Awakened Council

**The Awakened Council** is a secret society of Awakened people consisting of 4 major races: Humans, Beasts, Undead, and Plants, with a Guardian overseer. Each continent has one Awakened Council. It is most commonly referred to as 'The Council' but the different races have names for it. Humans call it the "The Guiding Hand," the undead "The Darkwatch," plantfolk "The Root," beasts "The Council," and the Guardians "Another Damn Chore." The Council existed before the Three Great Countries were founded. Each race has its own Council branch, though almost all matters pertaining to Awakened ones are run through the general Awakened Council, while individual Councils deal with matters regarding territory. Each territory has a human, beast and plant Regional Lord that enforces the laws of the Council.

The Council doesn't guard the lives of its members, but treasures the secret of Awakening fiercely, silencing many mages throughout history that had attempted to reveal magic's true potential. Awakened ones are a race of their own and are merciless, some of its members almost as ancient as the Garlen continent. Awakened are held responsible for those they Awaken for 100 years, though this unofficial binding is reserved for those who need external help to become a true mage.

Personal opinions and ideals have no place in the Awakened society. They are all too powerful and long-lived to let things like prejudice drive them on crusades to force their way of living onto others. They firmly believe that power without wisdom is just violence while wisdom without power is just hot air. Both of them reach their true potential in the practice of magic on the battlefield. Idiots who rely on raw power are doomed to fall for the simplest tricks and die, whereas sages with weak bodies perish the moment something messes up with their plans.

Awakened are tightly bound to their race of origin. Humans live among their kin and task their descendants with taking care of business, whereas beasts mostly work as mercenaries and hate being forced to hide their nature.

An Awakened mage is considered responsible for all of their disciples, so they never bestow their gifts upon someone for nothing. Awakening is a rare phenomenon, and not all of those who manage to do it on their own live long enough to become hard to kill. There are those who die of starvation, in battle, or simply due to their own stupidity. So, when an Awakened mage needs an heir, they pick up one or more talented youths as their apprentices. The one who succeeded would inherit their legacy, while the others have to find a new master or die.

Spirit Mastery isn't taught even to legacy heirs as it is deemed too powerful for someone so young and only imparted before the master's death.

## History

### Founding

The Council was created as a place to exchange knowledge, seek for heirs for an Awakened's legacy, and to protect themselves from being exploited by the other races. Only over time, it became the self-governing unit tasked with enforcing their laws. Due to difficulty in maintaining stable rule, Awakened never developed a country or appointed a ruler - an Awakened King would be nothing but a target. This makes it infeasible for all but Guardians to do such a thing. Powerful beasts with Guardian blood such as Phoenixes and Dragons don't even bother joining the Council whereas their lesser cousins seek it only for the secret of Awakening.

The Council's first attempt of increasing the numbers of Awakened to keep up the pace with fake magic's development brought disastrous results. Madmen, degenerates, or even worse, foolish goody-two-shoes idealists that wanted to save Mogar from itself had infiltrated their ranks, forcing the Council to purge the rotten apples before they could plant their seeds and spread like a disease. Having more than one heir had also proved to be nigh impossible; every mage lived believing to be the best, and sharing wasn't their strong suit. Usually having more than one heir devolved in them plotting against each other or trying to persuade their master to get rid of the competition. Since raising their numbers had turned out to be too difficult, the human Council decided to increase the quality of the heir candidates.

In the earlier days, apprentices were treated as disposable tools for their masters. The Council changed its policy only after the second Young Blood Revolution.

In the recent millennium, the Council has begun earnestly seeking out geniuses because fake mages have been brought up to a level dangerously similar to that of true mages. Silverwing's legacy had enabled the magical community to create beings such as Manohar, whose Light Mastery awed even Council Elders.

Before Silverwing's legacy, one had to Awaken someone of their bloodline, hoping they wouldn't get drunk with power and try to kill them the moment they became powerful enough or age made them weak. Now, instead, Awakened can pick their heirs even among fake mages after judging what they do with their talents. Emperor Beasts and Fae who fail to be Awakened from their parents and to inherit their legacies disguise themselves as humans to enroll in the six Great Academies in the Griffon Kingdom. It's the only way they have to learn powerful magic. On top of that, Awakened have learned a lot from fake mages, pushing them to improve instead of becoming complacent.

Awakened only care for crimes committed by other Awakened, which is why the Council did nothing against the slave collars in the Empire or against Hatorne. They were fake mages, hence none of the Council's business.

### Present

Recently, Abominations have been allowed audience with the Garlen Continent Council and are under consideration for membership, represented by Xenagrosh. Both the human and beast factions invite the Master's Organization into their fold out of desperation to increase the ever-decreasing gap between fake and true mages due to the latter possessing a Ruler of the Flames in Bytra. Additionally, with Dawn's return, the Council could use the monster-Abomination hybrids to force the Three Horsemen on the defense. When the Abomination hybrids prove capable of taking Baba Yaga head-on, the elders of the Council become torn between fear and hope - fear that by trading knowledge and resources with the Awakened, the Abominations would become unstoppable; hope that between Bytra's crafts and the might of the hybrids, fake mages could no longer threaten the Awakened's supremacy.

After the Jiera undead invasion of Garlen and Night's attack on Village of Lutia, the Awakened Council declares war on the Undead Courts. It assigns people like Kalla to teach people about the undead, their common enemy.

Following the atrocities committed by Xedros the Wyvern in his goal to become a Dragon, several Council members such as Feela the Behemoth push for changes to prevent them from happening again. With the Forgemastering wands provided by Faluel the Hydra, masters become able to teach Spirit Magic to their assistants without Awakening them, giving them the possibility to reject an apprentice candidate without having to kill them in the case they don't meet expectations. With their lives no longer on the line, the youths have no need to turn to radical measures to keep their seat.

Parmegianno Haug's legacy is spread to the Awakened community, giving newly Awakened so many things to learn that it will take them decades to master everything. leading future heirs to not rush to inherit from their masters while those not chosen don't go back home empty ended. Though Haug's legacy is deemed too dangerous to be spread freely, it still becomes available to anyone who gets themselves a master or simply gains the Council's recognition. Even rogue Awakened can access it as long as they abide by the Council rules and accept to be subjected to regular inspections.

### War of the Griffons

With the return of Thrud Griffon and the amassing of her Awakened army from disgruntled Council apprentices, the Council organizes the Urgamakka trial to test whose apprentices would be a good soldier, a good leader, or a liability in the inevitable conflict with the Mad Queen. The disappointing test results and significant death toll from Vareen's attack lead the representatives to move forward with Faluel the Hydra's proposal for an Awakened academy, appointing the best mentors as teachers.

## Roles

There are four roles available for Awakened recognized by the Council: **Apprentice**, **Vagrant Awakened**, **Regional Lord**, and **Elder**.

Mana geysers are the reason why the Council awards its most outstanding members with a territory. Other creatures can only find them by chance, whereas Awakened can see them. They are great places to build a lab or home, providing an endless supply of world energy for arrays. On top of that, mana geysers can be used to identify the location of both crystal mines and enchanted metal veins. Over time, a powerful stream of world energy can turn any lesser metal into silver, silver into Orichalcum, Orichalcum into Adamant, and even Adamant into Davross.

By mining the area around a mana geyser, Awakened can check the presence of magical resources and take them away before anyone else notices. The Council scouts each area before assigning them and divides the mining operations between the Lords of each region. After the Council takes its share, the rest is equally divided among the Lords who can choose to hoard the resources for themselves or sell them to fund their research. If the Council locates a potential crystal mine or Adamant vein, if not both, then no one builds anything over the geyser. Mining operations require countless people working together and no one likes to have strangers coming and going from their house at all hours. On top of that, it would force the Lord of the region to give the passwords for their arrays to all those involved, putting their treasures at risk.

### Apprentice

Individuals Awakened by or tutored by senior members. Apprentices have personal rights but no voice in Council matters and are considered extensions of their masters.

### Vagrant Awakened

Apprentices released by their masters and considered independent beings with no territory of their own. They are able to express their opinions only on the matters of their own race's Council.

### Regional Lord

**Regional Lords** are considered true members of the community and are asked to vote in all important decisions involving Awakened regardless of race. Lords don't collect taxes, help with land development, or manage crimes. Their sole job is to enforce the laws of the Council, protecting their territory from trespassers and ensuring Awakened ones don't practice Forbidden Magic or expose the secrets of true magic. When they are assigned a mission by elders, they can request rewards in case of success. They also have the support of the Council to set up a new house and labs.

Awakened Lords are also responsible for keeping an eye on mana geysers not only for resources, but also to keep the monster population in check.

### Elder

**Elders** are Awakened who not only have territory but are also considered leading figures in the field of magic. Young/rogue Awakened ones clamor to become their apprentices, and elders typically choose an heir from among their apprentices to inherit their magical legacy. The two requirements for becoming an elder are having a violet core and making a major breakthrough in any magical discipline.

All elders of the Council share part of the legacy of the fifth Ruler of the Flames Tavar Sinak, that being a way to simplify the crafting method for power cores.

## Laws and Customs

In the Awakened community, using a mind link in public is considered as one of the rudest and most disrespectful acts towards one's peers. Doing so is the same as telling others that you don't trust them or that you're talking behind their backs.

### Apprenticeship

Council law allows passing a disciple to another master, but only if all parties agree. Giving high quality equipment to apprentices is a sign of wealth and authority.

### Spirit Duel

**Spirit Duels** are used to resolve any disputes among the Council's members that don't require someone to die. When there are fewer free turfs available than applicants, they get assigned to the winner of a Spirit Duel.

No equipment is allowed, otherwise those that inherited a powerful magical legacy or who practice Forgemastering would have an unfair advantage. No spells are allowed either, except for those born out of or infused with Spirit Magic, hence the name of the ritual, ensuring that the fight won't last days due to Spirit Magic's cost. Fusion magic and bloodline abilities such as Origin Flames are allowed as they are considered part of the body. Before the start of the duel, both mages have one minute to prepare any spells. The start signal activates a golden translucent dome that encloses the arena, warping both fighters to opposite sides of the battlefield. The dome's ceiling is over one hundred meters (330 feet) high, to allow the fighters to fly freely and guarantee them the same maneuverability of an open space.

### Trial

The Awakened Council's trial, much like any other trial, is used to determine the next course of action regarding a certain individual or group. The person in question is required to wear a pair of handcuffs enchanted with Odi magic that locks onto the person's life force's signature and prevents them from channeling any form of magic, breathing techniques included. The person is provided with a defense council and is questioned by the representatives of each of the four races. The trial is concluded by a majority vote of the representatives.

### Formal Events

During any formal event the Council places high importance on the pecking order; one's apprentice must stand behind their master, determining who can speak with whom.

### Urgamakka Trial

*See also: Urgamakka Replica*

An artificial reconstruction of the ancient city of Urgamakka at the borders between the Griffon Kingdom and the Blood Desert, organized by the Council to evaluate their apprentices and see how they behave in front of different kinds of temptations like knowledge, artifacts, and magical resources. The test functions to check which disciples are worthy of being freed from the shackles of their apprenticeship before the 100 years term.

Each elder of the Council sends their best disciple to take part in the exploration. Filled with manually placed ancient artifacts, resources, and knowledge, the Council sets a finders keepers policy for the exploration team. The test is purposed after Thrud gains a great many bloodline legacies and hundreds of former Council disciples, to test the Council apprentices' skills, judgment, and trustworthiness, as well as teach them to work together. It is also to give those who never get out of their labs some real field experience. The members of the expedition are allowed to take for themselves the materials they find, but they have to share the knowledge that they acquire from their findings with their mentors.

Those who refuse to collaborate have their scores marked down, while those who actively promote teamwork are promoted with the expectation to become leaders in the Awakened army. The artifacts disseminated throughout the city are actually the key to one of the shared secrets of the past Rulers of the Flames, and they contain hints to learn such techniques. Only if a disciple brings them to their master is the elder allowed to pass such techniques to their apprentice. If the youths keep the relics for themselves and violate the rules, instead, they are marked as failures and have a much harder time working out the technique on their own.

The test is meant to help the youth fraternize with their fellow Awakened, but it is also a competition between their respective masters. It serves as a rite of passage, allowing masters to release their apprentices as full fledged members of the Council.

The city buildings are covered with Gargoyles capable of being activated at once and their power output adjusted. Envoys are sent disguised as apprentices to sow discord or help the exploration team according to the circumstances. It is their duty to make sure that everything goes smoothly and to alert the Council representatives in the case anything that threatens the safety of the apprentices happens. Their presence ensures that the test would be a real challenge. Not too easy but not even so hard that someone had to die of friendly fire.

The surveillance system allows the Council to rewatch events, but it is impossible for them to use their mystical senses on a recording. The ancient Awakened need to spectate an event live and open small dimensional passages to be capable of studying phenomena with Life Vision.

The final trial is designed to test if the apprentices learned anything from facing the Gargoyles, to prove if they can fight like an army. If they fail again, the Council would be forced to train them properly by preparing Awakened boot camps. The Council invites 9 Hordes to serve as the final opponent under the pretext of helping with the test and creating an opportunity for the Hordes to spar with their fellow Awakened, though their real goal is to exploit the test to thoroughly study such a unique race.

### Battle Formations

The most effective battle formation for Awakened units consist of the **Spear**, the **Shield**, and the **Highmaster**, and the **Tower**. The Spear leads the troops by example, the Shield coordinates in protecting the Wardens, and the Highmaster alone lays waste on the battlefield with arrays. The Spear charges directly against the enemy, the Shield protects the main attackers, the Highmaster deals the damage from a distance, and the Tower supports everyone else. The most important role is that of the Highmaster since arrays deal most of the damage in a fight, but without the others, they would never have the time to cast their spells that require lengthy casting. The Spear pierces through the enemy ranks aiming at their Highmasters, the Shield blocks everything that survives the Spear, while the Tower changes their role according to the circumstances.

## Awakened Academy

Faluel the Hydra established the first **Awakened Academy** whose students consist of Protector, Lith Verhen, Solus, Phloria Ernas, Friya Ernas, and Quylla Ernas.

### Curriculum

The Hydra's teaching method doesn't rely on detailed instructions - she gives the basics for each discipline and then it's up to the students to develop it on their own. Only when they feel like they're at their wits' end and can't progress anymore can they come to her to ask for another lesson. That means that each student will progress at their own pace and receive individual lessons. Her favorite teaching method consists of throwing her students in deep waters until they learn how to doggy paddle rather than spoon-feed them knowledge.

The only exceptions to the rule are Shapeshifting, which can only be practiced with Faluel because no supervision can easily spell death, and Forgemastering as those kinds of runes aren't something students can learn on their own, they can only be passed on. The curriculum also involves the basic Awakened Forgemastering methods, from which students are expected to develop their own or to incorporate them to those they already possess. Additionally, all those that require physical training are required to come at least three times a week.

* **Training Golems**: after learning the basics, students are pitted against golems with Faluel's appearance that teach them how to fight Awakened with their same core level and their skills.
* Domination (reserved for those that possess innate elemental affinities such as Tyrants): taught starting from chore magic up to Tier 3, before moving onto Tiers 4 and 5. Students must learn to feel the flow of elemental energy and counter the sudden surges of mana used by the instructor to poke at them. The use of any kind of mystical sense will make the exercise useless and be marked as failure, same if the student uses too much mana and destroys the instructor's spell. The exercise can be considered completed only when the student manages to counter the spell without disrupting it ten times out of ten.
* Spirit Mastery: teaches the basics of Spirit Mastery until the student becomes a Spirit Mage. The manifesting all six elements at the same time marks the end of the subject.
	+ Beginner: the first step is to learn how to enhance a single element so that Spirit Magic is nothing but an absurdly mana expensive elemental spell.
	+ The second step is to learn how to enhance all of them but manifest just one at a time. The third step is to manifest two of them at a time, obtaining all kinds of tier four and five spells that can't be stopped by an array. It's only when a student manages to manifest three elements at the same time that they graduate from beginners and become real Spirit Mages.

### History

Faluel establishes the Academy in her lair located in the Distar Marquisate after proposing following the fake mages' example and open academies for Awakened. Her proposal gains traction after the results of the Urgamakka trial, with the Council considering appointing the best mentors as teachers and those who failed the Urgamakka trial as their students.

## Members

### Hand of Fate

The **Hand of Fate** corps are the enforcers of the Council.

**Members:**

* Gaaron Roghias

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 1133: A Change of Scenery (Part 1)
2. ↑ Chapter 202: Gods and Men
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 989: Miracles and Madness (Part 1)
4. ↑ Chapter 456: Dawn Court (Part 2)
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Chapter 752: Secrets of the Trade (Part 2)
6. ↑ Chapter 994: Dragon Bloodline (Part 2)
7. ↑ Chapter 995: Peerless Predator (Part 1)
8. ↑ Chapter 575: Desperate Moves (Part 1)
9. ↑ Chapter 772: Spirit Magic Spells (Part 2)
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chapter 1049: Gods and Guardians (Part 1)
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chapter 991: Questions and Answers (Part 1)
12. ↑ Chapter 753: Meeting (Part 1)
13. ↑ Chapter 1412: Golden Dragon (Part 2)
14. ↑ Chapter 1050: Gods and Guardians (Part 2)
15. ↑ Chapter 1371: Quality Over Quantity (Part 1)
16. ↑ Chapter 993: Dragon Bloodline (Part 1)
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Chapter 1128: Plots and Schemes (Part 2)
18. ↑ Chapter 1323: The Secrets of Undeath (Part 1)
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Chapter 1450: Too Much of a Good Thing (Part 2)
20. ↑ Chapter 1352: Unveiling the Truth (Part 2)
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 Chapter 759: Diamond in the Rough (Part 1)
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Chapter 1205: Loose Ends (Part 1)
23. ↑ Chapter 1551: Mutated Monsters (Part 1)
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Chapter 768: Opening Act (Part 2)
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Chapter 1504: Early Rankings (Part 2)
26. ↑ Chapter 1493: Masters and Apprentices (Part 1)
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Chapter 1351: Pecking Order (Part 1)
28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Chapter 416: Agenda (Part 2)
29. ↑ Chapter 1356: Parents and Gifts (Part 2)
30. ↑ Chapter 1516: Seeds of Knowledge (Part 2)
31. ↑ Chapter 1352: Unveiling the Truth (Part 2)
32. ↑ Chapter 1491: Changes and Moving (Part 1)
33. ↑ Chapter 1494: Masters and Apprentices (Part 2)
34. ↑ Chapter 1502: Divided They Fall (Part 2)
35. ↑ Chapter 1508: Odd Companions (Part 2)
36. ↑ Chapter 1531: Unveiling the Truth (Part 1)
37. ↑ Chapter 1498: Old but Gold (Part 2)
38. ↑ Chapter 1501: Divided They Fall (Part 1)
39. ↑ Chapter 1511: Unbalanced Power (Part 1)
40. ↑ Chapter 1519: United They Stand (Part 1)
41. ↑ Chapter 1521: Spreading the Plague (Part 1) - Aalejah's role as the Tower is not mentioned due to no one listening to her.
42. ↑ Chapter 1521: Spreading the Plague (Part 1)
43. ↑ Chapter 1548: Sinmara's Home (Part 2)
44. ↑ Chapter 1083: Royal Summon (Part 1)
45. ↑ Chapter 1332: Domination (Part 4)
46. ↑ Chapter 1084: Royal Summon (Part 2)
47. ↑ Chapter 1329: Domination (Part 1)
48. ↑ Chapter 1331: Domination (Part 3)
49. ↑ Chapter 1335: Artificial Mana Flow (Part 1)
50. ↑ Chapter 1352: Pecking Order (Part 2)
51. ↑ Chapter 1532: Unveiling the Truth (Part 2)
52. ↑ Chapter 405: Birds of Prey (Part 1)
53. ↑ Chapter 1498: Old but Gold (Part 2)