Magnus Arcanum
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| Magnus Arcanum | |
|---|---|
| also known as the Arcanum | |
| Kind | Arcane institution |
| Seat | Empire-wide, with towers in Moonward and Iceverf |
| Status | Intact in the Aenarch: Last Winter timeline |
| GM canon | |
| first cited: [heralds-a#3] | |
Magnus Arcanum is the arcane institution of the Aenarch Empire, the organization of magic and mind-magic that governs spellcasting, magical law and the licensing of mages across the realm. [heralds-a#50 · heralds-a#125]
Overview
The order is built around Seven Great Houses devoted to arcane and mind magic, of which House Rosamendus and House Rosemint are two. [heralds-a#124 · heralds-a#127] House Rosamendus in particular leads the mind-magic tradition, and the family stationed a relative of its bloodline in the lands around County of Rosereach. [heralds-a#122 · heralds-a#124] Beyond spellcasting itself, Magnus Arcanum runs the empire's magical bureaucracy: its buildings offer everything from spellcasting services to magical legal matters, and its towers hold ledgers, regulate practice and store relics. [heralds-b#164 · last-winter#173 · last-winter#628] In Iceverf, its local seat is the Magnus Arcanum Building, which provides magical services and administers magical bureaucracy for the city. [last-winter#173 · last-winter#174] In Moonward, it maintains a tower handling magical bureaucracy, regulation and the storage of powerful relics. [last-winter#628 · last-winter#634]
Authority and reach
As an empire-wide arcane authority, Magnus Arcanum can appoint war-time officials with wide-ranging power: it dispatched Naevys Duskbloom to Rosereach with wartime authority. [heralds-a#50] It has likewise sent an Archmage to aid a regency's war effort and study battlefield magic and anomalies. [last-winter#753] The High Mage who currently directs magical operations on the Eastern Front also comes from Magnus Arcanum's ranks. [last-winter#792 · last-winter#793] Its governing body appointed Elara Candleworth as the Magus of Iceverf, its senior representative for magical affairs in that city. [heralds-b#192 · last-winter#175] It is also the magical authority formally notified about the Kelruun omen and its crossing between realms, though its briefing on the matter is incomplete. [heralds-b#446 · heralds-b#447]
Status across timelines
Needs a decision: Magnus Arcanum's condition differs sharply between records of the same conversation: is the institution's fracturing a fact of the present Heralds of the Cycle era, or was that framing itself a mistake later corrected by the campaign owner?[heralds-b#197 · heralds-b#204]
In the timeline of Aenarch: Last Winter, the campaign owner explicitly affirmed that Magnus Arcanum has not collapsed: it remains whole, powerful and deeply woven into the Empire's governance, and any collapse belongs only to later or separate projects such as Winds of the Stormgate. [heralds-b#204 · heralds-b#219]
Elsewhere in the record, the order is instead described as having fractured after the massacre of its High Council, with surviving Arcanists becoming isolated power-centers who each put their own tower and apprentices first.
Players, stop here. What is hidden behind this point is game-master material. The full detail is on GM:Magnus Arcanum.
Magnus Arcanum and Blackice
Magnus Arcanum is aware that Blackice exists, but it does not grasp the secret society's true depth and underestimates Godwin White. [heralds-b#397]
Its exact dealings with Blackice in Graymond go further than that.
Players, stop here. What is hidden behind this point is game-master material. The full detail is on GM:Magnus Arcanum.
Separately, the order's local tower — sometimes called the Mage Tower — joined Faith in the raid on Black Ice, examining the evidence there for magical traces. [heralds-b#439 · heralds-b#444]
In play
Naevys Duskbloom, holding the Arcanum Tower of Deadreach, is Magnus Arcanum's most consequential presence in the current chronicle; her standing with the order's leadership is delicate.
Players, stop here. What is hidden behind this point is game-master material. The full detail is on GM:Magnus Arcanum.
Related pages
- Naevys Duskbloom — Arcanum envoy sent to Rosereach, now holding the tower over Deadreach
- Elara Candleworth — appointed Magus of Iceverf by the order's governing body
- Aenarch Empire — the empire Magnus Arcanum serves as its arcane institution
- Blackice — the shadow society the order underestimates and has been quietly used by
- Deadreach — site of the order's fallen tower and its scattered Arcanists
- House Rosamendus — one of the Seven Great Houses, leading the mind-magic tradition
- Iceverf — hosts a Magnus Arcanum building and the seat of its appointed Magus
- Moonward — hosts a Magnus Arcanum tower for bureaucracy, regulation and relics
Unconfirmed ideas
The source conversations contain proposals for Magnus Arcanum that the campaign owner never confirmed. They are collected on Idea:Magnus Arcanum so they cannot be mistaken for canon.