World of THE GHOSTS – the Imperial Magisterium

Scholars say that the power of the Empire rests upon four legs. The authority of the Emperor, the wealth and power of the nobility, the might of the Legions…

…and the sorcery of the Imperial Magisterium, the magi of the Empire.

The Magisterium governs the use and practice of sorcery (or the “arcane sciences”, as the magi like to say) throughout the Empire. The headquarters of the magi is the Magisterium’s great Motherhouse in the city of Artifel, but the magi maintain chapterhouses in each of the major cities and many of the larger towns. And every noble and every Imperial magistrate has his advisor from the Magisterium, and each of the Legions has a detachment of battle magi.

The Magisterium governs the magi strictly. Necromancy, blood sorcery, pyromancy, oneiromancy, summoning non-elemental spirits, violating the mind of another without the writ of an Imperial magistrate, and numerous other crimes are all punishable by death. At least in theory – in practice, the high magi and the preceptors of the chapterhouses are often too willing to look the other way. There are rumors of secret factions within the Magisterium devoted to practicing forbidden arts, of hidden schools and secret orders.

And many of these restrictions are recent. During the Fourth Empire, the magi ruled the Empire openly, and did as they pleased, using the blood of slaves to fuel mighty necromantic spells.

And many of the magi would like to see those days return…