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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.