Guild Magicians

and the Colleges & Academies

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The Magician Profession graduate are his HOUSE CANON, and his
PERSONAL GRIMOIRE.
As a Guild Magician (or »wizardry-adept«),
you were taught by an institution (or mentor) Canons: The »schools of magic« (that is,
who follows the ways of a time-honored and subject areas) are typically categorized into
sophisticated educational system, covering a what is known as a »canon«. Canons are not
lot of ground in many fields of study; by de- uniform, and they have changed a lot
fault, this means you have at least a basic throughout history depending on current re-
understanding of several fields of knowledge, search trends and new findings about spells
like history, linguistics, mathematics, and magic. This has lead to all academies de-
theology, guild laws, some basic alchemy veloping their own set of spells they have re-
and many other arts that would also be ad- searched over the ages and teach their pupils
dressed in modern real world elementary- – this is known as a oHouse Canon.
and high schools. Mind you, we are still talk- When creating an academy-graduate magi-
ing about late-medieval horizons, but it cian, you receive the House Canon keyword
means no matter which core abilities or sub- of your school, with all included spells as
sidiary studies your character has as abilities, breakout-abilities at +1. You can always raise
he will always have certain fundamental sci- these spells as you see fit by either raising
entific capabilities necessary for his craft as a the keyword or the individual spells with hero
magician. points according to the standard rules for im-
In a way, each academy represents a »sub- proving heroes. They are your bread-and-but-
profession« of guild mage; the school they at- ter spells as a magician.
tended heavily influences who they are once Your academy also comes with an »Ex-
they graduate, as their set of spells and fields tended Canon«; these are spells you can
of magic they specialize in will vary. start with, but do not automatically know;
you can 'activate' any of these spells by pur-
chasing them with points during character
Creating A Magician creation. You can later study these spells in
There is actually more than one way to cre- your own time and learn them with greater
ate an aventurian magician. When creating a ease, meaning you can 'activate' them later
magician, you will refer to the Register of without the need to return to an archive or
Magician Academies, so to say the cata- find a spellbook to learn them from – you are
logue of these sub-profession packages. familiar with the theory of these spells, but
These will tell you about the individual you have not mastered them yet until you
schools, their profile and their curriculum. spend points and put them on your character
A variant of the »default« academy graduate sheet. When you do so, add them to your Per-
are privately-schooled magicians, charla- sonal Grimoire.
tans and hedge-wizards, which are dis-
cussed in the appendix-chapter. The oPersonal Grimoire: similar to the
»house-canon« of schools, a personal gri-
The Academy-Graduate moire is a particular magician's set of spells
About a third of human magicians on Aven- in which she specialises and which she has
turia are academy-graduates, and they by mastered. A personal grimoire is not neces-
far represent the »standard« in terms of how sarily a book, but the term comes from the
magicians as a whole are represented. They habit of wizards keeping personal notebooks
are strongly shaped by the school they vis- and writing their own manuals on their spells
ited, and which magic they were taught as part of their exercizes. In essence, your
there. Personal Grimoire encompasses all spells of
The central magic ability of an academy- your tradition that you know which are not al-
ready part of your House Canon. • §Fulminictus +1
At character creation, you receive the oPer- • §Ignifaxius +1
sonal Grimoire keyword with a base rating • §Plumbumbarum +1
of 13. You can raise it like any other keyword,
and you can add spells as breakout-abilities Personal Grimoire 13
under it, be it from your school's extended
canon, or entirely new sources (which is a bit
more involved). Archetypes & Corresponding
By extension, your Personal Grimoire can Academies
also serve as your research library if you Here is a selection of »wizard-archetypes«
have a home-base (like a magician's tower); and which school would produce that sort of
while casting spells from your Personal Gri- magician.
moire does not require you to lug actual Combat- and War-Mage: Combat-Seminar
books around with you, the research that Andergast, Halls of Martial Perfection of
went into committing these spells to memory Gareth
and figuring them out somewhat implies you Mago-Sentinel: University of Al'Anfa
were keeping notes and study journals some- Artificer: Dragon's Orb Academy of Khun-
where, which might prove helpful in further chom
research. Transmuter: Halls of Metamorphosis Cous-
lico
Known Criteria: Each academy will have Abjurer: Academy of Anti-Magic of Couslico
listed at least one criteria the school focuses Magic Researcher: High Academy & Ar-
its research on, and that is often integral to cane Institute of Punin
its house canon. Graduates of the college will
usually have a good understanding of spells
with that particular criterion, and you should
note your known criteria on your character
sheet. They will become useful for learning
new magic later. Detailled rules on criteria
and how to master them you will find in
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>>>XYZ<<<. Guild Magic: Wizardry &
The oStaff of the Magi: The staff is a ma- Sorcery????
gician's status symbol, as well as a useful Magician Spellcasting (Sorcery): ...
tool, but not one which every magician Staff of the Magi (Focus): your staff is not
makes equal use of. While every academy only a sign of power and status, but also a
graduate starts with the keyword Staff of the useful tool, for it can be enchanted with a
Magic at 13, the only so-called staff-sorcery number of spells; when leaving the academy,
that is already included is the §Affinity Of your staff is bound to you, serves as a focus
The Staff, giving it the [Imprint] criterion for meditation and spellcasting (albeit it is
and making it indestructible through any not necessary) unbreakable, and a magic
mundane means, and also making it a magi- item (meaning it can interact, aka hurt, astral
cal weapon while in the hands of the magi- creatures and demons). Beyond that, you will
cian it is attuned to. Staffs can take many have to look into the chapter »Grimoires,
different forms and shapes (within certain Staves & Alchemy – the Ars Magica«. You can
regularia that are written down in the Codex also opt against a staff in some academies,
Albyricus) – if you want to learn more about and rather receive the Alchemist's Dish or the
the Staff of the Magic and the staff-sorceries, Crystal Ball.
please consult the document on Advanced ***
Tradition Rules: Grimoires, Staff & Magic In the ability lists under languages, (+RW)
Rings. means »+ Read & Write«, indicating the
characters cannot only speak the language,
EXAMPLE as would be the case by default. Languages
Aleric of Andergast is a young graduate from which are preceeded by »RW«, like for exam-
the Combat-Seminar Andergast. His magical ple »RW Nanduria« mean that you can only
abilities look as follows: read and write this language – usually indi-
cating that this is not a spoken language at
House Canon 17 all.
• §Armafast Arcanoguard +1
• §Balmsalabûn +1
• §Blinding Flash +1
• §Iron, Rust And Patina +1 öäüÖÄÜ
 into your personal grimoire when following
the above rules. Once that happens, your
Improving Your Magic, house canon keyword has become useless;
Learning New Spells And Ad- you may spend 2 hero points to dissolve it,
and when you do so, all the spells that origi-
vanced Techniques nally belonged to your house canon are
raised by +1, just like if you raised the key-
Transcribing Spells From House Canon word. Erase the house canon keyword from
To Personal Grimoire your character sheet.
If it so happens that your personal grimoire
keyword 'catches up' to your house canon Learning new spells
keyword, you have the option of 'transcribing' Guild Magicians seek to catalog and study
a spell from your house canon keyword and magic of all kinds, and to fixate this logic in
putting it under your personal grimoire key- their scrolls and books, to archive them for
word – meaning that you are starting to de- later generations. The curiosity and thirst for
velop your 'own style' with that spell. To do knowledge in them is great, and many magi-
so, you can spend 1 hero point to transfer the cians will want to incorporate new spells they
spell, and it also is raised by +1. However, find into their personal grimoire. Sometimes,
once made a part of your personal grimoire, they will even try to learn spells from those
you cannot just swap the spell back into your magic-users outside of their tradition, and
house canon; you can still cast the spell via their logical approach to magic makes this
your house canon keyword, but without any possible.
bonus you would normally receive from a When trying to learn a new spell, you have
breakout-ability. to consider the following restrictions:
- Is it within your own tradition, that is,
This rule is intended to underline and en- guild magic/wizardry, or another? If it be-
courage the process of most magicians grow- longs to the wizardry- or guild magic tradi-
ing past their roots at some point, and give tion, then you can proceed unhindered with
incentive in expanding and improving their the next point. Otherwise, go to »learning for-
personal grimoire, without feeling the need to eign spells«.
always stick to their »house template«, with - Is it part of your school's extended
the goal of giving up this template com- canon? If so, then you can just go ahead and
pletely one day. However, that is a goal not spend the points to master is as a spell under
easily reached. your personal grimoire keyword.
- Does it have a magic-criterion that is
EXAMPLE known to you? If so, and you know half or
Aleric has become a veritable magician over more criteria of the spell, you can just go
the years (he has even grown a full beard). ahead and spend the points to master it as a
His magical abilities look as follows now: spell under your personal grimoire keyword. If
House Canon 12W; so and you know just one or less than half of
criteria contained in the spell, it is harder for
Personal Grimoire 13W; you to understand. Your GM may require you
The time has come for him to define his own to find a manual or other instruction to learn
style and research as a wizard, and to leave this spell first, or decide that you need to
the confines of his school. His personal gri- spend a long time trying to unlock its secrets.
moire has grown in scope, and he wants to - Is the spell foreign to you? If none of
continue focussing more on it, so he decides the above applies – meaning the spell is out-
to carry over some of his spells from his side your tradition, your school-canons and
house canon, and spends X hero points. His includes no criteria known to you – then it is
abilites now look like this: to be considered »foreign magic«. In this
BLORP case, you can still try to learn the spell, but at
BLARP the GM's discretion, you may require a
teacher, a manual and a long time to study it,
Should he ever come to the point where his and you cannot learn the spell as part of your
house canon overtakes his personal grimoire house canon or personal grimoire keywords,
again, it will be a standalone ability. (Technically,
you can try to master a foreign tradition and
Dissolving Your House Canon thus open a »research-grimoire«, but this is
There may come the day when you have an advanced technique and more complex,
transcribed all spells from your house canon and will be discussed at another time later in
the rules.)