The Master of the Tower

To be a Master of the Tower of High Sorcery is an honor, but one Tower manifested its own Master in the Age of Mortals. Buy Towers of High Sorcery: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/2940/Towers-of-High-Sorcery-35?affiliate_id=50797

Transcript

Cold Open

Masters of the Towers of High Sorcery were not always chosen.

Intro

Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about the Master of the Tower. I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. I am referencing The Last Tower and Towers of High Sorcery sourcebooks for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!

Discussion

To be granted the honor of being a Master of a Tower of High Sorcery is an incredible feat. However, before we allow it to go to the heads of the various past Tower Masters, they were not always chosen because of their individual skill or mastery of the Arcane arts, though that is always a factor. In some cases, location was of paramount concern as well. For example, more out of the way Towers, located away from city centers or industry, a Black Robe or Red Robe might be considered. In locations where the populace may be distrustful or skeptical, inevitably a White robe is placed in position. In the Age of Despair when Raistlin Majere claimed the Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas, the conclave wasn’t happy about it, but they didn’t make a fuss because at least the tower was once again opened, and let’s be honest, they had no control over Raistlin at that point in his life. He was ostensibly a renegade mage and they were helpless to stop him. Today we are going to focus on the Master of the Tower of Wayreth in the Fifth Age.

As the ages of Krynn passed, more and more of the Towers of High Sorcery were either destroyed or went missing. In the Age of Mortals only the Tower of High Sorcery at Palanthas and Wayreth were left, and on one sunny Palanthian day, its Tower was seemingly brought down by its Master. In truth, Dalamar the Dark transported it to Nightlund. We even saw the return of the Tower of High Sorcery of Istar late into the Age of Mortals, but it is at the bottom of the Sea of Istar. The only Tower of High Sorcery that is believed to remain in this age is the Tower of High Sorcery at Wayreth.

Being a Master of a Tower of High Sorcery is more than just being its caretaker. The Towers themselves are magical artifacts. The Masters undergo secret rituals where a portion of their life essence is sacrificed to the Tower’s arcane essence, granting them complete control of the structure, guardians and surrounding lands. When this bond has been made, only death or the combined might of the Conclave of Wizards can break it. But in as much as you give to the Tower, it gives back. In much the same way as Clerics of the Holy Orders of the Stars are granted bonus spells, so too are Masters of the Tower of High Sorcery. The immense magical resources in the Towers are available to the Masters and they have unrestricted access to the most rare and wondrous spells. They enjoy resistance to magic while on the Towers grounds as well. One can see how this would be a truly covetous position for the ambitious Magi.

The Master of the Tower of Wayreth is a mysterious figure. He just appeared one day. Palin Majere was the Head of the Orders of High Sorcery at the Time, and magic was falling all around Krynn in the absence of the Gods due to the Chaos War. Many suspected The Master of the Tower to actually be Raistlin Majere, even the enigmatic Shadow Sorcerer believed this to be so, and she ended up being the Queen of Darkness, Takhisis herself. So who could this Master of the Tower be that would present a mystery to the Dark Queen? The Master of the Tower has never spoken his name, if he is a he and even has a name. The population of Krynn is ignorant to his existence because he never leaves the Tower of High Sorcery in Wayreth. His appearance isn’t even consistent.

To some he has a slender, raspy-voice whose face is obscured by a hood of ink black robes. He is known to carry a mahogany staff tipped with a bronze dragon’s claw, not unlike The Staff of Magius. Others see him as a tall, ebony-skinned man wearing silver robes and black gloves. He has been seen as a golden haired elflord, a stooped elderly man, a steely-eyed woman, and each wearing one of the orders colors from white to red to black. To add to the abstract appearances, he has presented himself as wizards throughout all of Krynns History. From Par-Salien, Vincil, Andras, Magius, Guerrand, Dalamar, Corenthas, Shaud, and a dozen more! Sometimes these changes happen during a single conversation. The Master of the Tower of Wayreth is different from any other Master in a number of ways, most importantly, he is not alive as we understand life. Meaning, he wasn’t born, but rather, created by the tower itself!

The Master of the Tower was created in Wayreth’s early years with the sacrifice Shaud the Black made. You will recall that Shaud the Black sacrificed his life to cast a spell that would destroy the Ut-Kiri plainsmen from killing the Wizards of High Sorcery as they were building the Tower. This spell tied Shaud’s will to the Tower, even beyond death. This was, of course, done in secret as the White and Red robes do not approve of the use of the school of Necromancy. When he created the spell, he scribed it onto a scroll and tore the last piece off to prevent anyone from casting it themselves or more importantly undoing the effects of the spell. Shaud’s soul has never left Krynn, nor passed through the Gate of Souls being judged by the gods. He has remained, due to his love of magic, as a part of the Tower from its beginning.

We could logically assume this is the genesis of the Masters binding themselves to their Towers, and it would explain why there are no records of the Master of the Tower appearing before the Fifth Age. It was in the Fifth Age, before the Conclave of Wizards, when his own power was dwindling that the Master of the Tower first appeared. With the absence of the Gods, the Tower’s sentience gained independent will. Some believe this was a parting act of the gods of magic, others ascribe that it was a manifestation of the tower itself. And while High Sorcery was dying, the Master remained dedicated to defending what was left. His time was consumed with collecting and secreting away as many enchanted artifacts as he could find. He was counselor to Palin Majere and took part in the Last Conclave which sealed the Tower of High Sorcery and dissolved the Orders of High Sorcery.

The Master remained in his Tower and thus disappeared much in the same way as he appeared, unknown to the world. While the War of Souls raged, and the Gods returned, The Master remained protecting that which he saved, and allowed the Tower to be rediscovered once magic was restored. The Master of the Tower has conducted all Tests of High Sorcery since his appearance forward, but he is more collaborative than previous Masters have been, seeing the remaining sorcerers all struggling through the same trials and tribulations in this Age. His goal is to further the advancement of magical knowledge over all else. In so passing The Test, each sorcerer’s form becomes available to the Master of the Tower, thereby allowing him to change into their visage at will. While the Master can never truly die, he can be killed. This is only a temporary state however as in an hour, he can once again manifest himself. He is one aspect of the Tower and while it stands, so will he.

Outro

But that is all I have to say about The Master of the Tower. Did you ever speculate on who the Master was before it was revealed? Does it make sense that an artifact like the Tower would manifest an aspect of itself? And finally, do you think the Master will persist further into the Age of Mortals? Leave a comment below.

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And I tell you, one more of your furry-elephant, teleporting-ring, plants-live-off-air stories and I’ll twist that hoopak around your neck!