Summary for Lani
================
There are seven secret schools of magic within Glantri. These are Alchemy, Cryptomancy, Dracology (to do with dragons and controlling them), Elementalism, Illusion, Necromancy, and Witchcraft (women only, dealing with curses). While these are nominally secret, graduates of the Glantri School of Magic who are not naive would be aware of them. As such, these are not the secret magical organization that Tess is interested in.

Glantri is very much about politics. Tess had a vision some time ago, which showed the nobility in Glantri, from minor nobles in outlying provinces to the princes of the various principalities. The more senior a ruler was, the closer they appeared to Glantri City, and the larger they appeared. Prince Etienne and Prince Morphail were two of the largest rulers. It appears that the center of power in Glantri is the Glantri School of Magic, of which Prince Etienne is the founder. 

From his vision, Tess believes that within or beneath the School of Magic is a large artifact that emits a bright white light, known as the Blessed Radiance. Tess suspects that this was created by Prince Etienne along with the School of Magic and accompanying changes in Glantri to fulfil the Path of the Paragon, to become an immortal of the Sphere of Entropy. Prince Etienne is one of the most powerful mages in Glantri, though perhaps he has not completed the Path of the Paragon quite yet. 

It is possible that the Blessed Radiance is related to or actually is the Glantrian Doomsday Device that was used to destroy Sundsval in Alphatia. Also, we were told that one of the two factions in the god war was the Blessed Radiance, led by Rad.

The Shepherds of Rad may be guardians of or worship the Blessed Radiance. They are capable of casting healing spells and commune with Rad. In turn, Rad may inform them of things on occasion, as occurred when Tess was attempting to secretly observe one of their ceremonies. The centerpiece of worship for the Shepherds of Rad in their temples is a quartz crystal talisman, about 10cm across, the crystal free of obvious flaws. The crystal appears to be symbolic, rather than of actual magical significance; however, Tess believes this may be in imitation of those who actually use crystals for magical power.

Tess believes that a small group known as the Brotherhood of the Radiance use crystals for great magical power. The Glantri constabulary offers a 100,000 Ducat (gp) reward for finding a member of that secret order, though of course noone has been found. 

From what Tess can tell, only members of the Glantrian nobility are members of the Brotherhood of the Radiance, and they have been careful to verify nobility before communicating. While nobles in Glantri are reknowned for studying strange things, it appears that a number of the nobles have been very secretively studying crystal - comparing notes between themselves in circuitous fashion to avoid revealing how much they know. The Radiance is mentioned in relation to the study of crystal. 

To become a member of the Glantrian nobility, one must generally be a graduate of the Glantri School of Magic, and must be able to demonstrate casting 5th level spells. Such a wizard may gain admission to the Glantrian Council with political sponsors. Tess, with the sponsorship of Prince Jherek of Singhabad, is now a Baron, but unfortunately hasn't been able to find that much more information.

We have been warned about the Brotherhood of the Radiance on a couple of occasions. About two decades ago, we found the diary of Baron Brenmeer, a minor Glantrian noble, who mentioned that he was worried about the Brotherhood of the Radiance. Also, the priest of Nyx that was being tortured by Hel in Niflheim mentioned that all roads leads to Glantri City and something about the Blessed Radiance (this was probably more in relation to the pending god war and war between Alphatia and Glantri).

Several princes of Glantri have withered limbs. Since they could get normal afflictions cured this probably indicates the presence of powerful magic. Prince Harold of Haskins has a withered arm. Prince Brannet McGregor of Cromguard is rumored to be a lich, but may also be withered in this fashion. Tess' guess is that this may well be related to use of the Blessed Radiance and crystal magic - use of the Blessed Radiance artifact presumably having some nasty side effects.

More than one generation (that is a truly long time) of the highest ranked priests of the Shadow Elves have been making a similar device. The soul crystals that the Shadow Elven priests use to cast spells, and indeed they can cast some wizard spells, appear to also be crystal magic of this nature.

Tess wants to find out how the Brotherhood of the Radiance in Glantri uses the crystals to channel power. His guess is that both priests and wizards are capable of doing so with proper learning, and that proximity to the Glantrian School of Magic or Temple of Rafiel may be important for channeling more power.  Such a device has serious military implications, though perhaps more of a defensive nature, if proximity affects how much power can be channeled.

To Tess' knowledge, the Shadow Elven device is not yet complete and not at full power. No Shadow Elven priests have unnaturally withered limbs. Ideally, Tess wants to find how the Glantrians made their device, and what it would take to complete the Shadow Elven device. In addition, as the Shadow Elven priesthood are supreme politically in Shadow Elven society (e.g. appointing to the king periodically), teaching Shadow Elven mages to channel such power would have profound political implications and affect the power structure within Shadow Elven society. 

What started the great war was the Alphatians claiming the Glantrians were studying forbidden magic, and the Glantrians disagreed - no magic is forbidden in Glantri. Then followed assassinations and so forth, but this was the root cause of the war. Tess presumes that the forbidden magic is what the Glantrians were studying - i.e. the crystals.

Needless to say, this information should be considered highly classified. I have not discussed it with other members of the Seekers and do not want it discussed with anyone else at this stage. I have approached you Lani because I have reached a dead end in my research, and you have been a trustworthy friend over the years. 

This may be related to the spell crystals that you learned about in the Wizard's Cabal, I do not know. (Hrmmm, can't find the email that Glenn sent to Norse about that.)