Masters and Apprentices

Most Aspirants spend years studying what meager scraps of knowledge are available to those not initiated into the ranks of the Conclave. They while away their time in the cities of the Wystral, providing services to the Masters in the hopes of securing an apprenticeship. They work in secret laboratories, where experiments that violate Conclave Law take place every day, or perform acts of espionage, stealing secrets from their Masters’ rivals.  However, there are a few who are selected by Conclave Masters to become their apprentices, almost on a whim. Every Conclave mage has a reason behind their actions, but when it comes to apprentices, those reasons can be impossible to parse. Some select for talent for magic, while others choose apprentices who show other “qualities”, like ambition or a loose moral code.

The contract between a Master and their apprentice is one enforced by the Council of the Nexi, although with less vigor than what they use to defend the rights of the Masters. Apprentices of the Conclave enjoy a number of rights and protections:

• Apprentices become tentative citizens of Quinvala, meaning they have legal standing when bringing any matter before the Council of the Nexi. This is important because of the other rights they have and how often these are violated by the Masters.
• A Master must provide knowledge and training to each of their apprentices, which must not be unfairly denied. A Master is not obligated to share all of their secrets, but they must prepare their apprentices to face the Gaze of Molech. 
• An Apprentice is owed an allotment of Liastrum from their Master, to enable their studies and training in the manipulation of the substance. 
• A Master may not knowingly or needlessly endanger the life of an apprentice. The various possible interpretations of the words “knowingly” and “needlessly” have often been used to exonerate Masters who lost their Apprentices under suspicious circumstances.
• A Master must, upon request by their Apprentice, release them from service so they may serve another Master of the Conclave in good standing with the Council. Of course, the original Master must be compensated by the new one for the time, effort, and Liastrum spent on the training of the Apprentice, up to that point. Conversely, a Master may not transfer an Apprenticeship to another without the consent of the Apprentice.

In contrast, an Apprentice agrees to a number of responsibilities:

• An Apprentice must serve their masters faithfully, obeying all of their commands, except where it is clear such commands would end in their deaths. 
• An Apprentice must keep the secrets of their Masters. Betrayal of such secrets is cause for prosecution and punishment of both the Apprentice and those they have shared those secrets with. 
• Anything an Apprentice creates or discovers, before they themselves become a Master, is in part property of their Masters. An apprentice who attempts to hide such creations and is discovered instead forfeits ALL rights over the creation to their Master.
• An apprentice owes compensation for the time, effort, and Liastrum spent on their training. This compensation is not due until they, themselves become Masters, theoretically gaining the means to repay their instructors.

Apprentices are willing to go through years of grueling study, sometimes becoming more test subjects to their Masters than actual proteges. They do this expecting that, once they survive the Gaze of Molech, they will themselves become Masters and the world will be theirs to conquer. Masters become full citizens of Quinvala, and are allowed to engage in a number of activities exclusive to their rank:

• Masters have the right to draw an allotment of Liastrum directly from the Molech Oracle. In practice, the assistants of the Keeper perform this function and distribute the Liastrum to those who request it. 
• Masters may take on any number of apprentices of their own, as long as they can support them in both teaching and Liastrum. To take on an apprentice is an enormous responsibility, and generally speaking only those who are not themselves indebted to others risk the endeavor.
• Masters may join together to create new Spheres. Each of these Spheres must be led by one of them, a Nexi. The fact that Conclave Apprentices are trained not to trust anyone and to relentlessly compete with their peers makes it so the actual number of Spheres remains relatively small.
• Masters may apply with the Council for funds to any research project they may dream of. They must make a presentation to the Council, defending the worth of their research. To move forward, the project must be accepted by at least one member of the Council of the Nexi. All members of the Council who accept the proposal become its benefactors, sponsoring it and reaping part of the rewards. It is also up to the Council to determine if the project infringes on the rights of any Sphere. If at least three members of the Council veto the project, it will never move forward at all.