A strix flutters to a landing and walks towards them. 

It looks interesting… but he needs to go over his ideas for the monarchy committee a few more times.  And real more powerful wizards always humiliate him for being stuck at 1st circle, so it’s probably not worth it anyway.  He walks past without a second glance.

That's not a mage, that's a strix. And that's a slip. Carme squints at the situation, in case the other wizards expected are going to be along any minute.

"Hello! Is this the place for talking about magic?" 

Hmm. Maybe on a later day when he's figured out whether he's permanently politically toxic. He'll pass a note to the ones who look like the hosts.

Alicia will drop by. She's not busy in the mornings yet, unless you count her channels, and if there's one thing the last few days have taught her it's that she doesn't know quite as much about obscure spells as she's going to need to. Hopefully this is a way to do something about that and not just a wizardly bragging session.

'Aspex Ibarra' will arrive in full panoply, complete with the iron mask bearing twin acid scars that has become his trademark, though his combat disguise is absent. He thinks a mage's caucus will be out to establish a wizards' guild in control of licensing the practice and education of wizardry, and he has some degree of patriotic desire to see those bastards burn first. 

His less conspicuous bodyguard is being even less conspicuous than usual, thanks to his fancy hat.

She nods at the strix. "It is! We'd ideally have all the other wizard representatives here, but they might not have seen the posters! I am Senior Professor Coeliaris of the Arcanamirium and the Westcrown College of Wizardry. I will say that it is very nice to be back in free Cheliax. I felt it may be worth bringing this group together to consider a joint front in regards to the regulation of magic, and perhaps making an effort into formalizing it into a proper constitutional committee for magic."

I know you, of course, sir, she says to the most recent arrival. Why don't we introduce ourselves, and clarify what type of magic that we practice?

“I'm Liushna. I'm a shalyene; it's like a wizard, but my familiar also acts as my spellbook.”

Carme didn't think Westcrown College had any elv- oh, that explains it. Migrants all over the place.

She takes a few steps closer, but Myrtle's at the ready if the strix acts up.

"Pleased to see you, professor," he says, nodding to Coeliaris, and "Aspex Ibarra, King-In-Irons of the Court of Exiles and fifth-circle enchanter" to everyone else. He'd like to shake hands with the elf and the strix as a way of being very rude to everyone who doesn't think elves and strix should get to shake hands with people, unless they mind in which case he will give a shallow bow.

The strix is totally willing to shake hands! Fifth circle! Wow!

Coeliaris shakes his hand too, and that of the strix. "Fourth, Universalist, though my specialization is really in topological spellcraft. You might have seen my Primary Circle Reduction of Evaluators' Lens." She looks at Carme, and raises a perfectly sculptured eyebrow.

"I have! It's a fascinating development," though from what he's heard of it the spell is basically just a way of substituting for a competent assistant and you'd need to get it all the way down to first to be meaningful, "of considerable theoretical value."

"Good morning," says Carme, when Coeliaris looks at her. "I should like the quick summary of the intent of this gathering. I am in fragile health and cannot stand around doing things just because they are... diverting."

Feather doesn't know what a 'caucus' is, but she's a mage so maybe it's something she'd care about?

"Hello," she says, walking up. "I'm Bright Morning Feather, a druid from Ravounel Forest." She'd heard them sharing circles but, really, that's not the kind of thing you tell a stranger! (Unless you're great at deceiving people and countering their deceptions and thinking several steps ahead. Feather isn't going to try to deceive humans about her spell circle.)

Signs are pointing to "diverting, and not even in a good way" but just in case Carme will wait for the elf to talk.

Coeliaris gives a them a casual nod. "We're putting together a committee for the regulation of magic and mage academies. There's pamphlets discussing the topic already, so it will happen. When it happens, it should happen under wise, mature and magically experienced leadership."

"Hi everyone!"

On the one hand, the Chelish humans famously have too many wizards with not enough Wisdom between them, and everyone needs wise and mature leadership. On the other hand, what if this just makes them better at burning down forests?

She settles for a nod at Coeliaris' statement.

Mage caucus? Mages don't really have common interests but maybe someone here knows how to cast two scrivener's chants at once. Unfortunately she's probably too short for an elf to notice.

"I own that the academy of Westcrown, my own alma mater, has great need of Salutary Reform," she says, not really having any idea what that reform might be. You can always say something needs reform!

"If you have copies of the pamphlets I'd take them to read while I sit somewhere more comfortable."

"You can sit on my cloud if you like! It's like a pillow!"

Coeliaris smiles at Lluisa. "It is then fortunate, that the Academy of Westcrown has returned to the name of the Westcrown College of Wizardry, the name of its predecessor institution. The WCW, of which I was proud to count myself a member, was a great college, and I am pleased indeed to rejoin it."

Oh, makes sense for an elf!

"Any wisdom predating the Diabolical Thrune Regime is of surpassing Value in the present Days. I have sought it in books, myself."

...the pillow cloud is actually really tempting. It's absurd but it's MAGICALLY absurd and it's okay to like silly things if they are magic. She sits on the cloud.

"My experience at the Academy of Westcrown certainly confirms it needs reform," he says, "though I would have expected abolition to serve far better."

"Ah, but a College of Magic is certainly needed, especially in a noble capital under such a Great Queen. Delegate Aspex, I believe you are somewhat opposed to the regulation of magic- but you must realize that in the Cheliax of Hell magic was already regulated. The hideous practice of soul-selling wizards is perhaps ended, but many other practices remain. I believe your opinions, as a well-travelled gentleman will be quite valuable in a Committee on Magic. Will you- all of you- join me in such a proposition on the floor?"

"A proposition to... what effect precisely."

What, all of them? "I probably shouldn't," Feather says, "because I suspect some of the other delegates might oppose anything I support."

"For what it's worth, I learned magic and other things in a very -" how do you say 'nurturing' in Chelish - "pleasant and supportive environment, that wasn't Evil at all. And our teachers were very wise and experienced. I don't know anything about wizard magic but I can't imagine it has to be Evil, magic is - neutral. Why can't people who want to teach and to learn just meet and do whatever they want freely? What needs to be regulated about it?"

"The proposition is that of a committee on magic and magic education. Magic is power, and it can either work alongside the state or in opposition to it. Nobody can control an archmage, but we are not all archmages.  One notes that unregulated magic inevitably also leads to more Badgers."

Hmmm. "I'm already on three committees..."

To Coeliaris - "The Cheliax of Hell had nothing but regulation of mages, and though it was an abomination unto Nethys for wildly more reasons than that it is why I am opposed to it. The attempt to make every wizard sell his soul was merely the apex of a pyramid of attempts to turn all wizards into a soldier of the state. Detect thoughts at second circle, fireball at third, animate dead at fourth, teleport at fifth, every spell used for the Queen and have a thousand slaves to compensate."

To Feather - "That works, but you can get fifty times as many wizards if you force all intelligent children to go to school at spearpoint and have them whip anyone who makes a mistake."

"I remain Vexed on the Question of whether the Badger be Veracious or a Satire in Poor Taste," she admits. "I have heard rumor that the author scribes Spells into said Pamphlets, which if true would be an Absurd Expense for a mere Satire, though I have not read one and could not say if it is a true Spell-Diagram or a Derangement of Words purporting to describe one, and the latter seems more likely."

 "Oh, I think she is a lich. All forms of undeath are bad for the wits; a young lich might have been driven mad by a hasty transformation, while an elder lich would never do this and a mortal imposter would lack the resources. But this makes us ask - is the badger a product of freedom or a product of regulation? For she claims to be a native of Westcrown, and the best reason for any Chelish wizard to seek lichdom is if she has sold her soul and thereby to seek an escape from Hell."

Feather didn't know there was a wizard badger in the city! ...though apparently it's an undead, eugh. She wishes she'd met the badger when she was alive and could be reasoned with.

...Ibarra is on the diabolism committee with her, and thus either an ally or someone she needs to trade favors with. She'd still oppose him anyway if it was the right thing to do, but in fact she doesn't particularly support what Coeliaris is saying.

"Alicia, second circle song sorcerer. I'm not sure I want to support government regulation of arcane magic like you're suggesting, but it might be possible that I agree with the specifics. Could you go more into detail on what you're asking us to sign on to?"

"A native? I hadn't heard that. I do most especially hope it's nobody I knew from back when."

She frowns, slightly. 

"Alicia and Aspex, will you join with me in conducting the deregulation of magic, while maintaining the ability of institutions to enforce very few basic, common-sense restrictions? The college does want to maintain things such as constraints on the construction of permanent portals to the lower planes, and the responsible inhibition of intentional creation and release of ecologically* harmful new species, especially self-reproducing undead?" (*she's using an elven loan word here, it's the same in sylvan)

NEW FAVOURITE OUTSIDER PERSON!!! ...maybe it's because she's an elf? Feather really, really wishes there was a way to get Outsider-humans past the 'new' qualifier.

"I'm not sure how it relates to wizard magic specifically," she confesses, "but - I just want to say I'm very, very happy that you understand the importance of not harming ecosystems." Feather now knows for certain there's no word for 'ecology' in Chelish, because she has comprehend language, so she can measure exactly how incapable Chelish speakers are of understanding the world around them. This might be a useful tool in her long-term project of understanding Chelish humans better; she makes a note.

"Ideally the existing species and relationships would not be harmed either, not without a clear goal and benefit and due caution. It's not just that I want the Chelish people to stop trying to cut down the forests, it's that - even if all they want is, say, wood to burn, I get the impression they have no idea what they're doing and how to get it without breaking so much else on their way."

"I encourage the college in governing itself according to its own laws; I encourage the college to joining all civilized people in hunting down and murdering any evil wizards who open portals to the lower planes or who unleash self-reproducing undead on the countryside outside the most grievous wars. I would love to stand on a committee on magic and oversee the dissolution of the Asmodean laws for control of wizardry, but I stand opposed to the college in establishing any system to ensure who is permitted to teach and practice magic, and I believe that there I stand with the church of our own patron, Nethys, whose domain it is which experiments require you to use your resurrection insurance* and which give you great wealth of knowledge."

(*: This is a fairly new concept but he absolutely has some** anyway because he was carrying out a war with Cheliax until last week.)

(**: It's very, very expensive, largely because of the penalty clause that says if they can't recover his body and pull off the resurrection they need to donate large sums of money to the Church of Iomedae's Asmodeus-fighting branch.)

"Why would we regulate who gets to teach and practice magic? Aspex, you've spent too much time in the Cheliax of Hell. Learning and teaching is the most virtous thing a mortal can ever do. Hunting down wizards who do these terrible things is Anarchic" she emphasizes the word-"unless there are laws that prohibit them. Let us make those laws, and no other."

(Coeliaris does not get resurrection insurance for herself. She knows where she's going, and even there, the work will continue)

"Even if there weren't laws against it I should hope we would track down people who create self replicating undead or summoning devils! That's not being anarchic, that's being good."

She doesn't understand everyone's obsession with being lawful instead of chaotic anyway, but this one is a no-brainer.

"I am hardly Lawful, considering my history," he says, "but more than that - these things are illegal, they will continue to be illegal, because the churches of all the good gods wish it. I will serve on a committee to discuss laws to ban these things, but it hardly seems to me to be a matter for anything other than ordinary legislation."

"Then the churches of the good gods will be on our side, when we write the right laws. Laws in the material plane, are the laws of mortals. If the churches wish to regulate, it should be through efforts such as this, not mere imposition of church law, in the manner of the Cheliax of Hell."

She nods to herself. "These laws might be merely ordinary legislation, as you suggest, but when making a constitution, one must consider its effects on laws, and therefore one must have a sense of what the desired, one-circle-down outcomes are. In addition to that, it certainly seems to me reasonable, that as a wizard of your magnitude you will be asked to lend your expertise to our Great Queen again, as one of the great and good of Cheliax."

"Speaking of your problems- " she turns to Feather- "The great work is not yet completed. The elemental plane of fire is right there, and yet, magic cannot yet help you or cheliax, here, as things stand. Even our best cantrip for fire is a mere spark. And now that you point it out, it is silly to use wood when the essential forces of the cosmos want there to be fire, inherently. Perhaps we could summon some lesser creature from the plane of fire, and breed it? What do you think, Aspex?"

That would be incredible if it worked! (And horrible if it turned into an invasive species breeding out of control because it turned out to enjoy burning trees after all.)

Feather doesn't know much about fire elementals, she hasn't gotten to that stage in her studies yet, but she does know they don't need fuel to burn and she thinks they don't eat anything? She's not sure what they actually want in that case. Most creatures are driven by their need for food, safety, and mates; if you put a tiny fire elemental in an environment safe from predators, where it has to heat a home at night and can socialize with the neighbors' fire elemental during the day and has children sometimes (because humans always want more of everything), would it be happy just - staying in palce? Maybe they can become like the humans' work animals? 

Except that the Chelish humans often treat their work animals horribly. She hopes that was just a commandment from Asmodeus, but that's all it is - a hope. If the humans come up with a way to abuse and enslave a new species, and that makes them leave the forests alone, is that a good trade? Feather has no idea and luckily it's probably not up to her but - she wouldn't want to help them do it, not without a lot more questions. But she knows the forest will accept it, just as it accepts the humans' abuse of their animals, in exchange for being allowed to grow in peace.

"One may hope," says Aspex, to her first point, who is not immune to flattery "- I am not a specialist in conjuration," he demurs, "-" and then he's going to talk about all the individual issues with this!

The conjuration specialist tries to contribute to the discussion without talking about devils!

With decent success, it's just an everyday labyrinth of words, and on a technical matter even.

Up trots a man on a Mount. He cocks his head and reads the sign. "Motley crew," he remarks.

"The great work is not done, and all are welcome."

It's what the priests here said about her, and so it is what she's said for a century, in this situation and many others.

She smiles. 

"We're considering the formation of a committee regarding magic. If you have arcane interests, you are welcome to join us"

"I'm a bit of a sorcerer, but I don't get all esoteric about it like wizards do. I wouldn't even know how to put any of it on a scroll."

"Many worthy things have been taught by sorcerers, and every new eye makes the spell easier! In fact, we have a college at the Arcanamirium that is wholly sorcerers that pick up the esoteric arts. I have taught several myself, over the years. We would be glad to have you."

"Yeah, all right, if you're not scheduled on top of anything I'm already signed to."