The Station did not choose candidates, and really they weren't candidates at all. It was an institution of learning, but one would be hardpressed to liken their method of instruction to conventional teaching. The Station tempered bodies and minds and abilities and manufactured sharp devouts. Their principals orbited four cardinal magical properties: The Primal Elementals, The Cosmic Occult, The Spirit Arts and The Greater Entropic. Their tomes were vast and were categorized much differently than those of the local and typical magical institutions; this brought friction to their door. Their methods of recruitment were then still unknown, but The Station drew the eyes of Rhy"Din's Magical Grandmasters as it was no secret that The Station had, in what seemed like only weeks, become the Region's most coveted mercenary enclave. The Land's great doctrine forbade such enterprises, as they did also for typical, non-magic using mercenaries, but it was clear, through the haste at which the Region's Grandmasters mobilized on The Station's door, that these great country mages regarded The Station's Magi too powerful and cavalier to ignore.
The Country Mages requested that The Station publicize their enrollment criteria. The Three founding Magi replied, "We Have no Students." The Country Mages demanded that The Station cease all ongoing and forthcoming missions. The Magi replied, "We have never taken on a single "mission", because missions can fail—-we do not." The Great Country Mages finally ordered this rogue cell to dismantle completely and that their pompous and blasphemous founders surrender without incident. The Three Magi insisted on incident.
The first conflict concluded in minutes; the wise old masters from the country were right to respect the abilities of the Magi: they leveled their own sanctuary in a furious display of unrivaled technique, setting both their institution and the outlying city blocks ablaze in bluefire. But despite their great triumph, the Three Magi would not make the mistake of underestimating the forces that pursued them. They understood that with the nod of The Empire comes its hammer, its fleet of most talented mages. The Magi were elite, but were not immortal.
Six weeks after they'd destroyed their own station, after they'd bitten the ankles of The Empire and angered their collection of cobras, after they'd fled into the countryside to do battle on fairer terrain, the Three Magi were found slain on the silver cliffs overhead the great sea. It was said they'd taken each-others" lives; it was also said the signals of blood crossed all over the stone below their bodies were ritualistic in design.
It would be eighty years before word of The Station appeared again. This time they were not so public. This time they were not garrish. They were lead by The Three Great Magi no longer. And yet their traditions echoed despite the fact that they'd perished almost a century earlier. Just how their doctrines and forbidden tomes were resurrected was unknown, what their true objectives were were also not for public disclosure.
The Station again resorted to profiteering, but contracts were fulfilled off official books and were always agreed under terms without party names. But despite all its maneuvering, The Empire and its great country mages were keen to the resurfacing of The Station; a clean circle of blood was found on those silver cliffs where The Founding Magi had died; the report came from a carriaging merchant whom had chanced upon what he thought were three sleeping women. Their bodies were drained, dead, and it was determined that they had recently been with child.
The Country Mages requested that The Station publicize their enrollment criteria. The Three founding Magi replied, "We Have no Students." The Country Mages demanded that The Station cease all ongoing and forthcoming missions. The Magi replied, "We have never taken on a single "mission", because missions can fail—-we do not." The Great Country Mages finally ordered this rogue cell to dismantle completely and that their pompous and blasphemous founders surrender without incident. The Three Magi insisted on incident.
The first conflict concluded in minutes; the wise old masters from the country were right to respect the abilities of the Magi: they leveled their own sanctuary in a furious display of unrivaled technique, setting both their institution and the outlying city blocks ablaze in bluefire. But despite their great triumph, the Three Magi would not make the mistake of underestimating the forces that pursued them. They understood that with the nod of The Empire comes its hammer, its fleet of most talented mages. The Magi were elite, but were not immortal.
Six weeks after they'd destroyed their own station, after they'd bitten the ankles of The Empire and angered their collection of cobras, after they'd fled into the countryside to do battle on fairer terrain, the Three Magi were found slain on the silver cliffs overhead the great sea. It was said they'd taken each-others" lives; it was also said the signals of blood crossed all over the stone below their bodies were ritualistic in design.
It would be eighty years before word of The Station appeared again. This time they were not so public. This time they were not garrish. They were lead by The Three Great Magi no longer. And yet their traditions echoed despite the fact that they'd perished almost a century earlier. Just how their doctrines and forbidden tomes were resurrected was unknown, what their true objectives were were also not for public disclosure.
The Station again resorted to profiteering, but contracts were fulfilled off official books and were always agreed under terms without party names. But despite all its maneuvering, The Empire and its great country mages were keen to the resurfacing of The Station; a clean circle of blood was found on those silver cliffs where The Founding Magi had died; the report came from a carriaging merchant whom had chanced upon what he thought were three sleeping women. Their bodies were drained, dead, and it was determined that they had recently been with child.