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Veritas Academy is the kingdom's foremost society of mages in Embers of the Uncrowned. It is both an academic institution and a community of mages who have studied bloodline magic more deeply than anyone else, and its headquarters, the Tower of Enlightenment, stands at the center of Towerstead, one of the regions playable in the Steam Next Fest demo.
Mission
The Academy's foremost mission is to protect the kingdom. Alongside that duty it analyzes, classifies, and tests the limits of the power that resides in family bloodlines, making it the kingdom's authority on how the magic system works. Because bloodline magic cannot be taught, the Academy's gates are narrow and admit only a select few, so it has also become a gathering place for the nobility who possess the most prestigious and powerful bloodline magic. Over time the name Veritas came to carry the weight of lineage, talent, and prestige, synonymous with honor and authority.
The Tower of Enlightenment
The Tower of Enlightenment in Towerstead serves as the Academy's headquarters. In a domain where canals cross through the streets, the mages draw upon the aether of the Sealing Sites to power their magical circles. Defending the Tower is a central objective when the player works to liberate Towerstead from the occupying elves.
Skill Gems
Veritas Academy developed Skill Gems after years of research, inscribing a strand of a mage's intent into raw crystals that solidify near an aether spring. The Academy first created the crystals so the mages of its own families could refine their magic, but the crystals soon spread far beyond the Academy's reach. Now anyone holding a crystal can borrow a strand of magic, which is why Skill Gems are available to the player regardless of class or bloodline.
The Cordia Schism
Not every mage accepted the Academy's restrictive policies. A group left Towerstead in protest and formed the Cordia Arcane Society, whose name derives from a root word meaning connection. Where Veritas guards knowledge behind narrow gates and bloodline prestige, the Cordia Society works to free magic from the constraints of bloodlines and make it available to everyone. For this the Cordia mages have been branded heretics and persecuted by nobles who hold bloodline magic above all, marking a lasting ideological split in the kingdom's magical community.
Leadership
During the demo, the Academy is led by Headmistress Varone, who continues to defend the Tower of Enlightenment even as Towerstead falls largely under the control of the Blackmist elves led by Urs the Atoner. Liberating the region and its landmarks, including Red Anchor Harbor where Grand Lord Valdemar Harborwell fell, is how the player wins the mages of Veritas Academy as allies.
Related
Towerstead - the region built around the Tower of Enlightenment
Magic System - bloodline magic, common magic, and the Cordia split
Skill Gems - the aether crystals the Academy invented
Velseize Elves - the invaders occupying Towerstead