The Code of the Warlock Guild
Let me tell you something of magic…
In moments of wonder, it speaks to us.
In moments of weakness, we hear it beckon.
In moments of courage, it does not waver in our hearts.
In moments of need, it is there.
It is magic—perpetual—ephemeral—fitting our needs from one eon to the next.
There are people in this world who try to organize the world, partition it into black and white, but that is absurd. A life is the sum of a creature, no more evil than a mountain, no more good than the man who lives it.
Light and dark, logic and emotion, chaos and order. None of these exist. They are all a part of a single thing: the mind. And the mind has power over magic, and magic has power over the mind. One can master light and dark at once and neither overcome him.
Magic is a theory of the universe we can work with. We can follow the rules and it works with us. Magic is the force of creation and destruction. Take it. Use it. Will it. It is no more light than the sky is green. You can overcome anything it has to offer against you.
When it seems the magic will overtake you, remember my words, "Let my will be done on Earth as it is in my mind." Let not your thoughts be clouded. Let not the enemy deceive you. Let not your faith be baseless. Let not your strength be fickle. Let not your light stray from your path. Let not another will your destiny. You are free. You are without fate. You are a mage, a sorcerer, a warlock. You possess power over the elemental forces of the Cosmos.
Remember these, and you will not fail. Forget them, and hell will be unleashed.
The Warlock Guild
Long ago a woman decided that man's perception of the universe was naïve. No side was inherently right or wrong and that no one can be fully understood, let alone the universe. She began the Warlock Guild, a breakaway secret society from the Magic Council, whose black and white view of reality she found distasteful.
Once branded The Cult of the Phoenix, to be affiliated with them was humiliating and scornful. It was a rebellion against the Enlightenment of the Broca Period. It stood for all that the Enlightenment was not: pure logic, deism, the light and dark of reality itself. Instead, it took a peak at the subtle shades of grey between the manifold and realized that not only was black and white the same color, but there was no color at all.
The Magic Council tried to obliterate the Cult of the Phoenix, but they found the magic of the guild was too strong for them to fight. They quickly discovered the wizards within the guild were so grey that they could not understand what magic they used, and whether their magic was right or wrong.
The Magic Council, torn with indecision over this movement and what it stood for, was torn to pieces and civil war ensued among the factions.
During this time Salora was defeated in battle by her brother Faror Ravelst, leader of the Grimoire, the Dark Hand which had hegemony over all the political organizations in Daedalia. But before her defeat she was able to disassemble her Guild and turn it into a single ideology which anyone could take, anyone could discover on their own path, and should they discover the Cult of the Phoenix's existence they may join but must never tell.
Within a decade the pieces were glued back together and the Magic Council began to regain control of the Daedalia, pushing back marauders guilds and covens all over the land and uniting with the knights guild and the Brotherhood to create the Adventurers Council, now the White Council which maintains order within the land.
After this time the Cult of the Phoenix burned bright, but silently. They spread out into the world and secretly the teachings were passed from member to member. Sometimes, when a teaching was touched upon, a member might smile and listen glowingly as another approached their secret of secrets.
The Cult has since taken many names, but the philosophy has been maintained. The above code is all that is necessary to maintain order within the Guild, and in fact, it is only an excerpt from a book written by the woman herself, Salora Ravelst, founder of the Cult. But in reality, only one line is necessary, "Let my will be done on Earth as it is in my mind." From these lines even then most subtle ideals can be derived. And it is this one line which unites the Warlock Guild.
