The Great Debate: Origins of the Synod (Part 3 of 4)

(Memorial Day definitely helps getting the creative juices flowing. I really like how this part came together in establishing tenets of the Synod. A link to the full text can be found here Enjoy!)

Part 3: Mundus and the Anti-Mundus

The event that sparked the Great Debate was the Proposition for the Repeal of Summoning (PRS), spearheaded by Master-Wizard Gaius Octavius, Raminus Polus, and Fairwen. In the proposal, they demanded a complete ban of Daedra worship and Daedra summoning as well as the continued ban of necromancy. The proposal outraged the rest of the Council and an emergency summit was organized. The dissident members of the Council who would eventually become the College of Whispers believed that the Proposition would be a crippling blow to the integrity of magicka study. Under normal circumstances, the proposal would have been rejected immediately, but the circumstances of the previous months showed the stark reality that the Mages Guild had been plunged into.

Gaius Octavius explained to the Council that magicka was nothing more than the interaction between Mundus and what he called “Anti-Mundus”, meaning either Aetherius or Oblivion. The understanding that natural magicka came from Aetherius was already a well-established fact in academia, but it was assumed that all magical processes were rooted in the interaction with Aetherius. This overarching concept of magic meant that all manipulations of Mundus would theoretically have a singular origin. Destruction, Illusion, Alteration, and Restoration were schools of magic that were well understood as manipulation of the mortal plane, but Mysticism and Conjuration were fields that were frequently debated regarding their medium of interaction. Mysticism remains an enigmatic field that is believed to involve the very properties which define each plane of the Aurbis, but Conjuration has been long known to involve interactions with Oblivion. However, it was thought that this interaction was mediated by aetherial magic regardless.

Gaius next explained that it was impossible for Conjuration to involve aetherial magic. Aetherius and Oblivion are metaphysically separated, as the Daedra and Aedra represent two ends of the spectrum of the Aurbis, each defined by the interactions between Anu and Padomay. Daedra are pure Padomaic essence and subsequently lack the connection to Nirn that the Anuic essence has. Therefore, it is impossible for Aetherial forces to interact with the forces of Oblivion and vice versa, having to rely on Mundus as an intermediate of change and effect. Conjuration is thus the interaction between Mundus and Oblivion and only Oblivion. This understanding of Conjuration wasn’t a new idea, as the Psijic Monks had postulated the idea centuries before, but it was the first time that any high-ranking member of the Mages Guild had considered its implications and built policy around it. Given the disastrous chaos of the Oblivion Crisis and its effects on the Mages Guild, why would the guild continue to support a school of magic that was rooted in entities that wanted to tamper with Mundus and never took part in its creation?

The dissidents in the Council were, suffice to say, resistant to this change of policy. Generations of tradition in the Mages Guild had made Conjuration a well-respected school within academic circles and had lead many discoveries about the planes of Oblivion and the Daedric princes. To ban Conjuration entirely would mean that the Chorrol Chapter would be forced to shut down and disband, a course of action feared by all members of the Council. Gaius and his colleagues anticipated this reaction and planned accordingly in their proposal. Even after the boundaries between Mundus and Oblivion had collapsed, the dissidents still refused to make changes that would save the Guild. By the end of Gaius’ proposal, Master-WIzard Aric Ruffe took his side and the Council was divided in half on the issue. The Great Debate lasted for three weeks without resolve and the Council was unable to decide upon an Arch-Mage. In an act that would mark the beginning of the end of the Mages Guild, Gaius declared himself Arch-Mage and Raminus, Fairwen, and Aric all supported the decision. Even though the dissidents didn’t support the declaration, Gaius returned to the Skingrad chapter from whence he had come and began consolidating his authority. Raminus, Fairwen, and Aric journeyed across Tamriel and gathered support from the local chapters.

By the end of 4E 04, all of the Mages Guild except the Arcane University itself had picked a side in Gaius’ claim as Arch-Mage. The dissidents had yet to nominate an Arch-Mage for their coalition, and Gaius knew that there was an opportunity to claim the University. He organized a meeting with Potentate Ocato with a council consisting of Raminus, Fairwen, Aric, and two other trusted mages, Ulenea Telvanni and Vontus Livius. In that meeting, he officially declared the Mages Guild dissolved and announced the creation of a new magical organization to replace it, the Synod. Gaius offered the Potentate a stable magic institute during the chaos of the Stormcrown Interregnum and offered to personally train Imperial battlemages within its walls. The meeting was a huge success; Potentate Ocato officially declared the Arcane University as a Synod research centre and provided Arch-Mage Gaius with funding to organize their operations across the Empire.

The Great Debate was a revelation to the study of magicka as a whole and helped separate the wheat from the chaff in the dying remains of the Mages Guild. The organization served its purpose for many centuries, but became self absorbed in its path to study the outer realms at any cost to the mortal plane. The continued support of Conjuration after the horrific events of the Oblivion Crisis was the final nail in its coffin. Arch-Mage Gaius Octavius will forever be remembered as a pioneer who saved the integrity of magic academia in Tamriel through his brilliant decision making and his understanding of magicka that would even rival the Psijics themselves.