Council History
- Council of Mages
- Guild Elders
- Inter-Guild Liaisons
- Induction Team
- Mentor-Apprentice Program
- Mages' Expeditionary Force
- Quest Council
- Robes
- War Magi
Council of Mages
The origin of this council is currently not known. The Council of Mages was revived by Erienne and she chose to have the CoM consist of five members. Under Octav's leadership it was decided to raise the number of CoM from five to seven. Their basic purpose is to serve as advisors to the Guild Leaders. Previously, new CoM members were nominated by existing CoM members then leaders contacted the nominated mage about it and the leaders (and CoM?) held a vote on whether or not to admit the mage. Under Aphrael's leadership the procedure was changed to having interested mages submit applications. Then after discussing them at a CoM meeting, the CoM and leaders would vote on whether or not to admit the applicant. Under Riley's leadership, the very inactive CoM was revived and modified greatly to reflect its current composition of eight mages including the Guildmaster, the Guild First and the Guild Second along with the heads of the Induction Team, Quest Council, War Magus, Mentor Apprentice Program and The Symposium representative. If any of the Guild Leaders are holding any of the council position, then an open CoM position becomes available for any member of the Guild to apply for. Applicants are sent to the Guild Leaders and the full CoM votes on the candidates. Under Egon's leadership, the once again inactive CoM was disbanded, with the guild membership as a whole now serving as advisors to guild leaders.
Equipment Team / Run Team / War Magi
A relatively new council for the Guild, this was arranged under Aphrael's Their main purpose is to go on runs and to collect equipment that will be used to help equip new avatars and DT victims. It was originally going to be run by Morvinia, but the group never really took off and so around the time Cozen became leader the council was eliminated. Under the leadership of Thalasian, RT was reformed and then again reformed by Qaul under the Leadership of Riley and renamed to War Magi.
Guild Elders
Erienne formed this council made of older mages who would provide advice to leaders and younger mages. The original Guild Elders were Ahmed, Jodel, Luxravage, and Matt. This council never really took off, though, so after Talmud became leader he disbanded the council.
Induction Team (and Guild Inductions)
As Second, Covellia introduced the list of quest items that was used in Guild induction quests. That list has been used for a long time, although it has been revised as things have changed. Also under Lanthir's leadership it was decided to change the minimum level for induction into the Guild from level 10 to level 25. Abalister chose to drop the induction level to 15 but it was later raised to 20 which is where it remains today. Later on, the induction procedure was altered to include a preliminary interview, followed by two quests, and then finally the actual induction upon completion of all parts. For a short period of time, if a mage had been an Apprentice he/she was only required to complete one quest, but that was later dropped and the two quests became mandatory for all mages. Talmud created a short ceremony that is used at inductions and all leaders after him have continued to use that ceremony in basically the same form, with some changes based on each leader's personal preference. :)
Inter-Guild Liaisons
This program was set up to provide an easy way for the various guilds of the Realms to interact and set up quests or runs or whatever. Under Erienne's leadership there were three liaisons: Kaarna, Ravynhart, and Zebedia. The program seemed to break down after some time, and once monthly meetings for all guild leaders was instituted (which happened during Cozen's leadership), the liaison position was no longer required.
Mage Crusaders / Mages' Expeditionary Force
A new addition to the Guild, members of the Mage Crusaders work on the quest list, finding good astral and portal points, and map the Realms for the Guild. To join, mages must submit and application to the council leader, complete a quest designed by the existing members, and finally be voted into the council by the existing members. An example quest would be to create an ASCII map of some area of the Realms. This council was started by Nachor under Thalasian's Leadership. This council was reformed by Haenlomal under the leadership of Riley and renamed to Mages' Expeditionary Force.
Mentor-Apprentice Program
The Apprentice program was first introduced under Lanthir's leadership at the same time the induction level was increased to 25. It was removed under Abalister's leadership when the induction level was decreased. Later Talmud re-introduced the Mentor-Apprentice program to the Guild and it was revived by Aphrael. The idea of the Mentor-Apprentice relation is to allow mages seeking entrance to the Guild and/or newly inducted into the Guild the help of currently guilded mages in learning the tricks and art of Magic. The Mentor provides assistance and guidance for the Apprentice, but they do not help the Apprentice power level and are not slaves to the Apprentices.
Quest Council
This council was started some time ago for the purpose of helping to create and run quests for the Guild. At one point, primarily because of a lack of mages interested in putting in the time and work, it was disbanded and the duties of the Quest Council were absorbed into those of the CoM. It was revived under Thalasian's Leadership into its own council.
Robes
The Robes have been a part of the Guild of Mages for as long as the Guild has existed. Originally the Robes were White, Grey, and Black and newly inducted mages were required to choose one as part of their induction quest under Grominar's leadership. Each leader also represented one of the Robe colors. Robes originally were meant to represent good, neutral, and evil, *NOT* in the sense of game alignment, but in the sense of the mage's outlook on life on how he/she acts in different situations (e.g., good (White) mages help people a whole lot while evil (Black) mages tend to help only at a high price). When Corel became leader, he chose to make Robes optional rather than required. The Robes have been changed a few times and always seemed to move in and out of favor, sometimes being backed by leaders, sometimes not. Around the time when Lanthir was elected leader, it was decided to change the Grey Robes to the Red Robes to be more in line with the original DragonLance Robes (which GoM Robes are based on) and around the same time, Dronak helped establish the fact that Robes are not based on alignment, even though this hasn't always been clear. Under Talmud's leadership it was decided that the Robes should be made an official part of the Guild, still optional of course, with a set of Robe Leaders and each Robe chose their own way of accepting members. Only mages who were officially accepted into a Robe were allowed to place Robe tags in their titles. The Robes were later changed by Semaria under Aphrael's leadership. Due to too much confusion among the people of the Realms, all references to alignments in Robes have been eliminated and the purpose of Robes as a role-playing tool/aid were stressed. The Robe leaders have had varying titles as well. They used to be called Leader, First, and Second, just like the Guild leaders, but that caused confusion and people were mistaking Robe Leaders for Guild Leaders. So the titles were changed to Senior Advisor, First Advisor, and Junior Advisor. Then with Semaria's changes to the Robes and only requiring two instead of three leaders, the titles became Elder and Sage. Under Riley's leadership, the robes were completely disbanded as the new guild was not going to include Robe Rooms and the overall feeling was that the three different robes caused three rifts to occur inside of the Guild.