Ardent Mages

The primary power of these sorcerers comes from their anger. Having survived a long history of slaughter and starvation, the powers that the **Ardent Mages** discovered - and that permitted them to survive - were those based on Dust magic, agony, and rage. As masters of magic, the Ardent Mages can place pillars on the map to increase outputs or reduce movement costs. In combat, they can use their unique spells, but also raise their combativity when suffering damage.

## Lore

*The Ardent Mages are a people who were born in struggle and pain, and these conditions dominate their day to day lives.*

*Though they control great powers, they pay a great price to do so. To manipulate the powers of Dust, an Ardent Mage must dissociate their mind from their body. For this they have developed elaborate pain rituals, for the more they are able to withstand the agony and ignore their physical discomfort, the deeper their relationship with Dust becomes. Pain has become a fundamental element of their society, to the point where children are taught from a young age to withstand it.*

*Stoicism is therefore as important as intelligence, and indifference to physical discomfort is the way in which an individual's worth is measured - be they an Ardent Mage or a stranger.*

*After falling out with the rest of the Inner Circle in dark circumstances, Zor Abaz has annexed her clan from the greater Ardent Mage nation and struck out for new territory. The suffering must be great, even magnificent, if she is to prepare the Ardent Mages for the endtimes.*

## Faction Traits

### Power Through Pain

Unlike most other faction affinities which have some great effect on the gameplay style of the faction in question, Power Through Pain only really shows itself when creating a custom faction. When creating a custom faction, you are given a pool of 80 trait points to draw from, and every trait you add costs some amount (though some traits are detrimental and thus have a negative cost). Typically, all Arcana and Arcana-related technologies cost 10 points, but having the Power Through Pain affinity reduces the cost of Arcana technologies to 6, and the supporting technologies Dust Mechanics, Dust Purifier, Painosphere, and Sacrificial Amplifiers only cost 4. This means that a faction with the Power Through Pain affinity can get all the Arcana and related technologies for a total of only 56 points, while a faction without it would need 90 points to get them all, and therefore must go without at least one.

That said, Power Through Pain doesn't provide much of a benefit to the base Ardent Mages, since the 80 point limit on traits doesn't apply to the base factions. For example, the Vaulters have a trait cost total of 105.

### Rising Fire

During a Dust Eclipse, the Ardent Fire capacity inherent to all Ardent Mages units and heroes becomes enhanced. While normally units with this capacity receive a percentage bonus to their Attack  based on the percent of their Life  missing, during a Dust Eclipse, these units also receive a matching bonus to Damage , making Ardent Mages units far more powerful during a Dust Eclipse. It should be noted that all Ardent Mages units, regardless of which faction owns them, will benefit from this effect.

## Unique Technologies

  Focus:  |  Arcana

  **Effects:**
+1 Pillar of Knowledge on Empire+1 Incantation of Defense on Empire

  Focus:  |  Arcana

  **Effects:**
+1 Pillar of Speed on Empire+1 Incantation of Haste on Empire

  Focus:  |  Arcana

  **Effects:**
+1 Pillar of Influence on Empire+1 Incantation of Enervation on Empire

  Focus:  |  Arcana

  **Effects:**
+1 arcana level for all spells on empire

  Focus:  |  Arcana

  **Effects:**
+1 Pillar of Extraction on Empire+1 Incantation of Deluge on Empire

  Focus:  |  Arcana

  **Effects:**
+1 arcana level for all pillars on empire

  Focus:  |  Arcana

  **Effects:**
Unlocks winter versions of the pillars

  Focus:  |  Arcana

  **Effects:**
+1 Pillar of Regeneration on Empire+1 Incantation of Restoration on Empire

  Focus:  |  Arcana

  **Effects:**
+2 arcana level for all Pillars on Empire+2 arcana level for all Spells on Empire (no with ELCP)

  Focus:  |  Arcana

  **Effects:**
+1 arcana level for all spells on empire

  Focus:  |  Arcana

  **Effects:**
+1 arcana level for all Pillars on Empire*With ELCP: +1 Arcana level for all Spells on Empire*

## Heroes

Note: *Base Attributes* reflect the unit's attributes before bonuses from equipment or capacities.

All Ardent Mage heroes are able to wield Longscepters, Magewands, and Quarterstaves as weapons.

### Quest Heroes

#### Faresh Zima

Faresh Zima appears leading an army in Chapter 4 of the Mykara faction quest, and cannot be obtained by normal means in-game. Faresh and the army she is leading must be defeated to complete the quest. Faresh appears at Level 2 with a full set of Tier 1 Iron Armor and wielding a Tier 1 Iron Quarterstaff. Because Faresh only appears as an enemy and therefore cannot have her equipment changed, her listed attributes and capacities include the bonuses gained from her equipment and level.

## Faction Quest

*While many of your people have grown slovenly and soft, the rigors of survival and study have kept you and your clan strong. But now your brother has been killed, and the signs lead in many confusing directions. It will require all the strength you have, and all the pain you can sustain, to solve the mystery and secure the future of the Ardent Mages.*

 Summary
 Try to bring together your followers and the faithful after the events of your brother's death.
 Reward

 *Prerequisites: Must be playing a custom Ardent Mages faction with the Pitiless trait*
 Summary
 Try to bring together your followers and the faithful after the events of your brother's death.
 Reward

 The truth is we were growing slovenly. Turning away from the caress of thorn and whip and fire. Turning away from the old gods. Turning away from the very pain that gave our lives meaning - and power. I was disgusted by our failure; my brother, even more so. We didn't see eye to eye on all things, but we saw eye to eye on that. He was... searching... searching for something that might arrest our fall and restore our convictions. What, I don't know. Whenever I pressed him he would say “Sister, the truth lies in shadow. When it comes into the light I will tell you all.” He was taken in the final contrition trying to learn that truth.
 Summary
 The scope of the search party has narrowed. Learn something of your brother's investigations by searching two ancient sites.
3. The [Minor Faction]! They are from a village in the region called [Region]. Find the village and Parley with them to learn more about what is going on.
4. The [Minor Faction] hold an artifact belonging to your dead brother: The Transcendent Rod of Verda! Defeat their army and reclaim your brother's possession.
 Reward
3. Mad Fairies Droplist, picks 1
4. Transcendent Rod of Verda

 *Prerequisites: Must be playing a custom Ardent Mages faction with the Pitiless trait*
The truth is we were growing slovenly. Turning away from the caress of thorn and whip and fire. Turning away from the old gods. Turning away from the very pain that gave our lives meaning - and power. I was disgusted by our failure; my brother, even more so. We didn't see eye to eye on all things, but we saw eye to eye on that. He was... searching... searching for something that might arrest our fall and restore our convictions. What, I don't know. Whenever I pressed him he would say “Sister, the truth lies in shadow. When it comes into the light I will tell you all.” He was taken in the final contrition trying to learn that truth.
 Summary
 The scope of the search party has narrowed. Learn something of your brother's investigations by searching two ancient sites.
3. The [Minor Faction]! They are from a village in the region called [Region]. As you torture the last living officer, he tells you that an army with a precious artifact will soon depart from a nearby village. Find them. Kill them.
 Reward
3. Transcendent Rod of Verda, Mad Fairies Droplist, picks 1

 We possess the finest interrogators in all Auriga. Our Inquisitors know the landscape of pain the way a red spider knows the dunes; they know how to burrow through weak flesh in search of the truth. That my inquisitors learnt little from the prisoners tells me that there was little to know. Search the ruins, they were told. Safeguard any trinkets you find, and smite any who follow in your path. Who gave them such instructions, and for what ends, remains shrouded in darkness.
 Summary
 Ensure that Minor Factions are no longer a threat to your Empire.
 Reward

 Every morning after administering my seven repents, I walk from the castellum to the chamber where my brother's scepter hangs, and take it in my hands. The instrument hums with a strange power, as if it is restless, as if it still seeks something. I imagine Verda holding it, spinning it, mastering it. Somehow it holds the key to his demise, holds the key to his work. We will found a new city, populate it with our brightest minds, and raise it as a center of mortification and study as is needed to understand my brother's enquiries. The scepter has an affinity with the Dust that permeates this world, like a diviner's rod channeling ancient forces. I am certain that Dust is key to what my brothers sought to achieve, but by what methods remain a mystery...
 Summary
 Found a city dedicated to scientific research in order to better understand your brother's scepter and magic. Gods willing, these studies will shed light on his mysterious death too.
 Reward
2. Verda's Temple
3. Mad Fairies Droplist, picks 1

 Learning - and suffering - proceed apace at Verda's Temple, as screams of enlightenment and ecstasy echo from the buildings day and night. Dust is much more than we ever imagined; it is no simple spice or mineral that we once presumed. It teems, and writes, and endlessly transforms itself into million-hued aspects, almost as if it was alive. Sometimes it makes a man a savant of numbers, sometimes it makes him able to scale a wall in three bounds, sometimes it makes his heart hammer so hard it erupts from his chest in a crimson fire. I am certain that long ago our forgotten ancestors mastered this Dust, and enslaved it to do their bidding in miraculous ways. We are far from that point, but our path is clear. We have climbed onto the foothills of knowledge and caught a glimpse of boundless lands beyond, but we must keep climbing until Dust contains no more mysteries than does water.
 Summary
 How did your brother stumble upon capabilities that were mastered by the ancients long before? It is time to learn more of Auriga's ancient, Dust-riddled places, and ready your people for further investigations.
 Reward
2. Mad Fairies Droplist, picks 1

 Learning - and suffering - proceed apace at Verda's Temple, as screams of enlightenment and ecstasy echo from the buildings day and night. Dust is so much more than we ever imagined; it is no simple spice or mineral that we once presumed. It teems, and writes, and endlessly transforms itself into million-hued aspects, almost as if it was alive. Sometimes it makes a man a savant of numbers, sometimes it makes him able to scale a wall in three bounds, sometimes it makes his heart hammer so hard it erupts from his chest in a crimson fire. I am certain that long ago our forgotten ancestors mastered this Dust, and enslaved it to do their bidding in miraculous ways. We are far from that point, but our path is clear. We have climbed onto the foothills of knowledge and caught a glimpse of boundless lands beyond, but we must keep climbing until Dust contains no more mysteries than does water.
 Summary
 How did your brother stumble upon capabilities that were mastered by the ancients long before? You must study winter's effects on ancient, Dust-riddled places, and ready your people for further investigations.
 Reward
2. Mad Fairies Droplist, picks 1

 Every night he comes to me in my dreams. Always the same. I believe it is a memory - well part of a memory - but the mind plays tricks so I cannot be certain. We are children, a handful of years between us. We are walking in the dunes beyond the last tents of our settlement where penitence is offered, the sun hot, the land barren save for a scattering of spine trees. Something sparkles on the sand, and Verda snatches it up. He turns his back, gasps. “What, what have you found?” I cry, curious but enjoying being teased nonetheless. “Show me!” He turns back to me, his hands cupped, eyes gleeful. “With this we could be as powerful as the Saoshyant, sister.” He lifts his hands closer... and then the earth shudders, and the sun blinds me momentarily, and when I can see again he is gone, only his footprints left in the sand.
When someone leaves you suddenly, without warning, without answers, it is like having a piece of your heart ripped from you. You are not complete. I know this because though the shock of his death has now passed, there is still a hole the shape of Verda inside me. I don't know if we will ever be together again, but I do know that that hole - that wound - will only begin to heal when I learn the truth.
 Summary
 You now have greater knowledge of your brother and greater influence. Verda had a hidden lab, accessible with his scepter and a specific incantation. But more magic is required to find its exact location.
 Reward

 The air was musty, and though the flasks and instruments were caked in a layer of grime the echoes of Verda's presence came to me. The way he stacked codexes, the small relics he carried for luck, the faintest trace of his scent in the robes hanging in his armoire. Reza brought me his chronicle, carrying it in a devout fashion, opened to the last entry. The scrawl was his; spidery and precise. The date at the head of the parchment recorded a day a few scant days before his death. I read:
“I have found myself thrust upon a miracle, the ebb and flow of the Dust inside my mortal body like the tide of a wondrous sea. When it comes, it comes in great waves of fire, cleansing me, before infusing me with the strangest powers. Sometimes the pains is so great a blackness takes me, but regardless of what wounds it inflicts upon me I always come back. In two days I will possess more Dust than I will ever need. I will transcend. I only hope Azeema keeps his word.”
 Summary
 In the lab you have learned much of your brother's last days and the Roving Clansmen he dealt with. They will kill to keep their secrets and their Dust - prepare yourself!
 Reward

 Summary
 For the sake of your people, it is time to complete that which your brother began. Transcending IS the future of the Ardent Mages; you must build the Altar of Transcendence.
 Reward

## Trivia

* The Ardent Mages are referred to as "Rage Wizards" in the game files.