"Codex: The Magic Institutions of Azeroth
In the world of Azeroth, one could argue that there are three main premier institutes for studying Magic and uncovering the depths of the Arcane.
Dalaran, Magisterium of Quel'Thalas and Psijic Order.
Let's start with the oldest one on the list. The Magisterium of Quel'Thalas is the oldest Magic institution and organization in the entire Azeroth, and at the same time, it is one of the three major factions in the government of Quel'Thalas, the Kingdom of the High Elves. The Magisters's exact origin and time of ascension to authority are unknown, but it is presumed that they existed maybe before or during the founding of Quel'Thalas. They have been Silvermoon's top authority on all things pertaining to Magic and have been in possession of a vast reservoir of knowledge on all things Arcane for many years.
The High Elves of Quel'Thalas we're the ones inheriting the Arcane and Magic knowledge of the destroyed Kaldorei Empire and Highborne Civilization. To this day, they remain the most magically advanced faction in the known Azeroth, albeit some claim that there may be some remnants of the Kaldorei that survived the fall. It were also the Magisters of Quel'Thalas who taught human tribes the Magic and secrets of the Arcane to combat the threat of the Amani Troll Empire thousands of years ago.
The second on the list would be Dalaran and its leading institution, Kirin Tor. Dalaran is a very small, magocratic nation found originally as a city-state by Arathi magi near the coast of Lordamere Lake in Lordaeron. It is ruled by the Kirin Tor, the congregation of the strongest Mages across the entire Dalran.
From all three organizations, they are also the largest faction because the members are not limited to species like the Magisterium of Quel'Thalas or Imperial Citizenship like the Sacred Phoenix Empire. The members of Dalaran range from humans and dwarves to the High Elves and Gnomes; practically anyone is welcome to study at Dalaran.
Due to this diversity and relatively more freedom in the acceptance procedures, the Dalaran boats have the highest number among all institutions and factions that study the secrets of the Magic and depths of the Arcane, as well as the most diversified research areas.
The last of the three organizations is also the youngest one, the Psijic Order of the Sacred Phoenix Empire. The Psijic Order was established a few years after the 'Great Shift' in order to incorporate Magic into the arsenal of the Sacred Phoenix Empire, which was then still called the Fire Nation.
The Psijic Order only accepts the Imperial Citizens of the Sacred Phoenix Empire, and even among them, only those who are thoroughly vetted are allowed to advance to anything more sophisticated than common Fireball or Arcane Missile. The Psijic Order is also notoriously secretive, and most of the outsiders don't even know who exactly are the Patriarchs of the 11 Orders that are creating together the Psijic Order.
To the outside world, only the name of the Grand Patriarch of the Psijic Order is known, and only because she is also the wife of the Sacred Phoenix Emperor and a member of the Septim Dynasty.
Another notable fact about the Psijic Order is also the fact that all Mages of the Psijic Order are required to serve in the Imperial Military, in the specific branch called Imperial Battlemage Legion.
- Introduction to the Magic Organizations of the Azeroth, Year 5 ADP."
***
"I am smiling."
His first wife stated rather stiffly, but he could see that she was still glaring in the usual way, though again, she was always like that. Though he had to admit that her glares were indeed pretty scary, and even he himself felt rather uncomfortable when she was pissed, much less being said when she was pissed at him.
A small part of him was already wondering if it would be a good idea to have her present at the meeting, but alas, she was already there, and for propaganda purposes, it would be a good show if she stood next to him.
Aenarion was aware that even she hated it because, for Azula, entertaining diplomatic things like this was a total waste of time. She would rather train in the Bending Abilities because, since they were transported to the new world, every Bender registered a skyrocket-like growth in their power.
Many of the Benders became powerhouses literarily overnight, and those who were strong even before became even stronger, which was already rather a frightening thought when one looked at it like that.
Azula, like many of the other powerful Benders, spent most of her time right now training, though Aenarion was doing the exact same thing when he wasn't carrying out his duties as the Fire Lord, because there was a lot of work for him to do as the Fire Lord.
Being in the ruling position wasn't easy if the person sitting on the throne wanted to be a good ruler who was actually attending to his duties as he should be.
"If you behave, you can go play as soon as we finish the initial greetings."
Several moments later, Aenarion relented, and he decided to allow her to leave as soon as they greeted the delegation from the natives. Aenarion really wanted to create a good impression on the representatives of the Ironforge and the Quel'Thalas.
Ironically, though, Esdeath and June were even worse choices for occasions like this because Esdeath's temper with the politicians was far worse than Azula's, and June would just escape when nobody was watching.
"I will take your word for it then."
He could see his wife grinning victoriously as she gave him a kiss on the cheek; while he felt that this was her plan for the entire time, he was already used to her antics. Nothing new under the sun, and it was still better than nothing.
It was not like there was any real need for the "politics" in the Fire Nation due to the nature of the rulership of the Fire Nation and how everything was running. Within the Fire Nation, which was essentially an Absolute Militaristic Monarchy / Dictatorship, everything was decided by the ones on the top while being implemented by those at the bottom as simple as it could get.
The Fire Nation didn't really have politicians, and after the Aenarion's reforms and purges, even the traditional Fire Clans and Nobles that previously had some say in the running of the Fire Nation suddenly lost their privileges and rights.
This, in turn, fastened the process of a ruling by a significant degree because nobody was meddling in the decisions and pushing up their own agenda for their very own benefit and not that of the Fire Nation as a whole.
"Also... how is the project continuing?"
As they were waiting for the delegation from the two kingdoms of Azeroth, he asked as he looked at his wife, who was in charge of the project.
"It's going well, but the mortality is very high... not many could survive the conditions in that place, but those who could.."
Dealing with the criminals in the Fire Nation has always been rather problematic since the start of the Great War by the Fire Lord Sozin. Most, if not all, criminals were shipped to the frontlines and sent to wage war on behalf of the Fire Lord and fight against the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes.
But Aenarion thought that it was foolishness...
They were undisciplined, creating a mess, disobeying orders, and destroying the purpose of the Fire Nation's Military. Letting criminals into the Army was one of the worst decisions that the Fire Lord Ozai ever made.
From another perspective, he could understand the reasoning because the lines of the Fire Nation were already being spread thin, and there was a lack of qualified warriors and combatants.
Many of the prisoners of the Fire Nations were certainly qualified warriors and combatants, but that didn't really change anything that all of them were often from the worst dregs of the society, consisting of murderers, rapists, and other rather unsavory individuals.
So, he had a different opinion from the one suggested by Esdeath and Azula.
"I know, but that's not a problem... that island is an absolute hellhole and the most dangerous place. The local flora and fauna are made just to kill anything that enters the island, and only the most powerful can survive in that place because it has something that prevents even Magic from functioning on the island; one can depend only on their sword."
With the establishment of the new regime, many more people were shipped to that island, to a newly established prison colony of the Fire Nation.
"How many are there right now?"
Aenarion asked because he was curious how many of them survived. When he took power, and the purges began, hundreds upon hundreds were sent to that prison colony, and even right now, more people are being deported by the Onmitsukidō.
The remnants of the old regime and old guard were still loyal to the Fire Lord Ozai, some remaining members of the Fire Clans that were keeping low, but now, after the Great Shift, there was no real need for them anymore.
"Something between six thousand and eight thousand."
That was rather a steep number already, pretty much for a small island like they were inhabiting.
But alas, the purges that were carried by him during the time when he got into power and also the most recent purge conducted by the Onmitsukidō filled the prisons greatly, increasing the number of prisoners by many hundreds easily.
And Onmitsukidō was really thorough in the purge conducted on the command of the Fire Lord, and everyone who was on the list was arrested and thrown into the prison colony, together with their entire families and all blood relatives, several generations separated.
It was more than evident that June wasn't taking any chances with this when she commanded the Onmitsukidō to clean the entire Fire Nation as thoroughly as possible so no remnants of the old regimen survived.
After the Great Shift, Aenarion stopped playing nice, and even though some of the Fire Clans who were not entirely loyal to his regime were useful, he didn't take any chances with them when he ordered the complete purge to be carried out.
"And how many of them would survive till they are ready?"
He predicted that maybe 10% would finish the entire process of mental conditioning, brainwashing, and training. The process of mental conditioning and brainwashing was something very arduous, and it would break most of people apart, and they would die out of mental exhaustion or from having their minds being broken and becoming vegetative.
"10% is the rough estimation of the survival rate. The beasts there are especially brutal in their hunts, and not many of the people dropped there are talented or skilled enough in swordsmanship to survive."
Even if a few hundred of them survived, Aenarion came to the conclusion that it would be a very good result. The project that they were working on was to create fanatical zealots for his family, not for the state or the Fire Nation or the Military or anything.
Only to the Aenarion and nobody else.
Ruthless killers that would carry out any order that he gave them, kill anyone whom he pointed to, and would be the personal enforcers of the Fire Lord's family. While fanaticism and loyalty to the Fire Nation was present among all the Military Branches, at the same time, Aenarion wanted to cultivate the same thing within some of the other forces.
The ambition was grand.
He knew very well that one of the major reasons why his coup against the Ozai was successful was because of the very same loyalty towards the Fire Nation. Not towards the person of the Fire Lord and sitting on the throne of the Fire Lord, but...
This allowed him to sway many of the Fire Nation loyalists who were first and foremost loyal to the concept of the Fire Nation and nothing else. Aenarion wanted to create a personal force in the Royal Family that would be fiercely loyal to him till their death.
"Ts... still good. Are there any who have already completed the process among the prisoners?"
The process of mental conditioning, brainwashing, and training would take years, but some of the earliest prisoners on the island were there already for several years.
"A few, and the results are far better than we expected. Soon enough, one of them could take over the oversight of the place."
Now that the Fire Nation had arrived at Azeroth, Aenarion wanted to use Magic as further security and further methods of brainwashing the prisoners, as he wasn't taking any chances with them.
"And here they are..."
Their talk was cut when they were notified that the delegation from Ironforge and Quel'Thalas had arrived at the Fire Nation Royal Palace. Both he and Azula were standing in the middle of the throne room and awaited the delegation from the Ironforge and Quel'Thalas.
This was the first time that anyone from the Fire Nation had seen different species, and even though the news about the existence of the other species spread around the Fire Nation's higher-ups like wildfire since they were notified about that by the Sky Marshall Zhao Ming, everyone was still very surprised to see them in a real.
Soon enough, two people entered the Throne Room of the Fire Nation Royal Palace under the protection detail of the Phoenix Guard. One of them was the High Elven Grand Magister of the Magisterium, who had a seat at the Silvermoon Convocation, and the other was a dwarf, brother of the King of the Khaz-Modan.
So, it was paramount to make a good impression because both of them were men with very high influence within their nations. It was really hard to tell which had the greater influence over their respective nation, though.
Nevertheless, Aenarion straightened himself, and even Azula tried to look more approachable, though there was a significant emphasis on the word "tried". She wasn't very good at that, but given their current circumstances, it was certainly better than nothing.
"Introducing the Grand Magister of the Magisterium of Quel'Thalas and Councillor of the Silvermoon Convocation, Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar of the House Salonar and High Explorer of the Explorer's League, Brann Bronzebeard of the Ironforge and member of the Royal House of the Bronzebeard."
As the chamberlain of the Royal Palace announced the two of them, soon enough, the duo of the High Elf and Dwarf entered the Throne Room of the Royal Palace of the Fire Nation.
It was a rather interesting meeting for the first time because Aenarion looked at the Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar and Brann Bronzebeard with curiosity as he scrutinized them while they were doing exactly the same thing to him.
"Welcome, dignitaries from afar, to the Fire Islands and its Fire Nation. On behalf of the entire Fire Nation, I welcome you as the honored guests of the Fire Nation. I am Aenarion, the Fire Lord, and next to me is Azula, my wife and Queen of the Fire Nation and also Commander of the Imperial Benders."
Aenarion welcomed the two dignitaries from the different kingdoms on the Azeroth with a grandiose welcome, as this marked the historic appearance and historic occasion where when the two civilizations made contact for the first time after the Great Shift.
"And we thank you for the welcome on behalf of the Quel'Thalas and Ironforge, Fire Lord Aenarion of the Fire Nation and Queen Azula of the Fire Nation."
Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar gave the Fire Lord of the Fire Nation a traditional High Elven salute, with Brann Bronzebeard following in the succession. From the short tour, they quickly realized that the Fire Nation was highly militaristic, with a very high degree of militarization and military buildup.
It was more than evident that they wouldn't be shy from any kind of conflict, but at the same time, it was more than clear that they wished for a peaceful coexistence between them because their people were tired from the war.
The Great War in their old world, as they have learned.
"As you have surely heard, the Fire Nation has found itself in this new world, and we want nothing more than a peaceful cooperation and coexistence between our people."
Aenarion stated while he was sitting on his throne and looking at the elegant High Elven Ambassador to the Fire Nation. During their journey here, both of them were informed by the Sky Marshall Zhao Ming about some of the crucial information about the Fire Nation and its most recent history and so on.
"The Kingdom of Quel'Thalas is also keen on the peaceful coexistence and cooperation between the two nations."
For the Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar, he saw the merit in cooperation between the Quel'Thalas and the Fire Nation. Usually, it would be beneath the standards of the High Elves, but this time, the situation was somewhat different.
Even though it was clear that the Fire Nation lacked Magic, he had seen with his very own eyes their mastery over the Chi, and some of the Chi or the Spirit Energy signatures were on the equal level to that of the Archmages and Magisters.
And there were a lot of them.
Not to mention their military-industrial complex, and it also seemed that the humans of the Fire Nation were technically even more advanced than the dwarves in many areas, which was another perk in his head.
Quel'Thalas was a very isolationistic kingdom because the High Elves were rather arrogant, and interacting with the other races, especially with the humans, was far beneath their stature.
The only faction in Azeroth with whom they had regular interaction was Dalaran, and then perhaps Ironforge and the Wildhammer Clan. Aside from that, the relationship with the Kingdom of Lordaeron wasn't something great, but it also was not really that bad.
In the Fire Nation, Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar saw the potential for an ally because he had to admit that the Quel'Thalas could learn a lot from the Fire Nation, while the Fire Nation itself could learn a lot from the High Elves, especially in the area of Magic.
"And the same could be said about the Ironforge. We would be delighted to exchange the technologies and blacksmithing methods with yer people."
And for the Dwarves, this was also an opportunity like for the Quel'Thalas because the technological advances were several steps away compared to those of the Ironforge dwarves, which were already being considered the most advanced faction in the world when it came to technology.
Both the Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar and High Explorer Brann Bronzebeard spoke in the language of the Fire Nation, which resulted from the translation spell that was used by the Grand Magister.
"Excellent, please. I would be honored to invite you to dinner with traditional meals from the Fire Nation."
Aenarion invited both representatives of the High Elves and Dwarves to the dinner, where they could discuss various things about their future cooperation and coexistence.
Azula, for the entire time, stayed silent and didn't really say anything, not because she wasn't really allowed to say something, perhaps bit even that, but mostly because she found the entire thing boring as hell.
For her, this pretension and everything was reminiscenting her of the scenes from her childhood when the Fire Clans were still around and sometimes she was forced to entertain the nobles at the various gatherings and banquets as the representative of the Fire Nation Royal Family.
Her father, Ozai, loved to be praised by the Fire Nobles rather too much for her own tastes.
Seeing her husband speaking with the delegates for more than twenty minutes, mainly about the things that seemed pretty boring and unimportant to her, was like torture, and Azula already wished that she could leave this place already.
"Of course, we would be delighted to accept your invitation, Your Highness."
Seeing them accept the invitation for dinner made Aenarion smile slightly because at least he was begging to make small steps in the diplomatic arena. Technically speaking, he would be most eager to leave this task to Grand Chancellor Iroh, because he was the most suited person for that.
In the end, both of Azulon's sons were trained in the art of diplomacy even though they never really put these skills into practice in fact, but they had some fundamental knowledge over the topic, so it was still better than nothing at all.
On the other hand, Aenarion was just a soldier, and Bender had risen to the top of the Fire Nation, so he wasn't really well-versed in this kind of formalities, and to his luck, if it could be called like that, Azula skipped these lessons entirely, or she wasn't paying attention.
He knew that when she was a child, the only things that were interesting to the Princess of the Fire Nation were the lessons on fighting, combat, strategy, and Bending. Everything else was rather inconsequential, and I missed her somehow.
For the time being, the servants brought both the Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar and High Exloprer Brann Bronzebeard to their quarters that were prepared for them in the Royal Palace of the Fire Nation, while Aenarion remained in the throne room together with Azula.
"Well... that went rather quickly... faster than I have anticipated."
Indeed, it went because they spoke only for around twenty minutes, and soon enough, they reached some sort of preliminary agreement with each other, and everyone would convene at the dinner, where they would discuss the situation more thoroughly.
Yet, at the same time, they were still talking about the very same thing without much change, and what was worse, she would be required to attend the dinner as well because it would look terrible if Aenarion showed up for dinner alone.
"It seems that the High Elf man, Belo'vir Salonar, figured out pretty quickly that we are not used to diplomacy like the other nations that exist in this world, so he took the most straightforward route possible, which is the best for the time being."
Aenarion quickly figured out the situation, though for that, one didn't really need to be a genius to see through it completely. He knew very well that someone as experienced as the Grand Magister of the Quel'Thalas wouldn't miss such a crucial detail about the Fire Nation.
And he certainly appreciated it greatly.
***
The dinner was served in the more traditional Fire Nation style of cuisine, including some of the most luxurious and rare dishes that the Fire Nation had to offer.
There were not many people present at the dinner, because aside from the Envoys from the Ironforge and Quel'Thalas, only Aenarion, Azula, and Prince Iroh were present both as members of the Royal Family and the High Chancellor of the Fire Nation.
"Your cuisine is really exquisite, Fire Lord Aenarion."
The Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar stated that he enjoyed the level of culinary mastery of the Fire Nation. Everything was made from the fishes of the Fire Island that lived near, because much of the cuisine of Fire Nation was mainly centered about what they caught from the sea.
As an Island nation, they were heavily dependent on the maritime products that were fished from the depths of the seas. Thus, fish and various sea life were a stable part of the cuisine of the Fire Nation.
"Thank you very much, Your Excellency."
Aenarion knew that the sushi and type of dishes that were seriously reminiscent of him of Japanese cuisine were top-notch in terms of quality as well as taste. While the Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar was satisfied with the food, the High Explorer Brann Bronzebeard looked at the sashime as the food was called and the lack of beer on the table.
It appeared really distant and foreign, rather similar to the cuisine of the High Elves, at least in terms of sophistication, because everything was perfectly stylized in one place without any hitch or mistake.
One could even argue that the food was art from a certain perspective.
"The Fire Nation would be delighted to maintain diplomatic ties with the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas and the Kingdom of Ironforge. To show the sincerity of the Fire Nation, I would like to invite the honored diplomats to remain in the Fire Nation for some time as guests of honor. I believe that our two worlds have a lot of to learn from each other."
Aenarion stated as he looked directly at the Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar, because the High Elven Magister was the most important right now. From the moment Aenarion realized that they were in the world of World of Warcraft, in Azeroth, he knew that he needed to obtain Magic for his nation as soon as possible.
Magic was power in Azeroth as this was a heavily Magical World, and even with their Chi being strengthened to a ridiculous degree and surprisingly, even the entire environment of Azeroth was brimming with the stronger Life Force since the "Great Shift", Magic was paramount.
Aenarion knew that many of the human kingdoms of Azeroth, especially those in the north, held strong distaste and distrust towards the Magic for one reason or another. Either it was due to the teachings of the Holy Church of Light or it was distrust from the side of the old nobles that feared that the Mages could usurp their power.
In the end the reasons themselves didn't really matter as much as the consequences of it.
Certainly, if the kingdoms were utilizing Magic more profoundly and widely, then perhaps they wouldn't be falling to the Horde like flies with only Dalaran capable of supplying them Mages.
The Kingdom of Stormwind on Azeroth was a pristine example of the incorporation of Magic into the Kingdom's military structures. They were the only human nation, Kingdom Dalaran, not counted as it was a magocracy, that wasn't outright discriminating against Mages in the high positions of the government.
They also had the Royal Magic Academy, which trained Mages for the Royal Service to the Kingdom, and the Mages also served in many aspects of the military and government, even in Stormwind's Secret Service.
Aenarion knew that if not for the assassination of the Royal Conjurers and the death of the majority of the Magic Corps of the Stormwind, then the Orcish Horde would have a much, much harder time defeating the Stormwind.
Despite everything, the Stormwind managed to stall the Orcish Horde for several months and cause them rather considerable losses despite everything. Most ironically, though, in the then-reformed Alliance of Azeroth, it was the Kingdom of Stormwind that was basically the sole surviving human kingdom of all.
Everyone else had fallen either to the Horde, Scourge, Demons of the Burning Legion or due to the infighting and incompetence.
"I believe, too, that our realms could learn from each other. If possible, I would like to invite your Lordship to visit the Silvermoon, the capital and jewel of the Quel'Thalas, in the near future after things are stabilized here and there. My King would be delighted to have a personal conversation about the future development of our two realms."
Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar knew that the Fire Nation was very advanced compared to the other human nations of Azeroth, and they could be a worthwhile partner. He was the son of the few High Elves who realized that the isolationism of Quel'Thalas wasn't a good idea.
If something happened, then the High Elves would be left on their own and without outside help, but it was very hard to convince other High Elves, especially the other Magisters and members of the Noble Houses, of this fact.
Not many of them would see the human nations of the Lordaeron Continent as their equal, and truth to be told, he himself also wasn't very keen on that. For his tastes, humans were primitive and weak, most of them were either too influences by the teachings of the Church of Light that they feared Magic or their leaders were fearing their pwoer.
But that wasn't really the case with the Fire Nation.
The Fire Nation, while lacking Magic, though that was understandable as they were from a world where Magic didn't exist, had their Chi or Life Force. The usage of the Life Force wasn't something that was entirely unfamiliar to the High Elves, but they were not experts in it or even experienced enough.
Still, during the short time he was in the Fire Nation, he felt several very powerful auras, all at the peak of the Hero Level, and some were only a step away from reaching the Legendary Level, the peak of the powerhouse on Azeroth.
All these things considered were making the Fire Nation a prime candidate for the possible ally in the Azeroth. And they were not the only ones because he knew that the dwarf next to him was thinking the same, though mainly due to the technological innovations that they had seen in the Fire Nation.
Everything here seemed like in the Ironforge or Gnomeregan, but without the explosions happening here and there from time to time. The people of the Fire Nation really liked anything that could be used as the engine of war, and they were apparently investing a lot of money into the development of various devices.
Both of the ambassadors were greatly amazed by the Airships, and these were just early prototypes compared to what the Fire Nation planned to build. While the concept of the Airship wasn't unknown on Azeroth, it was far from being developed like it was in the Fire Nation.