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Wayreth Tower of High Sorcery
By: Dungeon Master Date: July 19, 2025, 2:37 pm
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[center]Wayreth Tower of High Sorcery
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Unfinished File [/center]
Master of Wayreth Tower Highmage Jenna of the Red Robe
Recent Highmage Masters of Wayreth of the Past-Justarius,
Par-Salian, Astathan of Qualinost, Merroc, Jorelia, Vincil da
Jevra, Yulin the Dour, Vestia the White, and Moranda the Black.
These and the others are represented by Brass Golem Statues that
are commanded in times of Defense. A full list can be found
here. Highmage of High Sorcery
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/>
The Forest of Wayreth
When most people speak of the Forest of Wayreth today, they
refer to the area in the Tower's immediate vicinity, not to the
entire surrounding forest. This region is bordered on the north
by the Ahlanlas River (which marks the Qualinesti border), to
the south by the Windsrun River, to the west by the Straits of
Algoni, and to the east by the Kharolis Mountains.
The forest contains many types of broad-leafed trees: Oaks,
maples, ash, vallenwood, pear, peach, and apple predominate.
Wayreth's fruit trees tend to be low and hardy, with small, sour
fruit. In higher elevations to the east, the hardwoods give way
to fir and pine, while the moist soil near the riverbanks holds
stands of poplar, birch, and aspen.
The Wayreth region is infamous for its rolling hills and misty
dells that all seem to look alike. The roughest area lies to the
east, where foothills meet the Kharolis Mountains. To the west,
the land rises and falls in gentle swells that gradually
diminish as land meets sea. In ages past, many aspiring young
wizards became tired and discouraged from tramping through the
woods toward their goal; just getting close to the Tower
requires purpose and determination.
Finding the Forest is impossible for those whom the wizards do
not want to find the Tower, which means everyone but members of
the Orders and non-mages, the Conclave has invited. Those who
seek it unbidden can walk from one side of Abanasinia to the
other, from the Newsea to the gates of Thorbardin, and they will
never come across it.
Most folk of Ansalon believe the Tower of Wayreth can move about
its forest, literally evading any intruder it declines to meet.
The truth is even more bizarre than that.
The Tower and its guardian forest exist in a transdimensional
world of their own, magically anchored to Krynn but existing
outside of the world's normal dimensions. Travel between Wayreth
Forest and the rest of Krynn is possible only where the two
worlds touch, and the Tower decides where they touch at any
given moment. This ability makes a mortal observer see the
forest seem to shift, both in its layout and in its location
relative to landmarks on Krynn. The Tower can even appear
somewhere without the forest.
This unique trait, conferred upon the Tower by the Conclave
members who built it, is the most effective of all the abilities
of the guardian forests - after all, it is the only operable
Tower left after the Lost Battles and the Chaos War. Wayreth's
ability may have been devised to offer special protection for
the seat of the Conclave and has also made it the wizards' last
refuge throughout the ages. No other Tower of High Sorcery ever
enjoyed its own transdimensional field.
Wayreth Forest fills an area ten miles in diameter, with the
Tower standing at its precise center. However, the guardian
forest can touch Krynn at any spot within five hundred miles of
the Tower's construction site, where three thousand years ago
the wizards planted the stone of threes. As a result, Wayreth
Forest can appear to onlookers anywhere from the edge of the
Icewall Glacier north to Abanasinia, and from Qualimori east to
just beyond Tarsis.
The Tower of Wayreth (The First Tower)
The gates of the Tower are set in the middle of the eastern
wall. Made of silver and gold, they seem as fragile as gossamer,
but not even the mightiest battering ram can break them down.
Beyond the gates is a courtyard of plain, gray flagstone. It
appears deserted, for most of the mages who dwell at Wayreth
prefer to travel by magic and so pass into and out of the Tower
unseen.
The Tower's ability to distort spatial perceptions can produce
some strange results for guests. Walking down a straight hallway
within the Tower does not necessarily take visitors in a
straight line. Walking up a north staircase does not necessarily
take them up, or even north. It may not make sense, but that's
just the nature of the Tower's reality. Things are usually not
as they seem.
Those walking through the courtyard get the feeling that it is
teeming with people who are just out of sight. The Tower’s
compound, located in a clearing at the heart of the Forest of
Wayreth, is surrounded by walls that form an equilateral
triangle.
There is a small tower at each point of the triangle. There are
no battlements at Wayreth. Each of these small towers is devoted
to one of the three moon-gods: the northern to Solinari the
White, the southern to Lunitari the Red, and the western to
Nuitari the Black. Within, their ceilings are set with mosaics
showing the complicated paths the moons take through the sky.
When a given moon is full, the windows of its corresponding
tower glow with light.
The Tower proper is made up of four spires: a small fore tower
and an aft tower. Between them are twin cones of obsidian, each
some 250 feet high. Together, these four form Wayreth's central
towers. To the casual observer, the Tower appears slightly
off-kilter, twisting and leaning as if about to topple. This is
merely a magical illusion, for it is one of the sturdiest
structures on Krynn.
The foretower contains a small anteroom, used for welcoming
visitors, as well as sumptuously appointed guest rooms.
Non-mages are not permitted to pass beyond this building. The
aft tower serves as an entrance to the courtyard and the
dungeons below. Tales abound of the horrors that dwell within.
The tombs of the archmages; any wizard of standing may choose to
be buried there, and the spirits of some were said to linger,
continuing their service to High Sorcery even in death.
The scriptorium on the third floor of the two smaller central
towers serves as a work and study area for Tower residents.
Niches on the outer walls hold writing desks, with windows in
the niches providing ample light for wizards to copy books from
the library in the south tower or compose works of their own.
(Similar niches in the outer walls of the main towers at this
level also hold desks. Storerooms in the north tower adjacent to
the scriptorium hold writing supplies.)
Because these central chambers are sunny and pleasant during the
day, they also serve as residents' favorite place to read or
just relax. A visitor here seldom hears a noise louder than a
whisper or a quill scratching at parchment.
The residents prepare all their food in a small kitchen on the
fourth floor of the Aft tower. The Tower at Wayreth contains no
central dining hall; the residents either retire to their rooms
to take their meals or eat off trays wherever they happen to be
working. Consequently, the kitchen stays busy for about eighteen
hours a day.
Subfloor of the Aft Tower
The Crypts
The Tombs of the Archmages
About fifty feet below the central towers lies a complex of
crypts where many Conclave members enjoy their eternal sleep.
The main crypt is a round chamber, some sixty-five feet wide.
This central chamber contains two dozen vaults, where past heads
of the Conclave and others who have rendered great service to
the Conclave lie. Each of the twenty occupied vaults is marked
with a golden slab enameled in red, black, or white, according
to the occupant's order.
The domed ceiling here bears a representation of Ansalon's night
sky. This fully animated scene shows Krynn's three moons and old
constellations rising and falling with the passing hours. The
depiction represents one of the continent's most complete
records of Ansalon's stars.
Extensive catacombs spread out from the central crypts in three
spokes, one for each order in the Conclave. The entire complex
contains several acres of tunnels. Anyone desiring burial here
must agree to donate all their writings and items of magic to
the Tower. Then he may choose his final resting place from the
extensive catacombs. Only the Master can grant the right to
interment in the main crypt.
The Dungeon
Persistent "explorers" and indiscreet meddlers could find
themselves suddenly transported to the dungeon hidden deep
beneath the Tower. These cells are purportedly so dreadful that
no report of them has ever reached the outside world. The common
folk of Ansalon assume that no one has ever emerged from
confinement there to speak of the frightful experience.
No physical access to the dungeon exists; the area consists of
hundreds of cubicle cells carved from the bedrock deep below the
central towers, even deeper than the crypts. Though each cell
actually is only a scant few feet across, the Tower's
manipulation of people's perception of space makes any cell seem
large enough to hold its occupant, no matter what his size.
To a human, a cell seems to be about ten feet square. No
corridors connect the individual cells of this dungeon. No
windows or air shafts lead to the surface. Each prisoner remains
alone, entombed in the rock.
The two greater towers are twin cones of obsidian, each some 250
feet high. The two greater towers contain apartments, libraries,
museums, and casting chambers, where the wizards of Ansalon
live, study, and experiment. The more powerful wizards dwell on
the upper floors, and the neophytes on the lower.
The Highmage’s laboratory is located in the Northern Tower, with
invisible balconies offering views of the grounds and the forest
beyond. Just below are the Testing Levels, where apprentices
must prove their mettle before becoming full wizards. These
levels look different to every apprentice who enters.
The Two Main Towers stand at 250 feet high and have seventeen
floors each.
The North Tower is Home to the Highmage’s study and laboratory.
4-13 are Sleeping, study Chambers and Laboratories, 14 through
16 are Testing Chambers, the Seventeenth floor is the Highmage’s
laboratory, while the Highmage’s study is located on the third
Floor. The Spiral Staircase of the Main Towers has wide, winding
steps and wide platforms along the inside of the Tower. Bronze
Golems with the countenance of the Highmages of Wayreth Tower
from throughout the ages are located on each level. Able to come
to life at a moment’s activation by the Master of the Tower to
defend the Tower.
Clean Version-(See Sleeping Arrangements version of the North
Tower at the end of this file).
Seventeenth Floor, The Highmage’s laboratory, and their Sleeping
Quarters, sitting chamber
Sixteenth Floor: Testing Levels
Fifteenth Floor Testing Level
Fourteenth Floor Testing Level
Thirteenth Floor Apartment,
Twelfth Floor Apartments,
Eleventh Floor Apartments
Tenth Floor Apartments,
Ninth Floor Apartments
Eighth Floor Apartments
Seventh Floor Apartments
Sixth Floor Apartments
Fifth Floor Apartments
Fourth Floor Classrooms
Third Floor: The Highmage’s study, Meeting Rooms
Second Floor Chamber of Destination*
First Floor Hall of Records
Areas of the North Tower
The north tower's entire ground floor serves as a repository for
records going back at least as far as the first Cataclysm. Its
upper floors hold storage chambers, the master’s Laboratory, and
residential areas.
The South Tower is home to the Hall of Mages 1-3 Floors and the
Library of Wayreth 4-8 Floors
Seventeenth Floor, The Heart Chamber of Wayreth Tower
Sixteenth Floor
Fifteenth Floor
Fourteenth Floor
Thirteenth Floor
Twelfth Floor
Eleventh Floor
Tenth Floor
Ninth Floor
Eighth Floor library
Seventh Floor library
Sixth Floor library
Fifth Floor library
Fourth Floor, five-level library
Third Floor Hall of Mages, Study niches
Second Floor Hall of Mages
First Floor: Hall of Mages
Areas of the South Tower
The Hall of Mages
“They were in a vast chamber carved of obsidian. It was so wide
that its perimeter was lost in shadow, so high that its ceiling
was obscured in shadow. No pillars supported it; no lights lit
it. Yet light there was, though none could name its source. It
was a pale light, white — not yellow. Cold and cheerless, it
gave no warmth.”
[right]—Time of the Twins by Margaret Weis & Tracy
Hickman[/right]
The central meeting place for the Conclave, the Hall of Mages,
has been witness to some of the most important deliberations
affecting the history of Ansalon, though it is also used for
regular meetings, audiences, and other functions. Visitors to
the Tower of Wayreth always remember the Hall of Mages as a
vast, intimidating chamber that exudes the authority of the
powerful wizards who meet within its walls. The hall is a black
obsidian chamber in the south tower with a 45-foot diameter and
a 60-foot domed ceiling.
A permanent image casts a light that is white and cold in the
chamber. The light has no identifiable source and leaves the
black ceiling and thick walls lost in shadow. The chamber is
empty except for twenty-one chairs reserved for members of the
Conclave. All of the chairs, save one, form a semicircle facing
the northern end of the room. The twenty-first is a large chair
that was hewn from a massive block of gray marble shot through
with veins of red, white, and black. Placed in the center of the
hall, and is reserved for the Highmage of the Conclave.
Each wizard of the conclave enters and takes their place, the
Masters coming in last and taking their places in the
semicircle.
The Library of Wayreth, Fourth Floor
In addition, this tower's extensive, five-level library is the
envy of wizards throughout the land. The five levels in the
south tower immediately above the Hall of Mages comprise the
Tower's library. The library's shelves contain books of spells,
magical scrolls, and notes on various arcane processes. Veterans
of the Test of High Sorcery may freely browse the shelves and
carry items down to the scriptorium for study, as long as they
tell the librarian on duty what they're taking and when they
will return it. No one may remove a book from the Tower proper
without the Master's permission. Book thieves get a trip to the
dungeon for their troubles.
North Tower Accommodations
Sleeping arrangements at Wayreth
Unfinished
Seventeenth Floor, The Highmage’s laboratory, and their Sleeping
Quarters, sitting chamber
Sixteenth Floor: Testing Levels
Fifteenth Floor Testing Level
Fourteenth Floor Testing Level
Thirteenth Floor Apartment, laboratories for
Twelfth Floor Apartments, laboratories for Master Karnea, Master
Coryn
Eleventh Floor Apartments laboratories
Tenth Floor Apartments, laboratories for
Ninth Floor Apartments, laboratories, Dalamar, Darius Desaad,
Malakai, Nalis
Eighth Floor Apartments, laboratories for Selene, Kalana,
Hestia, Iria, Sirene
Seventh Floor Apartments, laboratories for Leila DiThon White
Robe
Sixth Floor Apartments and Laboratories Azura, Calista
Hathorne, Delilah DiThon
Fifth Floor Apartments, laboratories for Thora, Isa, Monet, Maya
Fourth Floor Classrooms
Third Floor: The Highmage’s study, Meeting Rooms
Second Floor: Chamber of Destination*
First Floor Hall of Records
*Chamber of Destination: As seen in the Kingpriest Trilogy, the
Towers were once joined by Teleportation Chambers, but were
discontinued after the Lost Battles. In time, the Three Towers
begin to use these lost artifacts again.
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