Astrologers' Consortium

The Astrologer's Consortium

“What the eye misses, the heavens remember.”

• Type: Academic & Arcane Guild

• Headquarters: The Celestial Athenaeum, Lankhmar

• Branches: Present in every major city of Western Nehwon

 

Overview

The Astrologer’s Consortium is one of the oldest and most secretive scholarly Guilds in Nehwon, dedicated to the study of the stars, celestial movements, omens, and planar tides. Based in the smog-draped city of Lankhmar, the Consortium is as much an intellectual powerhouse as it is a quiet enforcer of arcane balance. While their headquarters occupies the Celestial Athenaeum—a spired observatory laced with enchanted brass instruments—their influence extends far beyond, through well-placed branches in Ilthmar, Mythan Belanore, Duhn Glorr, Sarheenia, Ildebreth, and other civilized centers across Western Nehwon.  

Purpose and Methods

To the public, the Consortium is a respected academic guild. Its members are astrologers, diviners, astronomers, and mathematical mystics who draft star-charts, interpret omens, and offer celestial guidance to nobles, merchants, and monarchs. They speak in signs and sigils, and their predictions are viewed with reverence—or fear.   Behind closed doors, however, the Consortium is much more: a guardian order, watching for signs of metaphysical collapse. They are custodians of forgotten alignments, lost moons, and sky-born phenomena that even gods are reluctant to name. Through lunar harmonics, zodiacal convergence, and arcane stellar mapping, they attempt to predict and prevent magical cataclysms.  

Structure and Membership

The Consortium operates through three tiers:   Star-Scribes – Junior members who chart heavens and draft almanacs. Often found in guild branches across Nehwon.   Celestial Stewards – Full members with voting rights, each overseeing local observatories and minor arcane tasks.   Grand Astrologers – Senior seers, diviners, and sky-mages who interpret deep omens and advise kingdoms.   At the top sits the Celestial Chair, a title currently held by Archmage Volinar Ephrantheus of Lankhmar.  

Connection to the Circle of Seventeen Wizards

Unknown to most, the Astrologer’s Consortium was originally founded as a mortal adjunct to the Circle of Seventeen Wizards—a legendary cabal of near-immortal spellcasters who have watched over Nehwon for untold millennia. Though the Circle rarely intervenes in mortal affairs, they communicate through encrypted ephemerides and divine alignments that only the Consortium can interpret.   When celestial events like the Zodac-no-Kara approach, the Consortium acts as the mouthpiece of the Circle, decoding the gods’ will, distributing riddled scrolls, and awakening long-dormant observatories designed to focus magical leyline resonance.   Some say the Circle lives in a palace beyond the firmament. Others whisper they are merely slumbering gods. The Consortium never confirms—only observes.  

Beliefs and Taboos

The Stars Are Memory: The heavens record everything; no action goes unmarked.   Eclipse is Judgment: When Sonne is blotted out by the moons, something must be weighed.   The Seventeenth Moon: A forbidden concept. Never discussed in public. Some believe it heralds the end of all cycles.   The Consortium forbids any member from predicting their own death, divining lottery numbers, or teaching astrology to nobles who cannot read a chart unaided—a dry joke often told by guildmembers.  

Influence and Lore Hooks

High-paying clients commission celestial readings before assassinations, marriages, or wars.   Rival Guilds—especially the Guild of Wizards in Ilthmar—accuse the Consortium of manipulating fate.   In some cities, the Consortium is treated as semi-religious, their domed guildhalls doubling as temples to cosmic order.   Rumors persist of a Black Ephemeris stored in the Lankhmar Athenaeum’s deepest vault—a book that charts the end of magic itself.