| The Axis Collegiate; Those Who Study Magick and Other Such Fancy Arts | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 29 2014, 04:53 AM (64 Views) | |
| Zalo | Jul 29 2014, 04:53 AM Post #1 |
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![]() "Ex Mystica Scientia, Vera Scientia" "From Mystic Knowledge, True Knowledge" Organization Name: Axis Collegiate (aka "The Collegiate", "Uni", "The Compass", "The High Tower") Organization Type: Scholastic Body, Research Institute, Think Tank, International Standards Authority, Occult University, etc. Chancellor: Ebenezer Newnham-Wickett, Earl of Wesselton, Th(m)D (Experimental Metaphysics), Th(m)D (Applied Metaphysics), Th(e)D Amberly Campus President: Dr. Jonathan Mallory, MD (Neuroplasmology), PhD (Psychosomology) Gold Dean: Sir Quentin Watson, Th(m)D, PhD (Accounting), DBA Sapphire Dean: Dr. Margaret Courtenay, Duchess of Gladstone, Th(m)D (Applied Metaphysics), PhD (Hermetic Mathematics), PhD (Theoretical Metaphysics) Ruby Dean: Dr. Henry Lappin, Baron of Cavendish, Th(m)D (Microthaumaturgy), PhD (Thaumagenetics) Ivory Dean: The Most Reverend Dr. Terrance Pardew, Archbishop of Hartsbury, Th(m)D (Psychometry), Th(e)D, DHL, PhD (Historical Psychometrics), PhD (Ectobiology) Obsidian Dean: Sir Dennis Blake, Th(m)D (Applied Alchemy), EngD, PhD (Nuclear Alchemy) Lord Occult Marshall: Baroness Catherine Kensington, MTh(m) (Aerokinetics), BSc (Leax) (Hons) (Applied Physics) Purpose: To study, advance, organize, and compile any and all knowledge pertaining to the magical. To create a globally recognized and accepted set of standards pertaining to the magical, such as methodologies, theories, paradigms, codes of ethics, units of measurement, etc. To develop and deploy more effective methods to conceal the existence of the magical from the general public. To effectively protect this pool of knowledge from opposing organizations. History: Kensington's Axis Though various magical organizations have existed since time immemorial, the Axis Collegiate, one of the most dominant monoliths of magical research and study today, is actually quite young. Indeed, it all started with one man in the mid 1600's, a man who dreamt about standing at a crossroads and realized that, even though it went in four directions, the roads were still contiguous. That man was Sir Joshua Kensington. In his paper Treatise on the Occults and on the Disciplines of Magic, Professor Charleton Richard Dickens, a former Ruby Dean, briefly describes the birth and development of the Collegiate in light of Sir Kensington's Axis and the Magical Theory of Everything:
It should be noted that Professor Dickens’ Newnhamian bias becomes prevalent when he states the Collegiate “chose to follow the path laid down by its founder”. While this was true in the sense of Kensington’s Axis, Sir Kensington originally founded the Royal Society as a scientific body. Prior to this revolutionary insight, most magical institutions believed their paths to be separate and disconnected. Kensington's Axis, later known as the Axis of Disciplines, turned the notion upside-down. Today, only Historians of Magic, well-read people, and the rare crackpot magical sect (such as the Broken Compass Society in Hyboras, who still cling to said notion), are even aware that such an idea had existed. All said and done, the Collegiate has, over its three and a half centuries of existence, gone through its share of ups, downs, naysayers, breakthroughs, dead ends, theories, and theory disposals. Today, it proudly wears all of these experiences as the laurels of its emblem, an ancient Reman award to those who complete the marathons. The Two Collegiates Despite its roots as a scientific organization, its transformation from the Royal Society of Amberly to the Axis Collegiate also meant that its goals shifted from the natural to the supernatural. In the process, those concerned primarily with naturalism eventually split off from the Collegiate to reform the Royal Society, sometime in the late 1800's. It should be noted that this spin off was no result or cause of ill will, rather the preference of both groups of specialists to focus solely on their specialities. The Collegiate and Royal Society are still very closely associated with each other. Indeed, the Royal Society was given the original Royal Society's building, Damerell Hall, as a parting gift. That said, however, underneath all the amiability, because of the resulting focus on the supernatural, a certain mindset had slowly befallen many of the members of the Collegiate, a certain disdain for the natural technologies born of the natural sciences. Certainly, they would make use of light bulbs over candles and torches, and they would strap revolvers to their security guards just to give the impression that yes, there are guns, but where things really counted, the Collegiate developed a "supernatural only" mindset. It should be noted, however, that this is not so much a disdain for natural science and the scientific method, so much as disdain for having natural science on the curriculum. After all, most Collegiate faculty and staff hold degrees in naturalistic fields. Now why they choose not to use modern technology, is another matter entirely. The technological boom created by post-war developments caused various reactions from the members of the Collegiate. While majority of the administration, faculty, and staff remained staunchly entrenched in this mindset, some of the younger students and faculty began to slowly drift in the opposite direction. After the space race reached a head with the first moon landing in 1967, this drift grew into a schism pitting those who desired a return to the original orientation of the Collegiate, focused on studying both the natural and supernatural, with those entrenched in the later idea of "supernatural only". The New Collegiate, as the former is called (ironically enough), frequently state that Kensington also discovered gravity, that the original Royal Society (and even the Collegiate itself) used the Scientific Method, and that the Collegiate's foundations were ultimately based on principles set up by naturalists. The Old Collegiate stresses that they do not despise naturalistic methods and technology. Rather, they simply must choose to allocate limited resources to their stated focus and goal: the supernatural. They also pay lip service to the usefulness of modern naturalism while avoiding its use for the most part. The conflict is a major point of contention within the Collegiate, and debates are frequently held both in public forums, and between individuals/small groups. Nevertheless, the controversy is ignored in official affairs, and most students and faculty go about their daily lives without discussing the matter unless someone brings it up. On the bright side, it has led to several magical advancements by individuals on both sides. It is widely accepted that the Calculus, an Artificed computer in widespread use throughout the magical world, was created in response to the birth of personal computers. In the same vein, the EtherWeave used by calculi is believed to be a direct response to the internet. Organization: ![]() The Collegiate’s Hierarchy. A campus’ Vice Presidents deal with affairs not directly related to academics, such as finance, planning and development, etc. The Collegiate has its main campus in its nation of birth, Amberly, whilst other major campuses can be found in Uhokoku, the Firesea Union, and Tizona. Each Campus is divided into five sections: Gold (Administration), Sapphire (Wizards, Mages, Monks, etc), Ruby (Psions, Sorcerers, etc), Ivory (Priests, Shamans, Seers, etc), and Obsidian (Artificers). The Main Library can be found in Gold Section. Each section is in turn divided into colleges relating to the Ways in question. Overlapping capabilities (plus no shortage of academic and political rivalries), however, have created redundancy in the naming of colleges, leading to the need to further distinguish these colleges from each other. For example, the Sapphire College of Alchemy vs the Obsidian College of Alchemy. One uses extensive magical theory and application of spells to turn lead into gold, while the other is best known for black box "converters" that can inexplicably transform a regular ID card into a fully functional credit card (which must be linked to an existing credit account nonetheless). Each College is led by a Director, who answers to their Section’s respective Dean. The Dean, in turn, answers to the Campus President, who as the title implies, is in charge of a campus' daily activities. The Presidents then individually answer to the Chancellor. Satellite Institutes Over the years, the Collegiate has founded, or assimilated, other groups, which are now affiliated with itself. These Satellite Institutes, as they are called, serve as semi-independent organizations free to do whatever they wish with the Collegiate grant money that they receive, so long as they follow the Collegiate's standards. In essence, the Satellite Institutes are a working example of how the world would look like if all of its magical organizations adhere'd to the Collegiate's standards. A few more famous examples include the following: North Wessex Sorcerer's Society - Perhaps the most famous of the AnLyric Sorcerer Societies, WesSor, as it is commonly abbreviated, was founded in the High Middle Ages, and has been a significant influence on the development of Sorcerous Theory since then. Though initially attempting to mind its own business, many of its members were attracted by the resources being pumped into the Collegiate. Rather than lose face by letting all these sorcerers jump ship, the Elders of the society instead opted to apply for Association, becoming the first of the Collegiate's many Satellite Institutes. Artosian Thaumatological Association - The forerunner to the Axis Collegiate, in the sense of being the dominant magical institution in the west, the ATA was founded in Late Antiquity. A loose confederation of magical groups, they were never truly able to consolidate their influence and power because of their wildly divergent beliefs and a lack of a unifying principle like the Axis (this is frequently referred to as "Broken Compass Thinking"). When the Axis Collegiate came onto the scene and became the new standard due to its thaumatological unity and the amount of resources it was receiving, the ATA suffered a great blow to their popularity. Ultimately, rather than succumb to an ever-dwindling amount of grant money and support, the ATA allowed themselves to be assimilated by the Collegiate, which, aware of their reputation, was more than happy to have the once-mighty Association as part of its growing number of Satellite Institutes. Collegiate Elitism and the Peerage It should be noted, however, that the Amberic Campus is rife with a stifling elitism. Those in the true positions of power are a group of pseudo-aristocratic elites known as the Peerage (not unlike the Amberic Peerage in its esteem). Descending from old and powerful families, the Peerage holds incredible political influence within the Collegiate. Indeed, most of the higher echelons of administration are held either by a Peer, or an individual sponsored by a Peer. This has led to a culture of currying favour with the Peerage and its sponsored folk, in order to gain access to grants, or even advance in position. That said, however, the Peerage is hardly a unified body. Like any political situation, there are rivalries between groups of politically allied peer families, between individual peer families, and between individuals within a peer family. At present, the dominant political faction is that of the Newnhamians, named after one of Sir Kensington's top apprentices, Robert Newnham, who was one of the people responsible for shifting the Royal Society's focus towards supernaturalism. This faction is composed mainly of wizards, with a few monks, artificers, and one or two odd sorcerers thrown into the mix. The Chancellor himself is descended from a nephew of Robert Newnham. Furthermore, the Seran Brigade, an elite collection of a hundred Director-level occults serving as the Collegiate’s trump card in hostile conflicts, seems to function more as the private army of whoever happens to be the present Lord Occult Marshall. "New blood" students and faculty from families with less than two centuries of occult practise are discriminated heavily against, as are those with unorthodox ideas, and practitioners of arts that are not considered as part of one of the Eight Disciplines. This has forced some practitioners of difficult-to-classify arts, such as Witchcraft, to officially list their practice as one of the Eight Disciplines, depending on which seems closest to their personal flavor, just to become officially recognized and accredited. The most common listing taken on by witches is wizard, as that is the majority population of the dominant political party. This being despite the fact that Witchcraft is very different from Wizardry. Another set of discriminated groups includes whatever disciplines happen to not have a sizeable enough representation within the dominant political party. This has resulted in many of the rivalries existing between Sections today, and why the Sapphire Alchemists and Obsidian Alchemists constantly try to one-up each other: The Sapphire Alchemists are attempting to assert their dominance, while the Obsidian Alchemists attempt to show that their discipline is more effective than that favoured by the ruling party. Finally, needless to say, they look down upon any magical organization that is not in some way affiliated with the Collegiate. The Emerald Bureaucratic College, the Collegiate's Tianese counterpart, is an especially favourite target for their disdain, especially considering the insistent colloquialism "Emerald Bureaucracy". Fortunately, this elitism has yet to spread to the three other major branches. Unfortunately, it has started manifesting there in small portions. Even more unfortunately, the Amberic Campus is considered the headquarters, instilling in them a feeling of superiority over the rest of the Collegiate, and it is not uncommon for Amberic Collegiate members to direct their arrogance even towards members of the international branches and satellite institutes. The recent incident involving Lord Edward Gosling, Grandmaster of the North Wessex Sorcerer Society, and two Collegiate copies of the Tome of a Thousand and One Low Sugar Cooking Spells, came very close to sparking a legal scuffle between a Ruby Section student from the NWSS and a Gold Section professor, who both had very strong opinions on the matter, and happened to run into each other while both were having a very bad day. Admission: To be admitted to the Collegiate is a great honour, as it is seen as one of the finest academic institutions in the Reman world. Getting inside requires passing a rigorous admission test with a 90% failure rate. However, it is possible to bypass this test through various means, including significant occult talent, a letter of recommendation from a sponsor within the Collegiate who is highly respected, or simply descent from a successful line of Collegiate-associated occults. Yet even for these privileged individuals, the Collegiate will eventually be seen for the morass of politico-academic turmoil that it is. Soon enough, sponsors, talent-spotting professors, and sometimes even their own family, will attempt to use these new students to gain leverage against their political opponents, and as bargaining chips with the Peers they are aligned to. Cover: The Collegiate holds strict protocols with regards to concealing the occult from the world. This is all based on a vague yet deeply studied area of research concerning the Magical Theory of Everything, which posits that all power sources ultimately derive from a single “Universal Power Source”. The Collegiate has come to believe that although apparently infinitely renewable, the Universal Power Source nevertheless has a finite capacity, distributed amongst practitioners of the occult arts. The logical conclusion is that if knowledge of the occult becomes widespread, the average power of each occult will diminish to practically nothing. As such, the Collegiate has taken it upon itself to enforce a protocol of secrecy to preserve the potency of occult power, an absolute maximum number of people who are allowed to know: 1% of the total Daanan population. The Clarence Protocol, named after its original proponent, dictates that any and all occults involved with the Collegiate must at the very minimum, either learn basic hypnotic amnesiac spells, or carry artificed tools with hypnotic amnesiac effects. Anything else that can be used to maintain secrecy should also be learned/acquired as much as possible, in order to protect the secrecy of the occult. In addition to this, the Collegiate has created an entire organization within its ranks dedicated specifically to maintaining the secrecy of the occult. Known as the Cover Maintenance Department (CoMain), it employs a two-tiered approach to its task, indirect, and direct. One indirect method primarily includes spreading wild rumours, misinformation, hoaxes, frauds, fakes, and other things that will desensitize the public to occult events. After all, if nineteen out of every twenty incidents caused by rogue mages are simply bored idiots playing pranks, then surely the public would write off that one genuine incident as just another one of the other nineteen. One of their main target demographics includes the conspiracy theorists, crackpots, pseudoscientists, and quacks, while another includes reputable scientific groups, investigators, and self-proclaimed MythBusters. Individuals involved in this department of CoMain are colloquially referred to as “Wolf Criers”, after the story of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Another indirect method involves having many scientific experts (most of them actually being part of the Collegiate or Royal Society) provide very plausible naturalistic explanations for the incidents in question. And so, if science can easily explain it, then magic need not be invoked as an explanation. This method also includes infiltrating the social media to post naysayer comments to posts talking about occult incidents, using the same methods of naturalistic rationalization to “disprove” the witness’ experience. Indeed, CoMain's operation has been so effective that they ultimately caused this activity to snowball into a "culture of rationalization", where endless debate quickly sparks online between witnesses, naysayers (most of whom aren’t even connected to the Collegiate, merely folks who have bought into the idea of rationalization that the original Collegiate teams have promoted), and their supporters. Ironically, agents involved in this department have been given the decidedly uncreative moniker of “Rationalizers”. The direct method primarily involves sending agents out in the field, usually to make evidence magically disappear if it cannot be explained away by natural causes. For example, a rogue mage might cause a fire, which can therefore be explained by natural causes. Even in cases where fire is unlikely to happen, it is usually possible call on the Rationalizers to make up some scientific-sounding bollocks to rationalize it away. However, if a magical fire artifact falls into the ocean and somehow burns underwater in a way that defies all scientific explanation, then certainly, agents will be sent to retrieve it. This group of field agents is typically referred to as the “Hat Stuffers”, in reference to the classical magic trick of pulling a rabbit out of an empty hat. In this case, the magician (agent) is effectively putting a rabbit (evidence) back into the hat, which will then turn up empty. Another issue that must be dealt with is that of the rogue mage, who must be captured and/or killed, usually by the relevant law enforcement, with the agent in question overseeing the capture. Worst comes to worst, he tackles the mage alone in a secluded area, where he can make use of his occult abilities. Note that there is no moral motive here. If doesn't matter if the rogue mage is conducting horrible experiments on humans. So long as he does not attract attention to himself, CoMain will leave him alone. This group of field agents consists of some of the most elite Collegiate Security agents, all of whom have a large amount of combat experience, skills, and magical abilities. Due to the amount of violence and dirty work they are involved in, however, as well as the usual criteria of what typically counts as a CS agent (see Security below), they are frequently discriminated against, not only by other members of CoMain, but by the ruling elite (who seem to be discriminating against anybody who isn’t one of them, anyway). Ironically enough, they are known as the “Wardens”, a title frequently given to head of a college in many Amberic universities. It is likely, however, used in the context of a Prison Warden. Since the advances of modern technology and the diminishing effectiveness of plausible deniability, murders and assassinations of normals have become far less frequent. Indeed, even amnesiac protocols have been relaxed somewhat in lieu of alternative methods. If a person is able to upload a video to the web, then that issue is handed over to the Rationalizers. After all, if the video was suddenly taken down, or the witness suddenly forgot about what they saw, it would raise suspicion. The rule of thumb is simply, so long as it hasn't been sent, then yes, the witness can be hypnotized and the evidence deleted. Prevention is better than cure, after all. Otherwise, it's the Rationalizers’ problem now. Security: The Collegiate makes extensive use of highly refined magics as a means of protection of its facilities and personnel, from the passive campus-wide boundary field that can hypnotize any normals to ignore any supernatural events transpiring within, to active guardian golems programmed to terminate intruders. Many of these have centuries of history behind their development, with a rare few having had millennia to evolve. For example, a Solar Furnace based on the one built by the ancient mathematician and mage Aristaeus in 216 BCE to vaporize Reman warships during the Siege of Phidias, is installed in the Amberly Campus' clock tower as one of the institute's last lines of defence. Needless to say, the latest tests have shown that if used correctly, it can be used to slice through a column of tanks like a hot knife through butter. The Old Collegiate's influence in its administrative role is strongly felt in this particular area, although the proponents of the New Collegiate are beginning to make some degree of headway. Though modern technology was rarely seen in security even until the 1990's, the turn of the millennium has seen an increase in Collegiate Security's modernization. Modern firearms have begun appearing more frequently in the hands of Collegiate Security personnel, and even the Watch Owl Network, a security system that was in place since the beginning of the Collegiate, has started replacing its owl familiars, each linked to an individual wizard, with security cameras built into the eyes of stuffed owl dummies, all linked to a single security room. Most Collegiate Security personnel are well-versed in combative magic of some form or another, usually being chosen from the ranks of occults with experience in fighting, whether as soldiers, mercenaries, assassins, etc. Their capabilities range from decent, to frightening, and are either used alone, or as a supplement to their weapons/any martial arts they might employ. The most elite of these are selected to become Wardens in the Collegiate's Cover Maintenance Department, tasked with snuffing out anything that threatens the secrecy of the occult, whether people, objects, or events. When all other means of maintaining cover have failed, such as a rogue mage who ultimately needs to be captured/killed, or an experimental chimera having gotten loose, Wardens have become CoMain’s troubleshooters for problems that need to be disposed of… violently. The Seran Brigade When push comes to shove, however, the Collegiate has invested many of its more powerful occults into the Seran Brigade, an elite collection of a hundred occults serving as a trump card for hostile conflicts. The term “Brigade” is no overstatement, and is in fact closer to an understatement, than anything else. Each member of the Brigade has enough skill and power (and in many cases, the experience) to take on the role of a College Director, capable of magical feats that would put even top students to complete and utter shame. Its higher ranking officers have passed up the opportunity to serve as Deans for the sake of the Brigade. Where other organizations aligned with the Council of Remus might send a Division of paranormal forces, the Collegiate will deploy the Brigade. In a sharp contrast to the political-academic bickering of the Collegiate at large, the Seran Brigade is a single unified force, a well-oiled precision machine designed to engage the Collegiate’s enemies in the most efficient and effective way possible. In this way, the Brigade is the closest thing that the Collegiate has to a military. Indeed, the training and discipline of the Brigade is very much comparable to the best militaries on Danu. Few people have the abilities necessary to command the fearsome engine of destruction that is the Brigade. Those who are found worthy are appropriated the title of “Occult Marshall”. Amongst this tiny elite, the undisputed very best earns the title Lord Occult Marshall of the Collegiate, senior to the other Marshalls, who serves as the Brigade’s supreme commander. The position itself is not what grants respect. Rather, it is the respect of the Brigade, and of the other Marshalls, earned through sweat, blood, and ability, which elevates the Lord Occult Marshall above the rest. This is a dangerous gamble for the Collegiate’s traditional power structure, as it means any Lord Occult Marshall holds the absolute support and loyalty of the Brigade and the other Marshalls. The current Lord Occult Marshall is the Sorceress Baroness Catherine Kensington, one of Sir Kensington’s descendants, and a sure front runner for the next Ruby Dean, were it not for her lack of a doctorate, and the fact that she has recently declared her open allegiance to the New Collegiate. This came as a somewhat unpleasant surprise to the rest of the Peerage, who for some reason did not consider the possibility that her time studying at the University of Laxington might have influenced her to become more inclined to support the New Collegiate position. Rumour has it that the Amberly Campus President has sent a petition to the Chancellor to have her removed from her position as Lord Occult Marshall, and that the reason this has not yet happened is because even the Chancellor fears the power of the Brigade and does not wish to provoke its wrath. Edited by Zalo, Jul 29 2014, 07:59 PM.
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8:25 AM Jul 11