Galathaniel Cordatus the Student of Order, Magistrate of Galadon

Skill List

Role

Chapter 5

"Fools! Incompetents!", Galathaniel Cordatus raged as he hurled a sealed jar
containing the embalmed head of a xvart against the far wall. With a crash the
jar shattered, its contents splattered against cold stone. It had narrowly
missed a row of portraits, the sullen faces of the objects of his fury.

Three failed Becomings and one sudden and unexpected retirement. He'd outlived
them all, the three Provincials and one Record Keeper. Seraxan, Karnver,
Kovich, Quthrunal... while the Empire's two Warlocks had succeeded. The elf
mage quivered inwardly, drawing a deep breath as he remembered himself - who
he was and what he stood for.

Light! They'd signed his Registry for Peace with the Fortress, yes, all except
Kovich? Seraxan? Galathaniel's face was pale, his brows furrowed. He'd valued
them, his necromantic colleagues of the so-called Dark. He'd worked to redeem
them for the Light, even as he laboured - fighting through revulsion and
contempt - to piece together their collective Knowledge of the Arts
Necromantic.

To what end? He sank wearily into an ornate, high-backed chair, his slender
hands curled tightly into clenched fists at his lap. Towards the
rehabilitation of that particular one of the Five Magicks. Towards surpassing
the arcane mastery of his kin Trothon, and gifting to all Thera a reborn
School of Ethical Necromancy!

Invocation, Transmutation, Conjuration and the Changeling School. None of
these four were inherently evil. Why then was Necromancy unique in that
regard? To be sure, there is something primally distasteful about trafficking
in corpses and carcasses. But was there not also a great good in prolonging
life, in restoring that which has expired?

He'd read with interest the writings of the ancient Magistrate Neferefre who
attends his Lady's Library. He'd spoken at length with diverse practitioners,
including the one called Itzenxilaatl. What if, he'd postulated, necromancers
forswore their vile practice of committing murder to procure corpses? What if
they kept to only reanimating the corpses of those dead to natural causes, and
with informed consent?

What if, what if instead of imbuing those corpses with Negative Energy, his
nouveau necromancers were able to tap a plane of Positive Energy, and infuse
that instead into test subjects? Yes, there was much work to be done, but he
could not do it alone - why did they abandon him? He squeezed his eyes shut,
fighting back a tear of frustration, after staring long at their portraits
upon the wall.

Outside a storm raged, the flash of lightning and peal of thunder at once
visible and audible through barred windows. It was a dark and stormy night
without. Within, the Student of Conscience's hand hovered over a copy of
Neferefre's texts... then brushed them aside for now. Clearing mind and
calming heart, he started to hum tunelessly as he reached instead for a copy
of Alisani Sanaai's 'Moral Versions of the Law'.

Role

Chapter 4

Some say of Galathaniel that he is too pragmatic to be truly good. Others say
of him that his lofty idealism may inadvertently, someday, lead to evil. To
both he says, "You are manifestly wrong."

When Galathaniel looks in the mirror, he does not see someone who is entirely
pragmatic. He also does not see someone who is exclusively idealistic. No, he
sees instead a Pragmatic Idealist - an ambitious and power-hungry individual
who desires power not for its own sake, but instead for the consequent ability
to effectively stand up for what is good and right.

Being a Pragmatic Idealist, to him, means taking the path of least resistance
toward accomplishing the greatest good for all. Make no mistake, the ends do
not justify the means - Galathaniel is clear on this. He also sees the value,
however, in speaking softly while wielding a big stick - of diplomacy and
sheathing an iron fist in its velvet glove.

Given all that, he routinely aids those who are Orderly or of the Light when
he reasonably is able to (albeit he is allergic to younglings, still in the
Academy, who feel entitled to much better than fine leather!). He also
regularly speaks to anyone who is willing to engage in conversation, be they
Magistrate, Herald, Fortress member, Imperial, Outlander, Villager, orc, Scion
or the unaligned.

Indeed in one conversation with the Mummy Lord Itzenxilaatl, that undead
creature proclaimed a lofty ambition to cull the weak and ignorant, thereby
bringing about a world of equals. To which Galathaniel replied something along
these lines, "If you cull the weak then who will you have left as servants? If
you cull the ignorant then who will we have left as students? In the case of
both, you suppress potential - for were you not once, even you, a babe - weak
and ignorant - upon your mother's bosom?"

In another conversation with one zealous Maran protesting bitterly
Galathaniel's being a friend to "dread necromancers and vile anti-paladins",
the Magistrate calmly replied something along these lines, "If your monument
to the Light's final Victory will be a mass grave for drow children, then what
kind of Light is this, sir, which will have prevailed?"

These then are the ramblings of one Pragmatic Idealist, one Galathaniel
Cordatus who aspires to eventually surpass Trothon's mastery of the Arts
Magick, and - as Provost someday - bring all Thera under a Great Aegis of the
Blood Tribunal!

Role

Chapter 3

The late Provost Primdella had no doubt had occasion to wield devils toward
aiding Magistrates of the Light, and archons toward aiding Magistrates of the
Dark. But - as far as Galathaniel was aware - she had never encountered
resistance nor protestations from said devils and archons. In Galathaniel's
own case though? Well, his archons began to sing sorrowful songs.

This confused him, for when he had gone to aid Dark Magistrates, he had
wielded his archon friends not against creatures of the Light nor grey even,
but against creatures - such as the lich in the Tower of Sorcery - who were
manifestly evil and deserving of destruction. Even so, the archons began to
quiver and shiver with unease, and so Galathaniel sought the counsel of the
Golden Host.

From Azorinne, who in fairness was kind and not judgmental, he learned that -
yes - the archons were indeed uneasy. Why so, in the case of how he used them
and not Primdella? Perhaps because they hold him, an elf-son, to a higher
standard. Perhaps because he was better able to sense their inner turmoil -
being possessed of a certain special Celestial Affinity, which Primdella was
not.

And so, for a long time now, Galathaniel has been forced to scale back on the
assistance that he once provided gladly and freely to all Magistrates. Where,
once before, he had heaped artifacts - including those that only the Dark
could equip - into the Tribunal pit, he now has to think twice. Is this
something that only the Dark can use, or can it be used as well by the grey
and the Light? Did I come by it through help of an archon or angel, or was it
instead something that I could have acquired without help of either.

Galathaniel has been careful, and he has been patient, respecting that -
perhaps - his archon friends hear Conscience differently than he does. It has
now reached the point though where he wonders if maybe he was mistaken - do
all archons hear Conscience the same? Perhaps, like elves and men, one archon
can hear Conscience differently than another.

Perhaps, while those archons belonging to the Golden Host are unhappy being
involved with showing kindness to the Dark, there might be one or more other
archons who see things as Galathaniel does? Who believes or believe in his
first, second and third reasons as abovementioned? He has resolved therefore
to also now take counsel of the Lady Ishuli.

Role

Chapter 2

To Galathaniel, the Blood Tribunal is a truly amazing place. Uniquely among
the great powers of Thera, it is here - in the Spire - that adventurers of
different moral inclinations have learned to work and live together. All
towards a greater good, a shared vision of an Orderly utopia.

Yes, the Empire is Orderly, the same as we of the Tribunal are. But they are
also exclusively Dark, and their vision of an ideal society is sadly warped by
the cruel Lords of Empire. That the potential for good is there, in the
Empire, cannot be denied - Servielln's treatise, Bellum - in the Eternal
Library, makes this clear. Yet the Orderly Dark of the Spire are much further
along the path to redemption than any present-day Imperial can hope to be.

The Outlanders? Well yes, they have their 3 branches - Wardens, Sentinels,
Reavers. They do not truly co-exist nor work together though, certainly not
the Wardens and the Reavers, for history has known Nightreavers who wreaked
death upon Sunwarden and Harbinger alike.

As for the Village, well, they are more a loose confederation of universally
murderous thrill-seekers, than any sort of model for good-evil co-existence
and mutual help. How any of the Light can join the Village and remain of the
Light, well, it is not something that Galathaniel can profess to understand.

That said, he is proud to be of the Blood Tribunal, happy to call every
Magistrate brother (or sister, as the case may be). When Galathaniel goes to
aid Dark Magistrates, he is clear on his reasons for doing so.

Firstly, these Dark Magistrates are on a path to redemption through their
'good works' as peacekeepers and guardians of the Four Cities. Were they
instead Scions, Reavers or Imperials, they would be out and about committing
armed robberies, murder and rapine. Instead, much of their time is spent in
the cities, upholding the Laws - which are protective - and saving lives.

Secondly, in showing kindness to his Dark colleagues - including even some of
the more reasonable Imperials - Galathaniel is convinced that he is teaching
them kindness. Helping them see him - an elf-son of Darsylon - as something
other than prey or an enemy, and - with that hopefully - other elf-sons and
daughters of Darsylon, indeed other peoples of the Light too.

Thirdly, fairplay and reciprocity. The simple fact is that Galathaniel has
seen that the Dark of the Spire, again including even some Imperials, have not
hesitated to aid their Magistrate brothers and sisters of the Light. It seems
hypocritical, ungrateful and unkind therefore, to on the one hand be a
beneficiary of such help, but on the other to deny one's benefactors
reciprocal help.

The above then were some of the reasons why Galathaniel saw fit to aid his
fellow Magistrates - irrespective of their moral leanings - from even before
the time he joined the Spire. Regrettably though, the day soon came when his
doings caught the eye of the Golden Host...

Role

Chapter 1

Galathaniel is the scion of noble House Cordatus. Though not especially
wealthy nor powerful, theirs is an ancient and respected line.

Galathaniel's parents are more lord and lady than father and mother to him.
This is not to say they do not love. There is however some stoic distance
between them - one born of decorum and social mores.

For much of his early life, Galathaniel was both dutiful son and loyal
subject. He broke off a boyhood romance with young Giselda at Mother's
insistence. He befriended the King's niece as Father bade him.

When it came time to settle into a lifelong vocation, however, something
happened. Galathaniel said "no" to his sire for the first time in his life.
"No, Father, I am no paladin, nor will I bend knee to that pompous fool who
calls himself Marshall. The Maran way is not my way, and the drow are our
kin!"

Electing instead to pursue his lifelong love for Knowledge and the arcane,
Galathaniel tried to enroll himself in Darsylon's guild of Conjuration. Tried
but failed, however, for Father had bullied the lowborn guildmaster into
submission.

That marked the beginning of a subtle rift between the young elf and his
family. Barely a month later, he had already re-settled in Galadon and was
quickly impressing the guildmaster there.

Years and then decades of rigorous study, research and experimentation
followed. On top of his love for Knowledge, Galathaniel has since discovered
in himself an unsettling thirst for Power - Knowledge IS Power, he has become
fixated on the fact. Knowledge begets Power, which in turn begets even more
Knowledge - exhilarating!

As the Planewalker he has become, Galathaniel wields considerable power but is
keenly aware of the limitations to that power. By nature cautious and
conservative, he prefers diplomacy to direct contests of strength - the
so-called 'soft power' described in the Magistrate Library's 'Gates of Stone'.

This is reflected as well in his approach to work, as a Magistrate of the
Blood Tribunal. He chose the Tribunal because he believes in the Orderly
utopia that it champions. He sees the Tribunal as doing the Light's work, and
he perceives the Dark of the Tribunal as being on a path to redemption through
their 'good works' as peacekeepers.

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