The Fifth Letter of Scot of Tols

To all the Curates and Druids of my former acquaintance

From Anavares, formerly known to you as Scot of Tols

A final letter, which may find itself to you eventually

My dear sirs, my suspicions are at long last vindicated! For many years I have striven to add knowledge and value to our pathetic little order, but you rebuffed me and howled continuously for my fruitless return.

I am thankful to myself for my persistence. I renounce my membership in your Circle. Now I seek the freedom to learn on my own. I will be encumbered by you and your impotent passivity no longer. Consider this letter and its information my parting gift to you.

Besides your most august personages and myself, the existence of the order of wizards is generally known only to each Magister and his Prime Pupil. Nevertheless, I assure you that it is not some secretive cabal as you have assumed. Rather, it merely exists to set standards for each of the Colleges and for the greater practice of Magic throughout the world.

The members of this order call themselves the Dweomersecte. It is neither hierarchical or bureaucratic in nature. Rather, they elect the Archmage from among their number and his term of office is for life. An Archmages term can be “revoked” by a unanimous vote of the order, so those that are not revoked have the tacit approval of the magisters everywhere. Now not every one of the members of the Dweomersecte are found to be fit for the Archmage's chair. The wizard who becomes Archmage, but does not prove himself may be debased most dreadfully.

The Dweomersecte usually meets once per year for their Conclave, though it is rare to see more than an handful in attendance. It is even rarer to see the same ones more than one year in a row. At the Conclave, peace is made, discoveries are shared and each Magister’s Prime Pupil (chosen eventual successor) is recognized by the rest of the order.

You have much to learn about governance and advancement. Take heed, if you have the minds to. For the Dweomersecte does not conduct itself in secret hand-wringing as the Order of the Continuous does. Rather, we set about making the most of ourselves and sharing with great collegiality the power we have uncovered.

Oh yes, I have met the terrible Archmage. His visage is at once horrifying and beautiful to behold. In my sojourn here I have come to see how much wisdom he dispenses and how much intellect he possesses. I see how superior he is in every way to our pathetic Grand Druid and all of his banal hierophants attending. If his Most Omnipotent Cerebral Grandiloquence will have me, I mean to enroll myself under his supreme teaching and gain the power which should have been mine all along. Long Live Vecna, Archmage Forever!

Farewell.