Welcome, friend, to the Inner Sanctuary. Magic has been called an art—but here we appreciate that it is so much more than that. We listen not to those for whom this glorious dynamic crystallisation-and-destruction of imagination and higher instincts is some mere ‘tool’; the drab concerns of the ordinary are a distraction at best, and a prison at worst. We are mages. Let us concern ourselves with what matters; the rainbow of colours and the wealth of experiences afforded to us by the divine gift of equivalent exchange.
We have been called “floaters” … no doubt because our houses float high above the ground, making our domain an endless adventure and delight to explore. Such a literal name is typical of our antithesis, the grounders (those who live in the Outer Sanctuary), and ordinarily such un-imaginativeness is to be spurned: but there is accidental truth in our nickname. For it is not only our houses which have forgotten their pretended attachment to the ground. It is our minds and souls which float, leaving the ground(ers) and all petty concerns far below them as we explore the true, the profound—and the fun.
- an average Floater
The Archmage presides over the Sanctuary with the unanimous consent of his adoring people. Stories are told, and perhaps in our enthusiasm for his decorated past there has been some leaking between fact and fiction, but the Archmage is little interested in these fables. He is the only Archmage ever to have existed within the Walls and the unfailing guardian of the Sanctuary and of magic.
Oh, everyone knows Chalucifer! Her floating house is simply the most sublime in the whole Inner Sanctuary, and no-one is more splendid at a masked ball. Rarely does she descend from her floating house, but when she does, she is never wanting for conversation. Naturally, she wouldn’t miss the Midsummer Banquet for the world.
Quite the stateswoman, as welcome in the Outer Sanctuary’s military tactics rooms as she is at our elegant banquets. Her association with both elites might be controversial if she did not make it look so easy, but her eloquence and poise are signs of a true floater. Nothing but a floater’s deep appreciation for magic and its glories could move such dignity.
Oh, Almustanir, the true scholar! Is there any under the Archmage who loves magic as much as he! Our tireless Librarian not only assembled the Grand Library, collecting the experiences of every mage in the Sanctuary, but fused it to his essence, so he shall never have to part from it. He is inspirational to us all—though we do wonder how he gets by without any masked balls or banquets.
The artist who Chalucifer wants on her walls: and if you have any taste, on yours as well. His magical art, a whirlwind of pastels, petals and dreamy softness, is as moving as it is melancholy; as profoundly liminal as it is absolute. From his houses to his jewellery, his talent is unmatched, and his conduct at a dance is quite the scandal!
Lilsahr is the proprietor of a wonderful shop selling all kinds of ingenious trinkets. Who could have thought a clock could be used that way? Both an artist and a merchant, his talents truly know no bounds! His devotion to magic is undoubted and his presence in high society is more than accepted despite being a relatively recent arrival.