The progress of the early years of the new Age was not limited to economics and culture: magic also progressed, largely through the efforts of the High Wizard.
Callum had begun his studies of magic during his first trip to Xadia in 1238, and for the first years his expertise in magic was rather limited. More than for his magical ability, the title of High Wizard was conferred on him for political reasons: King Ezran needed to replace Viren with someone he trusted.
Thanks to his constant efforts and considerable skill, however, Callum managed to master the magic of the sky within a few years. On July 7, 1245, he was officially awarded the licence of Sky Wizard: it was a prestigious title, which could only be granted by a commission of five senior Skywing magicians.
According to the Skywing elf tradition, only after this recognition did a magician have the right to take students. Callum was not a Xadian, but he had decided to adapt to the Xadian tradition. In his words,
"I want the Katolean magicians to be considered equal to those of Xadia: and if I have to conform to the rules of the elves to succeed, so be it." It must also be considered that until the Shafiz Treaty political commitments had prevented Callum from focusing on magic.
Thus the House of Wisdom was founded: the first school of primal magic in Katolis, and the only one in the world where humans were also accepted. Callum had shown that it was possible for humans to connect to an Arcanum, and thanks to his teachings, many young Katoleans were able to embark upon the study of primary magic.
Of course, it took many years before human magicians could compete with the Elven dominance over magic: Xadia would always remain the first nation in the world for the number and quality of its mages. The goal of the House of Wisdom, in fact, was not to overtake Xadia in magical studies, but rather to form a class of Imperial magicians whom the army and imperial administration desperately needed. In his early reign, Ezran had solved the problem of the lack of magicians following the laws against dark magic by "importing" elven magicians from Xadia: however, this solution was and could only be temporary. The Empire could not depend on a foreign nation, even if ally, on such an important matter.
The House of Wisdom never trained great magicians: still for centuries, the Katoleans who wanted to achieve excellence in magic had to go to Xadia to complete their studies. This, however, must not diminish the enormous importance that the school had in imperial society. The House of Wisdom was a school open to the lower classes: for years together with the army it represented one of the few means of social ascent for people of humble origins, contributing to the birth of a new class, that had already appeared in the last years of the reign of Ezran and then grew and prospered with the expansion of the imperial administration: the class of bureaucrats.
There was even a field in which the Katoleans managed to overcome the Xadians: the connection to the Arcanum.
The way to connect to the arcanum of the sky had been developed by Callum in 1238; in 1250, the human magician Drusus of Akragas managed to connect to the arcanum of the Sun; the Arcanum of the Ocean and the Arcanum of the Earth were both conquered in 1267 and 1269 by the great Ashiril, the first human magician to connect to two Arcanum simultaneously. The connection to the arcanum of the moon took much longer, being reached only in 1284. To date, only the magic of the stars is still precluded to humanity, but in recent years interesting studies have been published that could change this state of affairs.
In addition, the House of Wisdom was the first nucleus of what would later become the University of Katolis.
Still today, in the center of the Major Hall of the University, stands the great marble statue of Callum. On the pedestal is engraved the motto of the University, which according to a little credible but suggestive legend was written by the same Wizard Prince: "a primaria fonte, ad bonum Imperii", which translates to "[the magic] goes from the primary source to the good of the Empire".
A phrase that well expresses the spirit of the school and its founder, who throughout his life had always put first the duty to his brother and his nation.
