These texts are scattered about Upper Sanctuary and thrown down the chasm between Lower and Upper Sanctuary in great bundles
Flamerule 24th :: Year 151 :: 1373 DRThe Spellguard
The Spellguard - Arcane Defenders of Dunwarren
People of Sanctuary, I, Richelle Lindgren, am a recent arrival from Sembia to our fair city, not two months past. I have studied the magical arts for eight long years prior to my arrival here under the great illusionist, merchant and mage Valian of Ordulin. From there I have joined the order of the Spellguard Mages to help defend the people from external threats with all my heart.
The principles of the mage that were past down to me from my master and adopted father are simple to understand once explained. The path of the mage is one of responsibility and sacrifice. With the great power to alter reality, to feel the very fabric that holds all life together in this plane of existence and manipulate it to your whim comes the greatest obligation to use it for the benefit of others, lest you perish as you push away those that provide you with food, shelter and the resources to continue your research.
It is also a path walked down alone, I have given up much to walk this path and to be called Tyrant when trying to keep all your lives from harm while I risk everything, stabs a cold, piercing fragment of glass into my soul.
Some place a connection between the Spellguard and the Banite Zhentarim on the surface, this could not be further from the truth. I personally give homage to the High One and the Lord of Flames and like most have been wounded by acursed Bane. Our colours are red, white and black where as the Zhentarim's is black and red, we are NOT the same.
The Spellguard has made mistakes in the past, as has every single living being, even gods. Yet its intention and original purpose remain pure, which is to protect -you- from the horrors of the Underdark through arcane means. Some cry "Foul!" at us because we restrict the use of the weave to warded areas. This is not to keep your repressed, this is to keep us hidden from magically intuned creatures, such as beholders, in the Underdark who can scry upon us and might see a city of escaped slaves as a nice meal and/or new slaves.
Ask any learned, reasonable mage and he will tell you that every time you manipulate the weave (Cast spells), strings are pulled that send ripples through out it, these ripples can be traced to their point of origin through divining magic and gives away the location of our settlement if a creature happens to be listening. To put this in a simple context, take a pebble and a bucket of water, drop the pebble into the bucket and note the little ripples that spread out in all directions from their point of origin.
Do this again, but close your eyes this time and only open them once you have dropped the pebble back into the bucket. See if you can locate where you dropped the pebble through the ripples, it will be quite easy. This is at heart how we can be scryied upon through the use of magic and it is self-defeating to cast an unwarded spell under -any- circumstances, save a direct invasion of the city. Magical items and wands do still send out ripples, this is true, but the ripples are so small that they are undetectable at long or medium distances, it is like dropping a grain of dust into a bucket and locating the ripples.
The walls within buildings with the Spellguard Seal are warded at great expense so that the arcane ripples sent throughout the weave are stopped in their tracks. It is similiar to sound trying to escape a room with walls filled with several inches of cork. It is illegal to cast anywhere else in the Dunwarren, this includes the ruins and the Bowels of the Machine which are unwarded. Azuth, the Lord of Spells, has given us a means to use the wonders and glories of Mystra and the weave, do not abuse his gift by placing all at risk by recklessly using magic.
Heed his dogma "Live and teach the idea that with magical power comes grave responsibility"
Why the Spellguard can cast magic
You are probably thinking to yourself now as you read this, "Wait! The Spellguard who I think are Tyrants and worshipers of Bane with no founded evidence whatsoever are allowed to cast spells!". The Spellguard is allowed to cast spells because we have gone to extreme expense to ward our robes. Also, we are the certified Arcane Defenders of Dunwarren, it is our duty to protect you through our arcane means, the same as it is the Watch's to protect you through physical means.
Lower Sanctuary
Our duty is not solely to Upper Sanctuary, it is to all of Dunwarren and we will continue to protect you from harm even if you hate us. We do not hate you Lower Sanctuary, nor do we hate you Upper Sanctuary, we hold no allegiance to either sections, we hold allegiance to the people as a whole. I was not present for the Ubel rebellion, nor was I when the council commissioned the Tigereye mercenaries. The crimes done against the people of Lower by the Tigereyes are a travesty, and from the old records I have read in the Spellguard archive, we were working for them to be -disbanded-, we were -not- supporting their foul crimes in anyway.
Know, people of Lower Sanctuary. The men and women who claim to be fighting against the Spellguard, the men and women who seek to lead you are opportunists, preying on the long built up hatred sparked by Ubel and histories long since past for their own ends. Tane worshiped a devil lord and was seeking to cause a war between Upper and Lower Sanctuary as a sacrifice to his pathetic god.
It is self defeating to attack us, to throw insults and hurl stones. We are your protectors, not your repressors and I fear if you continue to place faith in slavers such as Thayans, cannabalistic orcs such as the Redclaws, war mongering men such as Tommy Ten-irons and Delain Jarbey and Machine idol worshiping mechanists such as seeker Orison, all of us, Lower and Upper Sanctuary even Sewer Town shall perish under the weight of our external, mutual enemies taking advantage of us no longer standing together and presenting a united front. Alone we fall, together we shall truimph. Time for a new Sanctuary I am not asking for Lower Sanctuary to put its fate in Upper Sanctuary again, nor am I expecting a friendly welcome. I am asking you to think, perhaps even dispel some of the ignorance and lies that have surrounded you for so long, or at least question them. I personally see it for the best that Lower Sanctuary has its own council. Yet I think to myself, as I know some do, that perhaps this is the chance to start something greater, a new Sanctuary. I forget the crimes of the past, as I was not present for them, perhaps we all should throw aside our grudges, meet and reform Sanctuary into a city of glory, a beacon of freedom. ________________________________ Richelle Lindgren Order of the Spellguard Mages