The Magisterium
The world waits with bated breath for the day that the magi in their halls of study and research decide that they are no longer satisfied with just studying the Weave and the planar realms and want to have them all for themselves.
Arguably one of the most power organizations in all of Duankh, the Magisterium, is actually the foremost university for the study of the Weave and the arcane arts. As an organization the Magisterium boast a large contingent of students, professors, mages, and sages, that all share a common goal of the advancement and understanding of magic in the known world. They are an independent body not tied to any nation directly but they have dealings and some partnerships with mostly all the nations of Duankh.
Structure
The Magisterium is structured like a university. There is a headmagister that is appointed by a board of directors. The headmagister hires and promotes, with the help of staff, professors/magisters to teach the various students. The headmagister and board of directors also grant funds and resources to individuals for research purposes.
The departments of the Magisterium are broken up by the field of study and each department has a department head that manages the professors beneath them. There are a few other positions within the Magisterium such as the magiscouts that travel Duankh looking for new students, the praetorium, the security arm, and the liaisons to the nations of Duankh.
Culture
At its core the Magisterium is an institute for learning and research. Those that attend the university seek to advance their knowledge of the arcane in order to better themselves or the world. Magic being such a powerful and unwieldy force in the world, they believe as those who can manipulate the Weave, that it is their duty to understand it and master it.
The Magisterium operates out of a demiplane that is also called the Magisterium and therefore many of the mages of the Magisterium are not used to the outside world and their world view is only the wondrous magic that surrounds them on a daily basis.
Religion
The Weaver performed her grand miracle before the Planar Convergence, crafting the Weave that surrounds all of Ostyria and allows for its denizens to access it's threads and shape spells. However many mages in and out of the Magisterium question the validity of this commonly held belief. Being a worshiper let alone a devotee of the Weaver is taboo among the Magisterium for it would mean that they (the mages) could never reach such a pinnacle of magic if it is held by a god.
Foreign Relations
The Magisterium is not a militant organization, they do not seek to rule or establish a mageocracy within any nation on Duankh unlike the Arcanum Imperium. However the nations of Duankh do not all share this perception of the Magisterium.
The Marrow Queen, ruler of Kuu'land, passed an edict banning not only the Magisterium from operating within its borders but the use of magic at all. It is a crime punishable by death or exile.
The Heh'n Empire under the direction of the Eternal Queen, has a secret arcane institute that she hopes will one day rival the Magisterium, although she allows the Magisterium to operate in a limited capacity with the empire.
The Clans of Apeti have no laws against or for the Magisterium, they allow them to operate as they please, but some are skeptical of the Magisterium's true intentions, especially as aberrant creatures continue to spill up from the Great Chasm that makes up the western border of Apeti and the end of the continent.
Many of the Merchant Lords of Kala-Kau have hired former magisters or graduates of the Magisterium as advisors and some have even funded special research studies, as long as they benefit the lord in some way.
The Magisterium has the strongest ties with Philae as they have a liaison that has a seat on the Council of Philae, the Arcane Advisor. Many other nations see this as the Magisterium being an arm of Philae but the Council and the Magisterium both fight this suggestion and claim the role to be purely one of convenience and friendship.
The independent city-state of Shuphyr, that sits in a rift into the Planar Realm of Air, has a Magisterium facility as study of the planar realms is one of the Magisterium's main foci.
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