McDonald-Isom

Founded in Upper Pazard’zhik, the Byal Krŭg, or White Circle, was originally a loose organization of human spellcasters granted a charter by the Kral allowing them to build a small school and train aspiring mages.  As a condition of their charter, the Kral required they share their knowledge and ensure all citizens benefited from their presence.  In this way, the White Circle would promote public awareness and counter the prevailing suspicion of all who manipulated magic.

The years went by and their numbers grew.  Many of the mages elected to spend all their time at the school advancing their craft and teaching.  By necessity, they petitioned the Kral for more space.  He granted them an imposing, three-story granite and limestone edifice with conical turrets at each of the four corners.  It took up a quarter of a city block and had frontage on the Bulevard na Kralete, or Boulevard of the Kings, which led directly to the Kral’s estates.

They moved in and immediately dedicated one of the larger rooms on the second floor as a library.  Their quest for knowledge knew no bounds, and they searched across the lands for all documents discussing magical theory.  They even managed to bring back copies of manuscripts written by the powerful arch-magi of Korell to their south.

Realizing their time was drawing nigh, the founding mages donated their personal works to the library, a practice that quickly developed into a tradition among the White Circle.  Several generations of teachers came and went, and word spread that the mages trained at Pazard’zhik rivaled those of Korell.  The library grew, taking over the second floor of the school with rooms filled from floor to ceiling with books, tomes, and scrolls.

Centuries passed, and the knowledge of magical lore reached heights previously undreamt, outpacing science and technology.  Mages traveled the world using the great Tables of Vlactos.  Large enough to transport whole battalions or send aid to those in need, they brought cultures together, and trade flourished.  But it didn’t last.

Twelve hundred years after the Convergence, the Dark One rose in the West and struck Korell on the coldest of winter nights.  War raged in the south, pitting powerful wizards against the sons of Cayn.  Answering the call of their ally, Trakya sent its warriors and mages into battle, and the forces of the Dark One were defeated at what is now called the Valley of Mirrors.  None of the Trakyans returned.

News of the battle reached the Kral, and, to his dismay, he learned the minions of the Abyss had overrun the great city of Val Magus, home to the most powerful magi in the Korellan empire and the greatest center of learning on two continents.  The imperial might of Korell collapsed, never to recover, and the treasury of knowledge of the mages who fought and died was lost forever.

Torn apart, the Korellan Empire and its many country-states fell prey to barbarian hordes.  In an effort to avoid the mistakes of their rival, Trakya closed its borders to protect its people.  The Kral actively sought out the few remaining mages from all over Parlatheas and invited them to join him.  In return, he gave them unlimited access to his library, and the Library of the White Circle became one of the last depositories of knowledge from Korell.

With the magic of the Tables of Vlactos on the verge of being lost, spell casters from all over the world made long pilgrimages to Pazard’zhik and sought out the secret of their creation.  It was never found, and, over time, the tables fell into disrepair and were eventually forgotten.  Across the world of Gaia, countries that had once formed mighty alliances found themselves alone in the dark.

Their numbers struggling, the White Circle petitioned the Kral and asked that all witches and warlocks who lived in the city be required to become a member of their society.  They stated that by doing so, they could bolster their ranks, regulate the use of certain types of magic, and outlaw the creation of cursed items.  The Kral gladly accepted, and the White Circle became one of the first sanctioned guilds of mages—prior to this, they had simply been called akademiya or academies.

The organization of the guild changed.  Schools of philosophy were formalized and given names: Astral (study of the cosmos and all its parallel dimensions and planes of existence), Divination (study of the past, present, and future), Elemental (study of earth, air, fire, and water), Illusion (study of the five senses), Necromancy (study of the body, living and dead), Reason (study of human nature), and Wards (study of the defensive arts).  From each of these seven schools, one arch-mage was selected, forming a supreme council to preside over the White Circle and creating a bureaucracy of sorts.

While most of the citizens of Pazard’zhik tolerated the guild and accepted its presence in the city, there were a handful of documented incidents where the charter of the White Circle came into question.  One such incident occurred when the supreme council was led by the great Arch-Mage Nikolai Kolev: a great fire consumed the library, and many of its tomes were destroyed.  Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt, but the interior of the building was gutted.  They never discovered the cause of the fire, and, though there were many rumors casting suspicion on the country of Zhitomir and a ring of sorcerer spies, there was never enough evidence to bring a case to the Kral.

Nikolai and the White Circle approached the Kral and asked to relocate their guild.  The Kral denied their request, stating the building was still prime real estate and could be salvaged.  The truth was the general public would never use it or agree to build over its foundations even if the building was razed and the ground salted.  Although the mages and their guild had been there for centuries, the typical person was still suspicious of their activities, and the fire only fueled their concerns.

The White Circle decided to refurbish the perimeter chambers of the existing building.  They stabilized the exterior walls and reinforced the rooms along the perimeter at each level, using them as anchors in the creation of an extra-dimensional space buried deep inside.  One that could be expanded as the guild grew.

Extra precautions were taken when it came to rebuilding.  The mages warded every stone, every door, and every window against magical attacks from outside.  They also controlled who magically entered the guild by creating special chambers designed to facilitate magical transportation into and out of the building.

Eventually, the guild rebuilt its numbers, and smaller branches of the White Circle sprang up in the outlying cities of Trakya, all with ties to the guild in Pazard’zhik.  Throughout this growth, the guild’s core purpose remained true to its charter, and the mages remained steadfast in their dedication to teach the youth the ways of magic.

As the guild regrew, so, too, did its collection of magical tomes.  Items of great power were again placed in the vaults, but it never quite attained the level of knowledge it had accrued before the fire.  Three thousand years after the fall of Korell, the Library of the White Circle was one of the best sources for arcane knowledge on the continent of Parlatheas, second only to the mystical Library of Erinskaya.