Collegiate Arcane
 | |
| Grand alliance | Order |
| Associated factions | Cities of Sigmar |
| Races | Human |
| Mounts | Griffon Warhorse |
| Vehicles | Celestial Hurricanum Luminark of Hysh |
| Spell lores | Lore of Cinder Lore of Dark Sorcery Lore of Eagles Lore of the Ghurish Heartlands Lore of Illumination Lore of Leaves Lore of Smog Lore of the Phoenix Lore of Whitefire |
| Archetypes | Battlemage |
The Collegiate Arcane is a faction of sorcerous artisans that create magical devices to siphon and channel the magic of the Mortal Realms into powerful spells. Whenever the armies of Azyrheim need magical support it is the Collegiate Arcane they turn to.[1]
Contents
Overview
Unlike the aelven seers of the Eldritch Council, their talents are not instinctive. They require arcane foci and esoteric devices to channel the magic into sorcery. They work their spells by using celestial orreries, etheric lenses and other enchanted objects like staves, masks, hourglasses and orbs.[1]
Battlemages, the wizards of the Collegiate spend a decade of their lives studying at each of the Sky Towers and only the most venerable of their number can be considered experts in all eight disciplines and ascend to the rank of Grandmaster of the Collegiate.[4a]
Wizards are suffused with the particular energies of the realm in which they were born, thus a Battlemage hailing from the Bright Plains of Hysh may learn to call upon the powers of the Shadow Realm to wreathe themselves and their allies in darkness but are far more potent when using the magic of Hysh such as calling upon the Guardians of Pha, magical entities from Hysh that shield those who summon them with barriers of radiant luminescence.[4a]
In battle they cast searing bolts of fire or snaking lighting or murderous shadows. Others create protective wards and shields around their allies. They are also called upon to stop Daemon chicanery or help them controlling the Realmgates. When more drastic measures are needed the Collegiate deploys magical warmachines such as the Luminark of Hysh and the Celestial Hurricanum.[1][4a]
Society
While Battlemages are the most commonly encountered members of the Collegiate, a visitor to the floating towers of the Collegiate, can find all manner of mages, sorcerers, wizards, seers, alchemists, and elementalists walking the halls, all welcomed with open arms. As well as a great many scholars.[5a]
Many Battlemages are profoundly changed by the magic they choose to wield most often.[5a]
Mages and scholars of the Collegiate will often employ adventurers and sellswords to seek out and acquire arcane tomes, eldritch lore, and artefacts of power.[5a]
Origin
The humans had mastered the ways of magic long ago and during the Age of Chaos many wizards from various cultures, magocracies and kingdoms took refuge in Azyrheim. Sigmar decided that this wisdom must be preserved at all costs, and thus the Collegiate Arcane was founded. The Towers of the Eight Winds were constructed in the skies above Azyrheim, kept aloft by powerful enchantments so that they could drift above the Eternal City like glimmering stone candles. Each of these structures is an arcane laboratory and college, dedicated to the study of the mystic lore and recovered artefacts of one of the other Seven Realms. Since the dawn of the Age of Sigmar, the Collegiate has constructed towers and academies of magic in all of the major free cities and are called forth when the survival of those cities are threatened by magic.[1][4a]
Their original purpose was to further magical knowledge and to recover the lost technologies of the Age of Myth, but as war becomes more widespread across the Mortal Realms more and more members have turned to learning battle magics, as either a means of defense or to join the fate against the dark forces that threaten civilization.[5a]
Leadership
The Collegiate is headed by a council of senior mages pulled from all across the Mortal Realms. This council has the authority to open and close any particular field of study. This council is also responsible for looking over the petitions of those seeking to hire the services of the Collegiate. [5a]
Those who have dedicated an entire decade of study within each of the Towers of the Eight Winds are considered experts and awarded the title of Grandmaster of the Collegiate.[4a]
Other Ranks
- Reconcilers are members of the Collegiate Arcane who are tasked with finding, reconciling, and determining the worth of mystical lore of fallen kingdoms. What they determine as worthiest is added to the Great Repository of the Collegiate Arcane.[3b]
Military
The Collegiate is not allowed to maintain its own permanent armed forces but instead will hire Freeguild soliders to escort mages or for other related tasks, these can often be long term contracts where the soldiers ensure that the Collegiate's interests are upheld. [3a]
Collegiate War Machines
The Collegiate Arcane have war machines they use when a Battlemage proves insufficient. These take the form of carriages drawn by Warhorses engraved with arcane sigils that ferry artefacts capable of mass destruction. These also act as arcane foci amplifying the magical capabilities of allied spellcasters. These can be operated by both apprentices and Battlemages through the more experienced spellcasters can draw out more of its destructive potential. Many new war machines came into development with the Arcanum Optimar.[9a]
Some of the most of these vehicles are:
Sub-Organisations
- Colleges of Magic: The Collegiate is divided into Eight Colleges of Magic based on Teclian teachings. Each of these colleges will often maintain their own facilities, whether it's the Towers of the Eight Winds in Azyrheim or lesser facilities located in the Free Cities.[4a][6a]
- Light College: The mages of this college study and practice the Lore of Light.[4a][5b]
- Celestial College: The mages of this college study and practice the Lore of Heavens.[4a][5b]
- Gold College: The mages of this college study and practice the Lore of Metal.[4a][5b]
- Jade College: The mages of this college study and practice the Lore of Life.[4a][5b]
- Amber College: The mages of this college study and practice the Lore of Beasts.[4a][5b]
- Bright College: The mages of this college study and practice the Lore of Fire.[4a][5b]
- Grey College: The mages of this college study and practice the Lore of Shadows[4a][5b]
- Amethyst College: The mages of this college study and practice the Lore of Death.[4a][5b]
- Order of the Chained Flame: Created by the Grandmasters during the Arcanum Optimar the battlemages of the order of Spell Hunters are responsible for dispelling and capturing rogue Endless Spells.[4a]
Notable Facilities
- Great Repository of the Collegiate Arcane: A library within which the Collegiate houses the worthiest arcane lore recovered from fallen kingdoms.[3b]
- Hierophantic Academy: This order of Light Wizards is based in Settler's Gain. The Academy's main purpose is to vet every new batch of citizens that come to the city and assign them to roles within the city's rigid society.[8c]
- Mortarworks: The stronghold of the Collegiate in the Free City of Vindicarum. It serves as both a laboratory and a forge, where quicksilver from the city's mining operations is processed. It is largely operated by Gold Battlemages.[8b]
- Nine Globes: Nine spherical structures found in the Upper Tier of Brightspear. Eight are attuned to the eight Mortal Realms and the ninth, smashed by the Celestial Warbringers, was attuned to the Realm of Chaos. The Colleges of the Collegiate have claimed the surviving eight spheres, though they are in various states of disrepair and transforming them into hubs of learning and arcane lore will take some time.[6a]
- Pyromancer District of Hammerhal Aqsha: This district of Hammerhal Aqsha is both where the city's Collegiate Bright Mages live and maintain their facilities, most notably furnaces used to refine aqthracite.[8a]
- Towers of the Eight Winds: Eight floating towers found above the Eternal City of Azyrheim. Each of these towers is dedicated to one of the main eight lores of Magic.[4a]
- Whitefire Court: The Whitefire Court is one of the more famous facilities and branches of the Collegiate Arcane, it is located within the Free City of Hallowheart.[7a]
Creations
The Collegiate doesn't merely study the Lores of Magic, they also seek to create new spells and arcane creations.[4a]
- Aetheric Lance-Cannons: These powerful devices, supposedly created after studying captured Endless Spells, can be fired through the void to strike far off locations.[4a]
- Chronomatic Orbs: These powerful devices, supposedly created after studying captured Living Spells, can be used to slow the passage of time.[4a]
- Negastone Arks: These powerful devices, supposedly created after studying captured Living Spells, can drag all around them into it's crushing embrace when activated.[4a]
- Whitefire Tomes: These spellbooks contain arcane secrets recovered by members of the Whitefire Court.[7a]
Trivia
- Many in the Collegiate Arcane believe that Celestium is related to Dracothion.[2a]
- The Bright College has a growing interest in the technologies of the fallen Agloraxi empire, and many expeditions have been funded to scour the regions of the Great Parch in search of remnants of said technology.[5a]
Sources
- 1: Grand Alliance of Order - Collegiate Arcane, pg 148-149
- 2: Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Malign Sorcery
- 2a: Concerning Realmstone, pg 10-13
- 3: Hallowed Knights: Black Pyramid (novel)
- 4: Battletome: Cities of Sigmar (2019)
- 4a: The Collegiate Arcane, pg. 32-33
- 5: Soulbound Core Rulebook
- 6: Soulbound Brightspear City Guide
- 6a: Chapter Two: Guide to Brightspear
- 7: Soulbound: Champions of Order
- 7a: Chapter Six: Equipment
- 8: Age of Sigmar: Core Book (3rd Edition)
- 9: Soulbound: Steam and Steel
- 9a: Collegiate War Machine, pg. 113
- 10: Soulbound: Cities of Flame
- 10a: Fight Fire With Warpfire, pg. 17
