Faction Focus: The Linkage
Yesterday I posted a background option for players that took characters into the role of an associate for The Linkage, a globe-spanning network of magic spies and lore seekers. While this faction is placed nice and snug in my own world of Sonnerand, it can be used by anyone! The Linkage has lots of fun little caveats (and issues) that can hopefully provide some inspiration for tons of plot hooks!
If you’re anything like me and go nuts over factions and their objectives, this is for you!
The Linkage
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Magic remained a terrifying anomaly in the lives of many people over a century after the Dematalyst. By this point, arcane warlords, rudimentary wizards by today's standards, had already proven how effective a killing tool magic could be for their own power-hungry gains. Stories like that of the Arbiters of the Everpool were few and far between, with magic remaining out of the grasp of most people. In the maelstrom of war and famine that dominated those first harsh decades post-Dematalyst, in an unknown part of the world, through the work of one or perhaps many mages, the world's first true arcane-society was founded. The founding members took a staunch stance on magic and its use: magic is for those who can control themselves. They took up chain links, signifying their unbreakable teamwork and alliance in this matter. From them, The Linkage was born. The exact time, location, and persons involved in the founding of The Linkage are unknown. This is intentional, as the founding members wanted absolutely no trace of what they were doing left behind. Instead, the 50 students who they taught in different parts of the world carried on the legacy of "The Founders" but not even they could tell you who they were-- as their minds were wiped of all past memories of the original mages. Their secrets, however, remained in the hands of the 50 new initiate members.
The Grand Network
The greatest secret left to The Linkage was a powerful consistent spell known as Grand Network. Members theorize this spell was created by one of The Founders, yet details on its casting are unknown and all attempts to recreate the spell have failed. The Grand Network as much a location as it is a spell. Like other spells, Grand Network creates a demiplane, a place just outside time and space in a small pocket dimension. Where it differs is in its location and mode of arrival. Each and every Linkage member holds the power to visit the Grand Network's demiplane in their dreams. The Grand Network is an expansive campus of pastoral gardens, institutes of education, laboratories, libraries, and impressive meeting rooms. When a member of The Linkage falls asleep, they may be transported to the Grand Network if they will it so. Doing this leaves their physical body unresponsive for eight hours while their mental and spiritual consciousness elevate into the demiplane. Here, in the Grand Network, all dreaming members of The Linkage converge and meet with one another. Two members may be continents apart, but at the Grand Network, it is like they are face-to-face. This powerful method of communication is kept a closely guarded secret.
Joining The Linkage
Members of The Linkage are split into two groups of differing ranks plus one special rank outside the typical hierarchy. Potential new members are noted as soon as The Linkage deems someone worthy of membership. However, the process of becoming a member may take years. Generally, new initiates are noticed in the classrooms of schools, arcane or otherwise. Many senior Linkage members will spend their days in institutes of higher learning or secondary schools. Even the magic-denying nation of Geneca has Linkage members within the schools. Here, through magical demonstration, studiousness, or an active willingness to learn and better oneself a senior member will select one to three students to ascend into The Linkage. Due to the secrecy of the group, there is often little competition to be chosen and in fact, The Linkage rules out anyone who simply attempts to buy their way in or use any type of power to make themselves worthy. From here, a senior member will take in their select pupils for private tutelage. This tutelage consists of physical and mental training all in preparation for them to be "linked" into Grand Network. This process, while not fatal, is dangerous. Those who cannot establish a connection to the Grand Network risk losing their magical capabilities forever. Upon a prospective member's first visit to the Grand Network, they will be presented with a Bronze Chain (which strangely manifests in the physical world as well) and inducted as an official member of The Linkage.
Ascending the Chain Links
With a Bronze Chain, new members of The Linkage are given little direction as to what they should do. Most often, senior members will simply tell a new member to "find magic" or "seek artifacts." This does not exactly help the new and typically confused members. Yet, a superstition among Linkage members is that magic finds the member more often than not. This holds a bit of truth. Linkage members resonate at a high frequency, and appear like shining beacons in the Ethereal Plane from how highly attuned to magic they are. This tends to attract magical forces. Most Linkage members are Bronze Chains. These members due their duty to the organization by reporting the Grand Network and sharing insights with senior members. In this regard, they are like magic spies. However, through discovering magic items, witnessing and recording new arcane phenomena, documenting new spells, plants, or animals, or by discovering secrets and motives a Linkage member may rise through the ranks, earning increasingly impressive chains as they do. The jump from the highest rank of the initiate group (Silver Chain) and the lowest rank of the senior group (Moonstone Chain) is the biggest in the organization. To become a senior member, not only does an individual need to prove their loyalty to The Linkage without any shred of doubt, but they also need to uncover a world-altering thread of magic or lore. Doing this is perilous, and in the quest for senior rank hundreds of Linkage members have lost their lives. That being said, senior members can enjoy an apparently endless stream of wealth, personal labs to conduct experiments, and consideration for expeditions into other planes of existence.
Gold Chains
Outside the initiate and senior groups, Gold Chains operate largely independently of The Linkage. These are members who have found themselves in favorable positions within a government or nobility system based in whatever location they are stationed in. When a member of The Linkage finds herself in such a position, she is bestowed a Gold Chain. The Gold Chain is worn by all Linkage members serving as advisors or dignitaries within a system of law and government. They are highly respected among all members and are valuable for cultivating The Linkage's greatest asset: secrets. This is because Gold Chains are as much as advisors to governments as they are early warning systems and blackmail machines for The Linkage. Gold Chains are placed in governments to check power and dissuade corruption. Gold Chains also encourage the funding and building of arcane institutions, labs, and other magic-aiding policies and structures. In this way, they directly push the agenda of The Linkage through the rulers of a location.
Dogma
The Linkage sees itself as the official mouthpiece for the guidance and control of magic. Each members sees themselves as an extension of this belief, i.e. the true controllers. For this reason, it is not uncommon for Linkage members to harbor a certain distain for sorcerers, clerics, warlocks, and anyone who attains power through an extraordinary circumstance. They are also deeply untrusting of any powerful mage who is not associated with their ranks. Likewise, any nation not entertaining a Gold Chain member is also seen as untrustworthy. However, The Linkage rarely moves as a unit to combat that which they see as unsavory or suspicious. Instead, through their vast network of communication, the wants, motives, plans, and goals of The Linkage come to fruition not by a single person, but in pieces through the lips of every king, the votes of every democracy, and the briefings delivered to every tyrant. In this way, their narratives naturally rise across the worlds, and their goals are often achieved without anyone knowing who planted idea in the first place.
Structure
Senior Ranks
Ruby Chain -- Highest rank
Diamond Chain
Crystal Chain
Moonstone Chain
Initiate Ranks
Silver Chain
Brass Chain
Copper Chain
Bronze Chain -- Lowest rank
Special Rank
Gold Chain -- Only given to members actively participating in the politics of some government.
Culture
Life and magic are inseparable and beautifully connected together through all things. In magic, that which is void of life can become filled with life. Magic items are living beings just as much as plants and animals, they should be protected. Much like people, bad and evil magic exists across the world. Ending evil and keeping peace is of the utmost importance. Those who cannot communicate with magic risk becoming corrupted by its power. The governments of the world are unwise in the ways of magic, and it is The Linkage's job to steer them in the correct direction towards peace and arcane unity.
Public Agenda
Foster the next generation of bright young minds in the arts of the arcane.
Seek out magic items, spells, or lore wherever possible.
Share information freely and readily among all members.
Infiltrate magic cults or cabals and put and end to them after learning their secrets.
Explore the other planes and dimensions that exist to begin understanding their magic.
Be a cool head present within every court of every government.
Assets
Linkage members can be found on almost all corners of the globe. Many initiate members are poor and earn their income from doing jobs for others. For senior members, however, through the use of proposals and grants, The Linkage seems to supply a near endless amount of gold and equipment for their arcane research. Senior members also enjoy the privilege of chartered ships, trains, or rudimentary buggies to traverse long distances. Typically, a senior member will also have acquired many favors from various governments which may always be used.
I hope you like these manipulative wizard dreamers! If you wanna see a bit more on The Linkage, or other Sonnerand-related things feel free to keep up with my World Anvil page!
