The Gold Order, sometimes referred to as the Golden Order, is the Imperial Order of Magic whose Magisters wield Chamon, the Yellow Wind of Magic. The Gold Wizards are also commonly referred to as "Alchemists."
The primary symbol of the Second Lore is the soaring eagle, and its wizards wear robes of glinting yellow. The Second Lore concerns metals and alchemical change. Gold Wizards often bear the traces of their research. Their robes may be stained or sooty and their hair singed or marked with chemical spills.[4a]
The Golden Order are the most accomplished alchemists in the Old World. They practise the transmutation of metals as well as spells of forging and runic inscription. Though much of their magic is of this nature, Gold Wizards can conjure molten metals to scorch and consume. They also cast spells to corrode and weaken iron in the blink of an eye.[4a]
Chamon is attracted to metals in both ore and refined forms much as metals themselves are attracted to magnets. The heavier the element or metal, in its natural state or otherwise, the more Chamon is drawn to it. It has been suggested this attraction of Chamon to certain metals accounts for the almost magical effect gold has on even the most intelligent races of the mortal world, inspiring greed, violence, and sometimes war.[4a]
Of all the peoples of the Known World, the Dwarfs seem most affected by gold, and some wizards of the Golden Order have wondered whether the Dwarfs have some unknown racial affinity with Chamon. Dwarfs do, after all, pursue many of the same goals and interests as the Magisters of the Golden Order. The issue remains unresolved.[1a]
Unusually for Imperial Magisters, many members of the Gold Order take an interest in more mundane scientific studies, such as the arts of physics and chemistry.[3a]
The buildings of the Gold College in Altdorf are like a great forge with many tall stacks that belch multi-coloured glowing smoke into the air. The college lies by the River Reik, whose waters cool the forges and periodically run with fantastical colours following experiments, or accidents. Unlike many of the Colleges of Magic, the Gold College's campus is clearly visible to those without magical sight, but few outside the faculty, students, and visiting alumni go near it, owing to the evil smells and thick smoke which surround it.[4a]
History[]
Alchemical Thaumaturgy[]
Gold Wizards as depicted in Total War: Warhammer III.[5]
When Teclis and his brother mage Finreir were deciding which of their many Human protégés should dedicate themselves solely to the Yellow Wind of Magic, they chose the most studious and analytical of the hedge wizards and petty magickers. To the surprise of many, the great Elf mages also sought as many herbalists and alchemists in the Empire as they could find, despite few of them showing any aptitude for the magic Winds and that they had been forbidden from practicing anything that the authorities deemed too close to witchcraft.[1a]
Of these mundane alchemists, only those who sought to answer the prime question of the nature of existence or create real alchemical wonders chose to join with Teclis and his Gold Magisters. To those who had dedicated their lives to trying to find ways to transmute base metals into gold or creating a universal solvent, what Teclis offered sounded too important an opportunity to miss.[1a]
So Teclis began to show his students and many others the safest and most stable ways to isolate and manipulate their chosen Wind of Magic. These lessons were all similar for the apprentice Magisters of all the embryonic Orders, as the perceiving and channelling of magic is similar regardless of which Wind is used. But as this process went on, the apprentice Magisters slowly began to share the characteristics and drives of the Wind they used. At first, this concerned Teclis and Finreir, but they decided this was only way a Human could grow in the arts of magic without becoming corrupted by Chaos. By becoming “possessed” by their chosen Wind, the Human Magisters became less likely and able to draw on other Winds and create Dark Magic as a result.[1a]
The inexperienced Yellow Magisters, or Gold Magisters as they began to refer to themselves to the Elves’ mild amusement, became obsessed with rationality and experimentation. So Teclis and Finreir laid down the guidelines of how to integrate mundane alchemical research with magical manipulation. He told them that the Winds of Magic permeate all things in the mortal world and how an ambient and low-level hum of magic exists in almost everything because of it. He taught them how different strands of magic were attracted to different things and that through careful investigation and experimentation their different Aethyric elements could be extracted. But these elements would not just be small amounts of yellow, green, or light magic, but tiny strands magic that had altered and in turn been altered by the thing they permeated.[1a]
Discovering how these elements react with the things they posses, Teclis explained, could allow the Gold Magisters to create magical effects while using only small amounts of the Yellow Wind to activate them. It also meant the Gold Magisters could use tiny parts of the other Winds of Magic that saturated mundane things and elements, not through direct manipulation (which could lead to the creation of Dark Magic), but by using mundane chemical reactions that used Chamon, the Yellow Wind, as their reagent. Through this method, the Gold Magisters would be able to make potions and compounds whose active magical ingredients were traces of a Wind other than Yellow; hence, they can create potions that have magical effects related to Winds of Lores other than their own.[1a]
So it was that the most exacting alchemical magic of the Golden Order was born.[1a]
Over the centuries, the wisdom and investigations of alchemists and herbalists from all over the Human world has been incorporated into the studies and practices of the Golden Order. The ancient herb-crafts of many the Empire’s own hedge wizards and folk healers have been accepted, analysed, and refined. Great scholars from Araby brought an immense wealth of alchemical learning to the College when they came to the Empire to join the Magister Alchemists of the Golden Order. These travellers brought extensive knowledge that had been passed down and refined, generation after generation, from the days of ancient Nehekhara. In more recent decades, the Magister Alchemists of the Golden Order have begun travelling further and further (some say even to distant Cathay), seeking any and all knowledge concerning alchemy, metallurgy, and medicine. The senior Magisters of the Order spare little expense to acquire ancient and foreign texts dealing with these matters.[1a]
The more the Gold Magisters learn as an Order, the more they need to learn—such is the drive and fascination the Yellow Wind inspires. Today, the Golden Order holds the secrets of making, refining, storing, and/or using runes, acids, alkalis, mundane and magical reagents, poisons, antidotes, medicines, magical elixirs and potions, combustibles, explosives, alloys, purifying agents, pigments, dyes, and even soaps. Suffice to say the Golden Order has become the foremost centre of Human expertise in all matters from mathematics and runemaking to brewing.[1a]
Small wonder, then, that the Golden Order is reckoned to be the wealthiest of all the Colleges of Magic.[1a]
Semiotics of the Gold Order[]
A wizard of the Imperial Gold Order, also known as an "Alchemist."
The symbols of the Gold Order include the mortar and pestle, smithing tongs, a smoking brazier, forge bellows, a soaring eagle, and an eagle's wing.[2a]
The Gold College chose a soaring eagle as the symbol of their magical wind, Chamon. It is an odd choice in many ways, for whilst eagles soar high above the world, Gold Magic is heavy and dense, and quickly sinks into the ground. Yet the eagle was ever a symbol of power and nobility to the Elves of Ulthuan from whom the Golden Order learned to channel Chamon, and it is this tradition that the Gold College claims to honour.[2a][4a]
For outsiders -- who are often less than inclined to be charitable about the Gold College -- the soaring eagle is considered more an indication of the wizards' aloofness, and their assumed superiority over their fellow men. In truth, many Alchemists are egotistical in the extreme and their actions do little to dispel such beliefs. There is some speculation that the Gold Wizards indulge in intellectual vanity by way of compensation of their marred physique. Constant tinkering with acids and molten metals has left many a Gold Wizard heavily scarred, burned and mutilated, leaving only their minds with any claim to perfection.[2a][4a]
While in their college and working on their experiments, even the greatest Magister Alchemists of the Golden Order wear simple clothes: leather aprons, gloves and sometimes skullcaps, and goggles or glasses. Essentially, they dress in a way suitable to protect them from heat and acid burns, just as any other mundane alchemist or metallurgist would. But this does not mean that the Magister Alchemists always dress this way. Their art and college tend to make Magister Alchemists quite wealthy, and when it comes to state occasions, or when mobilised for war or some other activity beyond the bounds of their college walls, the Magister Alchemists try to create an awe-inspiring impression on all that see them.[2a]
Their robes are cut from the finest materials, tastefully embroidered with heavy gold thread and brocade. The preferred colours and tints reflect the name of their order and the colour of the Wind of Magic they have dedicated themselves to, gold and yellow.[2a]
The oldest and most experienced of the order's Lord Magisters sometimes wear exceptionally elaborate and finely-crafted articulated gauntlets of a gold alloy, as well as gold masks. These items often spawn rumours that the Magisters are slowly turning to magically articulated statues of pure gold, that they are hiding a lifetime of burns and scars from their experimentations, that they are simply copying their current patriarch, Balthasar Gelt, or even that the items are purely for show as a slap in the face to normal citizens who have to earn an honest living.[2a]
Practice of the Lore of Metal[]
The Magisters of the Golden Order are renowned practitioners of magic, runecraft, and alchemy. Like most definitions in the Articles of Imperial Magic, “Alchemical Thaumaturgy” is a somewhat limited description of what Magisters of the Golden Order study and practice. It is true their studies and interests are mainly in the manipulation of chemicals, but they are also metallurgists and herbalists without peer.[1a]
Fool's Gold & True Transmutation[]
Some question the potential abuse the ability to create gold, even temporarily, opens to the Golden Order. But for a Magister Alchemist to do such a thing would break several of the Articles of Magic and would doubtlessly, if actually used to purchase goods, lead to public outcry when it eventually transmuted back into its original form. This dishonest act would defame the good Orders of the Colleges of Magic, a serious crime indeed.[1a]
Any Gold Magisters found guilty of abusing their skills by swindling retailers with gold that will change back into lead after a few days, are punished publicly. Although they are unlikely to be exiled or Pacified for such a crime, they will be flogged in a place and at a time where the public can view the punishment. Such things are incredibly rare, with only the occasional Apprentice, and even rarer Journeyman Wizard, trying to con people with fake gold.[1a]
Having said all this, Apprentices to the Golden Order are taught that discovering a means of and for True Transmutation is one of the prime goals of the Golden Order — whether it's lead to gold, nickel to iron, or copper to platinum. The Order also pursues the knowledge of how to smith the exceptionally hard metal gromril (the near-unbreakable metal mined and manufactured by the Dwarfs) and the semi-magical alloy ithilmar, (the super-light metal that is harder than the finest Human steel and is able to hold enchantments longer than almost any other metal). This research is one of the Golden Order's most closely guarded secrets, and the masters will go to almost any lengths to ensure that it is kept from the public, especially the Dwarfs and the Elves.[1a]
So in addition to being magic users of extraordinary skill, the Magisters of Chamon are also students of the sciences, seeking to explore the natural order of the universe, the unnatural orders of magic, and their effects upon one another. The Magisters of Chamon seek to find traces of the Aethyr they believe reside in all physical things and unlock its specific potential.[1a]
Alchemical Research[]
Magisters of Chamon are regarded as the finest and most accomplished alchemists in the Old World. They work closely with the Empire's engineers and gunnery schools, seeking to create more efficient forms of black powder and stronger, lighter iron alloys for the casting of the Empire's great cannons. They are also among the most capable manufacturers of magical weapons in the Old World, with the exception of the Dwarfs whose skills at weaponsmithing, magical or otherwise, eclipse even the greatest achievements of Humans.[1a]
The Alchemy practised by the Golden Order is a blend of magic and chemistry, though the College's Magister Alchemists regard it as a single field of study. Though Alchemy's greatest scholars spend much of their time searching for hidden secrets of the nature of existence, in everyday terms their Alchemy is mostly used for creating potions with specific magical properties — for metallurgical research and experimentation and for creating chemical reagents and explosives. Most spells used by the Golden Order's Magister Alchemists dismantle compounds, super-heat and super-cool elements, and create magical effects dictated and guided by blends of predictable and measurable alchemical compounds and their reactions.[1a]
Magister Alchemists tend to take a practical, scientific approach to their subject. Much of their work is not magical at all, but more concerned with chemistry, although the differences between magical ingredients and mundane ones are sometimes hazy. The Golden Order's Magister Alchemists regard the Aethyr as the Prime Reagent; it reacts with everything and can cause change in absolutely everything. So they are interested in using the tiniest controlled amounts of magic in very specific ways to see if any predictable rules can be observed, such as whether a particular change will occur the same way and on the same substance if exactly the same amount of magic is used in exactly the same way.[1a]
This is not quite the same as weaving magic into a spell, which is a Magister imposing his will and desire upon magic to form it into something specific. In their research, the Magister Alchemists of the Golden Order do not seek to impose their will for a specific outcome onto a reaction between magic and some physical element because that defeats the purpose. They want to scientifically observe and record natural laws rather than create something from their own imaginations by using magic, something they regard as an art.[1a]
Because of the particular nature of their studies and because they are permitted and able to use magic to aid their investigations, the Magister Alchemists of the Golden Order have made advances in alchemical theory far beyond those of any other Human civilisation in the Old World. Whereas the mundane alchemists of the Empire still harbour such traditional views as the Four Elements of Existence (Earth, Air, Fire, and Water), the Gold Magisters have used their magic to discover deeper physical truths.[1a]
Over the last two centuries, the great Magister Alchemists of the Golden Order have deduced all physical existence is made up of far more elements than the four of folklore and traditional science. Senior Gold Magisters have discovered and recorded what they refer to as the "True Elements" of existence: the simplest substances that all matter and gas can be broken down into. Through their obsessive analysis and magical experiments, the Golden Order's Magister Alchemists have identified about ninety naturally occurring elements. They have also created a further sixteen compounds that are mixtures of True Elements and various Aethyric elements they have either released from within the elements or have bound to them (though gromril, ithilmar, and True Transmutation are still out of their reach).[1a]
Obviously, only Lord Magisters of the highest rank and experience are aware of these magnificent alchemical discoveries. Most initiates to the Order, not to mention the majority of its Magister Alchemists, still entertain various superstitious notions as to the elements of existence and the possibilities of science. Only the very greatest of these students of magic and Alchemy will ever learn otherwise.[1a]
Rumour has it some of these great secrets have been stolen from the Golden Order in the past, most visibly when a pamphlet was released over ninety years ago by members of the Guild of Physical Alchemists discussing and mocking the "fantasies and delusions" of the "mystics and wizards" of the Golden Order. The few facts revealed in this pamphlet about the Golden Order's studies were jumbled and poorly explained, but it was clear to the Lord Magisters of the Golden Order that these mundane alchemists had read or heard something of the Golden Order's secret researches. Over the next few months, the people who wrote and printed the pamphlet met with terrible accidents in their laboratories: two gassed themselves with noxious fumes, one irreparably damaged his face and eyes in a minor explosion, and two more died in a fire that gutted only their laboratory and no others. Nothing was ever proven against the Golden Order, but afterwards, overt criticisms of their work dropped to a murmur.[1a]
Duties & Contracts[]
The Golden Order is the wealthiest of all the Colleges of Magic, but in many senses, they have to be. Because the College requires so many raw materials and substances to carry out its research and train its Apprentices, they are the net consumer of all raw and refined chemicals and compounds in the Empire.
The Golden Order has, over the last two and a half centuries, come to own the majority of respected alchemical schools and guilds across the Empire. These have become a kind of pre-College training ground for would-be Magisters where the lowest level Apprentices can perfect their basic alchemy skills by learning how to extract and purify chemicals and compounds from raw materials, and how to manufacture basics like pigments, inks, dyes, soaps, and glues. The more experienced and skilful of the mundane alchemists (those close to being accepted as being full apprentices to the Golden Order) produce large quantities of antidotes, medicines, and fine spirits and wines in between their more arcane studies. All the above, from the pigments to alcohol, are sold in bulk to merchants, noble houses, and other large organisations that know they can rely on the quality of products purchased from the Golden Order.
Only the Empire's legitimate armies are permitted to benefit from the Gold Magisters' expertise at making war substances like black powder and the resin and pitch mix that produces liquid fire.
Different Magister Alchemists specialise in different areas — some are more like chemists, dedicating their studies to the creation of potions, elixirs, and strange Aethyrically charged chemicals. Others run forges, smelting mundane and enchanted ores. Yet there are many different areas of study and expertise in the Golden Order, and almost every science, material and immaterial, is studied and practised to some degree within its walls.
The Gold Magisters work closely with the Imperial Engineers' School and gunnery schools, always trying to create more efficient forms of black powder amongst other things. As the most capable Human manufacturers of magical weapons on the continent, the Gold Magisters' endeavours sometimes end up in the hands of powerful generals and nobles on the larger battlefields of the Empire where Imperial armies fight against foreign invaders, revolutionaries, secessionists, and the various beasts and creatures of the world that threaten the Empire. In battle, the scarce and highly valuable items manufactured by the Golden Order are usually distributed only to commanders and soldiers who might have special missions to fulfill. Other than these, the only people likely to be able to afford, or be permitted by law, to carry such enchanted items are those crucial to preserving Imperial lands and culture, such as nobility.
The Gold College[]
An Alchemist unleashes the power -- and the potential wealth -- of the Lore of Metal.
The Golden Order is the most financially successful of all the Colleges of Magic. Because it manufactures goods desired and needed by commercial, civil, and military establishments, the Golden Order earns a considerable amount of money, which, when added to the large endowments given by lords and merchants hoping to curry favour with the Magister Alchemists, results in the Gold Order being one of the wealthiest organisations in the Empire.[1a]
Unlike the buildings of the other Colleges of Magic in Altdorf, and contradicting the considerable wealth that its members can call upon, the buildings of the Golden Order are not rich, flamboyant, or mystical from the outside. They are more like several great and conjoined laboratories and foundries with many furnaces and tall chimneys, which belch coloured and sometimes bizarre, glowing smoke and steam into the air. The building is five stories high at its tallest point, and it's a jumble of towers and courtyards with a maze of passages, laboratories, dormitories, forges, and reception halls. Near the back of the building, overlooking the River Reik from the fourth storey, are the private rooms of some of the great Lord Magisters of the Order, including the newly renovated laboratory of the Magister Patriarch himself, Balthasar Gelt.[1a]
It is much to the relief of the citizens of Altdorf that this College is not near the centre of the city but on the perimeter, by the River Reik. The fast-moving waters of the river have been diverted through well-protected underground channels to meet the needs of the laboratories and forges within, cooling the foundries and turning water wheels of uncertain purpose. As the waters flow back out to the river, they sometimes run with fantastic colours, likely after an elaborate, arcane experiment deep within the bowels of the College.[1a]
Unlike some of the other Colleges of Magic, the Golden Order's College building is not hidden from view. Even so, few go near it because of the evil smells and thick vapours that perpetually surround it, vapours that Magister Alchemists appear unaware of and impervious to. Despite these circumstances, a small crowd of beggars often drift around as close as they dare to the College gates, even though the College's guards sometimes chase them away. The beggars never try to solicit anything from those they think are Magisters but do beg from everyone else that goes to and from the College building. The College tends to receive many wealthy and important visitors, and the word on the street is that if you can tolerate the occasional clouds of noxious fumes and do not mind being too close to where witcheries are used, there are rich pickings near the Golden Order.[1a]
Contradicting its utilitarian appearance from the outside, the College's formal reception rooms are luxurious, having rich carpets, heavy velvet curtains, deep, comfortable couches, and gilded statues of previous Patriarchs of the Golden Order. At the very centre of the College is a massive library with thousands of books dealing with everything there is to know about physical and metaphysical sciences, especially alchemy, metallurgy, and herbalism, as well as copies of the latest research papers of alchemists from across the world. Most of the books in this library are hand-copied—the market for them doesn't justify the cost of printing—and many rare volumes in this library could sell for hundreds of Gold Crowns to a specialist buyer.[1a]
Beneath all this and in other wings of the College are dozens of laboratories full of strange devices and corridors scorched and pitted by spilt corrosives and molten alloys. These are where the Magister Alchemists of the Order do all their research into the realms of alchemical magic.[1a]
The laboratories are long, well-lit rooms. They may have rows of windows or skylights to let in as much light as possible and let out the numerous noxious vapours that build up inside. Some of the College's Magister Alchemists working on particularly risky experiments do so in lead-lined cellars to control accidents. There are always workbenches in the laboratories and at least one furnace. If there is only one furnace, it is invariably of a two-chamber design, suitable for extracting ore, mixing, and purifying alloys. All the laboratories have good ventilation but still posses a noxious chemical odour.[1a]
The laboratories tend to be cluttered with shelves of equipment and racks of bells jars and other containers. These containers are generally made of glass or ceramics and are either made by a Magister Alchemist or specially commissioned from skilled craftsmen. This equipment includes, but is not limited to ceramic tiles and jugs, a bellows, several copper or brass cauldrons, a collection of stills, a mortar and pestle, at least one alembic, a water-bath, an ash-bath, an extremely large lamp, dishes, beakers, jars, phials, filters, strainers, ladles, stirring rods, and several pairs of hinged tongs of various sizes. There will also be glass bottles containing hundreds of chemicals in the form of liquids, salves, and powders. These supplies are considered the absolute minimum equipment for a working alchemist.[1a]
Apprentices to the Golden Order will spend the body of their apprentice lives actually studying in the College building, as opposed to with one mentor wherever that mentor lives. Yet many Gold Magisters keep their own households in the city and only come to the College to teach, study, and experiment. All the same, despite its massive size, the College's dormitories are overcrowded.[1a][1b]
All apprentices are expected to spend their waking hours working in the laboratories as an assistant to a Magister and studying in the College's huge library. As most Apprentices will have already been taught alchemy to a reasonable level in one of the lesser schools of mundane alchemy run by the Golden Order, apprentices will be expected to know the names and component parts of most of the chemicals the Magister asks for. Besides learning how to perceive and channel magic, as is the most pressing concern of all full apprentices to the Colleges, they will be expected to quickly learn all the beliefs of the Golden Order.[1b]
Apprenticeship[]
As with all the Colleges of Magic, long before an Apprentice is permitted to learn much of spells and how they are cast, they must first study and understand the theories of what magic is and how it works, spending long hours learning all the many dangers of magic and spellcraft and the history of their Order.
With few exceptions, the Golden Order tends to only accept apprentices with a background in alchemy, metallurgy, or herbalism, or those with a truly exceptional gift with the Yellow Wind of Magic. As such, the Golden Order recruits mostly from the smaller schools and guilds of alchemists they control throughout the Empire.
Just like their mentors, senior Apprentices are expected to take part in alchemical and magical research, discussion, and criticism. Those who embrace and study Chamon find themselves drawn to teaching as well as acquiring knowledge, which mean that it is standard practice throughout the Golden Order for senior apprentices to teach the basics of various alchemical processes to newer apprentices.
Notable Alchemists[]
- Albrecht Helseher - Helseher is the Gold Wizard who serves as the presiding administrator of the Wizards and Alchemists Guild in Middenheim.
- Balthasar Gelt- Gelt is the current Magister Patriarch of the Gold Order as well as the Supreme Patriarch of all the Imperial Colleges of Magic.
- Benedict Stross - Stross was a Magister of the Gold Order who tried replacing his missing limb with a magical construct of living gold.
- Cas Meijer - Cas Meijer was the first Magister Patriarch of the Gold Order. He was originally a priest of Handrich, the god of commerce and divine patron of merchants, who developed the witchsight and offered his services to the High Elf Archmage Teclis during the Great War Against Chaos. Leaving the priesthood behind forever, Meijer became an Imperial battle wizard and later was selected as the first leader of the newborn Golden Order. One of the towers of the Gold College in Altdorf is named after him.
- Gotthilf Puchta - Puchta was a Magister Patriarch of the Gold Order.
- Theodor Habermas - Habermas was the third Magister Patriarch of the Gold Order, and was the first Imperial wizard to create a Power Stone.
Sources[]
- 1:Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Realms of Sorcery (RPG)
- 2: Warhammer Fantasy Battles: Storm of Magic (8th Edition)
- 2a: pg. 37
- 3: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Core Rulebook (RPG)
- 3a: pg. 230
- 4: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Winds of Magic (RPG)
- 4a: pp. 67-71
- 5: Total War: Warhammer III - Patch 5.0 - Introducing the Free Content
Gallery[]
