Arcane Agents

If there is one thing that the Creation War taught humanity it is this: Mundane soldiers are obsolete.
Magic is the real power in the world. A single skilled battlemage can bypass the eyes of a thousand mundane guards with a simple illusion spell, pass through barriers of concrete and steel by folding the walls themselves around their form, walk up to the general unopposed, and bend their very mind to the wizard’s will. All without meeting any real resistance. They can stop bullets in flight and make the gunner drown in open air. A single mage, if given time, can on their own amass an army of living, undead, or mechanical monstrosities that each are equal to a dozen armed and trained soldiers and unleash them upon a standing fortress before conjuring the wrathful fury of the sky itself upon it.
And so enters a new class of warrior. The arcane agent. The perfect blend of magical and martial skills capable of performing near any task given to them by their employer. They are trained in battle magic and taught a variety of words of power that have been deemed especially useful for combat purposes. Words of power over the mind, body, stone, and steel are common, as well as words of concealment and general destruction.
Martially they are trained in basic hand to hand combat, though the expectation that they’ll ever use it is low, and are trained in the use of a combat knife and a pistol which functions as side arms if for whatever reason their magic cannot be deployed. They are further trained in matters of stealth and espionage that will be enhanced by their mastery of mind magic, making them near undetectable outside enemy mages.

Composition

Manpower

The number of agents that can be fielded is dependent on the college or academy in question. The three great colleges each maintain roughly one hundred trained agents at a time, though exact numbers are not available to the public. A large country like Aztlan or Khem-Ra, on the other hand, could have as many as three hundred to six hundred agents at their command. Meanwhile a small nation may only have ten or fifteen agents to call upon. The true numbers the great colleges can field are much higher however, as even a non-combat trained researcher from a great college can be made battle ready with minimal training needed. Such is the power of their secret arts of creation.

Equipment

Agents are armed with a combat knife and a non-magical pistol for emergencies. They are armored in robes of an enchanted weave that is resilient enough to stop stab wounds and blunt the force of low caliber bullets. When deployed in an actual war zone they will be given enchanted ceramic armor under the robes that can render them immune to even high caliber firearms.
Agents from one of the great colleges will additionally be armed with the tools needed for creation. Biogenesists will be carrying vials of ooze, reanimators vials of black blood, and metallurgists their liquid flames. With these substances each agent becomes capable of potentially creating additional squads of creations and, with time, entire armies.

Structure

Arcane agents operate in pairs with the senior member taking a commanding role and the second agent acting as their partner. When larger groups are needed these pairs are further paired together forming groups of four, six, or eight. In all cases the senior-most will take charge unless orders are given otherwise. These squads will then be deployed and operate autonomously with minimal communication to the commanding organization to minimize chance for detection.

Tactics

Agents primarily use their mastery of mind magic to conceal themselves from mundane eyes while at the same time utilizing their spirit senses to scan for hostile magic forces. They will then seek out and attempt to destroy the enemy mages or magical threats before they are detected, then carry out their mission. This can range anywhere from wiping out an entire battalion of mundane soldiers, infiltrating and capturing an enemy fortress, assassinating a target, or even capturing high profile targets and enthralling them with mind magic to make them turn traitor. Alternatively agents can be deployed defensively to seek out and eliminate hostile arcane agents sent by the enemy or to set up magical defenses around an area. Or, if an agent of a great college, they can begin to set up shop and start to churn out monstrous creations to secure a vital location and begin exerting force over neighboring regions through their monster armies.
A battle between groups of agents is a deadly game where each attempts to conceal themselves while trying to detect the other. More often than not the loser will be destroyed before they realized they had been engaged.
Turning enemy agents into magical slaves is generally the better long-term plan in war, though it is significantly harder and requires a lengthier engagement with a much higher chance of failure for the attacking side. A quick assassination of the body can be seen as more tactically beneficial than a long, drawn out duel of magic over the enemy team’s souls. As a result the most common tactic is to quickly assassinate one of the duo before double-teaming the remainder to more quickly overwhelm and subjugate them so they can be captured or turned on their former allies.

Type

Covert Ops

Overall training Level

Elite

Used by

• College of Arcane Metallurgy
• College of Biogenesis
• College of Reanimation