Cerrion Assembly
The Cerrion Assembly was established centuries before the fall of Zion during the Age of Arcanists as a response to the unchecked proliferation of dangerous magical experiments across Avaleen. Initially, the Assembly’s purpose was clear: to act as a governing body that could regulate the use of magic, prevent misuse, and keep arcane knowledge from falling into the wrong hands.
They positioned themselves as the ultimate authority over magical research, enforcing strict codes of conduct and laws regarding the use of arcane powers. Zion, at this time, was a hub for magical discovery, mining and experimentation. However, the city’s rapid technological and magical advancements also attracted dangerous ambitions, both internal and external. The Cerrion Assembly’s role was to keep these ambitions in check, ensuring that no single entity or faction could wield arcane power without oversight.
In the wake of Zion’s fall, the Cerrion Assembly’s role evolved. While they were once seen as a necessary and trustworthy force for protecting the world from rogue magic, their growing power led to increasing corruption. They began to hoard magical knowledge, keeping powerful artifacts and arcane secrets for themselves. They manipulated politics, quietly pushing the boundaries of their authority to ensure their dominance. Their leaders, once revered as scholars, now saw themselves as the true arbiters of Avaleen’s magical future. The Assembly may have been founded to prevent the misuse of magic, but it has become the very thing it once sought to protect the world from.
Founding
Only 233 years had gone by since the world saw the end of the Age of Celestials when a great disaster known as the Day of Tears occured in Solathra, then a much smaller town than it is today. Due to a wayward spell intended to puncture the Veil and siphon energy directly from the fabric of the universe, three entire districts were razed to the ground causing hundreds of deaths and a hundred more injuries.
In the wake of this disaster the King decided that mages had become too dangerous to let roam unchecked, but before he could outlaw magic altogether, nine mages led by Farin Voiland proposed a different solution. A guild dedicated to protecting the world from magic by letting only those with the greatest skill and most focused minds touch certain types of arcana.
After some deliberation, the King agreed and so was the first iteration of the Assembly formed. Nine mages, none of them ambassadors or warriors, but scholars, cartographers, realmriders, artificers and alchemists, built their headquarters on the outskirts of Zion - the first Grand Conclave. And there they remained, their mission clear.
What the King had not foreseen, or turned a blind eye too, was Farin's ambition and hubris.
Mission statement
This mission remains in their official manifesto, though many in modern Avaleen consider it a hollow echo of a noble past.
Let this be known from this day on: We will preserve the balance of the arcane. Shield Avaleen from ruinous ambition and guide the use of magic with wisdom, order and restraint. Let no mage practice without conscience, no knowledge sought without purpose, and no power helt without responsibility.
Symbol
The symbol of the Cerrion Assembly is an ancient scale with ten stars centered around the mast, representing the ten heads of the Assembly.
Membership
The Cerrion Guild is led by ten archmages, who hold their positions until their deaths or unanimous exclusion from their ranks. Directly under the archmages are deputies and annexes and assistants.
The Assembly in context
To an outsider it would appear that the Assembly were a close-knit group of friendly archmages and magical practitioners, but that is not the case. In public they smile and make pleasant arrangement between each other while they in secret conspire and work against each other.
At the height of their power, the Assembly were involved in nearly all aspects of governance in both Zion and Couralis. This included involvement in foreign relations, spying, protecting the realms against invasions, leading charges into the domains of (perceived) evil, supervising the Aeos Reserve until they lost that seat near the end of the Age and the Halls of Volima. They also claimed exclusive rights to every discovered artifact from the Age of Celestials, as well as first rights to all research relating to more contemporary discoveries across the world.
But despite concerns about their power and rather unchecked influence, the Cerrion Assembly have done a lot of good. Promoting learning in middle to lower classes in Solathra and the rest of Couralis, prevented catastrophes relating to arcane artifacts and accidents, predicted major leyline events and brokered peace between the warring nations of Couralis and Dashia.
The Cerrion Assembly and the Arcanium Consortium often find themselves at odds. They have not outwardly shown their antagonistic relationship, but it is an ill kept secret. Both sides have done what they can to keep the other in check, preventing each other from becoming too powerful and too monopolistic. It does happen that they work together toward a common goal, maintaining a frustrated working relationship, both in public and behind the scenes.
Cerrion Assembly in 1138 CE
While this organization has remained silent for a very long time, they are far from the inactive relic of the past that many believe them to be. They just learned to hide better. Learned to blend in with high society, while continuing the practices of the archmages past.
Not all members know or are aware of each other today. Those in more powerful positions can recognize the subtle insignia or phrases used to identify other membres. This trust is hard earned over time and those who disrespect that trust are seldom heard from or seen again.

"Bring order to chaos, light to darkness, wisdom to the uninitiated."
Official motto of Cerrion Assembly
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