The Grimoires

"Don't worry, your being will belong to me soon enough, I assure you it will be safe in my collection."

• A grimoire mage stands over another, eager to add his grimoire's power to the collection.

The Grimoire's are an OLD group.
Some say they are a secret brotherhood, who play violent and deadly cultish games with one another... leaving nothing but destruction in their wake.
Others say they are simply rogue wizards that are carried by a bloodlust and greed for arcane power offered by the dark forces that pervade the grimoires they carry.
The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle. Not even the oldest Grimoire mage was alive when the books first came into existence but they have always been fought over. Some grimoires will work together and become allies for a while as they teach eachother but, ultimately, a wizard is ruled by greed for knowledge and lust for power and so alliances always end with blood.
Grimoire mages are known for their strange spellbooks, black times with gold filigree running down their spines. Each book has the same front cover, a shattered hand-mirror with a single glowing staring through the centre of the shards. As a grimoire mage accrues power, more and more of the shards glow.
The amount of grimoires in existence is unknown but they almost seem infinite and always find their way to a wizard that is willing to take power with violent relish. And the grimoires always disappear from those that leave that life behind.
Grimoire wizards are generally some of the most powerful spellcasters in Alturis, collecting knowledge and power with reckless abandon. Often they are compared to drug addicts, thirsting for more and more power and more grimoires to absorb from. This has led many to theorise that grimoire's are a gift/curse from 'The Hunt'.
The grimoire's themselves, are enabling at the best of times, tapping into the darkest desires and needs of their mage and manifesting powers there. Though, once a grimoire has manifested, your soul belongs to it. This is why grimoire mages fear others so much. Be defeated by another grimoire mage and you don't just lose your life, your soul (and every soul within the grimoire) is absorbed and taken by another to be stretched and used for power.
A grimoire wizard can be identified by a lust for power, an unwise boldness when faced with new dark knowledge and, of course, by the strange crest of the Grimoire's themselves, the hand mirror with an eye staring through the cracks.
NOTABLE GRIMOIRE MAGES:

• Erolith (retired Grimoire mage)
• Therianar Leoris (father of Fen, killed by Rowen Ashe during the Dread King's reign)
• Rowen Ashe (The Judge for the Dread King)
• Nyrillar Blank (summoned the dread king with the view of making a deal for power... however, he was not seen re-emerging after the summoning)
• Fenbalar Leoris

Culture

A Grimoire mage sees themselves as the apex predator or top of the magic food chain... often they have suffered greatly to gain a powerful artefact like a grimoire and they will protect it with their lives.
As a grimoire mage accrues power the individual mirror shards on the book start to glow in the representative colour of the mage's magic.
They often avoid aist magic in order to stay under the radar of the elected crown but, even then, some grimoire mages can't avoid the lure of the forbidden secrets of dunamancy, enchantment and necromancy

History

The Grimoire's as an organisation have always carried bloodshed where they go and always chase the conflicts where they can find other grimoire mages.
They are responsible for reviving the dread king and often fill the highest positions in defence for Alturis.

Type

Secret, Brotherhood

Alternative Names

Murderers