Frostfire Province

Frostfire Province is one of the seven member-states of the Rinti Confederation. It is a mageocracy where most power is held by eleven houses of mages. Its capital city is Fyorwyn.
Frostfire Province is also the home of Frothlyk Academium, the oldest & best general mage academy.

Houses of Frostfire

Mages in Frostfire Province tend to belong to five major and six minor houses. These houses each have their own territory in Frostfire that they rule according to their own rules and traditions. Each generally has a central town built up around a large tower in which the mages themselves dwell, with surrounding areas being more or less attached and aligned with the house.

Major Houses

House Oetyga

House Oetyga is the oldest house in Frostfire. It is composed of wizards only, specializing in abjuration, evocation, and transmutation, though they do work in all fields. They tend to stay away from martial confrontations, preferring to use their spells for enchanting objects or creating new knowledge & spells. They are very good at research and can likely create anything that anyone could want – for a price. They also know pretty much everything that has been tried and what works & doesn’t. They are the nerdy wizards. They are accepting of outsiders, but not encouraging of them.

House Fraegr

The second oldest house in Frostfire, Fraegr was started by a warlock, and is still mostly warlocks & sorcerers. (Though it has a small number of wizards.) They specialize in enchantment & necromancy, but do all forms. House members tend to be snooty about the source of their magic and the magic that they do. There is lots of secret-keeping, lots of pride because they deal with Life and Death and learn how to manipulate the less worthy. Wizards who join this family typically are driven to push the barrier of life/death and tend to be very sure of themselves, sure they are special. The house knows that they are important and doing important work that others tend to shy away from. They tend to see the laws as not applying to them as much, and the house appeals to people who like to make their own rules. This house is hostile toward any visitors who aren’t previously invited.

House Potentius

House Potentius is the largest and most powerful of the new houses. It has wizards, sorcerers, warlocks, bards, and even an offshoot of druids and rangers. They are very good at conjuration and transmutation, but decently good at all. They are the nouveau riche of Frostfire, focused on monetary & political gain through magic, and are always focused on how to develop new magic that will make money or gain political clout. Unlike other houses, they are very open about being business-driven, and about working specifically for the good of the house. They are welcoming of all outsiders, as they like to show everyone how powerful they are, try to build connections/network, and recruit potential young mages.

House Tonitrus

House Tonitrus focuses on war magic. They are only wizards, and only martial focused. They have favor in Rintivus since most of the militia mages come from there. They train people in evocation, abjuration, and the combination that is war magic (see Xanathar). Their house is unwelcoming toward outsiders unless expected, since they have lots of military secrets, but they will take care of hurt/lost travelers if need be (though they will keep them away from sensitive areas and try to get them gone ASAP).

House Galadas

Galadas is one of two households of elvish ancestry. They are mystical, mysterious, and focus on divination and illusion magic (though they are good at all). The household started as sorcerers, but they now also have wizards. There is very high variance in this family; some are exquisite, and the elvish training is impeccable, but it is also more self-directed with unclear methods of tutelage. This means that there’s a lot more people who drop out after a while, or who think that they know what they’re doing when they don’t. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether people from this family are even fully cognizant of the world around them or whether they’re a bit nuts. (Professor Trelawney would fit in well here.) They are unwelcoming and a bit hostile toward outsiders unless expected, as what is done there is mysterious, kept under wraps, and the presence of unknown minds can throw off the auras of the magic being done. They won’t commit violence, but will definitely try to keep people out – unless their divination shows them they should let them in, or unless they’re elvish, since elves always show each other hospitality (however grudgingly).

Minor Houses

House Divitaem

House Divitaem is a small but powerful family focused on magically obtaining knowledge and secrets from others. They focus on deception, charming people, reading thoughts, illusion, invisibility, scrying, etc. Spymasters are often sent here to learn before being sent on assignment, and the house maintains power by being a secret-keeper of all the others and knowing everything that happens everywhere. While outwardly friendly and welcoming, they are always using people and suspicious of travelers lest they be other spies.

House Maerglyd

A family of explorers, House Maerglyd is focused on finding lost artifacts and spells from past millennia, learning from them, and restoring them. They rely on public interest to fund their expeditions, and sell a lot of the artifacts after they are restored (if non-evil). About half are uncomfortable with the “marketing” side and do more of the adventuring, and about half handle the front end.

House Hylli

This house is focused on artificing. They are extremely good at putting enchantments into items. Hylli is welcoming of visitors, and has lots of customers. Their inner sanctum/library is well protected, but there is lots of space and amenities for guests in the outer town. Their house is designed to show off.

House Naurost

Naurost is an Elvish-household of druids and rangers bent on preserving the land and cleansing it from the evil and harm that was done to it during past Devastations. They are accepting of travelers IF they’re on the side of nature and good. They are wary of being betrayed, but are happy to accept outside help and manpower in exchange for non-magical treasure found.

House Pugnatori

This household is the best makers of unique magical weapons and armor in the confederation. They study the magic and science of metallurgy, forging, etc. as well as spellwork, and often make magical weapons and armor out of materials that are rare and difficult to work with but have great results. They work a lot with lightning and snow, so their central tower is pretty high up a mountain. They are happy to welcome customers, but don’t have much accommodation or patience for people who aren’t interested in purchasing.

House Faventus

Faventus is an eclectic, oddball household that takes “weird” cases who don’t fit other places. Their research tends to be much more individual focused and project driven: their members study what they want and do what they want. This is the school that often gets commissions for researching the impossible. They believe that nothing is impossible, that it’s just a puzzle not yet figured out. They often have people working in cross-disciplinary teams to come up with zany, revolutionary ways to fix problems. They’re a much more laid-back household than the others, but they have enough neat breakthroughs that they are respected. They’re way up north where they aren’t bothered; the only people who come are those who have a commission or who want to join. They are happy to welcome those who come with one of those purposes, but a bit nonplussed by other travelers – they’re busy working, and the whole point of being out in the middle of nowhere is that no one else interrupts you.

Structure

Frostfire Province is governed by a Senatus composed of one representative from each of the mage families, as well as the Magister of Fyorwyn, the Scholus-Magister of the Academium, and twelve at-large members elected by the voting populace.
To handle daily matters, each of the eight city-sectors has a Submagister who is in charge of administration and civil matters. Official court cases go to the Arbitrium and are heard by a subset of Senate members (larger based on severity). However, each mage family handles its own internal affairs.

Public Agenda

Frostfire Province as a whole seeks to gain new magical understandings and prosper through magical means, both old and new.

Military

Frostfire Province is protected by a garrison outside of Fyorwyn stationed at Fort Glacies. The fort is just north-east of Fyorwyn, and is under the direct control of the Confederation Council (and more explicitly, the Legatus Magnus). The fort typically holds a thousand men, with another five hundred on patrol through the Province, and they are responsible for keeping peace and dealing with immediate threats in the entire Frostfire Province.

Type

Geopolitical, Province

Head of State

Magister Aelius Pinium Potentus

Government System

Magocracy

Power Structure

Dependent territory

Economic System

Market economy