In full, The Masters, Wardens and Commonality of the Magisterium Arcane Vested in the College of Mages; the great “union” for sorcerers on Celduin.  It is universal to most realms and all-pervasive (in many places the College’s standing is secured by local law), standardizing training and apprenticeship, as well as adjudication between mages.  Anyone with a proven degree of Magery may join, but there is significant social pressure to belong to one of the magical orders currently or formerly affiliated with the College.

The College is headed by the Archmage (by tradition a Wizard of Loh), High Lord of the Council and Chancellor of the College, who holds the Throne of Stars at the College’s home base in the mountain of Talath Threndor in upper Loh.  Seventeen Superior Masters assist him and form the governing Council of the College; each representing a different field of wizardly endeavor.  Approximately one hundred Intermediate Masters serve as the arms and legs of the Council; most are based at Talath Threndor.  

Chapters (usually called “chantries,” but varying depending on the locale) are found in any city with nine members of journeyman rank; most cities of 10,000+ population, and most national capitals, have chapters.  Local Guildmasters are chosen by vote amongst resident Master-class wizards.  If, in the smaller chantries, no acceptable (or willing) candidate is of Master-class rank, a journeyman may serve, and is breveted to Master rank for the duration of his term.  Members in good standing (dues are equal to five percent of magically-derived income) are welcome at foreign chapterhouses.

The nature of chantries varies widely.  In the largest cities, they can encompass dozens of Masters and hundreds of wizards and apprentices.  The chantries own large buildings or even sprawling complexes, filled with secure enchanting rooms, private thaumaturgical libraries, apprentice dorm space, rentable offices, and may even have separate facilities for different fields of magic ... as well as canteens, art galleries, sumptuous lounges and other amenities.  They will be linked by magical Gates to other major chantries and, perhaps, to other regional chapters.  Large corps of professional apprentices exist to help with enchanting projects or the casting of powerful spells.  Guild officials operate a magical bureaucracy which regulate the local use of magic, and lobbyists seek to preserve both College monopolies on spellcasting and enchanting as well as College autonomy to set their own rules.  “On duty” mages are available for those with the coin to purchase on-the-spot spells, and brokers exist to peddle both their services and those of the full-time enchanters, whose works may encompass many months or even years.

At the smaller, regional level, such amenities are unheard of.  A small city may just barely have enough journeymen to qualify for a chapter, and its chantry little more than a rented flat with a foyer, a lounge and a private meeting room.  Its bureaucracy might be the city’s sole Master-class wizard - or else a journeyman who can be found to take the nominal position of Guildmaster - and an apprentice chosen in rotation to man the public desk.  The local wizards work out of private homes and business flats (and if Windfinders, are likely not in the city in-season at all), and one must seek them out in order to contract them.  Professional apprentices are not available, and hedge wizards, charlatans and renegades might be able to practice freely.  Numerous areas of magic will be hard to find, and if (for example) the only wizard in town skilled at assaying magical artifacts is on a long-term enchanting project, or else is retired and puttering in her garden, then those wishing such a service must travel elsewhere.  

The nine most historically significant chapters are the Grand Chantries, each led by a Grand Master and assisted by an Intermediate Master.  These are located at Talath Threndor (the Grand Master being the Archmage), Viridistan in the Empire of Avanar, Drakanium in the Empire of Vallia, Warwik City in the Kingdom of Warwik, Haven in the Principality of Indris, Tarantis in the Kingdom of Menahem, Valon City in the Kingdom of Valon, Elalondë in the Empire of Vinaria and Tula in the Kingdom of Karnil.  The Council and the senior Masters at the Mountain are debating adding two or more to the number of Grand Chantries, with Arliden in Avanar being a consensus candidate; others include Kurinsax in Vallia (although Coranan is favored among those who do not feel that a city so geographically close to Drakanium ought to be named), Lanax in the Kingdom of Sharangil, Lenap City in the Kingdom of Chaniera and Mahendra in the Kingdom of Tarondor.   

In recent decades the unity of the College has eroded, due to the defection of the Witherers, the controversy over the accession of the Dragon Brotherhood, strains over the restoration of the Gate network and the disappearance of the deodanths, among other causes.  As of 4503, the international orders which formally belong to the College include the Wizards of Loh, the Wizards of Fruningen, the Adepts of the Doxology of San Destinakon, the Sorcerers of the Cult of Almuensis, the Windfinders, the Sorcerers of Muircroinim, the Order of the Blue Star, the Adepts of the Golden Wind, the Dragon Brotherhood and the Thaumaturges of Thagramond.  The “Shadowmages” belong as well; many local and regional orders such as the Brotherhood of Dalshra of Warwik, the Grey Banner Thaumaturges of western Vallia, the Steel Chavonth Brotherhood of Skandia and the Sisters of the Veil of Vinaria belong.

SYMBOL:  A blue diamond defaced with a silver eagle clutching six rings (for the six orders reputed to have founded the College: the Wizards of Loh, Wizards of Fruningen, Witherers of San Guiskwain, Adepts of the Doxology of San Destinakon, Sorcerers of the Cult of Almuensis and the Witches’ Order of the Sisters of the Rose).

GARB:  Master-class wizards may wear three slanted silver stripes on their sleeve; “senior” Mastery is a tacit rather than a formal rank, although generally incumbent upon the wizard holding College office of some sort, in addition to the degree of magical prowess expected to be displayed.  Guildmasters are entitled to wear gold slashing on their sleeves.  Grand Masters are entitled to wear gold and silver slashing and may have other badges or marks of honor, depending on locality.  Intermediate Masters wear white robes on duty, defaced by a badge with their order’s symbol or colors; they are entitled to wear white and silver slashing on their sleeves off duty.  Superior Masters wear ornate blue and silver robes during official occasions; off duty, they customarily wear blue and silver slashing on their sleeves.  The Archmage wears a plain sky-blue robe during meetings or for formal occasions; there is no official off-duty garb.

The mages of this order specialize in mind control, body control and nature magics.  The stronghold of the sect is in the wild fastnesses of Altania, where many serve as tribal shamen.  The Muircroinim are not often popular outside their barbaric homeland, due to their outré habits and practices, but are certainly feared and respected nonetheless.

There is no schola central to the sect, per se, although Muircroinim Sorcerers do not eschew scholarship and willingly patronize libraries in the city Chapters, if to the dismay of the other patrons.  It is the practice, even more so than with most orders, for Muircroinim to take on apprentices and pass on their knowledge in that fashion alone.  This tradition of teaching is very important to the order, and apprentices are expected to be able to recite their lineage going back many generations.  Note that Muircroinim mages are not necessarily members of the College of Mages (it is not often their practice in Altania to join, even in the semi-civilized coastal domains), but they generally belong in more civilized lands and there is no bar to their membership.

A measure of versatility is a hallmark of the Order.  Many Sorcerers have at least a passing familiarity with traditional tribal elixirs and decoctions which serve as a de facto Alchemy skill, and the way their spells operate often deviate from the known canon in terms of duration, side effects and particulars ... enough so to wrongfoot wizardly foes from other orders, who presume foolishly that they’ve seen it all.

There is a strong degree of mysticism in the sect, part of which are the odious habits (such as failure to bathe, working blood magics) which serve to stigmatize the order.  The belief system seems to be a primitive nature- and ancestor-worship, in line with the pre-Invasion practices of their steppe ancestors.

SYMBOL: A white circle charged with a golden “X.”  It is not often worn or displayed by Sorcerers of the Order.

GARB: Muircroinim Sorcerers usually wear long leather or hide robes; these can be decorated with fringes, tooling, embroidery or be bedecked with semi-precious stones, wrought shards of bone or twists of metal which often render them quite heavy. They typically carry wooden staves (though not necessarily enchanted with the Staff spell) topped by an animal skull of some sort; the staves are heavily carved and decorated with feathers and strips of fur and hide.

CONSONANT SPELL COLLEGES: Mind Control, Body Control, Nature, Plant
PROHIBITED SPELL COLLEGES: Temporal, Illusion, Transformation

The Wizards of Fruningen are mages who specialize in one of the six classical elements: air, fire, earth, water, starlight or darkness.  Wizards of this order are popular as battle mages, as well as in construction, seafaring and other mundane endeavors where their powers serve well.  Unlike virtually every other order, the Fruningen wizards eschew order-related mysticism, and are considered among the most pragmatic of wizards.

Four historic schola exist, all in the south; Foamriser on the island of Tirna (principally Water and Darkness wizards), the Fruningen school at Kubera in the principality of Istria (principally Earth wizards), the Academy of Magickal Arts at Camisol in the realm of Revelin (principally Air and Starlight wizards) and Flameguard in the kingdom of Chaniera (principally the rump Flame wizards).  However, Fruningen training is collegial to localities - in customary master-apprentice bonds - and few Fruningen wizards ever visit the historic scholas.  The traditional home of the Order, Fruningen Island in the Sea of the Five Winds, is little more than a museum.  To the degree that the Order has central governance - not very much, and that only locally - it is based around the elemental divisions.

The Order has a feud with the upstart Dragon Brotherhood, a recent breakaway order comprising the majority of the Flame mages, who believed they should have a disproportionate say in the governance of the Order.  Despite the schism, there are still more Fruningen wizards than of any other order, and the same cohesion that has sparked the feud leads Fruningens of all disciplines to be tightly knit, forming powerful blocs of influence in local chantries of the College of Mages.  Indeed, the “divisions” between elements are much more a matter of magical affinity and laws than in social practice, and (for instance) Darkness and Starlight mages get along quite as well as they do with mages of their own element.
                                               
SYMBOL:  Four silver arrows in a cross pattern, representing the four “physical” elements.  Sometimes, the symbol is set within a double circle to represent the two non-material elements as well, but this variation is commonly used only by adherents of Darkness and Starlight.

GARB:  None in common use, though many wizards wear mage robes in colors popularly thought to correspond to their element.

CONSONANT SPELL COLLEGES: For Air mages, Air, Starlight, Water, Weather, Steam, Lightning; for Darkness mages, Darkness, Earth, Water, Defense; for Earth mages, Earth, Fire, Darkness, Molten; for Flame mages, Fire, Earth, Starlight, Molten, Steam; for Starlight mages, Starlight, Fire, Air, Defense; for Water mages, Water, Darkness, Air, Ice, Weather.
               
PROHIBITED SPELL COLLEGES: Creation and Summoning are prohibited throughout the Order.  Air and Earth, Darkness and Starlight, Flame and Water are all mutually exclusive.

Centered at Talath Threndor, the Wizards of Loh are publicly regarded as the most powerful of wizardly orders.  They specialize in temporal, spatial and movement magics.  Wizards of this order are highly prized as court mages, and receive more favorable reactions than members of any other order from the public at large, although a number of mages resent their tacit supremacy - by tradition, the Archmage of the College of Mages is a wizard of this order.  

They are the least numerous of the international wizardly orders, and do not often gather in any one place in numbers save for the largest of cities, but cooperate well enough with one another when they do.  They favor ceremonial castings of their magics - and where tampering with the fabric of time itself, no such precaution is overly fussy - and in doing so, have the curious habit of spreading their arms widely and spinning in a circle like a top.  Wizards of Loh will not discuss their reasons for doing so, in addition to some of their other quirks, such as their rigid taboo against the use of physical weapons or their invariable habit of using the Serioli word kharnna to describe the use of their powers, as opposed to any other mage’s sorceries.  Almost uniquely among wizardly orders, Wizards of Loh take no apprentices, and this, too, involves the order’s mysticism, which they will not discuss.  There is widespread speculation as to just how they are chosen and trained, but credible evidence exists to suggest some training site in Loh.

The legendary original schola of the order (the fabled “Seven Arcades”) is at an undisclosed location, but believed to be southeast of Loh proper in the former deodanth-held lands.  The Seven Arcades were rediscovered in recent decades just before the accession of the High Lord Lin-Wa-Lionling to the Throne of Stars, who had been publicly credited with the find.  “By the Seven Arcades” is a customary oath of Wizards of Loh.

Wizards of Loh have a standard naming convention, a single hyphenated name of three letters, followed by two, followed by a longer name: Deb-Lu-Quenyin, Khe-Hi-Bjanching, Deb-So-Parang.  The first two syllables comprise the first name; thus, "San Deb-Lu."

SYMBOL:  None in general use, though a badge with seven dots within a hexagon, representing the Seven Arcades, is very occasionally seen in heraldry.  It is, in any event, never worn.

GARB:  Wizards of Loh usually wear turbans, and typically dress in dark colored or red robes - it is considered gauche for them to be ornamented or embroidered - often with a mantle in an identical hue over them.  Master-class Wizards of Loh may also (but are not required to do so) wear black or silver colored robes; no other Wizards of Loh will do so. 

CONSONANT FIELDS OF MAGIC:  Temporal, Movement, Communication, Animation, Gravitic

PROHIBITED FIELDS OF MAGIC: Necromancy, Illusion, Plant, Nature