Arcspire Collegium

The @Arcspire Collegium is the neutral, arcane governing body of @Arcspire Academy , tasked with identifying, evaluating, and assigning @Abyros 's most promising magical talents to the city’s eight ruling guilds. It is the first true trial of power in a mage’s life — and often the most mysterious.

Founded before Abyros' current guild system stabilized, the Collegium has remained untouchable due to its monopoly on raw magical testing, access to cross-guild research, and its protected status under the ancient Descent Accord.

Philosophy:


The @Arcspire Collegium does not seek control — only balance. Every decision, trial, and assignment aims to maintain a sustainable equilibrium of magical talent and guild ambition.

But balance, in Abyros, is often a mask for influence.

Structure:

  • The Circle of Ninefold Merit: The Collegium’s ruling council, each archon representing a different school or philosophy of magic (Evocation, Illusion, Psionics, etc.)

  • Testmasters: Designers of the Trial Nexus challenges

  • Archivists of Thought: Curators of cognitive history and spell records

  • Aetheric Wardens: Monitors of student health, mutations, and magical instability

  • Maskbearers: Enforcers of Collegium law. Masked. Silent. Feared.

The Trial Phase:


All students must complete the Trial Phase before guild assignment. This includes:

  • Attunement Scanning (magical potential, alignment, mutation risk)

  • Cognitive Testing (psionic control, emotional regulation, strategic capacity)

  • Simulated Descent (illusion-crafted Dungeon experience)

  • Judgment Panel Review (led by three Circle members)

Exceptional students may be bid on by multiple guilds. Others are assigned where needed.

Secrets & Rumors:

  • The Collegium may maintain a “Ninth Wing” for students too dangerous to assign.

  • Some say the Collegium’s archives hold pre-Dungeon maps.

  • It is whispered that Maskbearers do not breathe, and do not age.

  • A sealed floor beneath Spire Magna reportedly houses a living spell — one that remembers students by name.

Cultural View:


The Collegium is respected, feared, and mythologized. To impress them is to be seen. To fail them is to be forgotten.

In Abyros, your guild may define your life — but the Collegium defines whether you get one at all.