Wizardmaking is an Arcane process by which a person with magical potential may be attuned to a Skein. The process was first developed in ancient Tassèrus by Yrūn magicians wishing to align themselves with ambient magics. The ritual was later refined by ancient Acèntyrans and finally adapted by Mesral of Genter to allow magicians to attune themselves to Dragul in the absence of Ancient Rites.

The term is something of a misnomer in contemporary parlance, since the ritual creates a magician, not a wizard.

Ancient Rites

The Ancient Rite of the Speaker was established in Lanàdus circa 140 AR. Though the architect of the Pact is unknown, there are some who suspect that it was Irāyn. The Ancient Rite laid the foundation for all Arcane Magic in the Old Empire for centuries to come. Among other benefits, the Pact promised an uninterrupted source of energy to the magicians of the Empire in exchange for certain honoraria and service. In addition, the Pact could be extended to new city-states through the establishment of additional Dragul Pacts. These pacts were bound to the original Ancient Rite. Due to this arrangement, magicians of the Old Empire sometimes referred to each other as Handservants.

In the 13th century HK, the 1,500 year old system failed spectacularly when the Speaker Stone was destroyed and the citadel of Kryr Trèmendūm collapsed into ruin. Throughout the Old Empire, the Dragul Pacts were broken and legions of magicians were rendered mundane. This was the Empire’s death knell, and the end to a magical compact that had empowered an island nation to conquer the lands of three continents.

Acèntyri Rite

The Arcane magicians of Vulmùra never had the benefit of Dragul Pacts. Vulmùri magic was derived from the ambient Skein that flowed through the air, land, and water. Though the practice of Wizardmaking was centuries old when the Vulmùryr adopted it, few in the Western Kingdoms have record of its Tassèri origins. The Vulmùryr refined the barbaric practice laid down by their magician predecessors into a carefully controlled ritual that is used to this day, and called the Acèntyri Rite.

A similar practice has been observed in the carvings of the Tūkùmun mountain tombs. It is remotely possible that the Serájar gained the secret from this earlier people. The practice is so similar that some have theorized that following the Fall of the Tūkumun Empire the Wizards of Tūkùmun fled to the distant south where they kept their secret arts alive for many centuries. If this unlikely story is true, it would imply that the secrets of Wizardmaking were influenced by the Eylfāe.

The Acèntyri Rite is a process by which the non-magic Yrūni vessel is attuned to the magic of the World by merging the two. This merging is typically achieved by inserting a magical artifact into the body (usually the skull) of the recipient as part of a complex ritual that makes the artifact and the body a single instrument for focusing magic energies. The more better (i.e., more magical) the artifact is, the better the vessel will be able to focus magic. A general guide used by most Wizardmakers is that the older an artifact is the more potent it should be, due to a longstanding belief that magic was more abundant in the early Ages.

The most obvious problem with the Acèntyri Rite is the risk of death due to chirurgery. There are plenty of spells available to minimize the problems associated with head chirurgery, but death and permanent damage still occurs with some frequency.

When faced with the cessation of Arcane magic-use by Old Empire magicians, many were at a loss as to how to proceed. Those of means traveled to Tassèrus and Vulmùra to learn from the Yrūn magicians there, but most Teréðori magicians were left in the proverbial dark. It was not until half of a century later that Mesral the Wizardkiller was able to rework the Acèntyri Rite to utilize Dragul magics, that the surviving magicians of the Old Empire were reawakened. The Old Empire magicians could not utilize their vast repertoires of spells in the Acèntyri manner, for their spells were not compatible with the ambient magics.

The only question that remains is, Why does Mesral’s rite work at all? The Dragul Pacts had been broken. The members of that ancient race were under no compulsion to lend their energies to the next generation of Old Empire magicians. For the last six hundred years, many scholars and magicians have asked this same question. Only one answer seems to make sense. Revenge. During the Second Acèntyri-Dekàli War, the Eylfi-Acèntyri forces killed four ancient Dragul in an attempt to undercut the Empire’s power, e.g., Rāgyrfàrfyrdràgulð of Oð, Amánydrylurádralyð the Old of Lanàdus, Myyranágdralyð of Taldàna, and Yrygarmàndralyð of Ildûn. This was a grievous attack upon the Immortal Dragul, who are believed to be able to feel the pain of all the others of their kind. It is believed that the Dragul are planning their revenge upon the Eylfāe and that the tool of their revenge will be a restored and reinvented Empire.