Mages Guild

The symbol of the Mages Guild

The **Mages Guild**, also known as the **Guild of Mages**, was an organisation dedicated to the study of magic.

**[being re-worked]**

## **Brief History**

The Mages Guild was founded by Vanus Galerion, formerly of the Psijic Order, in 2E 230. Its earliest charter was granted by Rilis XII of Firsthold, in whose city the Guild first operated. From Auridon, chapters of the Guild opened throughout the Summerset Isles and, eventually, mainland Tamriel. Within three generations the Mages Guild was ubiquitous, being sanctioned and chartered by Potentate Versidue-Shaie in the Guild Act of 2E 321. This granted the Mages Guild a monopoly on magical goods and services in the Tamriel. For better or worse, the organisation was henceforth bound to the Empire.

## **Organisation**

### **Guild Chapters**

The Mages Guild was fundamentally organised into chapters, which occupied a guildhall in almost every major town and city in the Third Empire. Guildhalls offered magical goods, services and training to the local population.

Every chapter was led by a Magister. Full members of each chapter (and thus the Mages Guild) held the rank of Mage, receiving a stipend for their services. To obtain this rank, an Apprentice was required to complete the guild's examinations. This generally required several years of study and training.

In larger guildhalls, a Magister was supported by a convoluted hierarchy of functionaries. These included a Master of Incunabula, a Master at Arms, a Master of Academia, a Master of the the Scrye, a Master of Initiates, and a Palatinus.

### **Guild Provinces**

Local chapters constituted a *guild province*, over which an archmagister (in their capacity as guildmaster) presided. The Mages Guild was divided into six provinces which were analogous to the imperial provinces of the Third Empire. Three of the guild provinces spanned two imperial provinces.

Whilst supreme authority was vested in the archmagisters, the day-to-day administration and supervision of the guild provinces was often delegated to a Vice-Guildmaster.

Representatives from the chapters of each province could be summoned to a *conclave* by the presiding guildmaster. These councils were both symposiums for scholars and a channel for the Supreme Council to promulgate new guild regulations.

### **Supreme Council**

The Supreme Council sat at the pinnacle of the Mages Guild. Consisting of six archmagisters, the *ex officio* guildmasters, this body deliberated and promulgated *guild law* – the regulations and strictures which all chapters were subject to. Though the Council rarely convened in person, magical projections permitted the archmagisters to commune with one another across Tamriel.

### **Order of the Lamp**

The Order of the Lamp was inaugurated shortly after the Mages Guild itself. Composed of battlemages and spellswords drawn from the ranks of the guild, the Order was charged with protecting the guildhalls and their members. As such, the guild was not dependent on local guards or mercenaries for protection. Each guildhall was protected by a chapter of the Order of the Lamp, led by a Palatinus.

The greater guildhalls were guarded by a larger number of battlemages. Lesser, and particularly rural, chapters were often protected by a Palatinus alone.

## **The Guild in 3E 300**

In 3E 300, over a thousand years had passed since the founding of the Mages Guild. With guildhalls in most cities and towns across the Empire, few would be surprised if the organisation endured for another millennium. Yet the Guild's years were number: in the following century it would be dissolved. The Mages Guild was a victim of its own success; too wealthy, too hierarchical, too political, and too distracted. Vanus Galerion, the founder of the Guild, recognised this perversion in its earliest years.

Too few were drawn to the Mages Guild to advance the study of magic or to benefit citizens of the Empire. To the mediocre, the Guild offered surety of lodgings and a salary. To the ambitious, ascending the convoluted hierarchy of the Guild conferred both status and wealth. The Mages Guild, offering magical goods and services at a cost, was fabulously rich. Many chapters were endowed with large properties and lands. Though devoted to the arcane, the Guild was tainted by the mundane.

Leadership of chapters was often in the gift of local rulers, and even the Supreme Council was susceptible to corruption and political pressure. Conversely, the Mages Guild itself wielded significant influence, frequently interfering in local, provincial and even imperial affairs. The support or opposition of the Guild was consequential.

Despite becoming *'nothing more than an intricate morass of political infighting'* by the Third Era, the Mages Guild was not without virtue. The organisation continued to produce exemplary sorcerers, with many advances in the study of magic occurring within the guildhalls. Many rulers appointed their court mages from the ranks of the Guild. The Guild's scholarly output remained impressive, its presses disseminating innumerable tomes, theses and disputations throughout Tamriel.