The Mages' Guild

**The Mages' Guild**, or more commonly, "**The Guild**," is the national organization of mages that inhabit Phallica. With its multiple footholds in towns and cities across the country, the Guild provides training and governance for those born with magical potential. It serves the secondary purpose of acting as an academic authority, in which Guilds are often home to a great deal of scholarly research regarding Phallica and magic. The Guild consists of multiple houses in which new mages are placed, and the leaders of these houses elect an Archmage to act as the leader of the Guild. The two Guilds specifically dedicated to education of mages and the advancement of magic are the Mages' College of Miami and the Mages' College of Teabeyea, the latter of which acts the headquarters of the Mages' Guild and is the typical residing place of the Archmage.

The Mages' Guild was organized in the wake of rampant, untethered use of magic during the Great War to ensure that all mages understood the power of magic and to promote a greater, organized understanding of magic as a whole.

## History

The Mages' Guild had not always existed; what was once a collection of incompetent, disorganized idiots creating explosions and ruining the landscape turned into a collection incompetent, organzied idiots creating explosions and ruining the landscape.

#### Pre-Great War

Before the Great War, the mages' guilds were extremely privated and unorganized. Mages with a great deal of magical knowledge would open up a guild of their own, similar to a Phoctor creating their own practice. There, the founding mage would act as an instructor and scholar for magically capable Phallicans, sometimes for free; other times, for a price. Cooperation among these isolated mages' guilds was not uncommon, as many powerful mages often sought to exchange knowledge.

As magical knowledge became more organized, a new height of magical potential was discovered. Mages were previously limited to 6th level spells at best, but with more magical studies conducted and knowledge shared, spells up to the 8th level were discovered. The few who pushed the boundaries the furthest, the most powerful mages in Phallica at the time, were capable of casting 9th level spells.

Such power had a price, of course. With the upper limit on mage power having increased, a powerful sense of greed and envy began to grow among mages. Guilds with powerful knowledge and mages hoarded their research, consolidating power over their region and monopolizing their discoveries. Each guild in Phallica held a different set of knowledge, and guild leaders were extremely selective about who they imparted their knowledge upon. Small clashes began among different guilds, with members and leaders trying to steal the knowledge held by other guilds. Although the clashes generally involved calling each other names and pretending to cast magic spells far above their capability to scare their foes, the conflicts sometimes turned violent.

World leaders began to recognize the growing magical problem, and while some countries like the Badlands and the Blue Balls Sprawl banned the opening of mages' guilds, countries like Florida saw an opportunity. The Floridian King began to pay mages to join his armies, as well as paying the guild to deal with monsters or other problems around town. To further improve relationships with mages, he opened the Mages' College of Miami, a state-funded mages' guild designed to encourage magical cooperation and research. The College especially targeted child and teenage mages to foster their skills from a young age. Although his intent seemed benevolent, the King's real intent was to recruit more mages into the Floridian army to boost its power as a whole.

Although many mages were weary to join at first, the Mages' College of Miami soon exploded in popularity, attracting many powerful mages with the prospect of government-funded magical research and a place for magical exploration. Thousands began to study or work at the College within a decade, with mages traveling from across Phallica to attend. It was here that much of the modern understanding of magic was created, as well as much of the research into alcohol and drug tolerance from infamous mages' parties.

#### Great War

While the true power and nature of the mages was long debated, the Great War showed the real dangers of magic. Both sides of the conflict sought to bolster their armies, and with the success and exploits of the Mages' College of Miami in mind, mages seemed like a prime target for recruitment. Using magic for open combat was often limited to adventuring parties or duels, and mages never had a place in organized conflict before, but that was about to change.

Both sides of the armor turned to the mages for support. Even the Orcs, who once banned magic in their lands, understood the raw destructive capabilities of mages. Mages were often given large sums of money in exchange for their service as mercenaries during the Great War. Some even joined willingly, viewing the war as a sadistic "test" of their research. Others joined mistakenly, thinking that the Great War was simply a multi-national party and the mages were cool enough to be invited. Entire guilds swore allegiance to either side, and soon enough, the battlefield saw the introduction of mages.

Battle strategy and conflicts changed entirely with the introduction of large-scale destructive magic. Tactics were completely shifted to accommodate mages, as their ranged and close ranged capabilities could shift battles in moments. Mages became more valuable targets than commanders on the battlefield, and powerful wizards and sorcerers had entire battalions dedicated to supporting them. Battles involving the strongest mages left massive scars on the land; craters, trenches, desecrated land, and hundreds, sometimes thousands of corpses -- all signs of a battle with mages.

Either side of the Great War began to realize a growing problem with the many mages among their ranks. Besides rampant egoism, self-centered behavior, and a general commitment to being dicks, the mages showed signs of carelessness and sadism. A growing resentment for mages among the armies was reaching a tipping point, largely due to many cases of negligent friendly fire in the middle of battles and non-consensual magical experiments on soldiers in the middle of the night.

Naturally, the combat mages tended to be fickle and greedy. Armies would spend great deals of money ensuring that a particular mage would stay loyal to their army and cause, but it was not unusual for mages to switch to the side with the greater paycheck as the war progressed. Some were motivated by the sheer enjoyment of battle and changed sides at a whim, regardless of previous alignment. These mages were very quickly untrusted, and neither side would willingly accept a mercenary would turn on them the next day, or even in the midst of a battle.

Besides the problems created by mages in the armies, their guilds in their respective hometowns also saw trouble. Because members of guilds (on some occasions, entire guilds) would pledge their allegiance to either side of the war, violent, inter-guild fighting began to break out, even in countries like Florida which remained neutral during the conflict. The Mages' College of Miami suffered similar problems, with operations coming to a full halt as many mages left to participate in the war or refused to cooperate with each other.

#### The Red Witch

With the addition of combat mages to the battlefield, many mages began to make a name for themselves, not as famed researchers, but rather, as feared combatants. Mages with particularly destructive magical talents were greatly valued on the frontlines of the battlefield, as a single spell could instantly kill dozens of untrained or unprotected soldiers. The names of mages who were especially deadly were worshiped like revered generals by allied soldiers and feared as monsters by enemy soldiers.

About halfway through the Great War, an especially powerful mage made her first appearance on the battlefields and ultimately led to the unification of the mages: The Red Witch of the Battlefield. While the Gnomes and Dwarves were suffering an initial push back from the sweeping naval invasion of the Orcs, Gnomish General Minks Tinkletummy was approached by a woman in a plain grey robe with a Dire Wolf mask concealing her face. She gave no name, but she offered to act as magical support for the Gnomes in upcoming battles. After demonstrating her magical capabilities, the desperate General Tinkletummy accepted her offer but was surprised to learn she asked for no compensation. She insisted she simply enjoyed the thrill of battle and supported the Gnomish cause.

The Red Witch saw many battles after, and it became clear that her combat capabilities were beyond other mages seen in the Great War. She turned the tide of dozens of Gnome battles, tearing through Orc companies with ease and halting the Orcish advance in the northeastern front. Despite her value to the Gnomes, both Gnome and Orc alike grew weary of her. Though she was quiet and civil outside of combat, her ferocity and precision on the battlefield caused her fellow combatants to believe she was a magical time bomb, waiting to turn against the Gnomes on a whim. Despite the troops misgivings, General Tinkletummy continued to allow her participation, believing her abilities could stall or even turn the tide of the Great War.

* Was created towards the end of the great war after the collapse of the mage guilds of the time
* Was seen as the rightful mage government after the defeat of the red witch
* The guild has had three major crises in its history only one being of common knowledge the rise of Lord Boner

## Unification Wars

* Months after the battle with the Red witch the founders were recognized as the legitimate guild
* While Robert, J.K., and Zinnia began to build up the new guild
* Darius was left to deal with the remaining rogue mages from the old guilds
* The rogue mages often were executed by Darius and his army of Warforged and the newly formed House of Zorofian
* This unfortunately gave the house of Zorofian reputation of being hunters and the guilds personal executioners to hunt down rogue mages(They do actually do this btw)

## The Mage Houses and their founders

### **Ultramar**

* Founded by Robert Ultramar
* the largest of the five houses
* the most boring of the houses due the the size
* their only notable feature is their great administrative skills
* All Archmages have been from this house

### Potter

* Founded by J.K. Potter
* the second largest house
* is separated into four smaller houses (Gryffindog, Badger, Sneke, and Revan)
* Are know for their "larger" bodies
* Lack combat magic in favor of utility spells
* wear stupid brightly colored robes and pointed hats

### Malifaux

* Founded by Zinnia "the bleeding dark heart" Malifaux
* Third largest house
* “Life is but a dream for the dead.”
* Known for wearing black and having a piercings
* Focus on the more macabre aspects of life and magic
* are the guild official researchers

### JIMMY!!!!!

* JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!JIMMY!!!!!
* JIMMY DO A BOOM BOOM!!!!!!!!!

### Zorofian

* Founded by Darius Zorofian
* the smallest of all the houses
* All members of the house are Asspull users of varying skill
* Known for their blend of traditional combat with magic
* The most distant of the 5 houses
* Work as the guild solution to more delicate combat situations

### The founders status

* Robert Ultramar: Missing
* J.K. Potter: Dead
* Zinnia "the bleeding dark heart" Malifaux: Missing presumed dead by wrist cutting or some over dramatic death
* JIMMY!!!!!: JIMMY!!!!! GO BYE BYE
* Darius Zorofian: Missing