Alexandrian Society

**The Alexandrian Society** is a secret society of exceptionally talented medeians and academicians dedicated to studying the science of magic employing the use of the Library of Alexandria.

## Ranks

### Council

Also known as the Board of Governors, this is the highest position one can have within the Society, and it is entirely made up of initiates. Not much is known about the Council, as they are only mentioned a few times—only ever appearing once—and the times they *are* mentioned, it's just crumbs of information. Judging by the way Atlas speaks of them, they are very strict and quite secretive. However, this isn’t entirely true. They behave like a normal corporate board, having appeared bored when voting on a new Caretaker.

The Council is usually made up of 8–9 members.

### Caretakers

The second-highest rank one can hold within the Society is Caretaker. Caretakers are responsible for tending to the Library and keeping it hidden from the rest of the world—both the normal population and the magical one. They are not often chosen from inside the Society, therefore making Atlas Blakely a strange exception.

### Researchers

A researcher acts as an assistant to the Caretaker. Just as the name suggests, they do research. They usually compile research at the Caretaker’s behest, but they are free to do research for themselves as well. The researcher resides within the Alexandrian manor and acts as a sort of guide for each initiation class.

### General members

The majority of Alexandrians are general members. They are free to use to archives as they wish and attend events that the Society may hold.

### Initiates

This is the lowest rank one can hold in the Society. Initiates are barely even in yet, and must prove themselves before being accepted. When they *are* accepted, they are then considered full members.

## System

> There are nearly ten billion people in the world at present, correct? Nine and a half billion, to be more specific, of which only a portion are magical. Five million, give or take, who can be classified as witches. Of those, only six percent are identified as medeian-caliber magicians. Of those, only a fraction—one percent or less—are considered by our selection committee; the vast majority will be cut without a second glance. That leaves three hundred people. Of those, another ten percent might have the requisite qualifications; specialties, academic performance, personality traits, et cetera.
> “Then comes the fun part, of course—the real selectivity. Which students have the rarest magic? The most inquisitive minds? […] Only thirty people in total are good enough to be considered extraordinary, and of those, only six are rare enough to be invited through the door. By the end of the year, of course, only five will walk back out of it.
>
> Atlas Blakely explaining the Society selection system to Libby Rhodes & Nico de Varona, The Atlas Six

Every ten years, the Society reaches out to six talented medeians with rare powers. Since there are many different rare magical abilities in the world, the Society has a complicated calculation that narrows down the number significantly (although, according to Atlas, what the Society really does is track the magic output of every single medeian in the world). Even while narrowed down, they must narrow it further and then hand pick the finalists. After that, all the finalists compete together under the same roof for a year, showing how they can contribute to the Society. They all get equal access to the Library, equal access to the Society’s local resources, equal access to everything. They receive lessons together and get to go home for a single weekend for the winter holiday, which approximately marks the halfway point of their stay. At the end of their initial year, they must choose one candidate to eliminate. This is usually the least liked of the group and must be carried out by the person closest to that candidate as it will corrupt the binding spell if it is done by someone who dislikes or even hates the initiate.

When the first year is over, they stay for an additional year to study a magical area of their choice before they are officially let in. During this second year, they are granted more access to the archives.

## Enemies

The Society, of course, has many enemies. The most prominent one being the Forum, a not-so-secret society that believes the Alexandrians are “hoarding knowledge.” They believe knowledge should be carefully stored but otherwise not kept away from others. They wish to take down the Alexandrians and take control of the Library of Alexandria.

## Known members

Atlas Blakely † (previous Caretaker)

Ivy Breton †

Tristan Caine (former researcher)

Gideon Drake (archivist, formerly)

Dalton Ellery † (former researcher)

Ezra Fowler † (initiate, formerly)

William Astor Huntington † (previous Caretaker)

Folade Ilori †

Parisa Kamali

Alexis Lai †

Neel Mishra †

Nothazai (Caretaker)

Reina Mori

Callum Nova †

Libby Rhodes (current researcher, possibly)

Aiya Sato

Nico de Varona †