Mages have known a lot of strife over the years; they've been feared, scorned, mistreated, locked away and at some points in time, entire Circles were annihilated. The Circles were not places of education, not in the way one might want to believe, but these were akin to prisons, built around teaching mages how to control their abilities and if you didn't make the cut, your ties to the Fade and your power were destroyed and you would become a Tranquil. Circles were not places people went to by choice, in a lot of instances. Oftentimes these were people being snatched from their homes, pulled from their families, and removed.
The Circles were... their own government, almost. Nobody had more control over the Circles than the Grand Enchanter. And later in history after a mage was elected as Divine, things started to change. From 9:41 until 9:45 Dragon, Vivienne de Fer, Madame of Iron, led the Chantry and attempted to force change. With an ex-Templar by her side for three of those years, they were an odd pair. Templars found themselves receiving restrictions, mages found themselves with more political free, and general freedom. Vivienne believed that mages deserved power, deserved to be more than second-class and feared. She re-created the Circles, turning them into actual schools where staying all year was optional, teachers taught because they loved to teach. Furthermore, she did not believe that magic should be hidden—even 'dark magic' such as blood magic.
When the Veil fell, before her death, Vivienne was working alongside her Grand Enchanter to try to find a way to repel spirits on a mass scale. She died before this work was completed, her Circles dissolved with her death, and mages roam free... but who is teaching them how to protect themselves? Who is ensuring that they understand the dire straits that the Veil being removed had brought forth?
05-19-2023, 03:21 PM
