Motto
“All secrets will be understood, and mastered, in time.”
Facts and Traits
Aka: The Wizards, the Mages
Associated colors: orange (saffron) and gold
Worship: Wizards do not view the dragons as gods, merely as more powerful beings. With enough study and experimentation, they too will achieve the power of the dragons
Core philosophy: “No Gods, no Masters. Knowledge is Power, Power is Freedom”. The universe is a puzzle to be solved… and the ends justify the means.
Country / kingdom: The Silver Cities
Capital city: Al-Safir, the Sky Dome
Key symbols: the Silver Star, the Cross of Wisdom
Description: (From the Official Site)
The Academy wizards are proud seekers after knowledge and subjugators of the natural order. The Academy society is dedicated to wisdom and knowledge. The mages spend their lives studying and writing occult research studies.
A senate of wizards, called The Circle of Nine, rules the Silver Cities, though each of the cities maintains a greater or lesser degree of independence. Citizens who are incapable of magic are essentially second class, with an ability to harness sorcerous power being the key to social and political advancement.
Magic is taught in academies in the large cities, as hedge wizardry is frowned upon. These academies are formal places (much like Oxford or Cambridge in the real world) where which school you’re in means a great deal about what you will learn, how you learn it, and how the rest of your life plays out. Wizards tend to cluster into “schools” following the teachings of one great magus or another, and rivalries between schools are fierce.
The wizards rule a people of servant creatures that have been either summoned or magically animated by them.
A Summary
The Academy, from it's humble beginnings as the Wizard town in Heroes II, has always been a predominantly magical alignment. This ideal is certain emphasised in Heroes V's Academy, though the setting has been changed from one of snow and ice to a vibrant desert scene, filled with middle-eastern dress.
Often dubbed 'the wizards' for their mastery of the magical arts, the Academy town also includes 2 spellcasting creatures, as well as two shooters and a flyer. The heroes will again focus on magic, and hence the might element of the town will be weaker, perhaps reflected in their creatures. The Academy town is always luxurious and costly, and therefore targeted at more advanced players, who will make use of their spellcasting prowess.
The Wizards are in direct competition with the Necromancers, their undead counterparts, and their history reflects a heated past. The Academy is the only town whose inhabitants do not worship a dragon, rather they rely on their technological skills to make creatures presumably just as powerful (Titans), in addition to other things, such as mini-artifacts for their creatures through the 'artificer' skill.
Thanks to ThE_HyDrA for creating and looking after the Heroes 5 section of Age of Heroes!
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