The Silver Seal

The Silver Seal is a ring-signet of pale metal that no smoke may blacken and no acid may pit, graven with a sigil whose meaning the colleges of Altdorf no longer wholly recall. Its virtue is subtle but precious beyond price to those who wield the winds of magic: the seal guards the mind of its bearer against the treacherous recoil of a miscast spell, dulling the searing feedback that has burned out lesser wizards and left them gibbering husks.

The magisters of the Empire of Man regard it as a treasure of the highest order, for the Amethyst and Bright colleges alike lose more of their number to their own magic than to any foe. A wizard bearing the Silver Seal may dare workings that would unmake an unprotected mind, wringing greater power from the winds without paying the accustomed toll in blood and sanity.

Yet the colleges warn their students against too great a trust in it. The seal turns aside the lash of magic, but it cannot turn aside ambition, and a wizard who believes himself safe grows bold, and a bold wizard reaches too far. More than one bearer of the Silver Seal has been found slumped over his grimoires, the ring still cool and bright upon a hand that will never sign another sigil.