Wizard Enclaves

Wizard Enclaves are educational groupings within universities or scholarly circles specifically devoted to the wizardly book arts of learning magic. The culture and focus of these vary widely but there are two main enclaves in Novandria.
There are two smaller wizard’s enclaves that have taken root in Novandria, one in each of the two large colleges in the city. While each Enclave fosters its own specialties, they include practitioners of all the various areas of magic. (For example, the Eclipse Thread also has practitioners of Conjuration, Illusion, etc. but no Deans of these areas).
The two Enclaves have a usually friendly competition in being the best at the Wizardly Arts - although that competition can get rather heated and certainly involves a lot of stung pride and looking down noses at the other side.
The Viridian Circle of the The Academy of Adventuring Arts
The Eclipse Thread of the Academia Casus

Structure

Organization of Wizard’s Enclaves

Under the Illuminated Watch, the structure of Wizards Enclaves has been largely regulated. Enclaves form at colleges, libraries and other places of study and learning and never in isolation from society.

Enclaves are headed by at least three Deans who are masters of their respective area of study

Enclaves may recruit new members openly or secretly as is their preference but must register all new members with the clerk of the Illuminated Watch. Enclaves should not take brand new wizards into their ranks but should seek only those who have already proven their stability and dedication to study (equivalent of apprentices for guilds)

Enclaves may operate openly or secretly from their college/place of learning but may never operate secretly from the Watch

Creation of all new spells within the Enclave must be registered with the Watch

Enclaves may never war with one another. Friendly academic rivalry is acceptable and even encouraged but there will be no repeats of the Wizard Kings’ war

An Enclave may select a mascot creature or spirit, typically some sort of entity or created assistant that provides its members’ assistance. These mascots should be registered with the Watch

History

In far history, the wizards of Terranon tried to be, albeit briefly, God-Kings. They held behind-the-scenes sway over empires and warred ferociously, ripping the land asunder and terrorizing the uninvolved. Before they could take the world further past their constant warring across nations, the collective governments of Europa stepped in to stop their fighting before it plunged the war into mortal chaos. All told, the Wizard Wars cost Europa over 5 million lives before the Westphalia Treaty ended the battle for supremacy in 1648.
In it, the major enclaves of Wizards agreed to neutrality amongst their various factions and agreed to be beholden to their national governments should hostilities arise again and any particular wizard deem it prudent to try for world domination. In return, governments subsidized wizardly pursuits and colleges, starting an era of discovery and exploration that was, more or less, cooperative.
Of course, one could not actually expect Wizards to completely listen to the mundane.
The driving force behind the Westphalia treaty was a secret cabal of Wizards known as the Illuminated Watch. The Watch realized that the levels of aggression from Wizard-Kind were going to end poorly for everyone and exerted their rather prodigious skills and political sway to put a stop to the issue. With the Treaty in place, however, they decided being prudent might be wiser for the future. Each member of the cabal dedicated itself to a balancing precept of magic: Order, Chaos Perfection, Expression, Substance, Theory, Radiance, Shadow, Growth, Decay, and maintained a line of successors to take their place and keep the peace between the various factions of wizard kind in perpetuity. The Illuminated Watch is almost never seen in current times. Their membership is unknown and keeps themselves quiet unless their intervention is needed. Even with that, all wizards’ enclaves know of the Watch’s existence and the possibility that if they stray too far in their practice, the Watch will arrive.

Type

Education, Magic

Predecessor Organizations

• Academia Casus
• The Academy of Adventuring Arts