Carson Institute

In 100AL, Nicolas Carson was born in Benevis. Throughout his life he revolutionised mathematics and magic, studying the latter to unprecedented depth. His contributions are one of the reasons that Benevis recovered so well from the events of The Darkness. His primary contributions include introducing a new and more efficient numeric system which he learned from foreign merchants, making it easier for more common people to learn basic math; and the establishment of a magic-oriented institute named the Carson Institute. The Magic Details sheet is how the institute has categorised and explained magic in Riiga.

Origin

The Carson Institute first started out as a way to study and understand the magic of the priests of the Red Temple, as civilisation was being rebuilt around the Temple after The Darkness. The Temple wanted more efficient ways to teach its priests magic, and after hearing about the brilliance of Nicolas Carson -- who was something of a talented magificer himself -- they insisted on funding whatever would help him achieve their goal. Thus the Carson Institute was born. Today, there are four main institutes in Lyte, Regalias, Duracia, and Umburn, and some minor institutes in other major cities.

All those who are licensed to wield magic in public in Benevis must obtain the license from the institute, and take Carson's Oath. The oath essentially asks the person to swear by the Child God that they will a) wield magic in a way that does not harm their own country, b) wield magic in a way that is lawful, and c) wield magic in a way that meets the requirements of whoever has contracted the mage's abilities. Foreign magic-wielders visiting Benevis can get a license that allows them to perform magic for non-harmful religious or practical purposes to limited degrees.

Purpose

The Carson Institute has several distinct purposes, the combination of which likely make it the most significant magic institution in Riiga.

• The Institute has a school where those with enough money can enroll their magificer children if the child can prove sufficient talent and interest. They are taken in at age four as a pupil, and learn magic until they turn twenty, at which point they can stay and be a scholar, or study further to become a teacher, or obtain their magus license and practice magic legally as a mage mercenary of sorts, bound both by law and by Carson's Oath. It is considered taboo for a magificer to grow up without having attended the institute, as the risk of greatly harming those around them is magnified by their ability.
• Magic scholars at the institute study a wide variety of topics involving magic, including but not limited to: categorising and learning magic from every culture around the world, extensive study of the properties and limitations of spells, understanding the connections between gods and magic in different regions, studying and documenting magical phenomena, and supposedly studying the artifacts obtained from those who first delved into Archaios ruins.
• The Institute's third and final role is to serve the Red Temple as a means of teaching certain members of the temple how to best wield their magic, making them some of the most studious priests in the world. This is normally limited to the first institute which was founded in Umburn, the birthplace of Nicolas Carson himself, but it is not uncommon for magic instructors called arators to stay at other institutes to train priests there.