Azure Wizards
As inscrutable as they brutal, the Azure Wizards are an order of magic-users who use their powerful spells and the innate power of Soulveins to dominate most of the western half of the Vales, and are headquartered at the Obsalix in Deepvale. Similar to the Eight Mageriarchs of Calead, the Azure Wizards are controlled by the Nine Archmages, one to represent each of the eight schools of magic and one chosen by the others to be the head of them all, called the Archaeomancer. The current Archaeomancer is an ancient Human Necromancer named Ofestolus the Grey, who has ruled since the end of the Second Ruination by prolonging his life through sacrificial blood magic and use of the Soulvein sardonyx. It is rumored now that he has taken the final steps to become a true Lich and has not been seen in public since the end of the War of the Vales. The true power--or at least the face of it--is wielded by the ruthless, relatively young male Half-Elf named Lothlin Verna, an immensely powerful Archmage Evoker who despises anything Elven or Fey, constantly seeking their annihilation. The Nine, as they are known, have near absolute control over the citizens of Deepvale and great influence in the lives of the Vales allied to them, using their powerful and diverse magic to spy on, dominate, or coerce their subjects to do as they will. Deepvale society is highly regimented and hierarchical, with positions of power bestowed by magic ability and unquestioning loyalty to the Azure Wizards. While not officially a slave state, the hundreds of mages arrayed in tiers under the Nine have enchanted much of the populace using Soulvein emeralds to become almost mindless automatons, called Thralls, who work the fields of Deepvale or the Mines and go to war without question, their eyes glowing slightly green in a joyless existence. Flying over and keeping watch on the thousands of Thralls are the Dreaders, an elite force of magi who ride the many drakes hatched in the Pit.
It is rumored that the Azure Wizards were ultimately installed by the Devil Lords of Urda in the buildup to the Second Ruination, but the origins of the highly secretive cadre of mages are kept a mystery. It is known that they were officially founded in the 1880s by the Archmage Razo Savorin, a great transmuter who unlocked the power of the Soulvein sapphires from the Mines by using one of the Mage’s Scepters. Savorin, along with seven other Azure Wizards (some possessing the Mage’s Scepters), deposed the Eorl of Deepvale in 1915 and, not wanting to openly rule himself, installed a line of puppet monarchs who governed in name only as Savorin extended his Human life using dark and demonic transmutations. Some believe that he made a deal with Braxis Tarkerin, High Devillord of Urda, to give him power and unnaturally long life, allowing him to live until nearly 160 years old, up to the end of the Second Ruination. Whatever the stories, Deepvale sided with Urda when the Four Fiends erupted and the Second Ruination began, invading the rest of the Vales and conquering the Vale of Spires, sacking Trastrim in 1950 after the Desolation of the Rift.
Deepvale's dominion over the Spires was short lived, however, as the Voran Church made a vast power grab and conquered all the Vales in 1958. The greatly weakened Savorin was killed by his own apprentice at the behest of the Voran Septarch Theverud, and the Azure Wizards became an often unwilling tool of the Voran Empire for over two centuries, brutally maintaining order in the Vales with the Dreaders and controlling all of the Isthmi. Deepvale eventually joined their longtime enemies, the Vale of Spires, to defeat the Voran Empire at the Battle of Titanspine in the Vale of Bones in 2166.
A brief period of uneasy peace followed, but the Azure Wizards rose once again, having rediscovered or recaptured five of the eight Mage’s Scepters, and their greed was intensified by the suspicion that the remaining three Scepters were in the Spires. It was then that the Spires and Deepvale began to form factions, with the Kingdom of Kest siding with the Spirans and the Dominion of Ondeth supporting the Azure Wizards. Tensions escalated, punctuated by skirmishes and assassinations, until full-scale war broke out 2252, starting the five-year War of the Vales that devastated much of the population and countryside, each side vying for control of the Isthmi and the tunnels underneath the towering, impassable Valewalls, the only direct lifeline connecting the Vales. Battlevale, just to the west of the Spires and once a verdant and densely populated agrarian area, was the site of the major battles of the war and thus nearly decimated in the Azure Wizards’ scorched earth policy. After Altrivden's Armistice (named after the ruler of the small city-state of Rivden in Battlevale) in 2257, a fragile peace has been maintained, with both sides sequestering power and resources in what seems like an inevitable march towards war. The Azure Wizards, under Ofestolus and Lothlin Verna, are cautious but still believe the lost Scepters to be somewhere in the Spires, or at least in the neighboring lands under Spiran control. The last five years has seen a marked increase in military exercises, the hiring of mercenaries from the shattered Voran Empire, the Teeth and Urda, and the Dreaders shadow the Western Vales more and more each day.
History
Deepvale has a relatively short history as a magocracy, dating back to around 1900 AFR. Before that, the vale was one of the Kingdom of Eoland’s major mining areas, with Azyr the home of the most productive forges and refineries outside of Khad Korax. The Eolmen began utilizing the power of the raw, uncut Soulvein stones from the Mines around 1000 AFR, but their full potential was not unlocked until Teraias the Artificer, a native of the Deepvalen town of Iphia, discovered the method to magically cut the stones in 1750 so that they could be placed into artifacts. Along with many other magic items incorporating Soulvein stones, Teraias created the eight Mage’s Scepters, artifacts of great power that are tied to the origins of the Azure Wizards, before the Soul Weavers deemed his work too dangerous and imprisoned him until his death. The Azure Wizards, however, retained the powerful scepters and employed them to quickly rise to power as a clandestine rebellion against the Kingdom of Eoland in the 19th and 20th centuries.It is rumored that the Azure Wizards were ultimately installed by the Devil Lords of Urda in the buildup to the Second Ruination, but the origins of the highly secretive cadre of mages are kept a mystery. It is known that they were officially founded in the 1880s by the Archmage Razo Savorin, a great transmuter who unlocked the power of the Soulvein sapphires from the Mines by using one of the Mage’s Scepters. Savorin, along with seven other Azure Wizards (some possessing the Mage’s Scepters), deposed the Eorl of Deepvale in 1915 and, not wanting to openly rule himself, installed a line of puppet monarchs who governed in name only as Savorin extended his Human life using dark and demonic transmutations. Some believe that he made a deal with Braxis Tarkerin, High Devillord of Urda, to give him power and unnaturally long life, allowing him to live until nearly 160 years old, up to the end of the Second Ruination. Whatever the stories, Deepvale sided with Urda when the Four Fiends erupted and the Second Ruination began, invading the rest of the Vales and conquering the Vale of Spires, sacking Trastrim in 1950 after the Desolation of the Rift.
Deepvale's dominion over the Spires was short lived, however, as the Voran Church made a vast power grab and conquered all the Vales in 1958. The greatly weakened Savorin was killed by his own apprentice at the behest of the Voran Septarch Theverud, and the Azure Wizards became an often unwilling tool of the Voran Empire for over two centuries, brutally maintaining order in the Vales with the Dreaders and controlling all of the Isthmi. Deepvale eventually joined their longtime enemies, the Vale of Spires, to defeat the Voran Empire at the Battle of Titanspine in the Vale of Bones in 2166.
A brief period of uneasy peace followed, but the Azure Wizards rose once again, having rediscovered or recaptured five of the eight Mage’s Scepters, and their greed was intensified by the suspicion that the remaining three Scepters were in the Spires. It was then that the Spires and Deepvale began to form factions, with the Kingdom of Kest siding with the Spirans and the Dominion of Ondeth supporting the Azure Wizards. Tensions escalated, punctuated by skirmishes and assassinations, until full-scale war broke out 2252, starting the five-year War of the Vales that devastated much of the population and countryside, each side vying for control of the Isthmi and the tunnels underneath the towering, impassable Valewalls, the only direct lifeline connecting the Vales. Battlevale, just to the west of the Spires and once a verdant and densely populated agrarian area, was the site of the major battles of the war and thus nearly decimated in the Azure Wizards’ scorched earth policy. After Altrivden's Armistice (named after the ruler of the small city-state of Rivden in Battlevale) in 2257, a fragile peace has been maintained, with both sides sequestering power and resources in what seems like an inevitable march towards war. The Azure Wizards, under Ofestolus and Lothlin Verna, are cautious but still believe the lost Scepters to be somewhere in the Spires, or at least in the neighboring lands under Spiran control. The last five years has seen a marked increase in military exercises, the hiring of mercenaries from the shattered Voran Empire, the Teeth and Urda, and the Dreaders shadow the Western Vales more and more each day.
Structure
The structure of the Azure Wizards is strictly hierarchical and rigidly codified, with the eight schools of magic arrayed in tiers below the corresponding Archmage. The tiers are savagely competitive and based on loyalty, testing, and sacrifice, including a life-altering ritual in which the new wizards are magically branded with the symbol of their school in the center of their chests. There are different tiers for each school, based on the progression of spells within it, but these are only known to the adherents. All Azure Wizards are trained at some point at the Obsalix, the magical fortress on the shallow lake called the Cowl, though many come from foreign lands or were raised in Azyr, Iphia, Turun, Malofis, or some other city in the Vales. It is known that they train all the Arcane classes, but the ranks of the order are dominated by wizards, magi, and summoners, mostly avoiding the more preternatural abilities of sorcerers and arcanists.
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