#12 – GUILD OF MAGES

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In this week’s blog, we take a closer look at what exactly is the Guild of Mages and why would any mage firstly want to join it – and secondly, want to run away from it.



Magic is a talent that you’re born with. You either have it – or you don’t. And if you have it, you can possess it in different qualities, as is the case with any other talent such as art or poetry. However, tears flow like a river on the day when any parent discovers that their child has magic talent, for this only means trouble and pain for their whole life.

All magic is the representation of Chaos. When casting a spell or performing a ritual, a mage opens the gates from the plane of the real world to the plane of Chaos, becoming a conductor between the two. This is not without danger. If mage has no education and does not know how to protect themselves, they can burn like a candle. Sometimes the charred bodies of such unfortunate mages are found and their deaths are attributed to accidents. And sometimes the bodies are unharmed, but their souls are gone, so that they continue their lives in a vegetative state until some merciful relative strangles them in their sleep.

Because of these stories, leaving a child with a known magic talent at home, denying them the chance of joining the Guild of Mages in order to learn how to secure themselves during their practice, would be a risky decision.

Illustration 1: When casting a spell or performing a ritual, a mage opens the gates from the plane of the real world to the plane of Chaos, becoming a conductor between the two.

But a bigger risk is actually having them burn at the hands of fellow villagers before they can even cause the same with their own actions: all across the Empire, and especially in the lower social classes, magic talent is seen as a sort of sickness, with mages being responsible for pretty much any unexplainable (or inconvenient) community problems.

This view has been actively promoted by the Inquisition: from the rare history books that present the Cataclysm as the direct consequence of uncontrollable greed of the ancient mages, to the much more common everyday stories, and even special festivals, that directly connect mages and misfortunes of the population.

The biggest such festival happens at the end of each year, when the local Guild of Mages sends to town an unlucky student who then portrays the role of the ancient mage who wants to destroy the world and enslave the villagers. The villagers then proceed to capture and (symbolically) burn such mage, to everyone’s cheer.

Needless to say, festivals like this leave both sides hateful of each other, and occasional lynching of a mage – or someone suspected to be a mage – are not that uncommon. Which is another reason why for a regular mage, being a part of the Guild of Mages sounds like a pretty reasonable life choice.




It seems that the magic talent does not care about the social standing or heritage of a particular person: magically talented kids are born into every kind of family, in every region of the Empire. As everyone knows, mages are sterile (even though this does not affect their libido). For this reason, there are no known “dynasties” of mages, and even in the ancient days, there have been only “schools” made of followers – but never of direct descendants.

Illustration 2: Magic talent is not limited to any social or ethnic group.

The Guild of Mages is directly controlled by the Inquisition. Any person known to possess magic talent has the implied duty to report to the nearest office of the Guild (in the case of minors, the obligation rests with their parents). Failure to submit yourself is considered to be a pretty big problem, and may lead to being branded with hot iron.

Upon acceptance, every recognized mage of the Guild is assigned a bed, a meal plan, and a program of study, reporting to the head of local office that is also responsible for work assignments. Mages are strongly advised to remain within the walls of their local Guild quarters. In rare cases when they do need to venture outside, they must wear a big distinctively colorful pointy hat with a bell. Any mage found outside of the Guild quarters without such hat, is to be branded with hot iron on their forehead.

No spells or rituals can be cast without prior authorization. Generally, Guild of Mages is involved in practicing common magic such as keeping the pests away from the farm fields; summoning rains during the dry season; constructing stone ridges, burrowing tunnels and digging wells. Occasionally, a few mages might be assigned with the Imperial Army, where they work on healing and supporting the sick while on the march.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the main client of the Guild of Mages is the Empire. The money is collected directly to the head office of the Guild while the mages are expected to perform their work – or their duty, to use another term – without expecting anything in return. Rumor has it that closer to the Borderlands, lords hire local Guilds without as much as notifying the head office, and settling the payment directly, which turns out to be significantly cheaper than the standard rates – but who knows, if this is true?




While various dwellers that populate the Wild Lands do possess certain magic, they are not considered to be “mages” since their skill is born with, and not developed based on some raw talent.

As to mutants, they are significantly closer to humans, and you can indeed meet their own mages. Living outside of the reach of the Inquisition, mutant mages both benefit and suffer from this at the same time: there are more accidental deaths, and the learning progress is generally much slower. On the other hand, since mutant mages are able to collect the payments for their services directly, the few known mutant mages are all really well-off.

Illustration 3: Two (of the many) colour concepts of drowners, created to hunt, fish and harvest the swamps.

There is no easy answer to this, so let’s start with what everyone knows – and everyone knows that all the great ancient mages of the past who started the war that lead to the Cataclysm and the creation of the Distorted Lands, have been smashed by their own magic. If there were any survivors, then we don’t know how and where they manage to get by.

A popular theory says that if any of the greats survived, they would have already enslaved the Empire with their all-powerful magic, and since the Empire remains the ultimate ruler of the civilized lands, this proves that no great mages survived in the first place.

Sometimes (after a drink or two) people in the southern ports discuss the lands that lie beyond the ocean: what kind of people live there, and if there are people, then do they also have their own Empire and the Inquisition, or their lands are governed in another way?

But while a great deal of legends does mention “the lands overseas”, nobody currently knows the way to such lands – or has the means to explore, which makes the whole discussion irrelevant (as is the case with most discussions after a drink or two).




There are three on-going concerns for the Inquisition that it tirelessly works on:

1. To locate the runaway mages, of which there are quite a few. It’s been observed that while newly joined mages seem to be agreeable with their quarters and life routine, after they turn 40 or 50 years old, a fraction of them becomes relentless, often to the point of going rogue. What begins with practicing disallowed spells, may end with a whole group of mages disappearing into the night. The current punishment for running away: a public burning of everyone who ran, or helped others to run.

2. To identify and expose the undercover mages, which is a common thing out in the Borderlands. Undercover mages are mages kept by the local lords who, rather than being reported to the Guild, are hidden in their castles, and educated by unauthorized teachers. Having an undercover mage may save you a fortune since you won’t have to pay the Guild for any of the acts of common magic – whether it deals with crops or healing the important members of your family. The current punishment for keeping an undercover mage: a public burning for the mage and their teachers; a confiscation of all properties from the owner of such mage, except for life necessities; a loss of all Imperial titles and awards.

3. To discover and destroy the wild mages. Sometimes kids who possess a magic talent remain unreported for long enough that they have the opportunity to master their own skill. Maybe they are born too far away from any offices of the Guild, and the parents prefer to close their eyes on such a discovery – rather than spend a fortune transporting their own child to god knows where. Or maybe they are born to a family that out of personal experience despises both the Empire and the Inquisition, and does not want to see their kin submitted to one of their institutions. Such wild mages are a real danger since you never know what you can expect of them. The current punishment for harboring a wild mage: a public burning for the mage (which almost never happens as mages prefer to commit suicide rather than allow themselves to be captured for their public execution); a confiscation of all properties of the village or town or other settlement that did not report the mage to the authorities.

Illustration 4: Some of these creatures will become your friends, while others will cause considerable problems for your exploratory parties.

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