The Spire

' 'The Spire isn't for the mages. It isn't for the alchemists or the artifex or the binders. It's not even for the bloody Vindicators. It's for the common folk. It's for every single person that doesn't have the Gift. It's to make sure that some power mad mage gets it in his head to be the next Tuir and ends up causing a second Schism.

 - Kestrel Adain, Vindicator

Founded in 419, the Spire has been the foremost educational and regulatory institution of Canthia for over a millennia.

Development and Construction First envisioned by the Mor'hein, the ruling council of the Everbright, the Spire was originally meant to be a purely segregated institution, with only the Mor'kar being allowed to enter. Beginning foundations were crafted in 417 by the Builder's Guild on the central island of Shass Mo's chain. Evidently, the island lies upon a large majority of Canthia's leylines. Hoping that these magical veins of power would invigorate the Spire and its inhabitants. Unfortunately, it also led to the building's instability and its construction time. So, though the Spire was estimated to take only six months to construct with the help of the Builder's Guild and the Nua'khalsei Roheiin (a sect of the Mor'kar who devoted themselves to the arts of stone and steel) the Spire was not fully completed until 419. Miscalculations during the building process also led to over three dozen deaths of Guild and Roheiin workers. Many believe that their spirits still wander the vacant corridors of the Spire, even now almost a millenia later.

Beginnings
Once completed, the Spire immediately begins recruitment. The first class, exclusively Kha'Mo Mor'kar, numbered two hundred and fifteen. These Kha'Mo were almost all Magisters and Alchemists. The training of this first class was such a success that the new High Magister Aei'klathairius Adun decided to begin inducting the other races. With the inclusion of the other races, some less magically gifted than others, Aei'klatharius created separate sects that would educate the students according to their talents. To this end he created the Magister's College, the Binder's Coterie, the Alchemist's Quorum and the Artifex Forge. Each body would be responsible for educating the student body which has recently grown to an average incoming class of around 2,500.

Admission and Testing
Any and all children under the age of seventeen who have been found to possess the Gift and are citizens of the adherents to the Pax Arcanum, they are required by law to enter the Spire. Education is free but intelligence and common sense is tested upon arriving. If found lacking, the offending prospect is "Purged", a process that renders the individual unable to access the ley lines required to use magic. Many purged do not live long afterwards, though the Spire insists that this is not a result of the process itself.

For those who pass the admissions process, they are given their Tier and then allowed to choose which college they would like to join: the College, the Coterie, the Quorum or the Forge. This choice defines the rest of their life and as such they are given a few days to research and reflect their choice.

Sections of the Spire
There are quite a few groups in the Spire, many are no more than small cliques of like-minded Gifted. However, the larger groups have organised themselves over the years to the point that they are recognised by the leadership and are granted certain rights.

(main article The Magister's Collegium)
The most influential of the institutions within the Spire, the Magister's Collegium concentrates on teh evocation and manipulation of magical and elemental forces in order to create spells. Normally, this presents itself in a destructive aspect, as a result, there are a great many battle mages who hail from the Collegium.

The Binder's Coterie
Though the common conception is that higher Tiers are sent off to the Magister's College, there is actually a great degree of choice given to the applicants as to which college they enter upon admission. Subsequently, many higher rated Tiers can enter the Coterie or even the Forge if they so choose. The Binder's education is somewhat longer than the Magister's as their craft requires a degree of finesse and subtlety not required in the Magister's art. Most Binders spend their time between the ages of thirteen and thirty taking their training from the Coterie. These long years are spent first teaching the basics of Binding and Naming, an intensely intricate process and then to refine those techniques so that students might bind even the most powerful of eidolons, wraiths, virtues and vices.

The Binder walks the knife's edge of legality under the Pax, their summonings and bindings are barely within the confines of the legal and as such they are closely monitored by the Vindicators. His or her summons must fall under specified and authorised categories or they risk being brought up on charges by the Spire.

Many non-Gifted folk are rather puzzled when they are met with a Binder. Unlike a Mage or an Alchemist, they're work is of the less obvious and more internal sort. Common belief holds that Binders summon powerful spirits and otherworldly creatures to do their bidding, but this is far from the truth. In fact, much of a Binders work is similar to that of an Artifex. The majority of the Coterie works in the industries of enchantment and augmentation and only Master Namers or Callers are truly capable of summoning physical beings into our world. In most cases, a Binder will work spirits and aethers into mundane objects in much the same way as an Artifex, providing them with some manner of magical benefits.