In a recent treatise published in the wake of Colin Reyes by a coalition of Oghman scholars from various paths and professions, it has been presented that the use of magic hastens communities towards ruin.

They cite the several magicial endeavors and previous fortresses of magic that are now abandoned and left as reminders of folly and the limits of power: Electric Castle. Darkhold. Wyrmhold. The Mystran Grove, now infested by creatures of magic which feasted on their own flesh and blood.

The treatise is initially received poorly by the small Mystran community which remains in the aftermath of the Arcanum, and is decried as an unfair evaluation on the influence of magic. The peer-reviewed journal based in Cordor in which the Oghman treatise was published responds with an appended article, expressing that the history of the island of Amia and the surrounding regions does not have a history of responsible magical use.

The blame, while not overtly leveled, is placed on the Mystran community by the editor and author of the treatise on magic, creating a thin line of tension between the Oghmans and the Mystrans.

The Independent Island of Tarkuul is not excluded from the article, as in later editorial pieces, Tarkuul is included as a potential location of irresponsible magic use due to the excessive use of necromancy and other "forbidden schools of magic." The editor adds a footnote, however, that he does not personally believe in any need for forbidden magics as long as proper teaching and ethics are established, to which he again calls out the magisters of the Mystran faith.

Excerpts from later editorial pieces on the subject are scathing and opinionated, while drawing on the hype of recent events and a long history of magical irresponsibility:





The article, popularly titled after its publication as "Where Have Our Mystrans Gone?" causes the Mystran community, and even some Azuthians become irrate and whipped into a small frenzy in their studies. Private and solitary research which has become the normative behavior for many is cast aside. The few that are left come together for the first time in years.

And so begins the foundation of an idea, and the creation of a curriculum, for a new Academy of Magic.

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"The world takes and takes, even things that aren't offered. Finally, it gave us something back; I wish he was here to share it with me."

Only nearing a month after the original editorial piece "Where Have Our Mystrans Gone?" was printed in the Oghman scholarly journal, the Mystrans and Azuthians respond with some gusto.

The Mystrans and even the usually reserved Azuthian community fire back with their own newsletter, decrying the slanderous attempts to discredit the dedicated magicians who, in fact, have reared several ethical magicians. The newsletter, which does not have a title, but rather carries a very formal header representing a firm of mages which has the means to print such a piece, expresses the adversity they have suffered against during the would-be reign of Collin Reyes.

While disaffection is quite evident in the island-wide published newsletter, available in all your major cities, the firm of magicians expounds on their previous statement by stating they will not suffer against adversity any longer. A follow up newsletter is printed announcing the establishment and preparation of an academy for mages to be accepting students for the Late Winter Semester.

Certainly enough, as attention gets drawn to the project, it is announced that the location will be at the Lowlands Delta in the building formerly leased by a dissolved faction.

While the Lowlands Delta is technically a Cordorian holding, the unfortunate reality (which has been shrewdly seized by the firm of mages) is that in its current state, Cordor does not have anyway of enforcing their ownership of the Delta that would be necessary to prevent such a move. For a sizeable sum, the bureaucrats who manage Cordor's land holdings reluctantly agree to a long lease, and surrender a copy of the land title. The Cordorian bureaucrats breath out a sigh of relief, however, as they are more able to focus on the more lucrative expansion of their Skullcrags territory, Gulorand.

The shrewd business move orchestrated by the firm of magisters is lauded and praised by local merchant guilds, Waukeenar faithful, and business enthusiasts.

Despite the shrewd and controversial business move, no evictions take place against the firm of mages as they continue to adapt into their new building; similarly, no evictions are levied against the few settlers that remain in the beleaguered Delta community. Instead, protest occurs in Cordor against the responsible bureaucrats and certain other watchdog sources within the city's Waukeenar populace call the veracity of the arrangement and lease into question, given no Cordorian forces have been in the Delta in some time.

Business insiders cite that the venture to seize the land that Cordor annexed was bound to happen, as Cordor has an extensive history of being unable to keep the lands it seizes by being too ambitious:

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"The world takes and takes, even things that aren't offered. Finally, it gave us something back; I wish he was here to share it with me."

As the Academy is past due for its opening, the rumor mill begins to get excited at the promise of a potential scandal.

It becomes alive and well in gossip along the Western Coast from Cordor to Kohlingen, and even inland to Bendir Dale that Cordor is contesting the sale of the Delta and still claiming it to be legitimate Cordorian territory, even as no troops have been garrisoned there for over a year, and in that time, about four other groups have settled there, including the Jergali priest, Feric of the Sahalarka. Some local advocates for cleaner wetlands and wildlife preservation snort at Cordor suddenly caring about the land they have turned into a sewage outlet, making the water at the Delta wrought with parasites and causing tapeworm infections and cholera, typhoid, and dissentery in several wetland birds and some travelers foolish enough to take a drink.

The attention drawn by these claims from wetlands advocacy groups and the conflict over the Delta attracts the clerics of the Salandran Temple, and newsletter is published within a few days by Temple Mother Victoria corroborating these findings and stating the lack of sanitation and gross neglect of attempts to dispose of fecal matter and sewage from Cordor for years:



In Cordor, the more educated Cordorians and those on the up-and-up begin sending letters to the Office of Public Health, Safety and Welfare, asking about the legitimacy of this medical newsletter from Mother Victoria, and wondering if their water is safe to drink, water with, and give to their livestock. They also ask about if the the giant parasite in the sewers is real, or is just an urban legend. Others ask what the Ministry is going to do about the sewage flowing into the swamp now that Minister Andrew Fryar has taken office. The letters number about seventy-five from concerned citizens.

Young teenage boys, intrigued by the rumors of the giant parasite decide to go and seek it out--the prospect of slogging through miles of sewage not a deterrent whatsoever for the incorrigible youths. Visits to the city's southern clinic skyrocket overnight as over a dozen children are brought in with signs of aforementioned infectious diseases, creating a small and localized epidemic, treated swiftly with cure disease spells and either firm tugs on the ear as parents drag them to the clinic, or red bottoms from the whippings the children get at home.

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"The world takes and takes, even things that aren't offered. Finally, it gave us something back; I wish he was here to share it with me."

As rumors fly around the coast from Cordor to Kohlingen about the increase of tensions between the Mage Academy claiming ownership of the land and Cordor refuting the claim, an article is published by a handwritten newsletter called The Bitter Coast Bugle with a post-office box at the Wharftown cart stop and courier outpost. The newsletter, which usually has a very small readership, suddenly boasts readership in numbers of over six hundred, and the initial thirty copies of their article (which was sent to their subscribers with a loose three or four around local taverns for passersby to read in outhouses and at bar counters) suddenly sell out, forcing the Bugle to take some of their scribes off layoff to meet the demand for newsletters. The article, which reaches major settlements along the West Coast only reads as follows:

"We Have An Army."
-Republic of Cordor Speaker and Minister of Public Health
and Welfare Andrew Fryar, reported statement about negotiations
with the Lowlands Delta Mage Academy.

Governor Corinn Aldaine has reportedly surpassed her
authority as a single governor of the Republic of Cordor by
claiming the entire stretch of land to the Delta, into addition
to the Delta itself, as Cordor's doorstep in a controversial
attempt to add legitimacy to Cordor's claim that they should
own the Delta and force their jurisdiction on the Academy.
Speaker Fryar agrees, sources claim.

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"The world takes and takes, even things that aren't offered. Finally, it gave us something back; I wish he was here to share it with me."