You will all be under the employ of Her Royal Majesty’s Wardens of the Wyrd. This organization was originally created after an event known as, “The Applewood Incident,” where a powerful sorcerer resulted in an entire neighborhood needing to be purified with fire. Afterwards, a Minister of Magic I know, I know… was appointed, and an entire organization was formed to root out sorcerers. After ethical concerns of terminating all humanoid sorcerers were raised, as well as concerns about destroying potentially useful magical tools, the Wardens began using captured sorcerers who were of a helpful nature in limited scenarios. As the creation process inevitably wipes the memories of an individual, some have wondered at the exact nature of what makes a “helpful sorcerer.” In any case, be it after days or years, the sorcerous agents break down, and have to be terminated, quite often by their own squad that they work with.
The role of the agency has expanded over time. Once the state researchers that were part of the Wardens re-discovered the secrets of ancient metallurgy, recovering both adamantine and mithril from the vagaries of time, both their funding and scope increased. When it was discovered some 3 years ago that Fey gates had started opening up in England once again, it was the Wardens who first scouted out the area immediately within the circles, arches, or other gate forms.
These past 3 years have been quite busy for the Wardens of the Wyrd. In an attempt to claim the fey wild as part of the English empire, a 2 sq mile area inside of the Feywild has been cleared of it’s most dangerous aspects, and Parliament is hopeful that further expansion can take place. Your job will be to take expeditions into the Wilds, and report back what you can find. At least one of you will have the authority to make negotiate on behalf of the Wardens with the local denizens, but your job is to perform scouting of the area so that England can expand it’s area of influence. Long live the Queen!
On Sorcerers:
We are all familiar with the spell of the first circle, blood healing. Indeed, it is a common occurrence for those who still dabble in the unrefined art of wizardry to practice their craft by using their blood magics to cure minor injuries of the common folk in return for a small fee. A less refined spell than the alchemical process of curing light wounds, it nevertheless deserves recognition for its consistency in curing the same injury the same amount every time it is used, (albeit over the course of 30 seconds) unlike the more unstable alchemical version, which has the capacity to heal considerably more substantial injuries, and requires substantially less bleeding from the alchemist to be effective, as well as being instantaneous. Less well known however, is the addition of more potent blood to the casting of blood healing by a skilled doctor can cause additional beneficial, but temporary side effects, dependent on the nature of the blood or ichor of the creature it was gleaned from. Some wizards of ill repute, and even some alchemists of low moral fibre have taken the principles of this spell, and attempted to extrapolate a way to permanently increase magical capacity by ministering blood transfusions of potent magical energies. This inevitably leads to the creation of a Kith, or in particularly hideous cases, a Chimera or Amalgam. However, when the blood of one of these beasts is transfused to another living soul, the mutagenic properties are lessened, although almost imperceptibly. Over the course of 30 or more administrations of these infusions, the blood grants upon the patient magical capacities without many of the negative consequences of infusing magical blood. These individuals have an innate understanding of their abilities, seemingly able to bypass the years of ritual study a mage must undergo. However, the downsides are numerous as well as crippling. They seem to be unable to learn new magics through traditional schooling of any means. In addition, most seem to lose their memories previous to the event, as well as suffering from mild mutagenic deformities. Further complications can arise as the blood fights for dominance within the patient, often leading to the fracturing of the mind, criminals more dangerous than a simple rampaging beast. For this reason, any sorcerer discovered will be put under the care of the state, and kept under constant surveillance from at least one wyrd warden at all times, under penalty of death. The creation of a sorcerer is highly frowned upon, and punishable by no less than a fine of 10,000, and no more than hanging by the neck until dead.