Clash of the Cabals

A series of events in the history of Tor Armakan and the Aurian Empire. It was a connected series of disputes over the succession of power after the death of Arkadius Secondsight. It resulted in the founding of the Archmages' Council

called Tor Armakan as his seat of power.

416-400BE: Arkadius wrestles for power against the elves.

400BE: By this date the Arkadians under their leader Arkadius Secondsight have succeeded in driving the elves from the field and have created a human city state around Tor Armakan. The state governed from Tor Armakan is called Armakania.

416BE: The founding date of Armakania claimed by engraving on the Ark-Tower.

371BE: The death of Arkadius begins a disputed era where his apprentices and adherents fought for the right to take his place. This era is called by history the Clash of the Cabals.

### Key Individuals

The primary characters of the War are

* Arkadius Secondsight – Founder of Armakania and first human recorded as using the title archmage.
* Olquam - One of Arkadius' apprentices. Led the cabal known as Cold Comfort.
* Glacius - One of Arkadius' apprentices. Part of the Cold Comfort Cabal.
* Ebsix – One of Arkadius' apprentices. Leader of the cabal known as Ebsix's Circle or Ebsix's Circle of Friends
* Volkalis – One of Arkadius' apprentices. Took control of the Ark-Tower eventually rising to lead the cabal Eye of the Tower
* Sybilant – Bard historian, who recorded many of the events that took place during the Clash of the Cabals.
* Silvernial - Elven archmage supreme.
* Infestial - A Shrouded druid.

### Major Events

371-364: The Clash of the Cabals was technically three different conflicts. The first ran from 371-370, the second took place in 368BE and the last one ran from 366-364PE. The final conflict ended with the rise of the Archmages' Council.

## The First Clash

### 371-370BE

Several of Arkadius' apprentices were extremely powerful wizards in their own right. In the modern era none of them would still have been called apprentices but Arkadius reserved the title of Arcmage for himself alone. After his death all his apprentices claimed the title and their own followers and apprentices were marked as mages if skilled and apprentices if yet in learning.

Olquam and Ebsix, two of his more ambitious (if not necessarily the most gifted) apprentices lay claim to Armakania officially. Either of them could have been successful but they both violently opposed the other's claim. This led to threats and open disputes. Eventually a gathering was called in hopes of settling the dispute and agreeing that for there to be peace Armakania needed a new leader. The talks were ruined however when one of the delegates used magic to try and slay the other. It is uncertain who may have instigated this, however it appears clear that all sides were ready for it as it quickly became an all out spell battle of tremendous proportions.

Named the Conflagration this battle resulted in the surviving apprentices fleeing with their followers. Many left the central city of Armakania and set up in surrounding towers, villages and forests. What followed was a time of spell skirmishes and recruitment. Each of the pretenders attempted to seduce, bride, coerce and induct as many spell weavers as possible. The regular men and women of Armakania lived in constant fear of any wizard who looked their way. Most solved the problem early on though by simply switching allegiance to whichever wizard was in front of them at any given moment. This low value loyalty based on practicality was surprisingly readily respected by most of the cabals that formed. So basically none of the the wizards counted on their non-powerful followers and whoever was in any specific area simply took control on the commoners to hand to do their bidding. The long term effects of this behaviour can still be felt in Tor Armakan's culture thousands of years later.

Some of the most important Cabals formed at this time were: The Cold Comfort, the Hollow Truth and Ebsix's Circle of Friends. Interestingly the Archmage Volkalis, though he joined to none of these and had few allies, managed to take the Ark-Tower itself and was for all intents and purposes unassailable due to this fact.

Near the end of 371BE Cold Comfort led by the archmage Olquam assault the supposedly secret base of Ebsix's Circle. Historical facts are unclear but it seems likely treachery was involved. Ebsix herself was captured and many of her cabal killed. Even so not everything went the way of Cold Comfort not only was the capture of Ebsix not enough to destroy the rival cabal (The Circle was set up with a council style leadership so removing its founder did not prevent it functioning) but Cold Comfort also lost many of their most potent wizards.

In 370BE after proving herself hard to break Ebsix is executed as she will not reveal her important secrets or submit and join herself to Olquam's cabal. Three times her cabal attempt to rescue her. The first was an ill fated teleporting attempt. This resulted in several members of the cabal killing themselves teleporting inaccurately. The second is turned back by Olquam's forces specifically by Glacius his ice-mage/summoner. Glacius certainly used frozen water elementals and ice-golems as part of his defense because these details are recorded in multiple accounts from at least five different witnesses and those include his own apprentice, one of the rescuers and the bard Sybilant. The third attempt was on the day of execution. The strike team were initially successful in releasing Ebsix and getting her a staff with stored magical energy so she could use her powers. Yet Olquam's forces were present in large numbers and the team were surrounded and cut off from retreat. However Ebsix refused to back down and they attacked the guards ferociously. Though in the end this proved to be in vain with each of them dying in the conflict that resulted, Ebsix and her team still managed to kill Olquam and several of his cabal in the process. Glacius then took control of the cabal in a brief internal power struggle and he withdrew Cold Comfort from the dispute claiming the deaths of the two rival leaders to have ended the conflict and making it clear that he was content to rule the cabal and not make a bid to control the country.

Having beaten off other cabals and with Cold Comfort retiring from the field, Hollow Truth descend on the remnants of the battered Circle and scattered the remaining mages. They then installed themselves as rulers of Armakania. Temporarily no other cabal openly disputed this claim.

## The Second Clash

### 368BE

Internal conflict rips apart the leading cabal, Hollow Truth, revealing it to actually be made of several smaller internal cabals. Several non-mage assassins are used in a series of killings. This results in a sort of civil war and blood runs through the streets of Armakania. Many 'normal' people abandon the city for outlying towns and the protection of other cabals such as Cold Comfort, the Dragon's Eye and the Crystal Scepter.

The mage Volkalis, still in possession of the Ark-Tower unleashes some of its weaponry upon the city. He uses the Star Guardians openly to secure the city and brings the infighting to an end violently. He also uses Soulcraft to unleash magic not previously seen in the hands of humans. By the end all mages in the city are made to swear to him and are forced to take magical brands to ensure that loyalty. This ends the conflict with Volkalis in control of Armakania and those sworn to him now called the Eye of the Tower due to the brands they all wore upon their foreheads. These brands were placed by Volkalis himself and were in the shape of an eye. If the person were considered suspect Volkalis could look through the brand to see what they were doing. Also if he used a command word the eye would start to close. Initially this would cut off the branded wizards senses and then their ability to use magic and finally if the eye closed it would incapacitate them completely allowing them to be summarily executed.

## The Third Clash

### 366-364BE

366PE: As the Eye of the Tower didn't not leave Armakania the other cabals began to try and establish other strongholds.

366-365PE: - One of the remnants of the Hollow Truth cabal who retained the name moved south into the city state of Vale Celer. There they attempted to insinuate themselves into the control of the city and were partially successful. However despite the use of magic, including mind controlling enchantments and forbidden Soulcraft they attempts to seize dominion over Vale Celer is exposed.It is then violently opposed by the church specifically by a priest of Celer known originally as Stephen or Stephen of the Stone. I seems clear from church records that Stephen was already an influential priest if not the most influential leader of Vale Celer. He stood atop a stone to denounce the cabal of wizards claiming they sought only power and to bring the same destruction they had visited on their onw land in the north to peaceful, holy Tor Celer. The cabal attacked Stephen even as he preached atop the stone. Apparently a miracle took place whereby the stone protected Stephen from the arcane powers of the wizards. He was then declared by the acclamation of the clerics and the people as Celer's leader in the Vale. He took the title Theonist, or if the records are to be believed it was forced upon him by the adoring and fearful masses. He then proceeded to organise the clerics and Templar (Or martial clerics) against the Hollow Truth cabal.

The resulting conflict almost destroyed Vale Celer. Fighting included open physical combat divine and arcane magic and eventually the assassins that had marked the destruction of the cabal's chances in Armakania. Interestingly, historians point to three reasons why the cabal lost. One it opposed the fundamental state of the people, their religion which prevented them gaining allies. Two the murder of Stephen of the Stone. Just when the people started to feel the hardships of the conflict and some started to give up and leave or lay down arms the cabal successfully murdered the Theonist. This backfired on them horribly as it reinvigorated their opposition and drove them to demand vengeance rather than simply wish to survive. The final point was the gathering of a party of heroes made of the faithful called the Golden Force. This group of faithful heroes defeated wizards after wizards. They destroyed the undead troops used to control the city after curfew, they met the champions of the cabal the Azure Blades in direct combat and defeated them. They united the people of Vale Celer and had them refuse to pay taxes to the wizards or offer them succor or shelter. Finally they killed off two of the pretenders claiming to lead the cabal and Vale Celer. Other Cabals seeing the ruin brought about by this attempt avoid the country thereafter.

366-364BE: - The Dragon's Eye cabal went north to the elven settlement of Weatherdark. They there attempted to control the elven settlement and seize control f its magical forces and treasures.

The conflict almost destroyed Weatherdark with the wizards trying to use intimidation and bribery to take control of Weatherdark's resources and magic. In the new year after a couple of months of this interplay the leaders were revealed to be in league with dragons which they attempted to use to force the elves to give way to them and accept them as overlords. Positions within the cabal were offered to elven wizards and at least one accepted. As these powerful allies came into the open Weatherdark was brought to its knees.

However the elven Shrouded called Infestial bluntly opposed the cabal and threatened any elf treacherous enough to side with them. The fear and blended respect the elves held for the Shrouded druid held things in the balance. Eventually this descended into outright conflict with deaths on both sides.

Finally the elven archmage Silvernial rose up to lead the elves of Weatherdark in this conflict. He and Infestial eventually ensured the cabal was broken and its remnants left Weatherdark for good. They did this in different ways but the most dramatic was the killing of the wizards linked to the dragons.

Infestial with a compelled group of fey and four Shadeborn warriors killed one in the middle of the night. This death was not noticed until hours after it had taken place. His underlings found him and his guardians him dead pierced by the thinnest of cuts. It is still uncertain how this was done but all sources claim Infestial as the source.

Silvernial however though less feared caused perhaps the most important upset for the guild. He engaged the wizard Dranic Felbrow in a wizards duel and simply outmatched it openly and utterly. The duel was witnessed by many of both sides and even some independent observers such as the bard Sybilant. Dranic had used Soulcraft to seal himself to a dragon and after some initial set backs dropped all pretence and openly called upon this power. He also wielded significant artifacts of power including the Dragon's Eye amulet, which he also brought to bear. However Silvernial overwhelmed the human 'archmage' and slew him causing such main to his dragon ally as to force him to flee. The dramatic nature of the magical defeat shocked the cabal and broke their will to fight the elves. Silvernial's defeat of Dranic is used as the prime historical example of elven magical superiority based on quality and sheer power. The duel is still studied in the Blue Crystal Palace millennia later.

Silvernial was content to leave the cabal broken but Infestial was not. He is said to have ordered his broken fey and Shadeborn servants to kill as many of the cabal as possible and any who sympathised with them before they are able to get clear of elven territory. IMportantly this includes the killing of three elven 'traitors' about which the poem 'Darkest Dreaming' was written.

These events makes the rest of the cabals avoid the area.

By 365BE it is already clear that the cabals attempting to turn other city states into new Armakanias are failing. The destruction of the cabals and loss of irreplaceable wizards drives them to turn back home. Also Volkalis has turned Armakania into his personal kingdom and used the Star Guardians, the Ark-Tower and its magical forces and his enslaved cabal the Eye of the Tower to rule as a tyrant and dictator. He also has begun to wreck havoc on surrounding settlements including Tor Honarik and the area known as the Golden Lake where there were elven and dwarvern settlements.

Importantly there is a meeting between six different cabals at the Golden Lake in response to these events. These included the powerful cabals of Crystal Scepter and Cold Comfort, it also formed a natural lodestone for the remnants of the shattered cabals Dragon's Eye and Hollow Truth. At this convocation two points bring consensus, one is that Armakania needed to be reclaimed as the Eye of the Tower and its leader were abominations. It is also agreed that single dictatorial leaders using magical power to compel subservience was not what Arkadius had ever had in mind. They therefore agree that they need to retake Armakania and that they will do so together. The idea of using magical oaths to compel trust is rejected almost unanimously and specifically by the influential and powerful combat mage Glacius. He insists that they trust each other so that they do not become Volkanis themselves.

365-364BE: - The united cabals turn on Armakania and fight against the Eye of the Tower and Volkanis. The battles seem hopeless as he has access to powers none of the human mages currently comprehend. Yet thanks to the intervention of a small group of heroes including a templar from the Tor Celer, dwarves and elves from Golden Lake and wizards from the Cabals the ritual used to control the magical eye brands through which Volkanis controlled his slave wizards is broken. This then allowed his own erstwhile allies and apprentices to turn on him. Throwing him out of the Ark-Tower and leaving him to face the wrath of the united cabals alone. Facts are sketchy some claiming Glacius hunted him down personally others that it was the band of heroes who broke the Eye that eventually toppled him, but the story most often repeated is that he attempted to use one of the magical weapons he had taken from the Ark-Tower in a desperate bid for ultimate victory and it destroyed him in the process.

### Aftermath

The key consequences of the Clash of the Cabals was the founding of the Archmages' Council. This ended cabals and the position of Armakania as an expansionist battle power and instead formed them as a united elitist educational society. The council would be run by those of magical superiority (The idea was so ingrained they couldn't quite move beyond it) but they would do so with common consent and only allow policy changes to be done with majorities and as the council ran to the number eight it made it easy to deadlock it. No movement was better than the fatal mistakes of the last 7 years.