Titus Mautsmith, the Magelord

Mautsmith was tall, broad-shouldered, and impeccably groomed even in his later years. He had piercing blue eyes that shined with intelligence bordering on genius, and always wore a beard, which was russet brown in his younger years, but became white flecked with gray as he grew older. In portraits and stained glass, he is almost always depicted in flowing robes of deep red and gold, a jeweled staff in one hand and a portal spiraling open behind him.

Titus was once of the most powerful archmages of his time, and had mastered several schools of magic. He also created a school of magic that focused on travel and teleportation that he called Portalmancy, although he accepted very few students to learn it.

Mautsmith regularly wore robes of vibrant red with gold trim. When traveling, he would wear a pointed hat with a wide brim, also red. Mautsmith claimed he wore seven league boots, but there is no other evidence to support his claim.

Mautsmith had two artifacts that he is known for - his staff, The Axis Arcanum, and a magical tome he titled The Lord's Passage.  

Axis Arcanum

Legendary Staff (Wondrous Artifact)   Description   The Axis Arcanum is the magnum opus of Titus Mautsmith’s genius — a flawless union of mathematical precision and arcane splendor. Standing taller than its wielder, the staff is crafted from runewood so pale it seems almost metallic, banded at intervals with gold etched in spiraling equations of space and motion. The staff culminates in a sphere of crystal clear as frozen air, within which a single point of silver light drifts and shifts like a distant star.     Around the crystal head are six orbiting rings of fine metal, each etched with sigils of distance, direction, and return. When activated, the rings spin in complex, mesmerizing patterns, leaving trails of golden light that form portals, gates, or pathways through the void between places. When activated, the rings accelerate, tracing glowing geometries through the air as if drawing the invisible structure of the world itself. To witness Titus wield it was to see the laws of distance bend like reeds in the wind — and to hear the quiet hum of creation itself adjusting to his will.   Legends claim the staff was forged at the exact center of the world, where Mautsmith discovered the “fixed point” — the place from which all locations may be measured. In his hand, the Axis Arcanum became both compass and key to the multiverse.   Recorded Abilities  

• Gatewright’s Command: As an action, the wielder can open a shimmering portal to any location they can visualize or name. Short-range portals (within line of sight) are effortless. Long-range or planar gates require a focus of one minute and consume a charge.
• Axis of Reality: While attuned, the wielder always knows their absolute position in the world and the direction of any place they have been. They can never be lost, disoriented, or magically displaced without consent.
• Paradox Ward: Once per long rest, the wielder can cause space around them (a 20-foot radius) to warp protectively. Attacks within this sphere have disadvantage, and incoming spells may simply “miss” — their trajectories slipping into folded space.
• Axis Ascendant (Legendary Power): Once in a lifetime, the wielder may open the Absolute Gate — a doorway not between places, but between possibilities. To use it is to step into legend… or to vanish from all known maps.

  Legacy   To this day, many claim that when teleportation spells go awry, it is because the Axis Arcanum has turned, and the world has shifted a degree closer to the Mage Lord’s design.  

The Lord’s Passage

Legendary Artifact (Grimoire)   Physical Description   The Lord’s Passage is a massive tome bound in dragonhide dyed deep crimson, its edges gilded with electrum filigree that seems to hum faintly when touched. The cover bears a sigil of interlocking circles that subtly rearrange themselves whenever one looks away, each rotation representing a plane of existence or possible location. The spine is reinforced with arcane brass rings, and the clasp is a piece of engraved voidstone, cold as the space between stars. The pages, made from an unknown metallic vellum, are said to shimmer between parchment and mirror depending on the angle of light.   When opened, the book gives off a low harmonic vibration, as though the air itself is tuning to a deeper frequency. The script within is written in shifting golden ink that glides along the page, sometimes rearranging itself to form new spells or diagrams when a reader truly understands a passage. At the heart of the book is a circular sigil of intricate runic geometry — the Glyph of Return, said to be a perfect equation describing all movement in the universe. It is this glyph that Mautsmith used to forge his mastery over space.   Origin & History   Mautsmith compiled The Lord’s Passage over the final forty years of his life. It was not merely a spellbook — it was a map of reality itself, written in his own evolving metaphysical language. He began it as a treatise on teleportation, but over time, it became a philosophical and arcane synthesis: a grand unification of magic, movement, and willpower. The book was said to record his experiments with translocation, planar folding, and self-duplication — including failed attempts that tore portions of reality itself.   Rumors claim that the Lord's Passage is among the tomes kept under guard in the Index Prohibitum of the Academy's Great Library. Upon Titus' disappearance, a single new phrase appeared across the cover, written in Mautsmith’s own script:   “Si veekir vur di wer darastrixi nishka.”   Rumored Powers of the Book   The Lord's Passage reportedly containes every spell that pertains to magical travel, but especially instantaneous travel, such that the reader can cast Teleport, Teleportation Circle, and Dimension Door flawlessly — they never misfire or deviate.   There is a persistent rumor that if the bearer of The Lord’s Passage also wields the Axis Arcanum (Mautsmith’s staff), they gain the ability to fold space for others — creating permanent teleportation gates between places of learning or power. These gates can supposedly only be unmade by destroying the book or the staff.   Finally, it is believed that if the bearer of the book ever writes upon the final blank page at the end of the tome, reality will bend to make it true — once. Whatever is written becomes part of existence, but at the cost of the writer’s place in it. Their name and memory are erased from all planes, as if they had never been born. Many scholars believe Mautsmith himself used this power to author his own disappearance.   Rumored Curses & Safeguards   The Lord’s Passage is not meant for the unready. Aside from the magical wards that prevent its theft from the Great Library, it is said that anyone attempting to open the book without permission will be instantly "disassembled" — their atoms scattered harmlessly across the universe. Their consciousness lingers for an instant, hearing a faint voice whisper:   “You are not yet where you belong.”

It is not known where Titus Mautsmith was born. While Rosalind has claimed he was a native son, historians reported that his accent was more akin to that of the highlands that bordered Carador and Erynland. The family name "Mautsmith" does not show in any list of citizens, but the name "Moorsmith" appears in Salthaven between III.A. Y.400 and Y.475.   Titus grew up in a world that had seen the birth of three new nations - Carador, Erynland, and Osseus. It was a tumultuous time, made more chaotic by the conflicts between countries. Mautsmith's youth is unknown but at some time after he became an adult, he was a part of a mercenary troop in Erynland, working regularly for House Warrender. By then he had become a wizard, known for both flashy magics and weatherworking. He then joined a team of adventurers, exploring some of the more remote areas of the Lands of Legend. Titus always claimed he and his team entered the Dark Tower and found a cache of treasure, but only barely escaped alive. He refused to give any further details. He also claimed to have taken tea with a black dragon, saved beautiful monsters from ravening princesses, and beaten an undead sorcerer in a riddle contest.   What is known for certain is that at the age of 33, Mautsmith recruited eight other powerful wizards, sorcerers and enchanters. Together, they built Mautsmiths Academy of the Arcane on a living cloud stained by the blood of immortals. Upon its completion, Titus Mautsmith declared himself the Mage Lord and Sorcerer Supreme of the Lands of Legend, and opened the Academy's doors to students from around the Lands with himself as the founding Headmaster. The original entrance exam was simple - if you could get to the Academy, you could enter. Flying and levitation spells suddenly became very popular.   The first year of study was a disaster - the mages Mautsmith had recruited to teach adhered to old ways, doling out their magical secrets only to their chosen pupils rather than the entire class. Moreover, the students themselves acted in cutthorat fashion to advance themselves in their studies, sometimes extremely literally. More than one student ended their career in murder during that first year.   In an attempt to create some comaraderie between students, Mautsmith persuaded the eight founding archmages to create four academic Houses, each represented by a rare magical creature. While students from rival Houses might compete with each other, membership in a House gave a student a sense of community and teamwork. Within a few years, each House started to form a sense of identity they continue to have today. Before long, Mautsmiths Academy became known as the premier school of magic in the Lands of Legend; the pointed hat, silver scarf and Yew wood staff given to every graduate became symbols of power in the magical community.   Originally, the Academy floated freely, but King Berran the Eager of Rosalind offered a princely sum to Mautsmith to have the Academy float above its capital city of Lys. Alumni of the Academy were honored guests in many nobles' homes, and several served in Rosalind's military or bureaucracy.   Titus resumed his traveling and adventuring after several years of leading the Academy, although his exploits appeared to be more tame than his prior adventures. He spent much of his time researching and developing spells pertaining to travel, especially teleportation. By the time he was 60 years of age, he could travel instantly across the continent is the blink of an eye. His research and thoughts were recorded in the grimoire titled The Lord's Passage. He claimed no one truly understood the art of teleportation as he did. He also crafted his own personal staff, the Axis Arcanum, which is depicted in most images of the Mage Lord. Over time, he spent more and more time away from the Academy. No one knew where he was traveling to, only that he was gone for long periods of time.   At the age of eighty, Mautsmith gathered the faculty of the Academy and announced his intention to leave. He turned over the position of Headmaster to Hypnotum the Mind Bender. He laid his grimoire in the Index Prohibitum, the forbidden wing of the Academy's great Library. He changed the motto of the school from its original words in Ancient Aurinyth (the lost language of the Chromatic Empire), “Nael torren vae’lum.” — “Knowledge is the highest wind.” to its current phrase in Old Vaelish (a dead language once spoken by the mage kingdoms of Vael Torith during the Second Age), "M clavis est ad omnia secreta."   He then gathered all students and faculty in the great feasting hall of the Pentacular Tower and announced his departure, but claimed that he had created a secret fifth academic House on campus, and that any student who would join it need only stand in Main Quad and whisper the name of the House and its doors will open to them. Then, he...vanished.   From that time to the present no further record has been found of Titus Mautsmith. Given the time that has passed, it is assumed that he is dead and his bones lay in some forgotten place. A funeral for him was held on the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Academy.

Mautsmith always claimed he was self-taught. However, there are records that he spent some time in the Minaret of Mehnaz (vulgarly known as the Silent Tower).

Mautsmith's greatest achievement is the academy that bears his name. Titus both built the academy and servied as its founding Headmaster for nearly twenty years.   During his time as Headmaster, he did not stop traveling and exploring, but during academic semesters he stayed closer to the Academy. During these times, he crafted the two artifacts he is best known for - his staff, The Axis Arcanum, and a magical tome he titled The Lord's Passage.

A visionary, egotist, and genius in equal measure, Mautsmith’s ambition was not merely to master magic but to define it. He believed the arcane arts should be the measure of civilization itself. Titus was a tireless self-promoter, causing statue after statue of himself raised both in the Academy and elsewhere.   Titus’s personality was a mixture of magnetic charm and unshakable arrogance. He delighted in spectacle: grand entrances in showers of light, lectures delivered from midair, and the occasional public duel that ended before his opponent could draw breath. Yet, for all his vanity, his intellect was undeniable, and his students revered him — some with devotion, others with grudging awe.

Mautsmith paid homage to Clea in her capacity as the goddess of magic, and at one point, built a chapel to her on Academy Grounds. After his disappearance, the chapel remained on the peoperty for another thirty five years until it was destroyed by a freak incident involving the accidental Summoning of a fire fiend. The governing council chose not to rebuild the chapel, but the Academy and its students still participate in many holy days involving Clea, as they did when Mautsmith was Headmaster.