House of Seasons

The House of Seasons, also known as the House of the Seasons or '*Domus Temporum'* was once a school of magic in a hidden location, somewhere in the Eastern United States and home to many magi from across the world and was only place of it's kind due to the absolute rarity of magi on Earth in the 21st century. However recently, because of dismally low numbers of tune-capable humans coming to the school, the House stopped it's educational facilities in the 1960's and focused on it's research of magical artefacts, relics, foci and mezzite, and also now acts as something of authority within the magic community, claiming it has the absolute right to ask for any magical items or mezzite in the possession of other organisations or individuals to protect humanity and Vox Magei. It has therefor gone from being a centre for education, to something of an authoritative order and many magi heavily disagree with how militaristic it has become.

### **History**

Newest evidence suggests that the House of Seasons goes back beyond the 1600's much further than originally thought, with the original idea of the structure to be a 'vestibule' between this universe and Otherworld, however after the Orchard Grove incident in the 1930's much of the research into Otherworld and with it what the early Seasons were doing there has mostly been lost.

The House of Seasons' history is complex and not well understood, surviving information comprising of written accounts and scriptures only date back to the 1620's when Witch Hunts from Europe forced both Magi and even early neos who were tarnished under the same brush as evil and satanic, to flee and head to America but were perused by members of the newly adjoined Knights Templar and Masonic Priesthood posing as Christian missionaries in the shape of the Illuminati organisation, as such the House was thought to be founded in the 1690's with the initial purpose of housing and protecting these individuals, but as attacks on neo and magi grew the House grew more and more elusive with waning magi numbers, especially after the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.

Many Magi, however were not happy at being labeled with neohumans who they saw as bizarre in that they had hardly any magic potential, some seemed to cause mana to almost be repelled despite seemingly possessing what could only be called 'magic powers' at the time; neos were seen as 'malum' by magi, and judged that their powers were given through by willing possession by demons as these powers could be accessed without study or ability to tune, or were themselves demons in human form and it was they who should have burned at Salem. Nevertheless the House continued to hold both magi and so-called malum until an internal revolt in 1701 outcast the malum from the House of Seasons utterly. The details of this rebellion, who started it and why are fuzzy as most references and historic articles were destroyed in the process or at a later date by a guilty purge of text by more open-minded and intelligent magi of the victorian era.

It was thought that New Magiscript was developed here in the 1720's composed of Latin, Greek, Celtic and Norse elements which is still used today in magic circles, ruins and personal grimoires as well as being used in historic documentation and knowledge to keep it safe from nosy normal humans. While the script used textual elements and characters of European languages it's structure and form were taken from ancient and mysterious glyphs that are only seen rarely today and exist as part of a much older, ancient language and spellcasting system, known only as 'dawnspeak' that predates anything on record in the Vox Magi community.

During the 1840's when Cell Theory was developed many magi began to realise that 'malum' were not demon-vessels or actual demons but something genetic and there may have been a purging of historic documents at this time to wipe the slate clean of the rather hypocritical persecution of malum by magi.

The 1850's and beyond also saw new advancements to magi society and many began to delve into the use of magitech, fusing magic with technology.

The House of Seasons attempted to re-colonise a small area of Otherworld in 1931 known as the town of Orchard Grove, but ended up in a disastrous event that trapped the souls and spirits of the inhabited there; the event was thought to be caused when the colonists angered or offended the Aos Si locals in some form, likely by the use of pollutive machines brought from Earth which destroyed the forest to build Orchard Grove, and when the colonists defended themselves, the power of the Aos Si in their own universe utterly overwhelmed them, causing nature to twist and the humans there to become ghosts and spirits doomed to wonder the town for all time. Needless to say the Seasons blocked all access to Orchard Grove cutting off the House to Otherworld and the Aos Si encasing Orchard Grove within an impenetrable spiritual field.

#### **Purpose**

The House of Seasons was once though to be a legitimate Hogwarts-esque 'school of witchcraft' that taught magi to use their powers, but it also taught the traditional elements of any school, it once served as a home to wayward magi who have little understanding of their ability to tune, but with the severe drop in magic users and tuning ability, the use of the organisation as an educational facility halted around the 1960's.

It is now a research centre of magic and regular sciences too, especially healing, chemistry and biology. The House of Seasons has it's own laws and enforces and defends Vox Magei from internal and external threats to their community and more importantly has jurisdiction to track, observe and if need be attempt to bring into custody potential magi. It has recently began aiding in the hunt for and research of magical items such as relics, foci, talismans and mezzite, and can be rather aggressive and even militaristic in their defence and acquisition of these items, going so far as to decimate sacred and religious areas or pull items from their rightful owners; this has led to the magic community to heavily criticise how the House has changed in the last 70 years and how it handles itself; the House, however defends its aggressive behaviour as a symptom of defending the community for an ever-aggressive world to keep the community safe from darker aspects of magic and humanity.

#### **Location**

The original House of Seasons was said to in fact be composed of several small places across the world linked into a single astral building, including at once point a link to Otherworld, however since the rebellion the House was relocated to a newer single-structure building circa the 1750's. This seems to be a large 18th century mansion of a Scottish design with some 200 rooms, hidden chambers, a massive dining hall and magically sealed rooms. The House cannot be accessed directly, instead using magical doorways or portal spells is the only way to enter, and the building will channel approved teleportation spells directly to the main hall and lobby.

As it does have a rather expansive garden complete with small lake the House of Seasons itself is a very real place in a very real location on Earth, likely somewhere in the North American or Canadian wilderness, but is surrounded on all sides by thick woods and beyond that impenetrable brush, thorny vine nets. This is said to sit atop a steep plateau that is further surrounded by a deep somewhat boggy river that runs from under the plateau and connects the garden lake, forming a moat around the area composed of swamps, boggy lakes and sinkholes. This moat and surrounding marshland stretches through further dense forest and impenetrable bushes and shrub nets on the lower land until it levels out into a vast, less-dense forest hundreds of miles from any road or town.

The location is particularly difficult to get near to either way as all plants and insects have been magically altered to release confusing toxins to anyone near for centuries, causing them to wonder away from even the very outer lowlands of the forest. It is protected overhead by several magical barriers and cloaks and avoids any local airspace at any rate.

The plants and animals that exist there are all active familiars that form a complex network of magical communication and deception and are uniquely bred to survive and pass on magic. These 'wild familiars' however rarely survive outside of the influence of the outer lowland forests, being specifically hexed to only be able to breed with another magically-enhanced animal to ensure these animals do not breed outside the control of the Vox Magi of the House of Seasons.

#### **Structure and Organisation**

The House of Seasons was thought to be primarily founded as a safehouse for those hunted by crusades and religious discrimination across the world during the 17th century, but even after numerous revolts and organisation changes the basic structure of the House has remained the same; there are four primary areas of the organisation and these sub-departments can currently act independently, although prior to the 1940's a fifth area known as 'Equinox' oversaw and administered these four internal branches, but was phased out during a short rebellion during the strains of the Second World War:

* **Spring:**  A time of nurturing and growth Spring is a branch dedicated to education, both magic and nonmagic, it also deals with healing, gardening and revitalisation.
* **Summer:**
* **Autumn/Fall:**
* **Winter:**