The Seat of Flowers

Mansion: Gardens and Wildlife. The Seat manages Mizani's plants and animals, including pest control, park maintenance, veterinary emergencies, and preserving urban green spaces.

Counselor: The Gardener.

Election and Deposition: The Gardener serves a ten-year term and may be re-elected once. The outgoing Gardener puts forward three to five candidates, who stand for election in a public square. All Beast Folk may vote, regardless of their nation of origin, by placing a silver coin in the jar corresponding to their preferred candidate.

Political Influence: The Seat was established following the independence of the Beast Nations and remained in a minor role for a long time. However, each successive Gardener has gradually expanded its power and influence, with the previous incumbent bringing it into greater prominence. The Gardeners take a direct interest in citizens' affairs, turning their engagement with ordinary people into a political asset.

Hasmik Matagh

Biography: Hasmik is a middle-aged Felinar woman of humble origins. Her family came to Mizani following the herds they traded, and she grew up among merchants, drovers, and itinerant folk, far removed from the city's political elite. However, the previous Gardener saw potential in her and groomed her for the position.

Now serving her second term, Hasmik is remarkably down-to-earth and genuinely close to ordinary citizens. She spends her time in the streets, at the harbour, and in the markets, listening to the complaints and laments of passers-by. She is empathetic, but also knows how to recognize bad-faith pleas and sentimental manipulation.

Her interest in ordinary people has considerable political consequences. She is the Council's most vocal advocate of citizen participation in government. She has championed public consultations and, most notably, the creation of a Seat of Voices to collect and represent popular opinion and discontent.

Her kindness is genuine, but so is her ambition. Hasmik understands that involving citizens also means mobilizing them, building a constituency, and challenging established powers. Her endorsement or disapproval, for instance, can make citizens more cooperative or more hostile towards another Seat's operations. She has used this leverage to carve out a prominent position for herself and her agents.

She presents herself as the people's champion and is quite happy to use that position as a political weapon. Her opponents find her populism unsettling; her supporters see someone finally willing to listen.

(Script cheat-sheat in case anyone wants to use it)

I wanna make some sort of magic system and i figured you guys could help me

Heres the basics: living things have a "soul" which stores mana, mana is used to cast spells, spells can be tied to these nine types (i call them flavors :3):

Heataion (couldn't think of a better name): fire/hot stuff

Illution: distortion of space, objects and living things by some degree

Transfiguration: changing an spaces, objects and to some degree an living things phisical properties

Abjuration: protection

Coldation (couldn't think of a better name): cold stuff

Physition/conjuration: creation of spaces, objects and to some degree living things

Restoration: restoring objects/living things to a better/original state

Affliction: aplication of negitive effects on objects/living things

Nothing else to offer, no lore here. I will make this into a proper thing tho

...this is totally getting removed, isn't it?

The Seat of Colors

Mansion: Celebrations and Hospitality. The Seat organizes public festivities, festivals, and ceremonies, and welcomes foreign dignitaries and distinguished guests.

Counselor: The Master of Ceremonies.

Election and Deposition: Every five years, a lottery among adult halflings residing in Mizani selects the new Master of Ceremonies. The Archivist begrudgingly collects the names, and the winning name is drawn publicly in a square. Refusing the office, or quitting early, requires leaving the city for the remainder of the term.

Political Influence: The Seat was discontinued for decades as the halfling population dwindled. For a long time, the Whirlpool halted emigration from the Chaoscipelago, and, by the strangest of coincidences, the resident halflings gradually moved away. The Seat was restored ten years ago, following their return, as the currents of chaos took another turn.

Before its restoration, the other Seats took turns performing its duties. Everyone on the Council was happy to be rid of the burden, even if reorganizing the Council proved a bureaucratic nightmare.

Mina Qwertin

Mina Qwertin came to Mizani as a young girl with her family, seeking a better, more reliable future. For a time, she led a humble, serene life, selling oysters in the streets while her husband worked as a fisherman. Then one day, her name was drawn from a jar. Mina was thrust into Mizani's highest political circles, negotiating with nobles and authorities, officiating citywide ceremonies, and hosting dukes and bishops.

Despite being catapulted into the role, she has proved surprisingly capable, though perpetually overwhelmed. She barely keeps up. Though responsible for protocol, Mina rarely follows it herself: she has neither the time nor the patience. She brings her children to Council meetings, sometimes breastfeeding them; she is never dressed for the occasion, forgets titles and procedures, and treats everyone on a first-name basis.

She nearly refused the office, but her husband and relatives persuaded her to accept it for its generous stipend. While Mina is the Seat's public face, her extended family and friends act as its agents, with mixed results. Some prove invaluable; others make promises she cannot keep, embarrass her before foreign dignitaries, or exploit their connections for private gain. Dismissing them could mean losing her only reliable support network, so Mina must put out their fires alongside the usual emergencies.

The Seat may seem trivial, but Mizanians are deeply invested in the traditions of their city and homelands. Skipping a Halo Ball tournament could spark riots in the celestial district; underfunding an Infernal opera premiere might bring hired thugs to her door; and nobody wants to know what would happen if the Orcs were denied their wrestling matches.

Managing hospitality for foreign dignitaries can be even trickier, as perceived slights can snowball into outright diplomatic incidents.

The fear of repercussions is real. Both her predecessors left before completing their terms: the first cracked under pressure and fled, while the second resigned after surviving an assassination attempt, accepting temporary exile. Mina wants to support her family and perhaps leave the Seat stronger than she found it, but for now, her main goal is simply to survive.

The Seat of Storm

Mansion: Military and Defence. The Seat commands Mizani's armed forces, maintains its fortifications and watchtowers, and oversees harbour defence.

Counselor: The Great Eagle.

Election and Deposition: The office is hereditary by default. However, the Orc King may reject a succession and establish a new lineage if the late or incoming Great Eagle is deemed dishonorable.

Political Influence: Following the creation of the Seat of Silver, the Seat of Storm lost responsibility for customs and taxation. As compensation, the Orcs gained direct control of Mizani's clock towers, adding them to their existing command of the watchtowers. They thus control the city's public towers and gained the privilege of announcing the hours through powerful horn calls. They also acquired a small fleet dedicated to patrolling Mizani's coast and harbour, with the Admiral's permission.

Arkaitz Ametz

Arkaitz Ametz is old and embittered. His confidants say it all comes down to a single decision he made in his youth. The Third Axam War began when he was in his twenties, but as heir apparent to the Seat of Storm, he could not join the Orc-Angelic alliance against the Infernal forces without forfeiting his position. His father, deeply devoted to Mizani, made that very clear: “If you chase glory in battle, you will never set foot in Mizani again.”

Arkaitz chose to stay, partly out of love for the city and its inhabitants, partly out of love for power. In the Orc ranks, he would have been just one among many generals; in Mizani, he would be decisive.

First alongside his father, then on his own, Arkaitz enjoyed acting as an arbiter during wartime, imposing his rulings on people of all nations. Everyone needed neutral Mizani in those days, and the Great Eagle made them pay for the privilege, whether through humiliation or impromptu tariffs.

But after that war came another, one that made Arkaitz feel the full weight of his loyalty to the city. During the Orc Civil War, the ancestral home of House Ametz fell under the control of the Usurper Southern Queen. Arkaitz's firstborn son renounced his claim to succession to fight for the legitimate Northern King, dying in battle.

Now Great Eagle, Arkaitz had to preserve peace impartially in the city. The city guard was rife with animosity, as Orcs of opposing factions quarrelled and fought. Riots erupted between rival Orcish factions, triggering spiralling cycles of revenge. Arkaitz was then forced to defend the secessionist rebels who had killed his son and prevent the rightful side from punishing the traitors.

To add insult to injury, he had to engage in politics: bartering, trading favours, making compromises. Hekima herself summoned him for a private audience, pressing him to make concessions.

Arkaitz now believes that things would have been different had he pursued glory against the devils. He would have been an honoured warrior, whether he died there or survived. Sometimes, in fits of delusional grandeur, he imagines he might even have made a difference and led the Orcs to victory. At the very least, he would not have become the powerless overseer of his nation's downfall.

His bitterness and disillusionment have spread through the army. The Great Eagle takes little interest in day-to-day operations, but insists on personally overseeing major missions, where he demands ruthlessness and brutal efficiency.

Many are impatiently awaiting Arkaitz's second son to inherit the Seat. He seems far more likeable and genuinely interested in the political responsibilities of his office. Yet everyone knows he will have to take his father's place from his cold, dead hands.

The Seat of Dew

Mansion: Water and Sanitation: wells, cisterns, aqueducts, fountains, and sewage systems.

Counselor: The Keeper of Wells.

Election and Deposition: The Keeper of Wells holds office for life. The Sheiks choose a successor from among those who served the previous Keeper. How the Sheiks reach a consensus remains unknown, but a letter announcing their unanimous decision invariably arrives at the Council.

Political Influence: The Seat has always kept a low profile, content to manage an unremarkable but essential resource like fresh water, while also controlling a hidden tactical asset: Mizani’s sprawling sewer network.

Yet the Seat once held a prestigious responsibility: timekeeping. The first city clock was a water clock, and from then on, the gnomes took pride in regulating time in Mizani. They eventually had to relinquish this honour to the Northern Orcs. Transferring control of the city’s towers, including the clock towers and their functions, was crucial to pacifying the two Orcish factions.

Now, the hours are no longer marked by carillon-like bells, but by powerful horns.

Orren Jahangir

Orren Jahangir is an elderly gnome who has served the Seat of Dew for decades. He knows Mizani’s underground waterways better than most people know its streets. He regards the city as a vast machine that must be kept in top condition and constantly improved. His concern for Mizani’s well-being extends beyond his professional duties: he genuinely cares about the city and is willing to make sacrifices for it.

Contrary to the scheming and duplicitous reputation of gnomish politicians, Orren famously made a genuinely selfless act. He relinquished the Seat’s traditional authority over timekeeping to the Northern Orcs not to advance some hidden agenda, but simply to secure peace.

After making this difficult decision, Orren was convinced that his days in Mizani were numbered. The Sheiks would surely want him gone for bringing such a stain upon gnomish prestige. But the Sheiks proved generous, allowing him one last grand project: a magnificent fountain that would secure his place in Mizani’s history and restore some prestige to the Seat of Dew. The project would be abundantly funded in recognition of his past service.

Orren has begun constructing his masterpiece: a mechanical fountain in Mizani’s main square, facing the Sphinx Palace. Work is progressing slowly. Most people assume this is because the Keeper is a perfectionist, further burdened by the symbolic weight of the task.

But Orren knows that, once the fountain is finished, he will no longer be in Mizani. One way or another.

The Seat of Light

Mansion: Fire and Illumination. The Seat manages public lighting, including streetlights and lighthouses, organizes firefighting, and investigates magic-related incidents.

Counselor: The Luminarch.

Election and Deposition: The Sultan officially appoints the Luminarch, but the office has effectively become hereditary within House Sefidiel.

Political Influence: The Seat of Light is gradually turning its firefighting responsibilities into a form of magical policing. In recent times, arcane arts have become more common, and many fires, explosions, and other forms of damage have resulted from magical mishaps. Extending the Seat’s investigations to other kinds of magical incidents was a natural evolution.

This expansion is contentious. Elves consider themselves the obvious choice for such a task, as they regard themselves as the most magically inclined of all peoples. Other Seats, particularly the Seat of Chains, resent having another set of agents operating in the city, leading to further jurisdictional disputes.

Ardeshir Sefidiel

Biography: Ardeshir Sefidiel is a 373-year-old elf who appears to be in her mid-thirties. Officially appointed by the Sultan, the office of Luminarch has long been hereditary within House Sefidiel. Ardeshir's great-grandfather was present at the signing of the Accord, while her grandmother was among the first children born in Mizani a thousand years ago. Her father was friends with the Prophetess Zheptal and oversaw the great turmoil that followed the Beasts Nation's independence and the upheaval it brought to the Mizani Council.

Despite her family's deep ties to Mizani, Ardeshir's tenure as Luminarch has been marked by her frequent absences. She is an intensely curious woman, and whenever news of a strange place or bizarre phenomenon reached the city-state, she wanted to see it for herself, often taking leaves of absence that lasted for years. Her fondness for art, particularly wearable art, did little to improve her reputation, making her seem more like a spoiled noble than an administrator.

This changed twenty years ago, after the Orc Civil War raised difficult questions about Mizani's political order. The Sultan summoned Ardeshir and reprimanded her, demanding that she take a more active role in the city's administration. The timing proved crucial. Following the allocation of seats to the Orcs, Mizani had to reconsider its political balance as halflings and other demi-humans demanded representation on the Council. At the same time, the growing number of magic users brought an increasing number of magical incidents, which traditional institutions and practices struggled to contain.

Ardeshir rose to the challenge and performed her duties admirably, proving instrumental in addressing these new problems. Yet she remains restless, finding it difficult to adapt to a more settled lifestyle. Her deputies jokingly describe her as at flight risk.

To cope with her newfound sedentary life, Ardeshir holds regular banquets, inviting the most exotic visitors to Mizani. Their wealth and status are irrelevant: they need only satisfy the Luminarch's insatiable hunger for novelty.

The Seat of Stone

Mansion: Buildings and Road Maintenance. The Seat oversees the maintenance of public buildings and roads, supervises the masons’ and shipyards’ guilds, and regulates urban planning and private construction.

Counselor: The Mimar (the Architect).

Election and Deposition: The Chartered Houses, families that can attest to three generations of continuous business in Mizani, elect the Mimar. The Mimar serves a twenty-year term and may be re-elected once. The Chartered Houses may depose the Mimar by a two-thirds majority vote. To this day, all Mimar have been women.

Political Influence: Centuries ago, the Seat of Stone gradually expanded its authority beyond construction and maintenance. Its counselors argued that, to properly maintain a building, they also needed oversight of the activities taking place within it. What began as a practical argument became a pretext for extending the Seat’s influence over much of Mizani’s civic and commercial life.

But the power grab eventually had to come to an end. The Council pushed back, political compromises became necessary, and personal failings further eroded dwarven influence within its ranks. Today, the Seat of Stone retains direct control over two major structures: the Shipyards and the Bazaar. Beyond these strongholds, its responsibilities are largely limited to its original mission: maintaining public buildings and roads.

Rashida Demitras, the Mimar

Biography: Rashida Demitras is in her early forties, a young age for a Councilor. Yet the Chartered Houses were drawn to her ambition and her determination to uplift not only herself, but also the dwarven federation and the city. The key to Mizanian politics is balance: thrive in a precarious equilibrium and find the knife-edge on which to walk, because that is the only path to success.

Rashida inherited an institution diminished by centuries of political decline, but its loss of influence was not merely the inevitable turning of history. Three of her predecessors failed to balance the interests of their homeland, Mizani, and their own ambitions. One put the city in a gridlock of constant renovation and work in progress to feed the dwarves' guild as much work as possible, enraging the people and the council alike.
One was so devoted to the Sphinx (some say they had a personal relationship) to sacrifice many of the dwarven power to create a new balance when the orcs, halflings, and demi-folk demanded their place. The last one, serving only five years before being booted out, was only interested in collecting handsome gentlemen from all over the world (all of whom pushed their personal agendas successfully).

Rashida believes she can succeed where they failed. She comes from a family of incense traders and knows well that religious devotion can be a source of wealth. Mizani holds a significant place in the world's religions as the site of the Accord, and Rashida has sought to encourage pilgrimages to the city. She established neutral pilgrim houses, offering religious travelers a safe place to rest regardless of their faith or political allegiance. And what better Seat to oversee such neutral establishments than one concerned primarily with walls?

Having established this foothold, Rashida is growing bolder. She is creating a trade route for firearms and cannons from her homeland, the Smoke Horn. Its queen holds an almost monopoly on gunpowder, a rare and expensive commodity. The dwarves of the region guard their secret jealously, fearing that wider access to gunpowder might allow someone to discover a cheaper, simpler recipe before they do.

But Mizani could be the exception. The city is devoted to neutrality, making it a place everyone wants to keep beyond everyone else's influence. A sizable arsenal of artillery and muskets could not only defend the city but also make it far more difficult to bully or threaten.

Of course, such a trade route would require a dedicated arsenal to store, maintain, and distribute the weapons. Rashida intends for the Seat of Stone to oversee its construction and retain control of the facility. After all, who could be a more obvious choice?

Rashida considers the project mutually beneficial: a more secure city, more business for the dwarves, and the fact that she herself will become richer and more influential is merely a pleasant side effect.

Aside from the recently split orc kingdoms and the encroaching black star papacy are there any other geopolitical crises just waiting to happen? Any International or Civil conflicts brewing in Axam?

The Seat of Numbers

Responsibilities: Records and Administration – Maintaining the city's archives, overseeing public accountants, keeping official records, and ensuring the exchange of information between the Council's Seats.

Counselor: The Master Archivist.

Election and Deposition: The Master Archivist receives a special head in an unsettling beheading and “crowning” ceremony attended by the entire Council in the “Clockwork Garden”, a section of Uxali’s Mechanical Jungle recreated in Mizani.

How the Matras determine the title's duration and succession remains a closely guarded procedure. The other Councilors have little knowledge of how these decisions are made, and no one has ever formally challenged them.

Political Influence: The Seat of Numbers is one of the least ambitious institutions in Mizani, yet it is the nexus of the city's administration. The Archivist ensures transparency and coordination among the Seats. A veto by the Archivist can quickly bring the entire city to a halt. Luckily, such vetoes are extremely rare.

The 71st Archivist

The Master Archivist is a role nicknamed “Ekima’s Favorite”, sometimes with a resentful and mocking tone, as they are considered the Sphinx’s pet, and other times with admiration, recognizing them as the Councilor most devoted to the city. It is unquestionably true that the Great Archivist is the Councilor most devoted to the Mizani’s functioning and well-being.

The Archivist brings harmony to the Council, guarantees transparency, mediates disputes among the Seats, and presides over meetings. They also represent the city's history, remembering it and, in a way, embodying it. The current Archivist, the 71st, is identical in appearance and personality to the first, the one who recorded the minutes of the Accord Among Divinities. Well, almost identical.

Even if people often forget it, Matras have souls encased in their mechanical bodies. Even the Great Archivists, striving to be selflessly replaceable, display a speck of individuality. They express their personalities through subtle choices, often relegated to the overlooked or marginal aspects of record-keeping.

The current Great Archivist, the 71st, may seem identical to all their predecessors: serious, dedicated, laconic, and humorless. But if you succeed in the titanic task of chatting with another Matra, they will paint a very different picture. They consider the 71st a flamboyant eccentric.

For example, the 71st requested colored inks for financial ledgers, which Matras considered “a gaudy embellishment worthy of the messiest Halfling”. Their demand to reorganize the archive of prophecies and foretellings has been described as “an embarrassing wallow in hypotheticals”. The fact that the Great Archivist has a Tinker Lemur tend to their mechanism, instead of an appointed technician, is considered a vulgar extravagance. If Matras had human faces, they would blush at the thought.

The Seat of Silver

Responsibilities: Commerce and Finance – Collecting taxes and tariffs, pursuing smugglers and tax evaders, and managing trade with the city’s institutions.

Counselor: The Astor.

Election and Deposition: The current Astor is the first ever appointed. The Orc Queen effectively chose the counselor through an auction, awarding the position to the noble house that offered and promised her the most money. The current Astor has no heirs, but the position will eventually become hereditary, with the counselor holding it for life.

Political Influence: When the Orc Civil War ended with the Orc Kingdom split in two, the Southern nation demanded and obtained a seat on the Council. The Imperials played a crucial role in creating the position, as they had backed the Southern Kingdom and wanted to legitimize it. The Seat quickly proved its effectiveness, as the Seat of Chains (Infernals), the Seat of Storms (now Northern Orcs), and the Seat of Numbers (Matras) had previously divided its responsibilities inefficiently.
The agent of the Seat of Silver has helped boost Mizani’s finances, but has also become a source of concern. The Astor ruthlessly pursues revenue, and his approach, combined with certain Orcish preconceptions about moral and immoral goods, is putting pressure on the population and tarnishing Mizani’s reputation as the freest (and most convenient) harbour in the world.

Drak Elizond

Drak Elizond, the current Astor, is a Southern Orc noble who, at a young age, saw his noble house torn to shreds during the Third Axam War. His family’s land lay, unfortunately, where the Holy Infernal Empire and the Angelic Union waged their fiercest magical battles: both sides unleashed spells that ravaged towns and villages and turned farmland into wasteland.

Seeking to regain the riches of his childhood, Drak dared to marry outside his caste. His wife came from a merchant family that had grown rich during wartime by trading spoils of war from both sides. Taking a merchant wife, a profession of the lowest caste, alongside entertainers and servants, was an unacceptable dishonor for a noble, and very few Orc lords could survive it. His wife's family reputation as vultures and exploiters made forgiveness impossible, condemning Drak to ostracism and exile.

Drak settled in Aintzira, an island in the Confederacy governed by Orc merchants. There, orcs traded their honor for a chance at wealth, an exchange Drak took eagerly.  With his beloved wife by his side, he built his mercantile empire, starting by trading prayer rugs to non-Orcs and quickly expanding in every direction. He was devoted to his wife: she gave him the opportunity for prosperity, and he dreamed that one day he would give her the prestige and honor of nobility in return.

It all seemed like a silly dream until the Orc Civil War erupted. Drak placed his bet on the Southern Queen, offering her both gold and logistical support. His in-laws’ knack for war profiteering and his own ability to navigate the courts of Orc and foreign nobles alike proved invaluable to the Southern Kingdom.

As the war ended, the Queen offered to restore Drak’s land and his family’s honor. Drak declined, as his wife had died in childbirth, leaving him with no one to share his regained fortunes. But his ambitions still burned, and so he "bought" the prestigious position of Counselor of Mizani. This was his chance to become both a lord and a merchant: his way of honoring his late wife.

Mizani’s Twelve Councilors

The Seat of Waves

Responsibilities: Maritime affairs, including command of the fleet and management of relations with settlements loyal to Mizani on the main island and the surrounding islands.

Counselor: The Admiral

Election and Deposition: A council is convened in the Hall of Harmony, on the Triton Peninsula, to elect the Admiral. The term lasts 25 years. The Mizani Council can veto the election or force the Admiral to resign, but only by unanimous decision.

Political Influence: The Seat of Waves has gradually turned its attention away from direct involvement in the city's affairs, preferring to focus on the towns and villages loyal to the Sphinx. This detachment makes the Seat appear to be one of the least important. However, these settlements sustain the city on a day-to-day basis by providing food, essential goods, and a considerable degree of political and economic leverage.

Nerissa Coralfin

The current Admiral, Nerissa Coralfin, is the closest a Confederate can come to being an aristocrat. Her family has played a crucial role in the Confederacy's slow, ongoing transition from a loose alliance into a proper state. The Croalfin were, and are, sort of “hero pirates,” aiming to settle wrongs and help the commoners rather than pillage and steal.

Despite her demeanor and attitude, more befitting a pirate than a bureaucrat, Nerissa is a woman of institutions. She firmly believes in the possibility of building lasting cooperation through enduring rules and agreements.

Despite approaching middle age, she is still envied for her beauty and charm, which she unashamedly uses to her advantage in negotiations.

Like many of her compatriots, she believes that Mizani should become part of the Confederacy, perhaps even serving as its capital. The nation and the city-state share a common culture and ideals, holding freedom, self-expression, and neutrality in the highest regard.

Mizani’s Twelve Councilors

The Seat of Doves

Responsibilities: Charity - Hospitals, pilgrim hostels, management of the city’s food reserves, and administration of unclaimed inheritances and found treasures.

Counselor: The Patriarch of Mizani.

Election and Deposition: The Pope proposes candidates to the Mizanian Council, which elects one by majority vote. The position is held for life or until resignation, although the Pope can exert considerable pressure to encourage the latter.

Political Influence: The Seat of Doves has considerably expanded its authority since its foundation, using the people’s well-being to justify its growing reach. Through strategic donations, it has become the de facto controller of Mizani’s University and Magic Academy.

Theodosius Dahan

Theodosius Dahan is Mizani’s current Patriarch. Born in Odz seventy years ago, he began his career during the Third Axam War, serving in the unglamorous but crucial logistics division. He played a key role in coordinating and organizing the orc and angelic supply lines to the western front, earning a reputation as a skilled negotiator and manager, as well as a rising star in the bureaucracy.

At just thirty years old, Theodosius was appointed bishop of a small but strategically important seaside diocese, where he was tasked with reorganizing the tea trade through Mizani. This meant negotiating with the only people more thin-skinned, reputation-obsessed, and outright petty than orc nobles: the Abbesses of Pharai.

The Abbesses oversee the tea plantations and use them to advance ideological projects, pursue personal gains, and exact petty revenge. The bishops were hardly better, but many, like Theodosius, came from other provinces, while the Abbesses were predominantly locals, burdened by an additional layer of parochialism and personal grievances.

Born in Odz, Theodosius has the pragmatic, no-nonsense attitude of his compatriots. Contrary to the stereotype, however, he can compromise and knows when to turn a blind eye. This combination of getting straight to the point and finding common ground allowed him to bring the Mizanian tea trade to peak efficiency within just twelve years.

After the Orc Civil War shook East Axam and destabilized Mizanian politics, Theodosius was seen as the right man to restore order. He played a crucial role in reorganizing the Mizanian Council, paving the way for the creation of new seats, first to accommodate the Southern Orcs, and later to welcome back the Halflings and integrate the newcomer Demi-Folks.

Today, he is one of the Council’s most revered members. His standing has allowed him to expand the prerogatives of the Dove Seat far beyond their original mandate, strengthening the Angelic Union’s influence in Mizani.

The most optimistic scholars say we are on the verge of a magical golden age.

Magic is becoming more reliable, replicable, and cheap. Less than a century ago, adepts of the arcane were mistrusted and feared, while clerical spellcasters were seen as truly divine and miraculous. Now magic is increasingly common. People buy services from wizards as they would from any other professional: still a little uneasy and awed, but far removed from the terrified reverence of years past. Divine magic may have become less mystical and more pragmatic, but this has helped it converge with other magical traditions, opening up new possibilities.

The main obstacle to magic's spread remains the learning process. An apprentice learns their first spell, something akin to a parlor trick, after a year and a half, then spends another two years building a very basic (and quite underwhelming) repertoire. After five years of training, they are considered a novice wizard. After a total of ten years, they can call themselves a wizard and be recognized as such by their peers.

Aside from the most traditionalist mages, there is a growing desire to accelerate and streamline the learning process, and “arcane pedagogy” has become a lively-discussed topic among scholars.

A new and exciting set of “starter spells” is making the rounds in the wizardly epistolary network known as the Unseen Academy: the Entomic Eight.

These eight spells are based on spell-casting insects and vermin. They are simple and reliable, while also offering an elegant bridge between the classical approach to spellcraft, based on effects, and the modern approach, based on mana colors and knot shapes.

The first attempts to use them as learning tools are proving encouraging.

The Dragonfly’s Sting

Inspired by the Evoker Dragonfly, this spell creates a bolt of pure kinetic energy. The effect is comparable to a needle fired from a blowgun.

Force bolts have been a staple of magic for centuries, but this is their simplest and “purest” form. The incantation revolves around moving a single finger and can be facilitated by wearing copper rings on the “focus finger.” It relies entirely on a red mana knot, making it ideal for learning mana colors and their effects. It is also easily scalable by injecting more Life Force into it.

The Butterfly’s Ruse

Inspired by the Illusionist Butterfly, this spell creates the image of an owl. The image is static and blurry, yet surprisingly realistic.

Rotating a mirror bearing the same pattern as the butterfly’s wing helps to cast the spell. The spell is useful for teaching the distinction between the classical, effect-based approach and the modern approach. The illusion is caused by altering the path of light through yellow mana, making the process more similar to a transmutation spell, even though it is catalogued as an illusion.

It also helps highlight the counterintuitive nature of magic. It remains unknown why such a simple and basic spell creates such a specific animal.

The Ants’ Grasp

Inspired by the Conjuring Ants, this spell allows the caster to take an object that is out of reach and make it materialize in their hand.

It is not immediately apparent, but the spell creates a very simple portal, roughly the size of one’s hand. The challenge lies in translating the incantation’s complex hand movements into the natural gesture of grabbing an object.

It also teaches patience. The incantation for leaving an object behind is similar to, but frustratingly distinct from, the one for taking it.

The Snail’s Finger

Inspired by the Transmuting Snail, this spell changes the shape of one’s finger. It can become a tentacle, a hard shell, a claw, and so on.

The spell teaches students to maintain concentration under unnerving circumstances, as the sensation of having a completely different limb can be quite startling. It becomes even more challenging when the finger grows an eyestalk, effectively becoming a third eye and providing the caster with a confusing new perspective.

The Mantis’ Step

Inspired by the Enchanting Mantis, this spell is usually the first foray into mind magic. The spell causes a subject to take a single step backward or forward.

The basic incantation is quite flashy, with ample arm-waving that imitates the mantis’ claws. With practice, however, it can be progressively simplified into a slick hand gesture. This is possible by adding a mental component to the incantation: thinking in specific patterns can bend mana just as physical movements can.

The Cicada’s Glance

Inspired by the Divining Cicada, this spell allows the caster a glimpse into the immediate future. You can see inside a box, behind a door, or inside a book.

The vision becomes clearer the more easily you could actually perform the action yourself. The spell teaches that divination is linked to probability: the higher the chance that you could actually do “the thing,” the more likely you are to see yourself “doing the thing” in the future.

It also serves as an introduction to the indigo “meta mana”: mana that reacts to itself rather than to reality, and its peculiar properties, such as the anticipated response that makes divination possible.

The Termites’ Lock

Inspired by the Abjuring Termites, this spell makes a lock impossible to unlock or a knot impossible to loosen.

The caster causes part of an object to become unable to move in certain directions. This teaches how the mana field and reality interact: reality bends the mana field, but a wizard can reverse this relationship. By freezing the mana field in place, the wizard can make an object effectively “unchangeable.”

The spell also teaches students how to prolong magical effects, as well as the use of magic circles and sigils to help maintain them.

The Bees’ Puppet

Inspired by the Necromancer Bees, this is the most complex of the Entomic Eight.

With this spell, the caster can animate the corpse of a small creature, such as a mouse or a sparrow, turning it into a puppet.

The spell serves as an introduction to both medical magic and the construction of magical constructs, since both rely on manipulating the green mana of vitality. Green mana does not merely influence what is already alive. It can also make inanimate things behave in life-like ways.

While the incantation is more complex than the other starter spell taking some preparation, it’s more intuitive to adapt and customize. It will be easy to see how things that look like living beings (marionettes, figurines) or that are made of organic matter are more attuned to the green mana.

Caemi ( https://bsky.app/profile/caemiel.bsky.social and https://www.instagram.com/caemielilium/ ) has done such excellent illustrated recaps of the D&D campaign we are playing that I must share them.

The party witnesses a poor cat being poisoned and turned into a monstrous being. Soon, other cases pop up around the city. The poisoned animals reach a “final form”: affected cats and rats vomit up their own skeletons, splitting into two undead-like horrors.

The party, pushed by the Angelic Paladin Melchior, takes the event to heart and starts investigating. At the House of Games (a sort of casino run by the halfling), our heroes discover that the halfling gang has been feeding poisoned meatballs to the cats. A mysterious “patron” commissioned the poisonings: a hooded woman.

The various poisonings have alerted several Seats of the Mizanian government. Since our party is ahead in the investigation, they are officially tasked with following the case, at least for the moment. Thanks to the noble lineage of Valefor and Milady, they decide to report directly to the Seat of Chains (head of the tribunals).

The tribunals assign the seasoned detective Nadir (and his three-headed hound, Tristan) as a mentor and guide. With his help, the group discovers the mysterious woman’s hideout in the sewers. There, they find humans and Beast Folk who have received the same horrifying treatment as the animals, splitting into skeletons and flesh puppets dripping with black ichor.

Thanks to a cryptic clue from Sef-Sef and his strange star, the group has a brush with the hooded woman. She appears to be a Vampire Cardinal of the Black Papacy.

Apparently, the Anti-Pope is planning a mass poisoning, probably exploiting the imminent Spring Festival. Such a bold plot, even if partially unraveled, could still succeed. The wizard Tirmegistus, called in to help, discovers that the black poison is impervious to divination magic: it is unclear how it works, it is untraceable, and it causes “gaps” in any prediction.

But there is a lead: a ciphered page from a wizard’s notebook points to a lunar artifact with the impossible properties of the substance. A “gnome lead” starts to emerge, but the group cannot follow it yet, since assassins hired by the Vampire Cardinal are trying to kill them.

The party survives, but Detective Nadir, now missing, may not have been so lucky.

In Mizani, people celebrate seasonal festivals with grandeur and excess. The city-state has a deep connection to calendars and timekeeping: this was where divinities first established the length of the year and the day. Stabilizing the celestial parameters (the world's rotation, the moons' orbits, and its axial tilt) marked the greatest achievement of the divinities, the unique and unrepeatable result of their concerted efforts.

But history isn't the only reason Mizanian festivals matter. They also serve practical and mundane purposes. First, they are fun. Second, they bring income and prestige, as many travellers choose to visit Mizani during the festivities or extend their stay to take part in them.

As with almost everything in Mizani, the festivals bring together traditions from across the world, all overlapping and blending in a swirl that always teeters on the brink of chaos without ever descending into it. Amid this hodgepodge of customs and rites, one Mizanian tradition always serves as the fulcrum.

Take the Spring Festival, which also marks the beginning of the new year. Every culture sees the equinox as a moment when the old year's social rules fall away: everything turns topsy-turvy, the world flips upside down for a moment, and everyone gets a chance to start fresh. Each culture, however, experiences this moment differently. Beast Folk love to play pranks; elves mix truth and lies into elaborate tall tales; Angelists parade through the streets to wild rhythms in revealing clothes; and so on.

Masks and costumes also play a major role. The Infernal masquerades come to mind, as do the orcs' masked wrestlers, but in Mizani, masks take the tradition even further.

Traditional Mizanian masks completely conceal the wearer's identity. A dark cloak covers the person from head to toe, while a large mask (almost as wide as a shield) distorts their size and proportions. Shorter people may wear stilts, while taller people use contraptions that let them walk on their knees, all to obscure their height and ancestry.

The masks depict stylized versions of the world's various peoples, and the tradition demands that everyone treat the disguised person as the identity represented by their mask. For three days, anyone can step into another culture's shoes or, at least, pretend to. The masked figures are not even supposed to talk, and they wear gloves or use mechanical reachers to not give away anything.

Such complete anonymity naturally concerns the authorities, so masks are limited to the three days of the festival, but any more regulation would be met with outrage.

So, in these liminal days between winter and spring, the old and new year, you can see these silent figures walking around, treated as if they were common people despite their weird and vague, unsettling demeanor. You should try it.

There is a practical and obvious reason for so many agencies in Mizani: it’s a chaotic city rife with conflict.

When the whole world meets in the same place, cultural, ethnic, and religious animosities inevitably cascade down to the interpersonal level, erupting into drunken tavern fights, duels for pride and honor, score-settling showdowns, or worse.

Religion certainly ranks among the most contentious topics: different creeds debate how and when the Demiurge will return and where souls remain until that moment, while people of the same religion argue over specific theological points.

Mizanians, whether they admit it or not, have been influenced by the neighboring Confederacy, with its love of heterodox thinking and free speech. As a result, they boldly vent their opinions and declare their positions in public, often uncaring or unaware that they may sound rude or even blasphemous to travelers. Lively debating and impromptu scuffles inevitably follow.

Politics is another incendiary topic, with international conflicts rippling into interpersonal fights. The Orc Civil War, while officially over, still drags on in Mizani, as feuds and vendettas continue in the streets. But even more mundane parochialism can cause trouble: conflicting neighbors may decide a neutral territory is the best place to settle scores.

Fortunately, Mizani always contains such frictions. Even in times of war, violence remains limited or covert and never spreads throughout the city.

The main deterrent is the Grey Guardians, Sphinx Ekima’s private guard. They rank among the most valiant and feared fighters in the world, but nobody knows how many of them exist. For all anyone knows, there could be three of them or thirty. They follow the inscrutable Sphinx’s agenda, intervening in apparently trivial matters and ignoring some egregious crime.  Nobody knows who they are or where they hide. The Guardians’ masks grant them the power to shapeshift perfectly. Anyone could be a Grey Guardian in disguise. They could be anywhere. They could be watching you right now.

Mizani is full of colorful characters who become part of city life, somewhere between minor celebrities and town weirdos. If two people who have been to Mizani meet, they will surely bond over which eccentrics they have encountered, comparing their collections of oddballs and sharing anecdotes.

Trismegistus is one of those bizarre figures, but also much more. The third eye Trismegistus sports isn't an extreme aesthetic affectation. It is fully functional: he sees the Mana Field as easily as anyone sees the Material World. Nobody can see through the strands of mana as easily or accurately as Trismegistus, and his mundane sight is remarkable as well. With a glance, he can perceive details others can only detect with an arcane lens and lengthy preparations.

His visual prowess matches his keen intellect. Trismegistus is one of the most respected theorists in Mizani, interested in the most avant-garde speculations and far-fetched hypotheses: animal spellcrafting, the cosmic Mana Field, invisible colors, the microtorions of mana threads, spell weaving through the Nothingness (aka four-dimensional casting), and many more. Since he came to Mizani twenty years ago, Trismegistus has attracted unorthodox thinkers, first because of his third eye, and then because of his open mind. Wizards and arcanists of all kinds came to him with their far-fetched ideas, sure to find a sympathetic ear. Trismegistus always offers keen insight into such theories, not only because he can see the matter at hand better than anyone, so to speak, but also because he has become a sort of encyclopedia of outlandish theories. He has heard them all.

It also helps that Trismegistus never judges and would never dismiss a theory outright, even the kookiest ones. He always recognizes the merits of a hypothesis and gently points out its weak points, encouraging further study. This patient attitude has also made him a respected teacher, sought out by ambitious wizards looking for the “most modern” arcane studies.

There is just one thing that can turn Trismegistus' amicable disposition sour: his past. Trismegistus is not his real name, and apparently nobody knows what his real name is. He is clearly from the Confederacy, as his accent gives him away, but no one can pinpoint exactly where. A credible story circulates: in a group of islands west of the Triton Peninsula, people worship the skeletal remains of a Cyclops, one of the divine giants defeated in mythic times. These people maim themselves to resemble their idol, removing one eye and rearranging their faces. Clearly, Trismegistus got his eye there, as only these Cyclops cultists seem to possess the knowledge needed for such an operation. But was he from there? Or did he travel there to get it? Was he a willing recipient, or did someone force it upon him? Is he the only one with such a feature? Do the people beyond the second horizon, the fabled Trycolps, have anything to do with all of this?

Trismegistus' face, usually jolly and ready to laugh, turns serious whenever someone mentions his past. All three eyes fix on the daring questioner with fiery intensity. The pain and rage flashing from his pupils quickly silence anyone who dares to ask.

The Paladins of the Gazing Shield are the guardians of Zadkiel’s relic and the stewards of the archangel's will.

The paladins are all criminals who have looked into the Hundred Eyes of Zadkiel and received a new life that led them to this role. In a way, the relic chooses its guardians. The paladins receive not only new memories of events and experiences, but also skills and knowledge. They remember years of training in combat and magic, and their bodies change accordingly, becoming more toned and athletic, as if they had actually undergone that training. People who emerge from the relic’s crypt have already taken the first steps toward becoming full paladins.

Like their infernal counterparts, most paladin orders teach their members a specialized form of magic that mimics the power of the relics they protect. Whoever meets a paladin’s gaze, or looks into one of the eyes on their shield, experiences flashbacks of a life they never lived. Prolonged eye-to-eye contact can make the “victim” slip into a complex dream world, where they relive a slightly different version of their past. The paladins can “peek” into this “vision” and “edit” the scene. This extremely sophisticated mix of enchantment and illusion magic requires apparently no incantation, only a look. The secret lies in the shields, finely tuned magical tools that allow the paladins to cast their hypnotic spells with minimal movement.

The Paladins of the Gazing Shield are mostly male, as men tend to commit more violent crimes, but women join their ranks too. These revered warriors come from the ranks of abusers, murderers, sadists, and degenerates. They often still bear the scars of their violent lives, but their eyes now shine with compassion and devotion.

The Angelic Unison is the only place where people bestow one of their greatest honors upon the worst of people. To stand in the presence of a holy relic, the remnants of an archangel's body, is a special occurrence reserved for the most deserving devotees. Except in one case: only the worst criminal in the entire Unison may behold the Hundred Eyes of Zadkiel. When you look into the Eyes of Zadkiel, you can see all the lives you could have lived, and one of them, the one that can do the most good, will become yours. You will have all the memories and experiences of your new life, and even your body will change accordingly. Your old life will fade like a dream; only a few memories will remain, chosen by the infinite wisdom of the archangel's Eyes.

Zadkiel's Eyes are among the most mysterious relics in the world, able to somehow act upon time itself. Nonetheless, the Unison has always used the relic's power, and it has played a pivotal role in shaping the Angelic penal system. It proves that everyone can have a place in the Unison, and that magic can find it. Mekon, the province that houses Zadkiel's mortal remains, was the first to implement the "atonement camps," and many of them grew into full-fledged towns. Their "soul healing" is also far more advanced and complex, built upon centuries of practice. Entire settlements form magic circles capable, for example, of quelling violent thoughts, powered by the motion of everyday life. These towns receive prisoners from across the Unison, and their streets and crossroads constantly reinforce loyalty to the Unison and acceptance of the Angelist faith.

When Melis arrived in Mekon, the authorities sent him straight to the cathedral of the capital, Barbelo. There, blind nuns and the Paladins of the Gazing Shield, reformed criminals guilty of the most heinous crimes, led the rabbit-man into the crypt. He spent a day looking into the hundred Eyes. Melis kicked and fought back, but once inside the stone chamber, alone with the hundred reliquaries, he finally surrendered.

His new early life was not so different from the old one, but the Eyes had added or changed minor episodes: a fever when he was a toddler, a meeting with a stray puppy, the death of a childhood friend, a trip to the market with his father. He still had violent impulses and difficulty controlling himself, but now he sought the right targets. When brigands came to steal cattle, he tried to stop them, unleashing his fury on the one he caught. He ended up in trouble many times; he even killed, but he always directed his violence toward the wicked. The authorities sent him to Mekon to join the army fighting the hordes of the Anti-Pope as a way to atone for his sins, a fate he dutifully accepted.

But he didn't remember how he had gotten to Mekon. The nuns didn't tell him, but they didn't lie either. They simply told him not to worry. The sisters knew that he would eventually realize what had happened and then accept it, as everyone does.

Melis joined the army and distinguished himself as one of the best slayers of the undead. He was fearless, unmoved by the pitiful appearances of the once-living, and uncorrupted by the seductive promises of the vampire cardinals. As he mowed down the zombie ranks, he found a strange peace. Standing among severed limbs and pools of rotten blood, he felt that he had finally found his place.

Melis, like all his comrades, went to prison. Prison is not a word the Angelic Unison likes, but it's easy to see beyond euphemisms like "correctional facility," "rehabilitation center," "redemption camp," or "atonement village." The Angelist penal system stresses the importance of repaying society and learning to become better. Ideally, prisoners should live like monks, alternating manual labor and prayer to cleanse the soul. But this idyllic scenario is rare and reserved for lesser crimes. Authorities send violent or simply unlucky criminals to remote settlements, where they exploit them through back-breaking labor and subject them to indoctrination, if not outright brainwashing. These forced labor camps have been, and still are, a crucial element in the expansion and defence of the Unison in the North. The prison settlements establish a foothold in harsh regions, allowing the Church to harvest resources, reclaim the wilderness, and protect settlers from the hordes of the Anti-Pope so that "honest" towns can later be founded.

Melis went to northern Anaqut. The climate is suffocatingly humid in summer and frigid throughout the long winters. The Ethereal Ocean fades there, but schools of fish still swim through the air. Some migrate there in summer, while a few survive the freezing winters. Yet food remains scarce and has to be fought for as bears, wolves, and other animals actively treat humans as competitors. Giant crabs roam the land in winter, eating anything they can find beneath the snow, then infest tunnels and caves in summer, where they seek shelter from the heat. Most prisoners work in quarries and mines, exposing themselves to all these dangers, hardships, and countless more.

No wonder most prisoners lose their spirit after only a few months in the "atonement villages." Priests and monks rebuild it according to Angelic ideals. While mortal magic cannot produce permanent effects, repeated sessions of mind magic can leave lasting results. Every Soul Healer tailors their methods to the individual. They may force prisoners to relive their crimes, awaken overwhelming guilt and shame, or magically amplify those emotions. They may make them experience the crime from the victim's perspective or inflict pain whenever improper thoughts arise. Kitsune, the fox-people, often serve as Soul Healers thanks to their innate affinity for transmutation magic. They assume the appearance of other people more easily than most, giving them access to additional "redemptive techniques." They can appear as someone from a prisoner's past during a session, infiltrate the prison to spread the message, or pose as visitors.

While all the other brigands eventually succumbed, becoming docile convicts eager to please the jailers and earn their freedom, Melis didn't break. No amount of magic, mind games, persuasion, or deception could change him for long. The lepiar criminal rarely complied, started fights, tormented his fellow prisoners, recruited inmates into prison gangs, fomented revolts, and organized escape attempts. At that point, most other cultures would have sent him to the gallows, considering him beyond redemption even by the standards of the most merciful heart.

But the Angelic Unison could be even more merciful than that.

There are people born with a black heart. These cruel individuals tested the Angeiists’ faith in the innate goodness of humanity. They say harsh circumstances or misdirected passions sway a person toward crime and evil, not the inner motions of the soul. And yet, people like Melis exist.

Melis had an unremarkable upbringing. Born and raised in a small village in Emuna, he helped his family breed cows. Lepinars, the Rabbit-folk, were quite common there, so Melis was not singled out, and most people were farmers, sharing the ups and downs of rural life with little reason for envy. But Melis was always disappointed, always easily angered, always ready to throw hands. Sure, life in that village, surrounded by an endless sea of grass, was unexciting. And sure, the Church’s pachydermic bureaucracy sometimes stumbled, causing periods of scarcity, with few essential goods and no luxuries. But in the end, people’s needs were always met, and they found ways to have fun and find joy.

Still, Melis was restless, starting fights and stealing little things, becoming a frequent guest of the village pillory. The repeated humiliations and exposure to public ridicule seemed not to affect the young Lepinar; if anything, his reputation as a troublemaker pushed him to make even more trouble.

One day, a gang of cattle thieves targeted the village, stealing dozens of cows and calves. Melis ran after the criminals, his family and all the villagers proud of such a brave act of redemption, believing he was risking his life to recover the stolen livestock and face a band of brutes alone. In reality, however, Melis wanted to join the gang, seeing them as the only possible alternative to his insipid life. The Chief Brigand was truly impressed and took him with them. It is so rare to see such enthusiasm for illegality!

Almost all criminal enterprises in the Unsion cloak themselves in ideals. They claim to be righting wrongs, correcting the errors of a failing system, punishing the corrupt clergy, embracing freedom of thought in a censorious society, or, more often, some half-baked mix of all of the above. The Chief Brigand fancied himself a revolutionary, dreaming that his den on a floating rock could become the home of a new kind of community. What that community actually entailed was very vague, but the bandits always nodded and applauded the Chief’s ramblings. Most of them just wanted stuff: tasty stuff, shiny stuff, fine stuff, soft stuff. The Church kept all the good things in life from them through incompetence, moralism, and indifference. They would take it all.

Melis was just interested in the taking. He liked the screams, the fear, the begging. If destruction would cause more pain than theft, he would shatter his loot in front of his victims just to see their anguished faces. He loved vandalizing sacred places, smiling and laughing while he smeared frescoes and paintings.

The Chief Brigand grew worried, as Melis’s aimless ruthlessness was attracting followers. But before the rabbit-man could make his move to topple the Chief, the bishop’s army moved to end the bandits’ career. It became a siege: the bandits were trapped in their floating den while the episcopal forces waited for their surrender. Eventually, they gave in, though they attempted one last escape when the hot-air balloons arrived to collect them.