The Fifty Worlds: DM Information

The Learned Societies of Atlantis

I haven't written these up yet.

Should your players arrive here by accident, make things up as you go along.

The Learned Societies exist in order to ensure that commercial magicians in Atlantis meet a required standard. To this end, they:

hold periodic examinations which anyone who wishes to practise magic commercially in Atlantis must pass;

publish lists of approved spells which their members are permitted to cast in Atlantis;

publish journals describing new spells and other research which commercial magicians should be aware of.

The Learned Societies are based on British Professional Institutions such as the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. These organisations, as well as being highly professional, are seriously rich, with plush headquarters in Central London. Their Atlantean counterparts are no different.

The Learned Societies have an ambivalent attitude to the Institutes: they despise the senior wizards at the Institutes, calling them out-of-touch academics, but encourage new applicants to the Learned Societies to study at the Institutes. Nevertheless, both Institutes and Learned Societies are an essential part of Atlantean society, and everyone knows this.

There are three levels of membership of the Learned Societies:

apprentice: an apprentice is permitted to cast approved spells in Atlantis, but only under the supervision of a master; most apprentices join a Learned Society after studying for a while at an Institute and reaching 2nd level;

master: a master is permitted to cast approved spells in Atlantis unsupervised; most masters joined their Learned Society as apprentices and worked their way up, but some joined after studying for some time at an Institute and reaching 5th level;

grandmaster: a grandmaster is permitted to cast any spells whatsoever in Atlantis unsupervised; regardless of their career history, grandmasters are at least 9th level and often much higher.

Masters and grandmasters must be residents of Atlantis (and deal with all the hassle that entails), so player characters are very unlikely to become masters or grandmasters.

Apprentices need not be residents. If a player character meets the requirements for joining a Learned Society as an apprentice (basically, passing an examination and paying an annual membership fee), he gets all of the following benefits:

he gets reasonably-priced accommodation within the Learned Society building whenever he visits Atlantis (it's not cheap, but it's cheaper than tourist hotels);

he gets access to the Learned Society library whenever he visits Atlantis (the library will have books containing most spells of the appropriate schools, including those which are not permitted to be cast in Atlantis);

he gets a named postbox within the Learned Society, to which his mail may be addressed;

a copy of each new spells journal is put in this postbox on the day of issue;

if he ever needs an NPC spellcaster to cast a spell from the schools covered by the Learned Society, someone at the Learned Society will do it for free; this only applies if the character turns up in person to make the request (and yes, this does include wishes at the Learned Society of Conjuration, Binding and Enchantment, but only in cases of utmost necessity).

Talk any player character wizards in your group into joining an appropriate Learned Society. It can be used as a hook to hang adventures on. Once other members of the society know they have an adventurer as a colleague, they will come to him with all sorts of problems, from shortage of spell components ("it's only found in a forest two hundred miles to the north") to a rumour of something nasty in their home villages ("she didn't exactly say there's anything wrong, but I can tell there's something").

The membership requirements:

pass an examination - in principle, a 3rd-level specialist wizard should pass 60% of the time, and a 4th-level specialist wizard should pass 80% of the time, but player characters of 3rd-level or above always pass unless you want to send them out on an adventure immediately (in which case the examiner says, "not bad, better luck next time");

pay the membership fee - I suggest about 2gp a day, which sounds a lot until the first time you need an NPC spellcaster.

Spellcasting in Atlantis is governed, amongst other things, by taxation laws. Any spells cast as part of a commercial transaction must follow these laws:

Clerical spellcasting may take place only within a temple of the deity granting the spell (i.e. a cleric may cure light wounds anywhere, but may only charge for it if he cast the spell in a temple of his deity);

Wizardly Conjuration spells may only be cast by members of the Learned Society of Conjuration, Binding and Enchantment, following the rules of that Learned Society;

Wizardly Enchantment spells may only be cast by members of the Learned Society of Conjuration, Binding and Enchantment, following the rules of that Learned Society;

Wizardly Illusion spells may be cast by anyone, but the spellcaster must obtain written permission in advance from the Institute of Illusion (obtaining such permission is normally a formality but there are a lot of forms to be filled in);

Wizardly Transmutation spells may only be cast by members of the Learned Society of Alteration and Alchemy, following the rules of that Learned Society;

Wizardly Divination spells may only be cast by members of the Learned Society of Discovery, Divination and Knowledge, following the rules of that Learned Society;

Wizardly Invocation spells may not be cast for commercial purposes in Atlantis (and private use of invocation spells within Atlantis will be regarded as suspect);

In principle, wizardly Necromantic spells may not be cast for commercial purposes in Atlantis (and private use of necromantic spells within Atlantis will be regarded as suspect), but in practice (i) many temples will have clerical spellcasters who can duplicate benevolent necromantic spells, and (ii) there are some less benevolent spells, effectively necromantic spells, which may only be cast by members of the Disgusting Society of Sorcery and Diabolism, following the rules of that Society;

Anyone may cast the common wizardly Abjuration spells (in principle, anyone may cast any wizardly Abjuration spell, but any spell the authorities do not recognise will be regarded as suspect; doubtful cases will be referred to the Institute of Abjuration, whose members are by nature conservative and distrust anything new).

The Learned Society of Alteration and Alchemy

The current head of the Learned Society of Alteration and Alchemy is Ciena Nastrennis. She is far from being the most powerful transmuter in Atlantis. She owes her position to her alignment (no-one objects to neutrals) and to her ability to represent the Society effectively in disputes with other organisations.

[AD&D-Specific] Ciena Nastrennis, human female. Str 17 Dex 16 Con 14 Int 18 Wis 14 Cha 15. Align N. Hp 60. Fighter, level 7. Transmuter, level 12.

More follows in due course.

The Learned Society of Anatomy

The current head of the Learned Society of Anatomy is Aia Ralisetin. She owes her position to her alignment (no-one objects to neutrals) and to her ability to represent the Society effectively in disputes with other organisations.

[AD&D-Specific] Aia Ralisetin, human female. Str 14 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 17 Wis 15 Cha 14. Align N. Hp 43. Cleric, level 7. Mage, level 9.

More follows in due course.

The Learned Society of Conjuration, Binding and Enchantment

The current head of the Learned Society of Conjuration, Binding and Enchantment is Laiyriani Duerlmityr. She is far from being the most powerful enchantress in Atlantis, but is alone in seeing heading the Society as a route to fame and fortune. She is a former pupil of Bzaran the Genocide.

[AD&D-Specific] Laiyriani Duerlmityr, human female. Str 13 Dex 13 Con 15 Int 16 Wis 15 Cha 16. Align CN. Hp 40. Enchantress, level 11.

The Learned Society owns the Great Book of Conjuration, Binding and Enchantment, a semi-artefact with no alignment restrictions. Duerlmityr's duties as head of the Society include updating this book as new spells are developed.

More follows in due course.

The Learned Society of Discovery, Divination and Knowledge

The current head of the Learned Society of Discovery, Divination and Knowledge is Vehikke Trectinod. He is far from being the most powerful mage in Atlantis, and is not even a specialist diviner, but he is known to be scrupulously honest.

[AD&D-Specific] Vehikke Trectinod, human male. Str 13 Dex 15 Con 12 Int 15 Wis 14 Cha 14. Align LE. Hp 30. Mage, level 11.

More follows in due course.

The Disgusting Society of Sorcery and Diabolism

The current head of the Disgusting Society of Sorcery and Diabolism is Artomphy Zelisal. Although there are more powerful evil wizards in Atlantis, no-one doubts Zelisal's commitment to the powers of darkness. Besides which, sensible evil wizards do not want to be head of an organisation openly dedicated to evil. Most would consider it better to do their evil business quietly and out of the public eye.

[AD&D-Specific] Artomphy Zelisal, half-elf male. Str 14 Dex 15 Con 13 Int 14 Wis 17 Cha 16 Align NE. Hp 45. Cleric, level 9. Bard, level 11.

The Disgusting Society owns the Disgusting Book of Sorcery and Diabolism, a semi-artefact of neutral evil alignment. Zelisal's duties as head of the Society include updating this book as new spells are developed.

More follows in due course.

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws