The Ascendant

The Ascendant are a collection of Archmagi from the Tower of Apotheosis that lived during the Golden Age of Magic. Despite Archmagi being very rare, with long periods without a single mage making that rank, The Ascendant all reached that title during the same period of time. For the Tower, they represented hope for the ultimate goal - ascendance to capabilities of deification.

The Ascendant are not known about publically, save for by a few key individuals, including the protagonists. The information here represents that which the protagonists know so far.

### Imprisonment

Despite how the Tower had felt about Ascendant, something caused fear about them to stir in the ranks. A decision was formed that the Ascendant had collectively grown too powerful. They became weapons, capable each of making massive destructive changes on the world. One could only imagine what they would do if they all worked together. That said, it was also felt that the knowledge may be critical in the future, and simply eliminating or disabling the Ascendant would be foolish. The compromise therefore was to "store" the minds of the Ascendant in prisons, leaving them to slumber undisturbed until they are needed. It was suggested that there was a vote, implying some but not all of the ascendant agreed with the decision.

The imprisonment involves a separate cell for each of the Ascendant. To stop the Ascendant from just returning to their work when released, a contract was created that binds their spirit to the one that releases them. Then to protect from the power being abused, the spirits were locked away in numerous ways. The first requires a specific key for each spirit, which was hidden. The second requires a password to unlock the key's true form, which was hidden. And finally, the prison itself is hidden. Thus to unlock any spirit requires collecting and matching all three for a given spirit.

The information was scattered, some left only as hints and other given to world leaders. It was believed that should a global conflict occur that requires the advisement of an Ascendant, the leaders would have enough information to gather the remaining clues and gain the needed knowledge.

### Members of the Ascendant

Following are the members of the Ascendant known of by the Protagonists. There may be more that they have not yet learned about.

#### Wrynn Flowerborn

```
 **Female Half-Elf.**
Expertise: Magical metatheory, counterspells, spell manipulation
Main research: Advanced counterspells, antimagic field, modifying spells in flight
Current Status: Bonded to the Chosen of Astor and head Archmage of the Tower.

```

#### Albert Donnlesbue

```
 **Male Human.**
Expertise: Universal theory of magic and physics. Big picture magical understanding.
Main research: Kept a mystery
Current Status: Bonded to Murag, of the Dragon Wings before being split in twain. Half of him allied with Chosen of Astor

```

#### Smitty Tanhassle

```
 **Male Gnome.**
Expertise: Cleric. Divine and arcane intertheory.
Main research: Arcane healing, regrowth, resurrection
Current Status: Combined in horrific amalgamation with Ronya and defeated by Chosen in the Tower.

```

#### Rockbottom Treeforge

```
 **Female Dwarf.**
Expertise: Druid. Nature, weather, elements.
Main research: Nature and element bending
Current Status: Unknown; unmet by the Chosen of Astor

```

#### Thain

```
 **Unknown**, modified by its own magic.
Expertise: Biological manipulation.
Main Research: Physical alteration, enhancement, decomposition
Current Status: Allied with the Chosen of Astor, bonded with Sajaina's father

```

#### Ronya Creek

```
 **Female halfling.**
Expertise: Alchemy, transmutation, construction. (Also, economic brilliance)
Main Research: Unknown
Current Status: Combined in horrific amalgamation with Smitty and defeated by Chosen in the Tower.

```

#### Kar'hanza Orn

```
 **Female Goblin**.
Expertise: Chaos theory.
Main Research: Reality shift.
Current Status: Allied with Chosen of Astor

```

#### Dr. Finean McLauren

```
 **Male elf**.
Expertise: Mental magic.
Main Research: Mind control, reading, rewriting, prediction. Created the "Thrall"  effect
Current Status: Released by Vaera, Lord: the Earl of Linn, then set free when the Protagonists killed Veara. Forced into a Limbo realm of the dead before reappearing at the Tower of Apotheosis to steal the key.

```