ECUMENICAL COUNCIL OF ENCHANTERS AND MAGES (COUNCIL OF THAUMATURGY)

The Sixth Ecumenical Council of Enchanters and Mages was held on Oracle 4, 895 at Accardi-by-the-Sea. Due to the heavy rise of the alchemists, which the guild believes were evil in and of themselves, Belboz and other leading Enchanters of the time, gathered together to vote on the matters at hand. The conclusion of this Council was a declaration (adpoted into Guild Law by a hand vote of 187 to 6) that all who remained faithful to the stated views of the Alchemical Heretics were from that moment forward anathema. All alchemists, all sympathizers with the alchemists, and all who have ever held an alchemical belief, were hereby ostracized from the holy and universal Guild of Enchanters, and from all contact with those whom the Guild serves and protects.

Belboz (see letter below) believed that half of the fierce animosity against the alchemists might have simply been fear that the success of alchemy would spell the end of power for the magic guilds. But then again, “the chapter’s old men” would not have gotten so loud and defensive if there was not some truth to alchemy after all, regardless of how wicked.

In spite of this legal banning of alchemy, a small and secretive group of rebels refused to obey the orders of the magic guilds. And so, in reprisal, the Circle of Enchanters used every means of power at their disposal to persecute and destroy the alchemists. Many of the most powerful members of the secret groups were forced to flee into exile, taking up residence in the more remote and depopulated provinces in the Eastlands. It was in this manner that the great Guilds eliminated all who opposed them.


OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS
The concluding declaration from their decision can be found in this excerpt:

The ancient truths discovered by Bizboz and Dinbar, and all the Holy Fathers of Thaumaturgy are eternal and unchanging, and the assembled brethren of this Council affirm these truths for all time.

There are, as it is written, but Three Essences of Magic, namely the Presence, Incantation, and Unusual Effect. It is the belief of the Fathers and of this Council that these Three Essences represent the Cause, the Action, and the Result, a chain of events that no science can overturn. It is further our belief that Presence is perfect and intransmutable, existing eternally and forever out of the grasp of mankind. We believe that Presence can be placed upon scrolls, wands, and liquids, but that no other form of magical art is possible.

Thus we condemn and decry the unholy alchemists whose misguided ideas pervade our society. We laugh at their creeds proclaiming four or even five essence. In their foolishness they maintain that Magical Presence can be changed and altered, and that it is susceptible to the faulty laws of science. In their trickery they preach that Presence is not eternal, but begotten from both Incantation and Unusual Effect. This eternal circle of nonsense is only compounded by their deeper lies, that the essence of Presence can be found in base metals and common elements. The alchemists claim that through these elements, mankind can be purified and rise above its mortal self.

These ideas are dangerous, foolish, and erroneous!

This Council hereby declares that all who remain faithful to the stated views of the Alchemical Heretics are from this moment forward anathema. All alchemists, all sympathizers with the alchemists, and all who have ever held an alchemical belief, are hereby ostracized from the holy and universal Guild of Enchanters, and from all contact with those whom the Guild serves and protects.

Adopted into Guild Law by a hand vote of 187 to 6.

Additionally, a personal letter from Belboz during the proceedings of the Sixth Council of Thaumaturgy has been discovered. It was not included in the official minutes of the Council for obvious reasons:

Mumbar-

This haggling bores me. I think I’d rather be trapped in a cage full of babbling brogmoids. I don’t think any of these fools even understand what it is that they’re arguing about. I for one don’t give a damn whether Presence comes from the Implementors or from a piece of yipple dung. All I know is that our magic works, and theirs doesn’t!

Ever since the last emperor vanished, it’s been the same old story, over and over again. The alchemists trying desperately to take over our organization, and us stopping only to issue these silly decrees. No one really cares whether or not they ever find their Philosopher’s Stone, but heaven forbid they try to take over the Guild! Once the chapter’s old men get defensive, they drag us here from all corners of the land and watch our beards grow long...

I wish we’d hurry up and vote already.

Belboz