Black Mana Pool
In the hidden Andes lie dusty places long forgotten, where the dust and moulder of ancient peoples lie thick on the carved stones. One such chamber lies within the hidden heart of a mountain, and can only be gained by passing through a long and darksome passage. The outer reaches of this descent are roughly eroded, the paving stones cracked and skewed, the images writ on the walls worn by time and the passing of ancient hands. In some places, the living rock of the earth may yet be seen, where the carven passage has partially collapsed.
Farther down, the stale, dry air has preserved the intricate stonework of the forgotten empire that crafted this place. Macabre scenes and skull-faced heiroglyphs adorn the walls between supporting columns of stone. Blind, albino cave-spiders spin their gossamer webs, and scuttle from any light that protrudes in that empty place. Half a mile down, this Tarterian road ends in an unlit chamber, swept free of the detritus of centuries by an unknown hand. It's walls are empty of arcane formulae, no crumbling mummy or oracle may here be found. The ceiling is stout and reinforced, but bears no gems to mark the stars in the sky. There is nothing in the chamber...save the pool.
A circular pool of black blood, filled almost to the brim, still liquid and of unknown age. The astral resounds with the dark and terrible power within that pool, which sets horrible and still. A void darker than the surrounding blackness. Waiting to be used...
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Ludsgate Forge
Since the Awakening, the clang of hammers and the surge of sparks has sounded within Ludsgate Forge within at Ludsgate, England. The propetiers of the forge, the appropriately named Ludsgate family, have a long history as blacksmiths, tinkerers, and mechanical engineers. Before the Awakening, the stout Ludsgate Forge was simply an automechanic's garage, but when the Awakening came Tony Ludsgate found himself an Enchanter adept, and quickly changed his occupation. The trait has apparently stayed within the varied Ludsgate family, and Tony's heir Ludmilla (the prettiest ogre you've ever seen) continues the tradition with her half-brothers Vili and Ve (both dwarfs, Tony should not have been in charge of naming) and their cousin Carl (a giant). All four are initiated Enchanter adepts of no mean skill, and together maintain their "ancestral forge," supplying foci and telesma to any customer who can meet their price, no matter what race.
The family's quirks, however, gets weirder. All of them are Chaos magicians, and the Ludsgate Forge is much more than your bargain-basement Enchanting Shop. It is quite possible the Ludsgates hold the only Enchanting Facility not in government or megacorporate hands, able to handle any number of diverse applications, from acid-etching, monofilament edging and electroplating to Dikote™, growing crystals from chemical baths, and the manufacture of custom firearms or weaponry whenever the customer requests. The Ludsgates typically spend hours happily working in the forge and shops, huddling within mystic circles of glowing wire and crystal, or researching within the vast database of Enchanting formulae and alchemical lore they possess. The Ludsgates have been known to discretely rent out time within the forge to others, often in return for rare telesma, formulae and exotic materials. Ludmilla herself is also a known to raise and breed stone toads, taking their stones only after they have died naturally.
Rumors suggest a secret vault beneath the shop, which some say holds an ancient druidic standing stone, and others say a cache of powerful unique foci.
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Null Spot
A rare conjunction of manalines occaisionally results in a negation of mana, rather than a place of power. One such location lies in New York, in the penthouse suite of the Gosset Building. The various floors of the 30-story building are leased out to any number of A and AA corporation, but the top floor of the Gosset Building is retained by a professional, androgynous elf fixer who calls itself Gemini. Typically a dealer in information, Gemini utilizes the Null Spot to limit the abilities of magicians to interfere with its dealings...and, for the right price, will extend that protection to certain people or objects for a time.
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The Rune Tree
A twisted, dead oak tree, lying within a desolate and gray plane of broken rock and permafrost in the northernmost reaches of the Scandinavian Union, in the state of Norway. The tree might have been dead for ten years, or for ten centuries. The Lappish shamans avoid it, as do the Grandfather Elk, but it holds a strange attraction to many Nordic cults and magicians, especially the Asatru. Some claim it was this is the Tree of Woe where Odin hung or nailed himself to gain knowledge of the runes. Others claim it is but a fragment of the Axis Mundi. One adept, long-struggling to reach the place, was heard to mutter a fraction of rhyme before dying:
An oak grows upon an upland plain,
Rain does not wet it, it rots not in the heat,
He has sustained a score of hardships...
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The Svartskoli
The Black College is a painful, but powerful school. Typically, students are beginning magicians who are tricked into entering by offers of forbidden knowledge...knowledge which the school willingly provides. For three years, the student is held in a room beneath a cellar, kept in constant darkness and surrounded by illusions and given only their schoolbooks to study. The hidden masters of the school are said to move it often, and to take no more than three students at once. Currently, it is believed to exist beneath Chiba in Japan.
Magical circles from around the world wish to destroy the Svartskoli and its dread masters, rumored to include some of the darker and more treacherous fae. By the same token, its students lead secretive lives, for other magicians covet their schoolbooks.
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I like it.
