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There are many different kinds of fighters in Crystalmarch, ranging from the classic, heavily armored swordsmen to swashbuckling duellists.  Variations have arisen over the years, and those listed below are just a representative sample.

The King’s Fusiliers are representative of the new breed of fighter that eschews heavy armor and shields for the benefits of pistols and other guns.  They lose the heavy armor proficiency, but gain the exotic weapon: small arms proficiency in exchange.

Another recent development is the fencer, a fighter relying on speed, typically wielding a rapier.  The most famous of the fencing schools is the Gabriellini Academy in Karlonis.  Members gain two-weapon fighting or off-hand parry feats at the expense of heavy armor and shields.  This style is also quite common amongst the High Elves of the Elven Confederacy.

Among more traditional styles of combat, the Imperial Academy and Herrdradan Academy are well-known.  The Imperial Academy, also based out of Karlonis, expounds the familiar “sword-and-board” style of the traditional fighter, while the Herrdradan Academy takes the same basic style and concentrates on defense and protection, and producing the Empire’s most reknowned bodyguards.

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90% of all wizards in the Empire of Crystalmarch are educated at one of three magical universities, each of which consists of a number of smaller colleges.  The system was put in place to defuse the conflict between the wizards and the Church of Alioth, which generally views wizardry as evil.  The wizards set up schools to license wizards, and the Church agreed not to treat those wizards in the same manner that they do sorcerors or other arcane casters, who they lump together in one bunch as “witches.”

There are 12 “accredited” Wizard’s Colleges.  6 are based out of Kintayne, 3 from the Lower Empire, and 3 from the Upper Empire.  Each maintains minor postings at the other Universities as well.  There is a rumor of a “13th college” that is devoted to the darkest arts, but if this is true, none will admit it.

Schooling lasts 7 years, typically from age 11 to age 18.  Upon entering their final year, each student is tatooed or branded with the arcane symbol of their College on the palm of their left hand.  Upon graduation, each is given a signet ring indicating the Right to Practice Magic.  Wizards who do not have the ring cannot legally cast any spell outside of the College.  Local authorities have the right to detain and try wizards in such cases, and they often end up burned at the stake.  Wizards bearing a signet ring are subject to the Wizard’s Law, and are judged by a judge and jury of Wizards. 

Ambergate University

• Merlion College: The largest college in the Empire, specializes in travel-related magics, building magic, and constructs.  Rumor has it the Masters of the College can even build demiplanes.
• Ordos Luminosos: “The Lightbringers,” dedicated to increasing the widespread acceptance of magic, which brings it into conflict with the Church of Alioth. They try to improve the general populace’s view of magic via good deeds, doing magical exhibitions at fairs and so on.  Behind the scenes, however, they are not always so friendly…
• Emerald Hall: Often directly opposing the wizards of Ordos Luminosos, they believe that it is best to keep magic hidden from the common folk – they seek to negate any form of highly visible magic, destroy magical abberations and other clearly magical creatures.
• Astrum Saliaris: Focus on astrology, moon and star-related magic, and the Fey.  They are fond of force magic; magic missiles, walls of force, beads of force, etc.
• Gloom Hall: Specializing in necromancy, divination; seeking the secrets of the End Times, and the mysteries of life itself.
• Emrys College: The smallest college in Ambergate, they delve into the intricacies of clockwork constructs, timepieces, and divinations.

Imperial Academy of Wizardry

• Cunnian Hall: Second largest college of wizardry, and largest in the Imperial Capitol, Cunnian Hall specializes in calling spells, and enchantments.  They believe that the strong should rule the weak, and that they are the strong.  Conflict exists in the College as to whether imposing one’s will on others is ethical behavior or not.  They are sometimes referred to as “The Namers,” as they believe that all things have a true name that can allow complete control of that person or thing.
• Lyceum Draconis:  Dedicated to the study of Dragons, and elementalism. They seek to understand Dragons and their power. 
• Secta Nocturnum:  Popular among the more wealthy and urbane wizards, this college has great experience in Dream-related magic, rare drugs and herbs, and all manner of hedonistic pursuits.  They are often looked down upon by other colleges as being less than diligent in their pursuit of knowledge, and many of their students are there merely for the good times.

Duncan Academy

• Raedaer College:  The students of Raedaer College are expert herbalists and masters of nature lore.  They study all manner of natural phenomenon and catalog the creatures of the earth, and are experts on shapechanging.
• Alaric Hall:  Experts at synthesizing knowledge, students of Alaric Hall are expert alchemists, and excel at using magic to enhance their own abilities.
• Brimlaer Sele:  Weather-related magic and sorcery having to do with the sea are the province of this school.  Many large sailing vessels make use of the services of Ship’s Wizards provided by Brimlaer Sele.  They are unsurpassed in their knowledge of the sea and of the creatures that live in it.

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Nordia is part of a cultural group that has strong Viking overtones, known as the Nosfira. The Nosfira were traditionally raiders, who terrorized the southern lands and the Inner Sea with their longships. Over the past hundred years, they have been conquered by the Empire of Crystalmarch, and brought (somewhat) into “civilization.”

Nordia is the most inland portion of the Nosfira lands, 300 miles from the Sea. Their lands lie in the headlands of one of the continents major rivers, and are kept safe from the Empire by virtue of being seperated from them by a massive mountain range. This range is cut in two by the afore-mentioned river. Travel between the Empire and Nordia is almost exclusively by the river route. Nordia is bordered on its southeast side by the Dwarven nation of Istyria. It’s northern and eastern borders are not threatened by any nation, being protected by northern wastelands and mountain ranges. A few hundred miles east from the lands claimed by Nordia is a second Dwarven nation, Rysia.  There is a fair amount of trade between Nordia and the Dwarven lands, and for that matter between Nordia and the Empire; the Nosfira travel far and wide in their trading expeditions.

The usual classes are found in Nordia, with the exception of monks. The wizards of Nordia often use Rune-magic to work their art, and do not attend the Wizard Colleges of the Empire (at least not often!).

The religious sects of Nordia (primarily Scura and Raithscar) preach that the people of Nordia will re-conquer the lands along the sea, and become feared and respected as they were a century ago.  In the meantime, the land is plagued by a drought and blight that the seers cannot reverse.  As a result of the blight and the Nosfira skill at trading, northmen can be found almost anywhere. The economy of the nation revolves around trade, seasonal agriculture, and fishing.  There are few cities, but many small communities.  These villages are built around the longhouses of the chieftains, though more folk are building houses similar to what can be found in the Empire, with more rooms and chimneys. 

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Another of the four original colleges of Ambergate University, Emrys College was founded in AF 502 by a crafty wizard named Ilias Movila.  Ilias was a master of timepieces and other intricate mechanical contraptions, and Emrys College developed a reputation for working with magical machinery - especially of the exceedingly tiny variety.  They left the massive golems and Shield Guardians for others to build, and concentrated on clockwork creatures.  The Ambergate University Clock Tower was built by Ilias and his students.

The entry hall of Emrys College is a long corridor that leads to a central tower.  The length of the hall is lined with trees crafted from a variety of metal.  The leaves of the trees are intricately crafted from precious metals, and are treated alchemically so that they change colors with the seasons, and even fall off in the autumn.  In fact, crafting these leaves is one of the first tasks that first year Emrys College Students are given; it trains them on working with tools and on a small scale.

The curriculum concentrates on divinations, crafting items, alchemy, and time-related magic.  Students live on the highest floor of the school, up in the dormers and attics of the University.

Emrys College has a modest enrollment; only some 65 students currently take their lessons there, as opposed to Merlion College’s enrollment of over 250.  The current headmaster is an elderly wizard by the name of Borazian Thelton.  He often seems quite senile, but is in fact quite lucid and sharp when he wants to be.  Another person of note is Unna Grayfell, a gnomish woman of indeterminate age who leads the college’s alchemical classes, and who has been doing a good deal of research in the new-fangled gnomish-dominated field of gunpowder.

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The dragons of Crystalmarch are each associated with one of the four elements: Fire, Air, Earth, Water.  It is tempting at times to associate morality to Dragons each according to its color, but such would be folly. 

Fire Dragons can be either scholars seeking to light the fire of knowledge in mortals, or terrible, destructive forces.   Some are said to have gone mad upon Garwyn’s Fall.  Others tend the last remaining, abandonded temples of his faith.  They are invariably red.

Air Dragons are remote and unconcerned, tending to neutrality, though every so many years they go into destructive mating rituals.  They are all the colors of the sky, from blue to reddish purple to night-black.

Earth Dragons run the gamut from protecting the Earth to Despoiling it.  In coloration they can be the color of metals, or of gems.  Some take the color of foliage, and some of these even can make their scales turn with the seasons, turning dark brown during the winter season.

Water Dragons range from animalistic to urbane, and tend to be light bluish in color, and are among the least often seen of Dragons.

The Djinn, Efreet, Marid, and Dao are said to be servants of the various kinds of Dragons, acting as liasons between men and Dragon.  It is also said that many Dragons can take the form of men or other beings.  In the Imperial Academy of Wizardry, there is a college called Lyceum Draconis that is dedicated to the study of Dragons, and elementalism.  They seek to understand Dragons and their power.

Some Dragons seem to take greater interest in civilization than others.  In the far northern realms, a great Earth Dragon known as Mahafren receives tribute from the subjugated Dwarven realm of Virisia and holds much of the region in fear of her power. 

Other famous Dragons of history include the Fire Dragon Zar, who once tended the Great Temple of Garwyn on the island of Karrasea, went mad, and was destroyed by Crysus, a paladin of Alioth later enshrined as Saint Crysus, in AF 385; Jahandar, an Air Dragon believed to be the oldest living Dragon and said to slumber in a cloud castle that circles the world, waking only to eat once a century and devastating the countryside; and more locally, Shahak, also known as Copperdeath, an Earth Dragon rumored to have strange mental powers, who ruled through fear and mental domination a section of the southern reaches of Kintayne until destroyed fifty years ago.

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Gloom Hall is one of the original four schools of magic started at the University of Ambergate in the 6th century.  Although noted for necromancy, Gloom Hall was founded by Leandro Demeris, who was a more skilled Diviner than Necromancer, which helped to mitigate concerns that others had about a school dedicated in part to arts thought immoral.  For most of the first several centuries of Gloom Hall’s existence, the Divination element was emphasized for this reason.  Gloom Hall has often been the target of Inquisition interest, generally to no great effect.

It is an incontrovertable fact that each year, for the last several years at least (and rumored to be a perpetual fact of life of the Hall), at least one student of Gloom Hall has gone mad.  Not necessarily loony, kill-folk-with-a-knife mad (though that has happened, too), but mad nonetheless.

Each school of magic has its own special collection, made up of ancient tomes, unusual spells, histories, and formulae.  Gloom Hall is no different.  The Gloom Hall special collection is kept behind heavy iron bars in a sub-basement beneath the main hall itself.  It is guarded by shadows, who will allow only those who bear a Gloom Hall signet ring and speak the proper password to pass.  Anyone who has neither will be chased and killed, while if someone has the ring but not the password, they will merely chase him out of the stacks, not killing him (unless necessary).

Down the length of one hall in Gloom Hall is a listing of every student to graduate, including year and full name.  Each name takes up about one inch vertical and twelve inches of horizontal space, and there are over 6,000 of them.  The Hall of the Named is about one hundred feet long, and began wrapping back around and back the opposite side about 60 years ago.

Then there is Maxwell, the house butler.  Many stories abound about Maxwell.  He’s a well-preserved Zombie, about sixty years of age at death apparently.  The Masters of Gloom Hall keep him in good shape by repeated castings of preservative magics.  Exactly how Maxwell came to be the Butler is a bit of a mystery.  Some claim he was the butler in life, and kept right on working after dying, never stopping, affected by the necromantic magics of the Hall.  Others say that Maxwell is the corpse of a dead headmaster of the school, raised as a zombie because of animosity between the Masters of Gloom Hall and the then-Headmaster.  

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December 998

The town of Stonehearth, located in the Barony of Streibech in Malboria, was attacked by a force of dragons from the Wyrmdelve in the early days of December, AF 998.  The attack was reportedly provoked by the theft of mithril from a mine in the the former Dwarven Grand Duchy of Virisia, which is now a trbute-state to the Wyrmdelve and the Dragon, Mahafren.

The attack lasted the better part of the day and resulted in the ruin of the Lord’s keep, as well as numerous major buildings in the town.  The attack was anticiapted, and so loss of life was kept to a minimum as many inhabitants had fled in advance of the assault. 

At least one dragon was killed in the battle, and another was seriously injured.  A massive storm resulted in the assault taking place mostly on the ground, which aided in the defense of the town.  Rumors abound that the storm was magical in nature, though none of the defenders of Stonehearth have claimed to have called it.

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The collegial system of wizard schooling was implemented almost 500 years ago in response to conflict between the expanding Church of Alioth and the powerful wizards of the day.  The agreement was for the wizards to stay out of politics and war-making, in return for the Church agreeing to amend its doctrine proclaiming magic to be heresy. 

The University of Ambergate was founded not long after this agreement was reached, formed of Merlion College, Emrys College, Gloom Hall, and Astrum Saliaris.  Within a century, two more universities had been founded, one in the Imperial capitol, and one in the Upper Empire region.  Eight more colleges were founded within the three universities, for a total of twelve.  These colleges offer the only officially recognized magical education, and anyone practicing magic without their sanction is subject to a charge of heresy within the Empire of Crystalmarch (and many other lands where Alioth is the dominant religious force). 

There have been rumors over the past two hundred years of an organization that works in opposition to both the Universities and the Church of Alioth, taking its members from the ranks of licensed wizards who are disatisfied with the system.  Concrete evidence is hard to come by, though several events of recent years are believed by many to have been instigated by members of the 13th College.  The most recent of these was an attempted coup d’etat against the King of Kintayne some 20 years ago by Duke Karl of Dunbar.  The Duke was believed to be backed by several powerful wizards from Dunbar, but only one was ever convicted of any crime, a Necromancer from Gloom Hall.  He claimed full responsibility for backing the old Duke, and was burnt at the stake in AF 978.

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Greatcoats are heavy button-up coats of leather or heavy wool, and provide some minimal protection from attacks.  Any enchantment that can be placed on a cloak can be placed on a greatcoat.  When worn over light armor they provide a +1 armor bonus, and do not require any armor proficiencies.  They do not count as armor, and cannot be enchanted to give greater armor bonuses.  Prices start at 35 gp, and fine coats cost upwards of 50 gp; a greatcoat weighs 5 pounds.

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