Shadowsong Academy

A loose collection of occultists dedicated to protecting the first world from the powers of outsiders by studying them. Going against the fears and protestation of many others, members of the Shadowsong Academy deal directly with the elemental, eldrich, and other exotic powers of the outer realms in hopes of learning how to protect Lorgaire from their destructive influences. Despite the name, there is no great public institution, repository of their research, or school dedicated to their teachings. For most members of the Shadowsong Academy if it became public knowledge that they were making deals with devils or elementals, they would be lynched by an angry mob of their neighbors almost as quickly as any common witch or goblin.   Members of the organization often belong to other renowned institutions and pursue more socially acceptable lines of study either as cover, or in addition to their occult activities. Clergy of a respectable member of the Sovereign Host such as Lagnia Sea's Fury may make secret bargains with a watery elemental lord to rescue lost sailors just as covertly as a cultist of Vainu Blightbringer of the Nightmakers bargains with a herald of the void. While many of their scholarly or academic contemporaries may see the value in the goal members of the Shadowsong Academy pursue, they fear the stigma and loss of trust it will cast upon their whole kind if the risk was revealed.   While the secretive nature of the Shadowsong Academy protects its members from some other zealous protectors of Lorgaire, it also makes them vulnerable to the machinations of those destructive powers of the outer realms which are cloaked in similar layers of secrecy and engaged in similar methods of study or spell weaving. Recruitment of new members is fraught with danger for many reasons, and takes no standard form. Some young sparks born within known occult or sorcerous bloodlines may be fortunate enough to be ushered into the organization without suffering the trials and persecution those who spontaneously develop such a talent will endure. Spell weavers who decide to dabble later in life are more likely to find them self being monitored by a recruiter for the Shadowsong Academy in much the same way a witch hunter or Inquisitor of the Silver Fulgor.