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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9773818" data-attributes="member: 6750502">Magocracy of Ansalon: Political High Magic <img src="https://i.imgur.com/mLuKHNe.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 583px" /><a href="https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xev2" target="_blank">Wizard King by Joe Russano</a><h2 style="text-align: center">Introduction</h2>The River of Time is not purely linear, its entirety running from a single beginning to end. It splits and forks, creating countless possible realities of unrealized futures. The Dragonlance Legends trilogy brought time travel as a storytelling device to the setting, where Caramon Majere sought to save Krynn by seeking to avert the dead world of the future created by his brother Raistlin’s mad pursuit for godhood.The 3rd Edition of Dungeons & Dragons was a fruitful time for Dragonlance, with the Legends of the Twins sourcebook expanding upon the themes introduced to us from the above trilogy. One innovative chapter, Alternate Krynns, posited six variant timelines both wholly original and previously hinted at in the novels. They included a setting where the Kingpriest enslaved the gods and became Ansalon's sole divinity; where the Wizards of High Sorcery became the chief governing power of the post-Cataclysm continent; where Raistlin ascended to godhood and his war with the gods is bringing about the apocalypse; where the Heroes of the Lance had failed and the Dragonarmies won; where an unnatural winter takes hold of Ansalon as the Dark Queen's forces conquer the land with corrupted Darklances; and where Ansalon's powers settle into a tense cold war after the primordial entity known as Chaos is defeated.Each timeline has its own strengths and faults, but the Magocracy of Ansalon is perhaps the most transformative in that it reshapes three and a half centuries’ worth of in-universe lore. It is not a low-magic world in ruin, of isolated kingdoms and provinces scraping by in the Age of Despair. Instead, it reimagines Ansalon as a high-magic world where the Wizards of High Sorcery chose to save what remained of civilization for their own ends. By thrusting one of the most iconic factions of Dragonlance to the political forefront, it lets us imagine a setting that is at once familiar, yet wholly different.<h2 style="text-align: center">Chapter 1: Overview of the Age of Magic</h2><img src="https://i.imgur.com/1NI6ljB.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 683px" /><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/dianaiiz/art/Conclave-of-magicians-Dragonlance-zine-848581385" target="_blank">Conclave of Magicians by dianaiiz</a>The year is 348 Anno Magus. Istar has long since fallen nearly three and a half centuries ago, and the Discs of Mishakal sank beneath the waves. Archmages sit in their Towers, exchanging Sending spells with vassals regarding the tribute of gems and material components from the dwarven kingdoms. Lush paradises blessed with spell-shaped weather patterns reside in the barren Plains of Dust, its staff-wielding regents conducting experiments in towers of transmuted gold. In the western city of Daltigoth, spell-less peasants cross the street to avoid a passing black-robed mage escorted by former Solamnic Knights turned undead slaves. And in the central mountains, outcast mages hearing the Dark Queen’s call form alliances with dragons and monsters to remind Ansalon of the powerful might of the Forgotten Gods.In this timeline, the Wizards of High Sorcery evolved from a reclusive order of magical scholars to rulers and conquerors, rebuilding Ansalon in their image after the Cataclysm’s wake. Replacing the old regimes of nobility and warlords, the three Orders created new governments in line with the values and ideologies of their lunar gods. But no matter whether one lives in a benevolent White Robe domain or a Black Robe tyranny, the unifying factor of the Magocracy of Ansalon is that institutional power and magical capability go hand in hand. It is also a world where the powers of divine magic are still forgotten, and even Takhisis has turned to arcane magic to empower her fledgling Dragonarmies.The Magocracy of Ansalon is in some ways more advanced than the other timelines, but it is no less home to danger. The White Robes abide by altruistic principles, but they too can fall prey to elitism and authoritarianism, as is seen in Silvanesti’s caste system and the violent overthrow of the Knights of Solamnia. The Red Robes prize free thought and independence, letting their communities stand on their own two feet yet bothering little with those beyond their towers and walls. The Black Robes reign over western Ansalon as a ruthless dictatorship, where non-mages have no recourse against their social superiors and the disenfranchised are little more than slaves, even in death. Teleportation Circles exist in major cities and Towers, which helped travelers circumnavigate the dangerous, rugged terrain of central Ansalon. This let the Dragonarmies grow unopposed and without outside supervision in such territories. Even with the power of the Art at the fingertips of so many, this timeline is just as much in need of heroes.Major ThemesThe Class Struggle: Although based upon meritocratic ideals, one’s capability to master the Art of magic is still a gift attainable only to a minority. The majority of the population remains Untouched, displaying no proficiency with magic and reliant upon the spells and magic items of others in order to reap the benefits of the Magocracy. Even the more forward-thinking Utopians of the White Robes, who provide public-funded education and magical training courses based upon philosopher-king ideals, had tests for magical proficiency gradually calcify to the point that children of the wealthy and well-connected disproportionately make up the ranks of wizardry. The Red Robe city-states, based on ideals of ruling with a light touch, caused oligarchs and guilds to become increasingly enmeshed with rulership. And the Black Robes are aristocratic dynasties made up of immortal undead, no longer fearful of needing to leave heirs in order to carry on their legacies.New and Emerging Magic: Formally known as the Art of High Sorcery, the powers of wizards are not the only form of spellcasting emerging in this new Age of Magic. The increased use of arcane spells is causing a buildup of ambient energy in the world, giving rise to a new generation of primal sorcerers whose magic comes intuitively at a young age. Dragons, fey, and other innately magical beings enact pacts with mortals to become living conduits known as warlocks, so as to better enact their will in the world. And despite all their innovations, the miraculous art of healing magic remains out of grasp of the arcane, regarded as the secret ways of the Forgotten Gods. And those very gods may one day return to Krynn, as seen with the rise of the Gray Robes in central Ansalon bearing the insignia of a five-headed dragon. Establishment forces will view these new forms of magic as a threat once they come aware of them, either to be incorporated into the establishment of the Orders or done away with.Political Wizardry: Gone are the days where the pursuit of magic was a valued end in and of itself. Merroc the White, one of the chief architects of the Magocracy’s rise to power, did so as a planned stepping stone to a future Utopia since people could no longer rely on the gods to grant them salvation. Mages married into noble families and passed their teachings onto their children, and innovations such as Decanters of Endless Water and Control Weather can grant otherwise remote and meager domains tremendous amounts of economic power. Matters affecting the Magocracy as a whole are determined by the Conclave, made up of 21 archmages from the three Orders of High Sorcery, and even those of the same alignment can have very different ideas as to the direction of society. Groups opposed to the Magocracy are growing, from the Homecomers of southern Ansalon who seek a return to the traditional ideals of the pre-Cataclysmic Wizards of High Sorcery, to the sinister Gray Robes who draw their powers not from the three moons but the Dark Queen Takhisis.</blockquote>

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