SPOILERS

GM only. Players should not read below. It will damage your game experience.

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Premise: For Students at the Argent Spire.

🌙 Initiation: The Binding of Silver

When new students arrive at the Spire (typically between 14–16 years old), they undergo a formal initiation designed to bind them to the Argent Spire, body and soul.

• Setting: The Tribunal Chamber. The twelve thrones are empty, but their looming statues cast long shadows. Professors stand in peach and white robes along the circle’s edge, and Wardens guard the doors.

• Rite:

  1. Each initiate is led alone to the central dais, where a silver flame burns in a wide basin.

  2. The student pricks their palm and lets three drops of blood fall into the flame. The fire flares indigo, reflecting their magical potential.

  3. A senior Magister (or their chosen Arbiter) speaks the Oath of Binding:

     • To uphold the Spire’s law.

     • To guard one’s magic from corruption.

     • To place the Tribunal above all else.

  4. A faint silver sigil appears briefly on the back of the student’s hand — the mark of their Circle (Shirkan, Asvari,Tamosh, Veledar, Manun).

  5. The flame then extinguishes for a heartbeat before rekindling, “accepting” the oath.

• Atmosphere:

  • The silence is absolute. Each child’s voice echoes as though spoken in a cavern.

  • Some faint, haunting whispers sometimes accompany the ritual — students say it’s the Spire itself acknowledging them.

• Outcome:

  • Successful initiates join their Circles and are escorted to their dormitories.

  • Rarely, the flame refuses to ignite after the oath — such students are expelled at once, whispered to have been “unworthy.” A few never make it home.

🔮 Graduation: The Vigil of Stars

Graduation is not a guaranteed event. Only those who endure or sometimes survive the rigorous curriculum (and Tribunal scrutiny) may undergo this rite, typically in their early twenties.

• Setting: The Astral Observatory at the summit, under the open dome, with stars wheeling above. The Tribunal attends in full regalia, seated among professors and Wardens.

• Rite:

  1. Graduates step one by one onto the star mosaic floor, standing within their Order’s constellation.

  2. They must cast a spell of their choosing, demonstrating mastery. This is not graded on power alone — creativity, control, and intent all matter.

  3. As the spell fades, the enchanted telescopes bend their gaze, focusing beams of starlight onto the graduate. The Tribunal watches silently, judging.

  4. If approved, the graduate’s Order Sigil transforms into a permanent arcane mark on their wrist or forearm, glowing faintly under moonlight. This is both a badge of honor and a tracking brand — the Tribunal always knows where its graduates are.

  5. They are then robed in indigo and silver, marking them as full mages of the Spire.

• Atmosphere:

  • The observatory is cold and silent except for the grind of turning lenses.

  • The starlight often reveals hidden truths — some graduates weep, others scream, depending on what they glimpse in their visions.

• Outcome:

  • Those who succeed become recognized magi, free to serve the Spire, noble patrons, or their own ambitions (so long as they obey Tribunal law).

  • Those who falter — their spell collapses, their will breaks, or the Tribunal deems them unsafe — are quietly escorted away by Wardens. Many are merely stripped of memory and released. A few vanish into the Basilica of Chains.

🕯️ Unofficial Tradition: The Midnight Rite

Students themselves created an unrecognized “ceremony”: on the night before Initiation, it is customary for the older students to sneak initiates into the Argent Gardens. There, each initiate must face a conjured illusion — sometimes harmless, sometimes cruelly shaped by their peers. Passing the ordeal is said to ensure the Spire “accepts” them. Failing marks them as weak, inviting bullying or worse.

Constant Dangers

During their time at the spire. It is not unheard of for a demon, devil, or other extraplanar entity to try to bargain with a young new student, attempting to teach them summoning rituals so they might be set free to walk the earth, or, in unfortunate cases, possess the student. These tests above are designed to steel a student's mind and will against such entities.