Luminal Arboretum - ThatCoffeelock/Home GitHub Wiki

So I have turned to magic lore,
To see if through the spirit's power and speech
Perchance full many a secret I may reach,
So that no more with bitter sweat
I need to talk of what I don't know yet,
So that I may perceive whatever holds
The world together in its inmost folds.

-Goethe (Faust, Scene 1: Night).

Although a number of buildings within Epror can be classified as old, the Luminal Arboretum is a truly ancient place. Situated on the very edge of the continent, it has seemingly stood forever. Legends of old, passed down from generations, have always treated the existence of the tower as ex ante given. No stories survive of its construction eons ago. It might as well always have been there. The tower knowns a long tradition of functioning as a college for aspiring mages, wizards, witches, and other adepts of the arcane arts. Its inhabitants seek to harness the power of the arcane for either study, making records, doing experiments and getting more knowledge about the very foundations of the world. The foundations of the Arboretum are in turn also imbued with magic properties, and the building itself exudes arcane power.

Over the many years, the Luminal Arboretum has had famous practitioners of the arcane arts stay for either a short or long period of time. Its libraries are vast beyond any measure and inside the building its halls and floors defy any sense of logic. Although the Arboretum seems like a vastly high, if not extremely broad, tower from the outside, the inside of the tower is completely devoid of any rationality. The towers features an uncountable number of levels each next one being larger and more esoteric than the former. Low-level clerks and mages form the pumping heart of a vast bureaucracy on the lower levels, logging experiments and filing away reports. As in every bureaucracy there is the enticement of eventual upward mobility, broadened responsibilities, enhanced stature, and promises of leadership. However, after a life spent in servitude, the seasoned bureaucrat must eventually conclude that, although having risen through some ranks and working a number of levels above their first station, there are many more rungs to be climbed on the ladder while time has ran out. The most gifted and efficient might even make it a number of levels higher but have to conclude as well that they stand merely at the outskirts of a vast pyramid.

Arch-mages of the Luminal Arboretum

Only the Arch-mage and his direct network of trusted servants can hope to enter the highest reaches of the Luminal Arboretum. There they access the most potent tomes of knowledge stored by their predecessors eons ago. The current Arch-mage of the Luminal Arboretum is Arch-Mage Lexxus.