Ephraim Blackrod Master of Ceremonies

The position of Master of Ceremonies was written into the founding charter of the Free City's Guild of Wizardry and University by Zagig the Archmage. Holders of this position (which is normally passed from father to son) have a duty to ensure that the correct ceremonies and rituals are observed.

Dressed in his ceremonial robes and clutching his staff of office, Ephraim Blackrod, often accompanied by the Head Porter, tours the halls and buildings of the guild and the University, performing the multitude of small tasks and rituals essential to the well-being of the guild. It is the Master of Ceremonies, for example, who must procure the fifteen halfling trampolinists to perform at the annual pickled quails' egg banquet on the last day of Fireseek, or to ensure that the principal is wearing his ceremonial moosehead at midday every Starday. It is also the Master of Ceremonies who organizes the Desportium of Magick and the first-year students' annual raft-race down the Processional.

Ephraim is a dour, serious man who (like all his predecessors) takes his job very seriously. Although many might see him as a figure of fun, students and guildmembers normally know better than to laugh at him or his duties. Many a first year student has winced at the lash of his acid tongue and (for Ephraim has power vested in him by the founding charter over the student body) spent the rest of the day whitewashing the garderobes with nothing more than a songbird's feather.

Over the years many have questioned the necessity and economy of the post of Master of Ceremonies. Revisionists in the Guild argue that such ridiculous nonsense is worthless in today's modem age of magical science. Yet Ephraim still remains in office. The truth is that the post was delineated clearly in Zagig's founding charter, and no one can be sure that the Master of Ceremonies does not play a crucial part in preserving the powerful magics wrought in the construction of the building.