They’re a staple in high fantasy - your various mage hunters, templars, and the like - yet I don’t see any in the lore.
Considering arcane magic was pretty rare outside the magaambya and Irrisen (maybe, could be occult now) for the longest time, I'd think any such group is pretty new, or disorganized and more of a resistance than an institution..
An order of mage hunters might have come about in Numeria, Irrisen, New Thassilon, etc. I just don't think any of them would have the backing of a government the way you see in other settings.
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The most likely mage hunter organizations are possibly mages themselves, that want to keep magic exclusive. Ancient Thassilonians suppressed magical talent in these Varisians that were born with any (they used magical tattoos to do that), I can easily see the Techic League in Varisia to hunt unaffiliated mages that try to dabble in Numeria's secrets.
Other than that, practitioners of particular types of magic may be persecuted in various regions. Creating undead and demon callimg is probably outlawed in most regions, calling good outsiders is probably illegal in Cheliax etc. Some groups of crusaders, pharasmin inquisitors or hellknights may specialize in hunting mages.
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Some groups of crusaders, pharasmin inquisitors or hellknights may specialize in hunting mages.
This is accurate, especially for inquisitors of the Pharasmin Penitence in Ustalav: core to that sect's beliefs is that you recieve rewards in the afterlife proportionate to the suffering you've endured during your mortal life, and since arcane magic has a LOT of ways it can increase comfort and mitigate suffering, it's seen as blasphemous. This is why Ustalav still does a lot of witch-burning, especially in places where the Penitence has powerful followers, like in Barstoi, whose Count tyrannically enforces its doctrine there, and Kavapesta, where the Penitence originated.
In addition, the Hellknights of the Order of the Rack are starting to have issues with mages, though it's more a mage vs. mage conflict. Their current Lictor, Darcyne Wrens, is a sorcerer, and she has some...unusual beliefs about arcane magic. Specifically, she thinks that it's a limited resource that wizards "steal" from sorcerers who are the only ones that actually DESERVE access to it. This is causing friction with the Rack's wizard signifiers as they're increasingly sidelined in favor of sorcerers, though actual open conflict hasn't begun...yet.
Kellids in general have a strong dislike of arcane magic, preferring divine/primal. There are also several archetypes in 1E that are anti-arcane (though most of those I think are anti-witch specifically).
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You'd think there'd be some kind of arcane equivalent to Rahadoum somewhere...
Oprak?
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I was about to say: Hobgoblins.
They traditionally hate "elf-magic".
That meant Arcane in 1E, but it seems broader now ? We'll know more when we get their write-up, but seems to fit.
Beyond that, there's probably a bunch here and there, but not many big organizations.
I expect people from the Mana Wastes, for example, are at the very least wary of magic.
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There is also previous precedent in old Sarkoris, which directly resulted in the Worldwound's formation, actually. While Sarkoris was more a confederation of Kellid clans than a unified state, the druids of the Green Faith held a lot of power over the clanlieges of that confederation as spiritual advisors and diplomats. Those druids outlawed the open practice of arcane magic among Sarkorians apart from the God-Caller summoners, which naturally were viewed as servants of Sarkoris' many gods rather than witches.
Any arcane spellcasters who were discovered were given over to the druids, who offered them the choice of being imprisoned in the tower of Threshold to use their magic exclusively in service to the druids, or execution. And one of those prisoners was Areelu Vorlesh, the witch who would tear the druids and the rest of Sarkoris down in her ascension to demonhood. Threshold was where the Worldwound opened, and remained its epicenter until the end of the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path.
Only wizardly magic was explicitly proscribed in Sarkoris. Sorcerers and witches were fine.
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Only wizardly magic was explicitly proscribed in Sarkoris. Sorcerers and witches were fine.No, no they were not.
I’m happy to back up my claims:
Warlord Uloric Dziergas and his army arrived in the fall of that year with the high witch-wardens of Iz, Undarin, and Dyinglight, who challenged and overthrew the shaman-rulers of Storasta.
With the spirits of the planes held in the same reverence as the powers of the land, those with the ability to tap into and manifest such forces—such as oracles, summoners, and witches—numbered among the region’s druids as fonts of religious power and leaders of the faith.
Every family was expected to support the clan’s faith by promising its third son or first daughter as an acolyte to the cairnhold’s religious leader, typically referred to as druid, priest, witchpriest, or god caller depending on the leader’s abilities and local traditions.
….others singling out and personifying the inspirations for their clan’s witches’powers…
For example, thewitches of the Stagheart clan claimed to commune with Alglenweis, daughter of Kostchtchie and the legendary Stag Mother of the Forest of Stones
Alongside faith in divine powers spread faith in druidic magic, sorcery, worship of godlike visitors summoned from beyond, and the mysteries of witchcraft. Sarkorians came to see the divine in all things, and came to worship much more than gods, even as they learned to dread and distrust the mortal magic of wizards.
Wizard magic is called out specifically:
the teaching of wizardly magic was strictly forbidden by the country’s priests. Those discovered possessing or practicing such magic were quietly dealt with—they were given the option of either being exiled or sent to the druid-guarded fortress-tower known as the Threshold, where they would be honoured prisoners
Only wizardly magic was explicitly proscribed in Sarkoris. Sorcerers and witches were fine.Looked at Areelu Vorlesh's class lately?
They also imprisoned god callers:
it began with the defiant god caller Opon, the cunning witch Areelu Vorlesh, and the wizard-scholar Wivver Noclan.
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Opon's situation probably arose from the "defiant" part you mention in your quote. He wouldn't obey the druids, so they threw him in Threshold with the other arcanists. Maybe it was BECAUSE he was a God-Caller that they didn't just execute him outright, since executing a man the people believed to be the emissary of a minor deity would look bad?
That would also explain why the term "witch" seems to get thrown around so frequently in the Lost Kingdoms chapter on Sarkoris in contradictory ways. A "Witch" who served the druids and obeyed their rules wasn't a "witch," but ones who defied them were. Such hypocrisy is something tyrants everywhere do (and I say this as a Sarkoris fanboy, I deliberately DO NOT play a paladin in the WotR game I'm in because I thought roleplaying "one of the last of the Sarkorian druids" was cooler!).
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City of Locusts, the final of Wrath of the Righteous, explicitly states Areelu was imprisoned for using arcane magic (page 7, adventure background), in Threshold where "the students of the arcane worked miracles beyond even Sarkoris's miracle workers--but still they were slaves" (Lost Kingdoms, page 45)
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Opon's situation probably arose from the "defiant" part you mention in your quote. He wouldn't obey the druids, so they threw him in Threshold with the other arcanists. Maybe it was BECAUSE he was a God-Caller that they didn't just execute him outright, since executing a man the people believed to be the emissary of a minor deity would look bad?Threshold was for keeping arcane users that were too useful to execute.
That would also explain why the term "witch" seems to get thrown around so frequently in the Lost Kingdoms chapter on Sarkoris in contradictory ways. A "Witch" who served the druids and obeyed their rules wasn't a "witch," but ones who defied them were.
That's my thinking as well.
I was about to say: Hobgoblins.
They traditionally hate "elf-magic".
That meant Arcane in 1E, but it seems broader now ? We'll know more when we get their write-up, but seems to fit.Beyond that, there's probably a bunch here and there, but not many big organizations.
I expect people from the Mana Wastes, for example, are at the very least wary of magic.