Post by hubertbartels on Oct 12, 2020 15:39:15 GMT -5
After opening the gates to the Feywild, John Dee noticed raw arcane energy seeping into the world. He dedicated the rest of his life to understanding and using this arcane power. Other individuals interested in the same power gathered at his house in Mortlake, Kent. The small community southwest near London grew into a center of wizarding. Queen Elizabeth granted the wizards of Mortelake a Royal Charter and charged them with protecting the kingdom against magical threats.
Around the same time, the wizards founded a magical school to aid in the recruitment and training of young magical adepts. Unlike Oxford or Cambridge, the school lacked a fixed site. It became known as the ‘Invisible College’, training its scholars in the various houses and cottages of Mortlake.
Under Queen Elizabeth’s successor, James I, there was some backlash against the use of magic. Necromancy became punishable by death. Other spells were outlawed. Under Charles I, the Invisible College was neglected with only some support from the Duke of Buckingham.
Things changed when Oliver Cromwell rose to power in 1648. He closed the Invisible College and suppressed all forms of magic. His witchfinders roamed England, killing witches, wizards and warlocks and burning their spellbooks. Many of the fey returned to the Feywild or across the Channel. Some fought back and others went into hiding.
Cromwell’s witchfinders attempted to destroy the gates in the Feywild. In 1651, the gate at Tenterden, Kent was destroyed but the backlash killed 24 witchfinders and blew a hundred foot crater into the rural landscape. A second attempt at Auchinoon Hill, outside of Edinburgh, exploded with such force that it shattered church windows in Edinburgh and removed two hundred feet off of the crest of the hill.
After that, the witchfinders settled for sealing the gates with a arcane cold iron medallion. Some of those sealed gates survive today.
With Cromwell’s death in 1658 and the Restoration of 1660, the Invisible College was re-established in Mortlake. The wizard’s school settled down into the situation that we see today. The Invisible College has a royal charter to oversee all magical activity in the kingdom. Wizards, Sorcerers and Warlocks are supposed to register with the Invisible College and become sworn officers of the crown. The fact is that few do. The Invisible College is composed of mostly scholarly mages, satisfied to study theory and rituals. They give instruction at times but it is often clad in obscure language and methods. But Mortelake contains the greatest magical library in the world.
The Invisible College ignores most of the hedge witches, bards and low level mages in England. Only if a magic user lets himself become too well known, officials will take an interest and show up, wondering why such a promising individual hasn’t yet joined his Majesty's service.
The head of the Invisible College is a man from Carmarthen, Wales, known as 'The Merlin' or 'Merlin'. Whether that is his name or his title, no one knows. He has been head of the Invisible College since a few years after its founding. Merlin claims that his age is a result of fey blood or cambion blood. Along with his student, Nimue, he pursues some his studies in arcane theory.
Around the same time, the wizards founded a magical school to aid in the recruitment and training of young magical adepts. Unlike Oxford or Cambridge, the school lacked a fixed site. It became known as the ‘Invisible College’, training its scholars in the various houses and cottages of Mortlake.
Under Queen Elizabeth’s successor, James I, there was some backlash against the use of magic. Necromancy became punishable by death. Other spells were outlawed. Under Charles I, the Invisible College was neglected with only some support from the Duke of Buckingham.
Things changed when Oliver Cromwell rose to power in 1648. He closed the Invisible College and suppressed all forms of magic. His witchfinders roamed England, killing witches, wizards and warlocks and burning their spellbooks. Many of the fey returned to the Feywild or across the Channel. Some fought back and others went into hiding.
Cromwell’s witchfinders attempted to destroy the gates in the Feywild. In 1651, the gate at Tenterden, Kent was destroyed but the backlash killed 24 witchfinders and blew a hundred foot crater into the rural landscape. A second attempt at Auchinoon Hill, outside of Edinburgh, exploded with such force that it shattered church windows in Edinburgh and removed two hundred feet off of the crest of the hill.
After that, the witchfinders settled for sealing the gates with a arcane cold iron medallion. Some of those sealed gates survive today.
With Cromwell’s death in 1658 and the Restoration of 1660, the Invisible College was re-established in Mortlake. The wizard’s school settled down into the situation that we see today. The Invisible College has a royal charter to oversee all magical activity in the kingdom. Wizards, Sorcerers and Warlocks are supposed to register with the Invisible College and become sworn officers of the crown. The fact is that few do. The Invisible College is composed of mostly scholarly mages, satisfied to study theory and rituals. They give instruction at times but it is often clad in obscure language and methods. But Mortelake contains the greatest magical library in the world.
The Invisible College ignores most of the hedge witches, bards and low level mages in England. Only if a magic user lets himself become too well known, officials will take an interest and show up, wondering why such a promising individual hasn’t yet joined his Majesty's service.
The head of the Invisible College is a man from Carmarthen, Wales, known as 'The Merlin' or 'Merlin'. Whether that is his name or his title, no one knows. He has been head of the Invisible College since a few years after its founding. Merlin claims that his age is a result of fey blood or cambion blood. Along with his student, Nimue, he pursues some his studies in arcane theory.