The Ruling Seats
At its top, the Umberlight Society is is ran by nine practitioners of magic who serve as the Society's leaders, as well as nine Sorcerer-Kings and Sorcerer-Queens of the lands of Mulrath, which the Society rules over as the country's government. These nine practitioners hold the nine "Ruling Seats", which are broken up into the "Low Seats" and the "High Seats". All nine seats hold equal ruling power - the difference lies in respect, social standing, and personal power. The High Seats are typically the three strongest members of the society, and are afforded the most respect while their word is typically weighed heavier when the Society is deciding upon various matters. The identities of those on the Ruling Seats is a thing guarded with utmost secrecy, even to lower-level members of the Society Itself - when they must make public appearances, they often wear masks of some kind to disguise their true appearances. Only other members of the ruling seats as well as extremely rare and trustworthy members of the Society are privvy to the identities of the Ruling Seats.
Additionally, these Seats are held by those who share a matching elemental affinity(See
The Elements: A Primer for more details) as well as a specialization or ability to wield magic relating to what the seat represents(Such as the holder of the Seat of Fire focusing in Evocation Magic, Fire-Based Magic, or Even Enchantment Magic(Magic of Passions and the Mind). The Nine Ruling Seats are listed below - the first six seats(Light, Void, Fire, Water, Earth, and Air) are the "Low Seats" while the final three(Esoterica, Witchcraft, Ascendance) are the "High Seats". The Seat of Ascendance, as well, acts as the outward "Face" and "Ruler" of the Society, and typically is portrayed as the thing most closely resembling a monarch or ruler for the purposes of political negotiations on behalf of the lands of Mulrath - though in truth, all nine seats hold equal power in such decisions.
- Seat of Light
- Seat of Void
- Seat of Fire
- Seat of Water
- Seat of Earth
- Seat of Air
- Seat of Esoterica
- Seat of Witchcraft
- Seat of Ascendance
The High and Low Seats are put back up for grabs every 5 years - there is no law against the same figure claiming the seat multiple times in a row, but all members of all seats may challenge any others among them(The Sole Exception being the Seat of Ascendance, which only the other existing High Seats may challenge) and prove themselves worthy of the seat in challenges that test one's magical prowess, intellect, wisdom, and other qualities - the winner of the contest is judged the more capable and given the seat. Part of this challenge is also a popular vote - both among the other Ruling Seats and the Society of Mulrath as a whole. This holds little bearing on the challenge unless one has extremely high or low popularity, which will influence the challenge and who keeps the seat appropriately.
For the "Low Seats", it is not common for them to change hands unless the challenger is also of a similar Elemental Affinity or wields magic that relates to that seat or an aspect of its respective element(Such as Time, Gravity, and the like for the Seat of Void). Instead, more commonly, the low seats do not challenge each other but recieve challenges from lesser members of the society(Most typically by the Headmasters of the Society's Colleges, described below) who also hold an affinity for the element of the chair in question, or wield and/or specialize in appropriate magic.
The Council
The current members of the Archmage Council itself are listed below, alongside what seats they hold, their names, and short descriptions about them.
The High Seats
Seat of Ascendance:
Name: Jumah Obi
Race: Unknown
Specialization/Area of Focus: Magic-Assisted Melee Combat
Description: The fierce and ferociously powerful head of the
Umberlight Society for the past several decades - Jumah is a tall, broad-shouldered man who is never seen without his strange face-covering mask that hides his features and exact race. While not a specialized mage like much of the rest of the council, he has achieved the impossible feat of proving his dominance over them all despite focusing his studies on the blended art of the magus, enhancing his martial prowess with magical might - a warrior without peer whose magic, despite being limited by his blended focus on martial combat and magecraft, is nonetheless impressive enough to earn the respect of the entire society. His is something of a mystery even to his fellow society members, who speculate his reasons for wearing the strange mask he dons constantly when in public - speculation of his true nature as a demon, a terrifying orc, to even a man with no face only fuels his legend and make him a respected mentor to all members of the Coalition and the Society, who cannot help but respect his incredible work ethic, kind, noble bearing, and overwhelming power as a man who would stop to help a stranger whenever he sees one in need, who would help a cat from a tree, stop injustice at its roots, and silence all the evils of the world - despite his power and the superhero like qualities he is ascribed(Which sees him as a cultural icon many citizens and even his fellow councilmembers of Mulrath grow up idolizing and idolize even still), he is well known as a humble man due to his very nature which requires him to train to a ludicrous degree each day if he hopes to maintain his edge over his colleagues who have more innate gifts to rely on, compared to he who achieved his power through hard work alone. Most famously, is he feared for his skill with the art of the Quick Draw - he is said to be able to draw his massive curved katana so quickly it defies mortal sight, capable of bisecting magic and metal alike with startling ease. He is somewhat evasive when pressed about personal matters, but his senses are so acute as to border on the supernatural - he has displayed the preternatural senses and superhuman reflexes to dodge knives thrown at high speeds from unseen targets, to avoid and cut spells from the air, and to see the unseen such that he is rumored to be impossible to sneak up on. His battle sense, therefore, is uncanny - making him a veritable terror when combined with his ability to slice through the spells of his opponents while discharging his own magic to enhance his body, his attacks, or unleash magical blasts to distract or hinder his foes. Despite the air of mystery that hangs about him and his reluctance to discuss himself, he is quite popular in both the
Coalition of Nine and the
Umberlight Society itself and beyond, maintaining connections all across the continent as the legendary master of the Archmage Council - though, many of his connections, friends, and allies often curiously describe him as a 'void': A man whose personality and true nature have been utterly lost within the public persona he has cultivated and the 'idea' of the superhero-esque, all-powerful man known as Jumah Obi, such that none can quite imagine what the
real "Jumah Obi" is like behind closed doors or in private for better or worse, as to almost all who meet him(Even fellow councilmembers) his mere presence is enough to inspire childlike wonder such that one's words catch in their throat, as if they were meeting their childhood hero for the first time.
Seat of Witchcraft:
Name: Myrna le Blanc
Race: Snow Elf
Specialization/Area of Focus: Juju and Shamanistic Magic/Witchcraft, Rumored to be a Grandmaster Necromancer
Description: A strange, reclusive woman whose etheral appearance only adds to her mystique, Myrna le Blanc is a woman many charitable describe as 'a reclusive shaman' and less charitably as 'a filthy necromancer and witch'. Outside of the society, she is hated and much reviled by many for her deeds performed before she joined the ranks of the
Umberlight Society - though many who know her as she is now would not think her capable of the horrific deeds she stands accused of by such people, as her quiet and cold demeanor make her seem quite fragile and ethereal. She is a woman known to carry strange straw dolls and fetishes on her person to aid in her magic, who is spoken of as stealing away souls to imprison within those very same dolls, and whose twisted sense of humor sees her make terrifying jokes that prey upon others' superstitious fear of her supposed 'witchcraft' with a soft-spoken voice and deadpan expression. She cares little for defending herself or explaining her actions, and does not fraternize much with anyone else - even other society members, who more kindly refer to as "The Ice Queen of Mulrath" for her icy and distant demeanor. Whatever the reasons for her joining the society, and whatever horrific deeds she committed before doing so, are perhaps doomed to remain a mystery - only Jumah Obi, head of the
Umberlight Society, is privvy to her secrets, and he will be doing no talking anytime soon.
Seat of Esoterica:
Name: Guiren Zou
Race: Bomujeo
Specialization/Area of Focus: Divination, Knowledge-Gathering, Archival Work
Description: An incredibly old man who recently came out of retirement to fill a void on the
Umberlight Society Archmage Council, Guiren Zou was the former Seat of Esoterica some decades prior to the modern day - his work on using divination magic to glean glimpses of past events to expand the libraries of the society was the stuff of legend, and the information he gathered on events once lost to time has earned him the highest honors in the society. A kind, wise old man who enjoys lecturing and teaching others, Guiren is a man few if none can find it in themselves to hate - his air of genuine care and kindness calms even the harshest of hearts, and his gentle but pointed advice is not only effective, but life-changing. He is a man who loves the past and its lessons, and is often found smoking on a pipe while reading through books about the past - about empires that rose and fell, people of times long gone, and the like. Though he retired over a decade ago, he was asked to return from this retirement after Jenatay Roykin created a vacancy on the council shortly after her ascension to the currently held Seat of Water.
The Low Seats
Seat of Fire:
Name: Raphaël Rieben
Race: Human(?)
Specialization/Area of Focus: Mind-Affecting Magic, Magical Manipulation, Psychic and Occult Power
Description: A strange and mysterious man hailing from the now defunct Kingdom of Corudillo(Conquered by the
Kassau Matriarchy), Raphaël Rieben is a man who should have died long, long ago - reported to be in excess of three hundred years of age, he nonetheless appears to be the very picture of health as a man in the prime of his life. A man of fine taste who enjoys wearing expensive suits, drinking fine wines, and feasting on fine cuisine, he in many ways fits the very definition of 'Classic Nobleman' many think of when they imagine the term. He is a man who is to the point, matter-of-fact yet courteous, and who wears an air of faint superiority around him always despite his efforts to present a calm and amicable outward appearance - he is calm, never raises his voice, and despises ostentatious displays of wealth and overt or obvious displays of power. He is, in summation, a man of subtlety - whereas his colleagues such as Njowga Aguda or Aurora Krauss are akin to magical typhoons, he is more akin to a subtle scalpel: with simple but beguiling words he twists the very hearts and minds of those around him, quietly and quickly moving the world and its denizens along the paths he deems they should take. Little is known of his true power, as he seems to have power and sway over the hearts, minds, and souls of others with alarming regularity such that many assume him a psychic or enchantment-focused wizard - though nothing has ever been confirmed, making him the subject of wild and rampant rumors and speculations both in and outside of the society. He only ascended to the seat of fire recently - his methods do not lend themselves well to the formal arena-style magic duels the Society requires its mages to perform to ascend into the Archmage Council, and as such he spent many years in the society as a nameless student until he made a sudden and blatant challenge to the seat of fire some 7 years ago, which he won by default as his opponent never showed, thus forfeiting the match automatically. Many assume him responsible, as each challenge to him has been in a largely similar manner - with his opponent unable to compete for various reasons, though they are inevitably found afterwards alive and unharmed, yet often confused. His motives are largely a mystery - he is cordial enough to his fellow council members, but is only truly close to Myrna le Blanc - the witch whom nearly all others avoid.
Njowga Aguda
Race: Human
Specialization/Area of Focus: Weather Magic, Large-Scale Magic, Climate/Temperature Manipulation, Long-Distance Magic
Description: A powerful mage from the distant lands of the Qushu League, Njowga is a man who grew up in the notoriously blistering heat of the Xiaosha Sands as the supposed offspring between a Kaminari
Kami(The Kami of storms and weather) and a mortal woman - and while this is unverified, Njowga grew up showing an overwhelming aptitude for weather and other large-scale, long-distance magics ever since he was a little boy, displaying an uncanny ability to not only manipulate the scorching desert heat but to change the literal atmosphere and terrain around him. This atmospheric and terrain alteration happens constantly around him, such that he was fashioned a magical limiter collar to wear to prevent this curse-like affliction from ruining his life as, unchecked, the ability would terraform his surroundings into desert and alter the weather around him in short order. A fierce and egotistical man, he is extremely proud of his heritage and his people, and has made it a personal mission of his to protect not only his own people, but all those who whose rights are infringed as captives, slaves, or unjust prisoners. He is a man with a powerful sense of justice who has no qualms with destruction a titanic scale if it means achieving good or doing something he determines as worth doing - and with his unparalleled mastery of weather, atmospheric, and other large-scale, long-distance magic he is also a fantastic magical spy and evoker both, capable of throwing his senses hundreds of miles away on the wind while capable of altering temperatures and generating climatological disasters on a regional level with enough time and resources. To those who can tolerate his egotistical and fiery personality, he is a caring and deeply emotional man whose past(Which he rarely talks about) is rumored to be that of the life of a child slave who witnessed his entire people persecuted, who despises oppression and considers himself the first and greatest line of defense for the natural world and all those who look up at the sky crying for help in a world they think abandoned them. Often mockingly referred to as "The Man with the Savior Complex", he has been censured multiple times by the
Umberlight Society for overstepping his bounds and breaking the 'neutrality' the society expects their mages to abide by, often by demolishing camps of slavers or persecutors or by routing armies who seek to oppress natives and the like. Despite the fact he has nearly drawn the
Coalition of Nine into war multiple times with such actions, many cannot help but respect him for his unbreakable zeal and unbendable code that he refuses to compromise no matter what or who demands him to.
Seat of Earth:
Name: Aurora Krauss
Race: Qìtóng
Specialization/Area of Focus: Kinetic Magic(Technomancy), Invention, Technological Innovation
Description: The longest consecutively serving member of the lower seats of the Archmage Council with an unbroken two decades of service on the Seat of Earth, Aurora Krauss is one of the most awarded and decorated members of the
Umberlight Society in recent memory - as a masterful practioner of Kinetic Magic specializing in the manipulation of metal and technology, she is one of the incredibly rare "Technomancers" whose proficiency with Technokinetic Magic allow her to manipulate metal and machines with but a thought. More commonly known by her charming yet terror-inspiring title "The Dreadnought", she is a terrifying woman who fights inside of a suit of metallic armor powered by ancient Sapphire Technology she summons up around herself, becoming a veritable iron-clad behemoth on the battlefield capable of shrugging off explosions, magic, and the like as easily as breathing as she launches blasts of Sapphire Nanites and rusted junk at her opponents to dismantle them atom by atom. However, even outside of this "powered armor" she can conjure up she is a force to be reckoned with - she has utilized her skill with technomancy to alter her body to an extreme degree by replacing her bones with reinforced steel joints, her muscles with fibrous metallic cords, and reinforced her skin with powerful adamantine subdermal plating, making her a threat even unarmed and unarmored. Despite this power, she is well-known as a very approachable woman - she rarely cares to leave her workshop and is somewhat of an introverted recluse, preferring the company of gears and whirring machines to free-thinking people - and despite this tendency to isolate herself she remains polite and approachable, if not somewhat distracted or innattentive at times. She rarely cares for preconcieved notions, cultural biases, or expected norms and can come off as a very odd woman who gets excited about the strangest things and gets along with the weirdest of people, and is a much-beloved mentor for many lesser members of the society who attend her lectures or serve as apprentices in her workshop in the hopes of learning from her. Thanks to her reputation as a highly armored powerhouse, few challenge her for her seat - her mastery of Technokinetic magic means she occupies somewhat of a unique position of a warrior who naturally counters more magically-focused creatures with the spell-resistant plating she often armors herself with in battle. She is known to be good friends with Yvonne, the Seat of Light, and the two often collaborate on projects in their respective workshops - and as one of the foremost experts on the technology of the Sapphire Elves, many come from all over the continent to consult her on various topics relating to them.
Jenatay Roykin
Race: Sanctor
Specialization/Area of Focus: Transmutation Magic, Size-Altering Transmutation Magic
Description: The callous, confrontational master of Transmutation Magic, Jenatay is by far the most recent addition to the Council of Archmages - as well as the most controversial in recent memory, not to mention the most mysterious. Unlike every other member of the council in living memory, Jenatay did not rise to prominence through the Umberlight Society - instead, she approached the society as a wandering mage(Whose background, history, and origin are still unknown) and confronted the former Archamge who held the Seat of Water, Diego Mansilla, one of the most powerful(If not most cocky) mages on the council, and provoked his Ire by challenging him to a magical duel. While normally such a duel would hold no weight and would be ignored by members of the council, Diego was notorious for his ego and had a history of entertaining duels from his lessers to prove his dominance - such that when a lesser and outsider no less challenged him, he eagerly accepted out of indignation and egotistical annoyance. However, the duel was a renowned failure for dear Diego - in that very duel, Jenatay displayed her mastery of transmutation magic by reducing the former holder of the Seat of Water to the size of a mere ant and pinning him to the ground beneath her boot, threatening to crush him if he did not forfeit the duel. Fearing for his life, Diego had no choice but to capitulate - after which Jenatay matter-of-factly and boldly claimed a council seat for herself, to the outrage of the rest of the society. Ever since, she has proudly and arrogantly held the Seat of Water and made her disdain for her fellow mages quite clear - she displays little to no interest in anything beyond further her own magic and defeating her fellow mages in magical duels which sees her humiliatingly reduce them to the size of insects and keep them for herself, as she did with Diego, who she keeps around as a trophy and tiny helper around her office. She is a blunt woman with no regard for
Coalition or
Umberlight Society norms, and blatantly has her plentiful array of assistants handle most of her duties as the Seat of Water in favor of lounging about, researching and furthering her own magical power, and doing as she otherwise pleases. This attitude has made her no friends in the society, as she constantly displays blatant disrespect for her superiors, challenging them to duels time and again in the hopes of growing ever stronger. The only beings she respects and gets along with in the society are Jumah Obi(Head of the society), who she has challenged a half-dozen times but soundly been defeated by each time, and Aurora Krauss, whose reclusive and uncaring nature make her a begrudging friend. Many claim the society's lesser members have attempted to assassinate her on multiple occasions, though this has never been confirmed - if such attempts were made, her current status as alive and well means they failed, likely doomed to an eternal fate as shrunken helpers of the woman they tried to kill. Despite what her innumerable detractors claim and hope, she has not once broken the laws of the
Umberlight Society - though she is confrontational and uncaring of the Society's ways, she contributes where needed and performs her required duties, and as such abides by all of the bylaws the Society expects its members to follow...much to the chagrin of her many detractors, who have learned the hard way that not everyone in the Society is required to be friendly or amicable when the previous Archmage who held the Seat of Esoterica, not long after she ascended to the Seat of Water, confronted her in her office and attempted to use his powers to force her out of the society both politically, magically, and forcefully. And when she managed to use her magic to reduce him to barely six inches tall and bottled him like a captured bug, the society in the end took her side and declared the situation assault and abuse of power, allowing her use of magic as 'appropriate punishment' despite the cries of many for her to be expelled for her actions. As a result of this sudden vacancy, the formerly retired society member Guiren Zou was called out of retirement to fill the vacancy.
Yvonne Engström
Race: Lamia
Specialization/Area of Focus: Arcanism(Understanding and scientifically learning and improving upon how magic truly works)
Description: A beautiful, charismatic, personable woman of legendary renown both in and outside of the society for her extreme and overwhelming beauty enough to supposedly drive men and women alike mad with desire. A woman few can dislike, her powerful, charismatic nature and commanding personality means she can easily fill entire rooms with her presence alone, forcing and inspiring other creatures and people(Even those she only just met) to move and act according to her commands. An incredibly scientifically minded woman who cannot help but look at something magical and wonder how it works, she is somewhat infamous for her annoying habit of fixating on spells, enchantments, or other magical items she is not familiar with the moment she sees them and attempting to deconstruct them on the spot - much to the chagrin of those potentially wearing, wielding, or living in or around that which gains her focus. Though she rarely means harm with such actions, her curious and strange nature ensure that she is viewed as quite the odd woman by her peers - though her countless breakthroughs in the field of understanding and codifying magic have earned her the respect of mages the world over, as the spells she has invented have seen use across the continent. Thanks to her beauty and commanding nature, she often has a massive array of willing 'helpers' drawn from both the civilian population of Mulrath and the society itself, who eagerly flock to her lab and help her with her studies in the hopes of one day earning her attention, approval, or even love(for the particularly desperate) - though she herself cares little for such things, viewing such eager helpers as useful but little else. And unlike many of her colleagues in the
Umberlight Society, she does not merely hide from or deal with social situations, she
thrives in them - her beauty and charisma make her most at home in a crowd or talking to others, though her eccentric strangeness means that she is confusingly off-putting to others with her strange behavior that is so at odds with her excessive beauty and charisma, such as pausing mid-sentence to approach her conversation partner regardless of personal space to analyze and examine a magical item they have on their person, only to step back a minute later and continue as if nothing was amiss. Despite her beauty, these eccentricities mark as an undoubtedly scientific woman to the core - she has little interest or care in love or relationships or beauty(Except as a way to get others to let her study them, or as a tool), and thus does not care for nor comprehend many of the things others focus on and take for granted. To her, magic and mana and life itself is a series of beautiful, complex equations that yearn to be solved - a beautiful problem she hopes to one day glean insight into the inner workings of to achieve true and unlimited knowledge.
Chen Xinyi
Race: Human
Specialization/Area of Focus: Alchemy, Kinetic Magic(Corpomancy, AKA manipulation of blood and viscera), anatomy, biology
Description: Perhaps the most blatantly villainous member of the council, Chen Xinyi is well-known as a man whose nature as a cold-blooded butcher is counterbalanced only by his fascination with alchemy and the study of blood, bones, and biology. He is a somewhat similar man of science like Yvonne(Seat of Light) is in regards to magic, though more villainous in his motives - his sociopathic obsession with understanding the fundamental laws of reality stems from his equally sociopathic desire to break and alter those very laws to perform all manner of mad experiments with alchemy on creatures and objects both living and inanimate. Unfortunately, his mania makes him a fanastically gifted alchemist who practically defines the term 'mad scientist', and he has on multiple occasions been censured by Jumah Obi and the rest of his fellows on the Archmage Council for his actions that have crossed the line into barbarism and outright unethical torture even by the notoriously loose standards of the
Umberlight Society. Despite these shortcomings though, he is unfortunately also a superhumanly gifted physician and master of both living and unliving anatomy whose unparalleled mastery of bodies and biology means that almost no life is beyond his ability to save, no obstacle too difficult to overcome, and no problem too complex or impossible for him to unravel and figure out - he has saved the lives of his fellow
Umberlight Society members on multiple occasions from injures of all sorts, even those that divine magic and other forms of healing have failed at curing. In conversation and social situations, he is extremely off-putting for his odd voice often described as 'layered and oily' and his unnerving habit of standing unmoving with wide, bloodshot eyes often hidden behind thick goggles and a body hidden by an oft-bloodstained suit. Despite this, he is almost creepily cordial - though clearly sociopathic in the way he sizes up those he meets as if imagining taking them apart piece by beautiful piece.
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