The Pale Flame

Alignments: lawful good, lawful neutral and neutral good.

Introduction

Magic is a power which can be used either to build up or to destroy. Through their long history the Pale Flame have experienced both of these extremes. From beginnings before The Great Disaster, the Pale Flame have sought to use their magical power to preserve life and for the greater good. The Great Disaster was their earliest, yet their most difficult challenge, and while debates may have raged about the effectiveness of their work during that time, their power was put to good use in helping a suffering world.

It was this beginning that shaped their outlook and their influence over the world. The modern sect holds those values close, and while the challenges have changed, their approach is steadfast. Their purpose is to put magic at the heart of learning, to embrace knowledge about the world and to further the cause of good that can be done among all peoples.

These are high standards, and many members aspire to such ideals, but the failings of the imperfect people that make up their membership fall short on many fronts. While never having been an overtly political group, the sect has always sought to help people, despite the ingrained fear of magic among the wider population.

Teachings

This sect teaches the benefits of a simple, pure life, to aid those who suffer at the hands of those in power, and to promote justice and learning for all. In furtherance of these aims they do not impose their will upon their members as some sects do. They are very easy-going where discipline is concerned, and encourage personal responsibility and personal growth among their members.

While membership is now limited to lawful and good alignments, in the past there have been lawful evil members. This is not currently the policy of the group, however, and the structures and teachings do not appeal to other alignments.

The biggest teachings of the group concern knowledge. Much of the sect's work revolves around scientific and magical research. They gather knowledge about all kinds of subjects, not just the field of magic (although this is a speciality) and seek to pass on this broad knowledge to as many as they can. The sect also competes with, and shares knowledge with, other important magic sects and knowledge organisations such as The Imperial Academy of Magic and The Imperial Library.

Of their magical teaching, they deal mainly in Invocation, Abjuration, and Transmutation schools, although they also teach the Greater Divination, Necromantic, and Enchantment schools. The group does not the Conjuration or Illusion schools both for historic reasons. The school of illusion was dropped by the sect following the rise in popularity of The Sect of Master Illusionists, with whom there have been established frail political links.

Political

The Pale Flame's claim that they are the largest popular sect in Arthea is well substantiated; they are clearly the largest of the "good" sects and are only really rivalled in size by The Mathada Rebrecht and The Imperial Academy of Magic. It is impossible to fully discern the size of the Rebrecht, and the Imperial Academy, while being equal in size in the former Empire, lacks support in the north. This size gives The Pale Flame considerable political power which is poorly wielded by the leaders of the group. Their own standards prevent them from becoming heavily involved in the political arena, and seek little more than an advisory role or opportunities to spread knowledge to the population. Even though they have a different outlook, they are respected and, to and extent, heeded by King James because of this lack of interference in his political power.

The Pale Flame is not only a follower of the art of magic but also works extensively for knowledge as a whole, and this gives them political influence in other ways. "To know is better than to guess" is one of their keenest mottoes, and hence they fund research by sages and thinkers, apothecaries, scientists and industrialists along with their magical research. A great many of Arthea's sages are members of the sect, even though they know little of magic, as they can call upon the vast knowledge of the sect where their own knowledge falls short. Even the sages maintain the secrecy of the sect.

Philosophy

To all members the benefits of an uncomplicated life are demonstrated often; they are encouraged to both think for themselves, for their own good, and to apply their powers and intelligence for the benefit of society as a whole. This is more than a teaching, it is a way of existence which benefits the whole of society, and through that strengthens the sect.

There are very few occasions where the sect has to impose its rules on its members, careful vetting of new members ensures they are able to support these central philosophies. The sect does not rely on the national law enforcers who cannot be trusted to deal out justice with compassion, and to whom it would be foolish to reveal the true nature of the sect's facilities. The guards who would, no doubt, need to perform a thorough search of these premises.

On the rare occasions where enforcement does take place, the sect uses some very ancient and powerful magic, which can remove from the memory of the victim certain facts. The sect has only retained methods for removing the locations of the Pale Flame's facilities from memory, and so is restricted to this. When this magic is employed, it can be an effective method of removing a magic user from the sect's membership, and is more effective than any kind of ban. Sometimes, it is rumoured, the recipient does not even remember that they have been a member of the sect.

History

Although the sect is not the oldest in Arthea (this position is held by The Sect of Eshost) it is one of the two sects that survived The Great Disaster. It was at the forefront of repairing the damage suffered by the power of magic, and set the standards by which magic was to be learned in this new age. It was well documented by the Pale Flame that post-Disaster magic was less powerful than that before the disaster, and it has also proved more difficult to control. This has led to the surge in magical specialists, who, it is said, now make up the majority of the magical society in Arthea.

The sect originally had magic users that specialised in the Evocation and Abjuration schools as these provided the magic for the counter-spells needed to aid in the fight against The Great Disaster. Once the size of the Transmutation school became known, the sect soon branch into this school, and the Illusion school was picked up shortly after this, too.

The sect was involved with the restoration of society in the years following the Disaster, and was helpful in the expansion of humanity into the lands which eventually became the Empire. It was also heavily involved with helping people move to colonise the north of the land too. Magic was not widely used to help with this, but the Pale Flame's thirst for knowledge provided some of the motivation. They were also helpful in documenting the history of the times.

Inevitably the sect was drawn into conflicts that saw the Empire formed. Politically isolated, caught between a desire to defend the people against the might of the magically-backed power of Tholain and a desire to work with the most capable wizards of the day saw the sect pulled in different directions. Their only defence against being torn apart was to take a back seat - they followed their philosophy and tried to keep out of direct political roles. It became difficult to both oppose the house of Tholain in support of the downtrodden people and at the same time promote magic to those people whose fear if its power grew out of the destruction of generations before. It was not until the House of Amastus came to the Imperial throne that the sect could settle down once more. During these early years of the Amastus Empire the Pale Flame's reputation for honesty and its innocence in seeking knowledge stood it well in moving close to the Amastus throne. Even in this they sought no direct political gain, however.

By the year 1000 the sect had become a firmly established part of society, but still managed to remain secret. It branched out into the school of Necromancy in 1104 to help control the plague. Extensive research into that school led to the creation of several new spells, but even with new magic they could do little to help the sick and dying.

Due to pressure from within the organisation the school of Enchantment was added in 1176. This was requested by Caldonacian magic users to help them avoid the draft into Caldonacia's army, and became a concession when the requests turned into cries for help.

In 1274, The Pale Flame stopped teaching the school of illusion, this school had been dying in terms of membership inside the Pale Flame, and the sects own head illusionist had joined the Sect of Master Illusionists to try and stop the school from fading out altogether. The Pale Flame was glad to be free of the school as it consumed a disproportionate amount of their resource for such a small part of their teaching.

Work done by The Sect of Ramsey McGorrigan and The Cangannan Berethmore into the Divination school showed the power of that school in the attainment of knowledge. Inevitably the school was adopted by The Pale Flame in 1288, and was seen pretty much as a replacement for Illusion, and helped significantly in the advancement of their studies.

Symbols

By far the most widespread symbol used by The Pale Flame is that of a white or grey flame upon a dark blue background. Occasionally only the outline of the symbol is used, in a stylised way. Some members have even prepared this symbol as a pseudo-holy symbol, and bear it ways similar to clerics of the senior religions.

Fees

Membership costs are as follows: regular membership 100gp per year, associate membership (from 3rd level) 150gp per year, master membership (from 9th level) 200gp per year.

Spells

Level 2

Rope (Evocation)

Range| 10yds/level
Components| V, S, M
Duration| 3 rounds/level
Casting Time| 2
Area of effect| special
Saving throw| none

This spell creates a magical force, similar to a rope, which must be attached by one end to a surface within the range. The rope is semi-transparent, and is 30 feet long per level of the caster. The rope can be climbed or tied or handled pretty much like an ordinary rope throughout the duration, and the fixed end will not move. It can be cut - but any pieces cut from the free end of the rope disappear. At the end of the duration, the rope just disappears, there is no warning, and this can, of course be dangerous to anyone climbing it at the time. The fixing of the rope to a surface can hold a maximum of 200lbs + 50lbs per level of the caster. If this is exceeded, the rope may come away from its fixing, and if this happens it will disappear. The material component is a small piece of hemp.

Level 3

Pale Flame (Evocation)

Range| 10yds + 10yds/level
Components| V, S, M
Duration| instantaneous
Casting time| 4
Area of effect| 20 foot radius
Saving throw| Reflexes, 1/2

This spell works in almost exactly the manner of the spell Fireball, yet the ball of flame produced is grey in colour, and the damage is treated as half electrical and half cold. The cold damage can effect equipment in line with the standard rules. The material component for the spell is a pinch of dust or grey sand.

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