places for someone to send their young to learn magic. Their tuitions are quite high at 300,000 silver (or $300,000 in GURPS terms) but they can instill a great mastery of magic in their students. As long as they do not die from the live fire exercises the university has which results in a third of their students being killed or expelled. That is only the classes, one's fellow students and professors may also kill their rivals or shame another out of the program in their scramble t the top.