Category:The Mage's Association

The Mage’s Association
The Mage’s Association is an international, self-preservative organization created by western magi for the purpose of controlling, concealing and developing Magecraft. It was formed during the Middle Ages as a counterweight to the Vatican church, it was also decided to keep magecraft secret from the general populous in order to preserve their own power. The association’s main goal is finding knowledge of magecraft, however it also makes an effort to remain a credible threat to the Vatican so as to deter an attack.

The association also enforces rules concerning magic, but on this point they are mainly concerned with the secrecy of magic more than anything else. The Association cares little about the ethical actions of a Magus so long as they do not endanger the association or reveal the existence of magic.

There are three main branches within the Association. Incidentally there are also three big styles of magecraft, with the clock tower representing Thaumaturgy, Atlas representing Alchemy and the Sea of Estray representing Runes. While there are several others they will not be mentioned beyond briefly - if you want to use them I suggest you look them up elsewhere.

The Clock Tower
The location of the currently most influential branch of the Association. The facilities and laboratories of its members are located underneath the British Museum. At the bottom most depths of the Clock Tower is the area referred to as the “Bottom of the Bridge” where the Association confines Magi who had become too formidable and a threat.

However, there are facilities located in other buildings, like the majority of the dormitories as well as some other facilities.

The Clock Tower is very much a political battleground between different factions of Magi and constant power struggles are a fact. The Clock Tower is run by an Aristocratic Elite composed of the Lords. The Lords hold considerable political power in the Association and many associate with other powerful Magus lineages.

The highest position in the Association is held by the “Director” who has been the same person for 2000 years since the founding, the common consensus is that the “Director” is not human as a result.

New members wishing to enroll at the Clock Tower has to pass an exam showcasing their magic, however it can be bypassed with a letter of recommendation from a sufficiently distinguished Magus lineage. If one has joined by recommendation, one receives preferential treatment such as private quarters in the dormitories as well as the right to bring along a number of apprentices.

Once one has become a fully realized member one is given access to the Clock Tower laboratories and other facilities, one can also take on an apprentice if one chooses. Funding can also be requested to finance experiments. If one is skilled enough, it is even possible to apply with the Clock Tower to establish a branch office somewhere in the world.

 While students at the clock tower can specialize in a large variety of magic subjects and abillities Most of them follow varying tendents of a magic system called Thaumaturgy, it is second to that of the Holy words (sacraments of the Vatican church) when it comes to how well spread it is across the world, and students at the clock tower come from all over the world.

Thaumaturgy
The general term for the artificial reenactment of mysteries and miracles, such as astrology, kabbalah, alchemy, shinsendou, etc.

While there are differences among each school, the underlying basis of all is that they use the mechanism of "converting the Prana of the practitioner's body or of the outer world".

The first so-called magi were just scholars apparently. The power gained gradually built up to what it is now through the accumulated blood and history of their lines.

The practitioner, in accord with the system that each school operates, sends a command which executes a pre-built program. To send that command, the necessary electrical current is Prana.

Thaumaturgy uses Prana to "activate rules of the world that are already determined" and cause manipulations of nature through stabilization of those rules. For example, pouring gasoline (Prana) into a car (the rule) to cause it to move. Activation of thaumaturgy requires the necessary amount of Prana for that activation, the key to run the engine (password, spell, code) and the circuits to transfer that Prana into the engine. If Prana is electricity, then circuits are the power source that creates that energy and the pipelines that run the system.

Thaumaturgy has the image of being all-powerful, but the truth is that phenomena is conducted through by Give and Take. Thaumaturgy is the conscious conversion of an existing object into a different object. Or, the base of all thaumaturgy is to send one's Prana into an object to elevate it. However, the result must be something that already exists or something that can exist. A non-existent, imaginary object, say a phantasm, will be crushed by the world.

Trying to affect greater nature is going to require for activation just as much Prana as is filling greater nature. Only so much can be done with just Od.

Furthermore, thaumaturgy is descended from magic and hence draws on a predetermined power from the Akasha. Because the amount of power available for that is fixed, the more people who draw on it, the weaker it becomes. The more people who use it, the less supernatural or mysterious it becomes.

Each school/style engraves their system of thaumaturgical theory into the world and uses those rules and systems to operate their spells. A system of little belief/small scale is weak. Outside of one's own country, it's common for it to not even activate properly. The thaumaturgical theory that has the broadest system are the teachings of the Church; their holy words.

It's probably likely that that this only applies to spells that are being processed outside of the body rather than inside the body to affect the outer world - greater thaumaturgy and the like.

Manipulating the minds of others and altering the orientation of their thoughts does not require physical costs, however, it will also drag along the practitioner's mind to the altered orientation - two graves for one curse or so they say. In the Association, the study of curses are looked down as not being academia and are heavily behind that of the Middle East.

The principle of thaumaturgy as academia is to charge into the impossible. If with current thaumaturgy, something can't be created from nothing, then the point of thaumaturgy is to figure out how. Immense thaumaturgy like high thaumaturgy and greater rituals are ultimately challenges in order to reach that nothingness (or ), magic.

After a certain point of development, thaumaturgy isn't really a matter of real or fake, force vs. force. A fight between two powerful magi is not going to be a fight of pure power, but a battle of concepts. Not which one has the greater power, but which one has the rules with the least tears.

Thaumaturgy is basically a style of magic that uses self hypnotizing in the forms of incantations (Basically verbally induced spells) to create effects. Its a magic technique that comes from inside of you as you force your body to do things (magecraft) that it is not usually capable of, such as generating fire for fire balls, or other things such as moving your vision to other locations. Out of the three types of magecraft this one is the least discreet in that it needs to be spoken, it also lacks the power of the runic styles of magic. But it is the most versatile and useful when it comes to direct combat.

Atlas
Sometimes referred to as “The Giant’s Pit”, it is an institution focused on the study of Alchemy located somewhere in Egypt. Unlike their counterparts during the Middle Ages, the alchemists of Atlas are more interested in understanding the greater truths about the universe. It is by far the most independent of the three branches, having even negotiated their own terms with the Vatican and various Magi groups, and has thus earned the ire of the Clock Tower and the Prague Association.

After the first director of Atlas theoretically predicted the end of the world, their members have focused their efforts to preventing it. However, because anything capable of preventing the end of the world would most likely be powerful enough to end it, anything developed in Atlas must be kept and disposed of within Atlas. Because of this rule the Prague Association has a saying: “Lift not the seal of Atlas, lest ye wish the world destroyed seven times over.”

Atlas have a few customs wildly differing from the rest of the Association, like for instance lending their alchemists to organizations like the Vatican church, although the particulars of the process dictate that the other party must possess one of the seven special contracts that Atlas has printed in the past.

Another custom is for the directors of Atlas to adopt the name of Atlasia during their time in office.

The majority of Atlas members can not use magic in the general sense as they lack Magic Circuits. When one passes from student to full realized alchemists, a laboratory is provided and the alchemist can request funding to finance his experiments, it also brings the privilege of applying for a student as an assistant in return of writing a recommendation for said student.

Alchemy
Alchemy for those without circuits is more closely related to science then it is to actual magecraft; however for those who do possess circuits it becomes the art of transfiguring things into other things unlike runic magic you do not need to prepare runes or draw symbols, and unlike proper thaumaturgy you do not need to vocally start your spells, However you cannot create something which the object couldn’t be in the first place. You can transfigure things either physically - turning a metal pole into a sword, breaking down a tire into a ball. It is the scientific approach to magic where instead of opposing the world by creating things out of ether (making it something its not) the user just uses that which already exists to create something similar.

To put it simply its the ability to as long as you have all the ingredients (components) for a cake and knowing the reciept (the spell) you can create the cake ( the effect) without having to bake it. (other magical theories when it comes too summoning and creating things.) While it is possible for thaumaturgy to imitate alchemy, by manipulating Ether to indirectly transfigure things. Alchemy makes it easier. Compared to Thaumaturgy Alchemy is quicker, allot more discreet - in most cases almost completely useless for combat.

Alchemy however also deals with creating things like Golems and Lasting things. Thaumaturgy has quick effects that create a loud bang that disappears quickly, while Alchemy can create a falls semblance of life - however that life cannot come from no where; human and animal sacrifice is a requirement to create and bind life in other things. However they cannot actually move a sentinence, and repeated sacrifice is required to grant even a few moments of “life.”

The goal of all alchemists is to reach the philosopers stone (Physical representation of the Root.) which because it is everything can turn into anything.

Sea of Estray
The Sea of Estray is a conglomerate of minor magi organizations spread out across Europe, it is also known as The Wandering Tomb. They are based in Northern Europe, this base, nicknamed the Moving Stone Coffin is in fact a moving mountain range. As their name implies this base is normally wandering out at sea, but sometimes comes up on dry land. Their main focus of research is body alteration, but they are very secretive about specifics. It, along with Atlas are sometimes called the “Original Mage’s Association”. Some of the known organizations that composes it are:

The Prague Association, a group of Magi that focuses on Alchemy, they follow the traditional aspects of Alchemy. They are on quite bad terms with Atlas. They are as their name suggests based out of Prague. When joining new members go through a rigorous process where one’s interpretation of Alchemy is examined, if it is too unorthodox, the member is turned away. They are very concerned with the purity of Alchemy and refuse to acknowledge any deviation from the traditional aspects of Alchemy.

Sponheim Abbey, a group which works very closely with the Clock Tower, there are some talks that the intended director was involved in some business in Japan which got him killed. Many of the members are Magi who were denied a position at the Clock Tower for one reason or other and instead came to the Sponheim Abbey. The director is a bit worried that this fact will affect the relationship with the Clock Tower, but so far it is being regarded as handling their trash.

Thule society, a group which studies rune magic, they posses the original runic scripts, which are very prized treasures. It was originally founded by German Magi banding together to widen their knowledge of rune magic. At first they were trying to hide from the Association, but when the Sea of Estray offered to bring them into their ranks, they quickly accepted and became less secretive. Membership is still rather hard to come by, and being from a distinguished bloodline helps.

Rune magic
The Sea of Estray focuses on variants of rune magic, There are two broad terms; one is numerology, and one is proper rune writing. (Sponheim works with numerology while the Thule society specialises in runes) But both of these things are functionally the same, they use the numbers and runes as a method of execution programs to create effects similar to thaumaturgy. There are two basic ways of casting this sort of magic, one is to prepare the runes ahead of time, on cards or on pebbles (or similar things) and then bringing them out and activating them as they’re required.

If you feel a bit more risque however you can also draw them in the air or otherwise create permanent symbols in the dirt at your feet, etc. While thaumaturgy deals with combat and alchemy with transfiguration - Rune magic is primarily used for barriers and enchantments. Rune mages make the best and most secure workshops out of the three main branches, though alchemist workshops are quite large instead. They wish to recreate the original language and reach the root through that.

All of the branches of the Association offers financial aid to their members to support their experiments, as well as managing the magical patents which come out of them.