TaliPaendrag

The Mage Guild of Alsijan

Character Name: Anyu
Time of Day: Early morning
Location: The common room of the dormitory
Interacting with: Marius Sirvaki @ShwiggityShwah, Brandon Argyle @Avant

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Anyu jumped and took a few steps back upon hearing a faint sound of distress from nearby, turning to see that the silver-haired woman from earlier had apparently sat down on the couch without Anyu noticing during all the commotion that had been going on. When she saw that the woman was just trying to keep the snowflakes from falling on her books and ruining them, Anyu felt a pang of guilt that caused her to squirm where she stood. ”Hopefully they’re okay,” Anyu thought, wringing her hands as the woman looked around. Though the silver-haired woman didn’t seem to be too upset at the moment, Anyu knew that she could have easily been hiding it like that large man from earlier had been.

The stern voice of the short woman who had just finished scolding Marius being directed at the group as a whole kept Anyu from worrying about it too much, however. Anyu figured that it was probably more important at the moment to listen to the matronly woman, who introduced herself as Tiana. She certainly didn’t seem like the sort of woman that would be happy with having to repeat herself, and Anyu definitely wanted to avoid giving the stern woman another possible reason to be upset with her.

While Tiana had been speaking, Anyu had noticed Marius walking towards her and glancing over his shoulder at Tiana. Afraid that moving away from the spot would attract more attention or anger the fiery-headed man, Anyu remained where she was standing and tried to listen to Tiana’s speech as best she could. Fortunately, despite being distracted by Marius and confused by a number of the words and phrases that Tiana used, Anyu was able to get the gist of her speech. ”At least I won’t get in trouble for that,” Anyu thought with a mental sigh of relief at her small success.

As Tiana began the roll call, Marius let out a little yelp that caused Anyu to flinch again while turning to see that he had almost slipped on the icy carpet. Once he had recovered, he turned to face Tiana, standing too close for Anyu’s comfort as he listened for his own name in the roll call and cast a smug look at the silver-haired woman for some reason. Seeing that Marius wasn’t particularly paying attention to her at the moment despite how close he was, Anyu took the opportunity to take a couple of steps away from him in order to put a more comfortable distance between them.

Moments later, Tiana called Marius’s name from the book she in front of her. Anyu jerked away sharply at the fiery boy’s booming shout of a response, the air around her chilling sharply as she eyed him cautiously. Before she could really think about why Marius had decided to yell, she heard Tiana read her name from the list. Uncertain of what the proper procedure was for responding, Anyu figured that it would probably be okay to emulate Marius’s response. He hadn’t gotten in trouble after all. ”H-Here,” Anyu responded as she placed her arm across her chest loosely, her voice so quiet that it was barely more than a whisper as she squirmed in place.

Fortunately, Anyu appeared to have responded more or less correctly, as Tiana wasted no time in moving onto the next name on her list. A few moments later, Tiana wrapped up her speech to the collection of novices by instructing them to make sure that they got something to eat from the dining halls when they got a chance. At the mention of food, Anyu’s stomach growled softly and reminded her that Malvin had insisted they skip breakfast that day so that they could arrive at the Guild sooner. ”Hopefully it won’t be too much trouble for me to get something to eat,” Anyu thought, grimacing slightly as her stomach rumbled again.

Nearby, Marius was quickly summarizing the instructions that Tiana had given everyone, which helped Anyu feel a little more confident that she had managed to correctly decipher the strange words Tiana had used. Then the fiery man suddenly directed his attention to Anyu and asked her if she wanted to help people. Before Anyu could respond to the strange question with more than a slight nod, the dwarf, Brandon, appeared next to the two of them and began berating Marius for being rude. Anyu trembled upon hearing the anger in Brandon’s voice and took a step away from the scene, the air chilling sharply once more. As Brandon turned his attention to her, Anyu flinched, certain that he was about to unleash his wrath upon her as well.

When it turned out that all Brandon wanted to do was ask her what her name was, Anyu was noticeably relieved, though she still shook a little from the ordeal. ”I-I’m Anyuki,” she said quietly, eyeing him with some confusion as he gave her a slight bow. She certainly wasn’t used to anyone treating her with that level of respect, though she knew that was mostly because she didn’t deserve it. Really, she just hoped that Marius’s response didn’t make Brandon any angrier. As long as things went well, she might even be able to follow one or the other of them as they went to do the things that Tiana had instructed them to. Anyu certainly didn’t know where anything was, having just arrived and all.

The Mage Guild of Alsijan

@Stitches Thanks for the heads up! Have a safe trip!

The Mage Guild of Alsijan

@CaptainMarvel I'll try and find some more. I just grabbed one that stood out in order to help start discussion. :)

The Mage Guild of Alsijan

Some more guild stuff

Ranks of the Mage’s Guild:

• Novice
• Adept
• Master

Titles within the Guild:

• Archmage - the president of the council that runs the Guild; lifetime appointment
• Councilor - title bestowed upon all members sitting on the council that administers the guild
• Minister - title of the members of the guild that run the day to day affairs like filing and making reports
• Headmaster - title of the councilor elected to oversee the academic institution within the Guild
• Magister - title granted to all members of the Guild that maintain an active teaching role

Rules for the Novices of the Guild:

• Novices are not to engage in the use of magic within the dormitories unless cleared by their supervisors
• Duels between novices are strictly forbidden unless cleared and supervised by a Master of the Guild
• Novices are not to leave the city without obtaining permission from the Guild. They are, however, free to explore the city in their free time
• Novices are to keep their quarters in the dormitories clean and tidy
• Novices should defer to members of the Guild that outrank them whenever possible
• Barring the cases of injury or illness, Novices are to attend all of the classes that the Guild administration assigns to them
• Unless excused by the proper channels, Novices are expected to perform their weekly chores dutifully
• Novices should never attack another person, whether using magic or other means, unless they are defending themselves or others
• Novices are expected to wear their uniforms at all times (with the exception of when they are asleep)

Rules for the Adepts of the Guild:

• Duels between adepts are strictly forbidden unless cleared and supervised by a Master of the Guild
• Adepts are not to leave the city without obtaining permission from the Guild. They are, however, free to explore the city in their free time
• Adepts should defer to members of the Guild that outrank them whenever possible
• Adepts should never attack another person, whether using magic or other means, unless they are defending themselves or others
• Adepts are expected to be diligent in their studies despite their more independent nature
• Adepts are expected to wear their uniforms whenever they are on Guild property

So, the above is just some ideas to flesh out the Guild's organization a bit more. This includes ranks and titles for members of the Guilds and a set of rules that the lower ranks need to observe. As usual, I'm willing to change any of them if enough people would prefer something different.

The astute reader might also notice that there's a reference to uniforms in the rules for the lower ranks. While I didn't get that many responses either way, everyone seems to have accepted it thus far in the story. So, unless people suddenly don't want to have a uniform, I'm going to go ahead and put it in there. That means that we'll need to decide on what the uniform looks like and everything. To get that conversation rolling, I've provided a picture that I think would be serviceable.

Possible uniform design(s)?

Let me know whether you guys like it or not. If you would prefer a different style or something, feel free to say so and submit your own picture. We'll ultimately end up using the one that is liked by the most people. :D

The Mage Guild of Alsijan

Character Name: Anyu
Time of Day: Early morning
Location: The common room of the dormitory
Interacting with: Mama Tiana (@Stitches), Marius Sirvaki (@ShwiggityShwah), Sylvana (@Etranger), Artemis (@FurFox), Orky (@OrkytheOrc)

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Anyu didn’t really get to look around the common room and its furnishings for very long before she heard the slow and steady footfalls approaching the top of the stairs. Realizing that she wouldn’t be able to hide before whoever it was stepped into the room and saw her, Anyu instead turned to watch as the person entered the room, her tail and ears twitching occasionally. Had anyone else been in the room, they may have noticed a sudden chill in the air as short-lived snowflakes began to fall gently around Anyu while she stood there and stared at the closed door.

Moments later, an incredibly large man ducked through the doorway into the common room itself, stopping short when he made eye contact with Anyu. ”Did I do something wrong? That must be why he’s so quiet. He’s angry at me and trying to think of how to yell at me,” Anyu thought as the silence between them stretched on, lowering her eyes to stare at her feet as she waited for the brusque-looking individual to say something. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Anyu, the man spoke up with his gruff voice, causing Anyu to flinch despite the fact that he was merely introducing himself as Orky.

Before Anyu could overcome her surprise that Orky apparently wasn’t angry with her and muster up the courage to tell him her name as he requested, a woman with silver hair entered the room behind him and moved to place her bags onto a nearby table. The suddenness of the woman’s appearance caused Anyu to take a few steps further from the door, the chill in the air intensifying slightly until she was at a more comfortable distance from the others. Certain that the elegantly-dressed woman’s salutation hadn’t been directed at her, Anyu opened her mouth to tell Orky her name before he began to suspect that she was trying to ignore him.

Unfortunately, Anyu hadn’t been able to do much more than open her mouth before the door behind Orky suddenly exploded inward with a resounding crash to reveal a man with fiery red hair who was shouting about villains and ambushes. The sudden noise elicited a faint shriek from Anyu as she flinched away from the door and collapsed into a sitting position. In her panic, her magic surged, coating the carpet she had been standing on in a thin layer of ice as snowflakes fell all around her. Meanwhile, the man behind the door had stepped through, revealing that he was covered in a variety of bandages, and started shouting about students being in his dormitory. ”Did that official make a mistake when he brought me here?” Anyu thought guiltily as she hugged her knees to her chest, a hollow pit forming in her stomach.

Before Anyu could worry herself too much about whether or not she was responsible for the fiery man’s anger, he had calmed down a bit, though he was still peering at everyone in the room suspiciously as he talked about retainers, whatever those were. Meanwhile, Orky had dashed out of the room and down the stairs while screaming about a mummy, which seemed to put the fiery-headed man on edge again from the way he jumped about as if he expected to be attacked. To make matters even more confusing, a lithe Sun Elf woman hurried into the room shortly after Orky left and promptly began laughing hysterically at something. Then another fair-skinned woman with dark hair darted into the room, though she was apparently concerned that something bad had happened from the questions she asked.

As the commotion died down in the common room, Anyu managed to calm herself down a little and get back on her feet, though the cracking of ice when she moved made her realize that she had accidentally used her magic when the door had been blown open. ”I hope that’s not a big deal,” she thought with a grimace as she finished standing up. She didn’t have much time to worry about how upset the Guild would be with her for potentially ruining what looked like an expensive rug, however, as the bandaged man suddenly fell to his knees and began raging about villains again.

If that hadn’t been surprising enough to cut through Anyu’s guilt about the rug, the roar of anger as the door was thrown open to reveal a short, matronly woman would have been. The new arrival wasted no time in scolding the fiery-haired man, whom the woman referred to as Marius Sirvaki, mostly for his use of magic in the halls and his threatening of the other students. Upon hearing that the use of magic in the dormitories was apparently considered to be a very serious crime, Anyu began to squirm and wring her hands together. ”Will she believe that I don’t mean to make it snow or that I didn’t mean to freeze the rug?” she thought, feeling nauseous as snowflakes continued to fall around her. While she didn’t exactly understand the punishment that the older woman described, Anyu knew from her tone that it couldn’t be anything good.

Anyu realized suddenly that the woman’s scolding of Marius Sirvaki had ceased and that the man had begun eyeing each of the other students in the room as if he was weighing them on invisible scales in order to determine their worth. When he directed that intense gaze at her, she couldn’t help but flinch slightly, certain that he saw how wicked she truly was in that stare. Regardless of what he saw, he moved his gaze to the next person in the room and continued his study. Though Anyu hoped that he wouldn’t go around telling everyone what he had seen, she had more pressing things to think about at the moment, namely her use of magic in the dorms.

While worrying about what was going to happen to her when the motherly woman noticed her use of magic, Anyu had contemplated the idea of hiding away in her room for a while. Now, of course, the time was passed. If the others hadn’t noticed the snow falling around her or the frozen carpet, they had to be blind. Plus, she really didn’t think that the authoritative woman would appreciate her attempts to get away. And so, even when Orky returned and distracted everyone by bowing to the woman and thanking her for taking care of the mummy, Anyu remained where she was, fidgeting occasionally.

The Mage Guild of Alsijan

Some worldbuilding stuff

As for the structure of the guild itself, I figured that it would essentially be run by a council (think a board of trustees kind of thing) with some of the different members overseeing different areas of the guild.

This council is responsible for choosing the headmaster of the school each year and who will fill the various other positions in the guilds leadership that help keep things running smoothly.

The headmaster is responsible for selecting what classes are taught and by whom each year, as well as who the mentors are for each House. Of course, they end up delegating a lot of this work to their assistants.

As for classes, I was thinking that they would mostly be general in nature. To truly master their magic, a student will probably have to do a lot of learning on their own, though more experienced members of the Guild are able to serve as tutors or mentors to the novices
I was thinking that the classes would be taught by members of the guild who are not too particularly fond of taking on the jobs the guild receives in order to make a living. The guild would offer a stipend to members of the guild who were interested in teaching and who demonstrated that they were capable of teaching well

The novices would have a couple of classes every day that they would take with the other members of their House. If the headmaster's department thinks that a novice needs to take extra classes (usually due to a deficiency in their previous education), they can assign them. Novices are also scheduled to perform some chores each week in order to help everything at the guild run as smoothly as possible.

Eventually, novices undergo an examination with an oral and practical component in order to determine whether or not they meet the guilds standards for its adept members. If they pass, they are invited to live in the smaller apartment complexes that the guild owns in the surrounding district. If they fail, they merely continue as a novice until they get the chance to try again.

These are just some of the general thoughts that I had for the guilds functions. As always, I am open to your suggestions regarding any of these. (Sorry for the wall of text)

Hey everyone! Some discussion came up in the discord chat about fleshing out the world a bit more, so I threw together some of my ideas on how the guild runs. To keep it from getting lost in the discord chat, I went ahead and ported it over to here in the above hider. :D Feel free to read it over and let me know if you have any suggestions regarding the points or things you think that I should have mentioned but didn't.

Also, I wanted to say that I've been loving everyone's posts so far. We have a pretty interesting cast of characters, and I can't wait to see how things progress from here. :D

The Mage Guild of Alsijan

Okay guys, the first IC post is up. To help everyone keep track of where everyone is, please use this handy tag at the beginning of your post.

[color=???][b]Character Name:[/b][/color]
[color=???][b]Time of Day:[/b][/color]
[color=???][b]Location:[/b][/color]
[color=???][b]Interacting with:[/b][/color] *Mention anyone that you're interacting with like this: CharacterName([@Mention])*

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I know I probably should have thought about this earlier, but do you guys want to have uniforms for novices or would you rather not have a dress code?

The Mage Guild of Alsijan

The Mage Guild of Alsijan

The early morning sunlight was reflected off the pale stone walls and brilliantly colored roofs that made up the city of Alsijan so that it appeared to shimmer radiantly, fully deserving of its title as the jewel of the sea. Though the day was still young, the city was already blanketed by a humid heat that was only somewhat lessened by the occasional salty breeze blowing in from the sea. Despite the warmth, the wide, cobblestone-paved streets of the city were filled to the brim with people hurrying on about their business, their activity lending the city a cacophonous hum that made the city seem as though it were almost alive.

As usual, the port was filled with hundreds of ships, their masts swaying rhythmically as the wind and waves rocked them. These ships came in every shape and size imaginable, and had come to the city of Alsijan for as wide a variety of reasons. A great many of them were the ships of merchants who had been drawn to the city by the promise of wealth, while some belonged to crews that went out into deeper waters to catch fish and other seafood. Still, some ships were for transporting people to different ports, often bringing with them people who were looking for a fresh beginning in the bustling city.

At the headquarters for the Mage Guild of Alsijan as business largely proceeded as usual. Most of the novice initiates were occupied with attending classes that would help them master their abilities or performing chores that helped keep the Guild running smoothly and tidily. The more experienced members of the Guild kept themselves occupied with business relating to the various jobs that the Guild was tasked with completing, though a significant number decided to serve the Guild by teaching classes and supervising novices instead. Still, a great many of the people that passed through the main doors of the Guild were outsiders that came to the Guild in order to request help dealing with issues that were magical in nature.

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Character Name: Anyu
Time of Day: Early morning
Location: The primary guild hall and then the dormitory
Interacting with: No one

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Squinting slightly due to the bright sunlight reflecting off the nearby buildings, Anyu surveyed her surroundings nervously as the wagon she was riding came to a gentle stop outside of the Guild’s stable. Her observations were cut short, however, when Malvin, her Sun Elf escort from the Guild, instructed her to dismount and follow him inside through the large wooden doors of the main building. Afraid of getting into trouble and being left behind, Anyu quickly climbed down from the wagon and hurried after Malvin before he got too far away.

Once inside, Malvin made straight for the large desk on the other side of the entrance hall and began talking with a thin human man that seemed to be working behind it. A few of the people who appeared to be waiting in line at the other end of the desk scowled at Malvin’s back as he passed, but the tall Sun Elf seemed completely unaware of their existence as he talked with the receptionist, removing some important-looking papers from his bag and handing them to the man on the other side of the desk. The conversation only lasted for a few minutes before Malving was saying farewell to the receptionist and heading towards a large set of stairs behind the desk.

Before Anyu could question what she was supposed to do next, the man behind the desk came around and motioned for her to follow him back outside. ”Your name is… Anyu, correct?” the man said as they walked through the doors of the main building, briefly glancing at the papers he had been given by Malvin. At her slight nod, he continued talking while they made their way across the cobbled pavement towards some of the smaller buildings. ”It appears that you’ll be put in with the… Meadowmist House, which is the name for one of our groups of novices. They’ll be around to help you adjust to living at the Guild. There’s also a House mentor that can help you with classes and the like, though I can’t seem to remember who it is for your house. Anyways, here we are at your dormitory.”

Once they were inside the smaller building, he began leading her up the nearby stairs that ran up along the wall before he started talking again. ”Your room will be on the third floor with the rest of your House. Each of you will have your own room that branch off from a larger common room that you can use to spend your free time with your fellow novices.” As he finished talking, they made it to the specified floor, and he directed her to the second room in on the right side. While he worked at finding the right key to unlock the pale wooden door, Anyu looked around at the common room somewhat nervously. The first thing that Anyu noticed was that the room was well furnished with comfortable-looking sofas and chairs. There were also a fair number of end stands or small tables scattered throughout the room, usually near the sofas or chairs, as well as a couple of tall bookshelves that were currently pretty empty.

Before Anyu could get a better look around, the man had found the right key to the door and opened it with a small motion for her to follow him inside. The room where she would be staying was indeed somewhat small, of course, but it was certainly a fair bit larger than Anyu would have ever expected to have to herself. Each of the walls was easily three or four times as wide as she was tall, and the bed, nightstand, and desk all fit inside comfortably. There was even a small closet of sorts for storing any belongings that a student might have brought with them.

After allowing her to explore for a few moments, the man spoke up again. ”I understand that you do not have any belongings apart from what you’re wearing, correct?” he asked, continuing when he saw Anyu’s hesitant nod. ”The guild will provide you with some of the essentials, then. Namely a few changes of clothing and some writing utensils. They should be delivered within a couple of days at the latest.” With that, he handed her the key to the room and gestured for her to follow him back into the common room.

”Your mentor or fellow novices will be able to provide you with more specific information on when you should attend classes and where,” the man continued as soon as Anyu stepped into the common room with him. ”Your fellow novices should be returning from their classes or chores shortly and they’ll be able to show you around more. Now, I must be getting back to my work in the main hall. Welcome to the Guild.” As the man finished talking, he gave a shallow bow and made his leave, walking over to the stairs and heading down them at a brisk pace. Unsure of what she was supposed to do then, Anyu decided to look around the common room a bit more while no one was around.

The Mage Guild of Alsijan

@FurFox Thanks. Feel free to move her on over now

The Mage Guild of Alsijan

@ShwiggityShwah Marius seems like a very intriguing character. Go ahead and put him in the character tab. :D