The Life and Times of ArchMage Traven

By Giskard

Archmage Traven (originally from the Anvil branch) Understood that it was never Vanus Galerion's intention to allow Necromancy to be practised within the Mages Guild so once he became Archmage he put the Dark Arts on trial and banned it. The trial was described in Travens book "The Black Arts On Trial" and shows the difference of opinion amongst the council at the time. Some believed Necromancy was part of all schools of magic and it was impossible to ban it, others felt it was important for the Guild to understand these dark arts for defensive reasons.

Traven eventually won and Necromancy was banned, half the council quit, some went on the run after being branded Necromancers for defending the practice during the Trial. The Mages Guild lost a lot of members overnight and whilst the Arcane University suffered the least, the local Guild halls lost most of their key staff and several inexperienced Guildmagisters were appointed to run branches.

This lead to some dissent amongst those working at the branches lead by these less than qualified individuals. Cheydinhals own Guildmagister freely admits he only got the job because nobody else was qualified to do it. Brumas Guildmagister hardly knew any spells at all and Leyawiins Branch was the scene of a struggle for power. There could be no doubt that the guild was falling apart and the situation was not helped when the only way to advance was to get the GuildMagister above you removed first.

Prior to this each Guild Hall had 6 other positions that recruits could aspire too and whilst it was usually an old boys school affair, most recruits still had the chance to make something of themselves. Not so under Archmage Traven. The losses to the guild were so high, entire positions had to be scrapped due to the lack of members after Necromancy got banned. The Arcane University itself lost its Knights of the Lamp which had existed as the military arm of the Guild for centuries before Traven came to power. The local branches lost their own Palatinus which was the local Knight of the Lamp too. Leaving the Guild and the University unprotected for the first time in centuries.

The recommendation system employed was said to stop those who were not qualified from entering the University, the Guilds old charter was broken by the recommendation policy and this led to accusations that Archmage Traven was abusing his power. Yet the fact remained that the local Guildhalls had lost 6 key positions due to a lack of staff and were barely functioning. The recommendation system forced new recruits to go to these local branches first and helped solve the problem in the short term.

The lack of key staff, the unprotected Guild Branches and the unqualified filling of key positions at the local level left the Mages Guild open to attack.

From a distant land, Mannimarco came to Cyrodiil just after Necromancy was banned. Just as he battled the Mages Guild's very first Archmage "Vanus Galerion" thousands of years before for standing against Necromancy, now Archmage Traven had taken the same stand as Vanus and Mannimarco had returned to do battle against the Guild once again. Many thousands of years had passed between Vanus dying in battle against Mannimarco and Mannimarcos reported death during the same battle. Rumour, myth and legend surrounded Mannimaro and Traven could not even have dreamed he was still alive after all this time.

Yet when the Count of Skingrad warned Archmage Traven that the old foe Mannimarco was in Cyrodiil and out to destroy the Mages Guild, Traven for the first time realised the danger the guild was in. In its weakened state it was no match for Mannimarco who had clearly mastered powers beyond their understanding to live as long as he had lived. An almost God- like figure was threatening to destroy him and the guild and there was nothing he could do about it.

The Council ran, some switched sides, some hid. Mannimarco, champion of the Necromancers, very old, possibly a Lich, possibly a God, definitely powerful, definitely capable of walking right in to the Arcane university any time he chose, was coming for Traven and the Guild. The Guild became paralysed with fear.

Traven knew Mannimaros powers to charm victims in to doing nothing until he killed them and he knew no normal enchantment was strong enough to protect a Mage against the kind of power Mannimarco must possess after all these centuries. The Necromancers themselves were able make powerful enchantments using Black Soul gems but Traven needed something much stronger. News of a giant Black Soul gem reached him and he decided to use that as a method of protecting his champion in the battle against Mannimarco. But it required a human soul and Traven could not soul-trap anybody else without becoming all he had hated.

So he trapped his own soul in the giant Black Soul Gem to serve as a powerful enchantment to protect his champion in the battle against Mannimarco. It should be said that in the past, other groups had attempted to reunify the trapped soul of a Prince with a body during Tiber Septims day, but in a guild opposed to Necromancy, that was never likely to be an option for Archmage Traven.

Archmage Travens sacrifice allowed his champion to defeat Mannimarco and save the helpless guild, but the Champion inherited a Guild on the verge of destruction. To purify the Guild and bring it back to Vanus Galerion's original teachings, Traven had nearly destroyed it. 