1776526
He lost his defending an assault on the Lady on one of her excursions to the Northern Forests.

1776535
How heroic. Who or what were the assailant(s) though? What could really pose much of a permanent threat to an undying half-goddess?

1776534
Midnight Blossom was an apprentice to a Windsinger, away from home, when she heard that her village had been razed by a group of roving bandits, all of them powerful mages. Her family and friends were killed in this attack. After appealing to the Lady Everstar for justice, she was offered her pick of the Court Mages to hunt down and nullify this group. Selecting only four, she vanished for two full years, an apprentice who abandoned her training to lead a group of magical experts.

She learned each of their styles of magic, and brought down this group of bandits one at a time. Their leader, one named Blackwood, she saved for last. She dragged him before her monarch, and disemboweled him in front of the entire Court. Later, she went on to found the Magekillers.

1776544
A full-blooded god/dess?

1776544
Not much, but it was the principle of the thing. The assailants were a group of annoyed elemental spirits similar to Wendigos.

1776559
That's the end of my curiosity then. Night.

1776567
Alright then...sure you don't want to hear about anyone else?

1776572
How about Hotspur the Wise? And who do you have for paladins and mentalists?

1776590
Hotspur the Wise was one of the last undefined mages. A historian more than a fighter, he nonetheless was a formidable opponent, and was one of the last mages in Lady Everstar's employ with a Talent Mark. He lived to be nearly a hundred and fifty years old.

He fought in the Evening Rebellion while in the employ of one of the Noble Houses, and after his contract with them expired, he made his way to the new Court established by the Lady Everstar to offer his services as an advisor. During his audience, the Lady was running over trade documents and budgeting services, and had made several errors that would have cost her treasuries more money than was strictly necessary. After pointing these out, he was put into service as a scribe, but soon proved his worth as a magical historian.

He founded one of the first schools of combat magic, the predecessor to the Collegia, and worked closely with Lady Everstar as welll as other ponies in the remaining years of his life to define the widely varied schools of magic that existed. He helped to define the Mage school, and was instrumental in bringing together like-minded individuals to help further define the other schools.

1776608
Each school has someone like him then? A patriarch if you will?

1776620
In the case of Clerics, it was twins, but yes.

1776590

Notable Mentalists include the Dragon of the North, The Painted Lady, and Clay Vessel, each of whom were outstanding Mentalists in their day. All three were in service to Luna. The Dragon was famous for helping to drive out the last of the Wendigos from Equestria, Painted Lady was responsible for the capture of the Lich Blackthorn, and Clay Vessel was unparalleled at soul transference.

Paladins of note include Brook the Mighty, the brothers Granite and Oak, and the she-cat of the Forest, also known as North Star.

1776631
Do mentalists choose their names or have them given to them because they don't really seem like the type of names that are being handed out at birth.
Could we hear about North Star?

1776637
Most Mentalists choose to remain anonymous, for a very good reason. Their "titles" help them separate themselves from their magic.

As for North Star, she received her name no more than a year after she struck out on her own, as part of the Wallmaster's Guild. Upon her first excursion, she was issued a simple sword with an enchantment upon it to ward off cold, for she was headed north, towards Minotaur lands. This sword would save her life more than once, but its most famous use came from a simple mistake.

You see, North Star got lost while wandering the mountains, chasing down a particularly vexing demon. The night was closing in, and she took shelter in a cave on the side of a mountain, ready to hunker down for the night. Nights up there got cold enough that the leather armor she wore would often freeze, so she often slept on top of it, to keep it supple and provide herself with padding and another layer between her and the cold stone.

This next part happened with nopony around for miles, and her story wasn't believed until she got it verified by a Cleric.

The back of the cave went on for a fair distance, and unbeknownst to her, it was the entrance to the lair of a lich of no small power. He often took travelers from the mountains, as no one would question a disappearance in that area. If they didn't die in an avalanche, Minotaurs would take them. he had been patient, and cunning, and tonight his heart was set on his first real target, a village that she had missed in her haste to capture the demon and slay it.

North Star was woken by the steady shuffling tramp of rotting hooves, and before she could do more than shake sleep from her eyes and draw her sword, two hundred of the dead were upon her. Wielding a torch taken from her fire alongside her sword, she gave an unearthly screech of defiance, and charged the lines, using her shield magic to create magical armor for herself while also wielding it like a giant hammer.

Soon, however, she was driven back. Even she couldn't keep it up forever, and soon she found her hooves scraping the back of the cave, nearing a very long drop to the valley below. Setting her hooves, she stood her ground, and before long the lich himself came forward to do battle with her.

Long story short, he was experienced, and she was not. Some of her brothers had joined those silent ranks before her, and it was a matter of moments before she realized she was easily outclassed. So, she shrieked her high-pitched shriek again, and raised her sword for what she tough would be the final time.

It would be at that point that a mountain lion, attracted by her cries, leapt upon the lich, clawing and biting at him while his back was turned. Seeing her opening, North Star lunged for his throat, and buried her sword up to the hilt in the lich's neck, before severing his head from his shoulders, and ending his power.

For the rest of the night, she performed final rites for each of the dead she had faced, and in the morning, descended to the village and called for the local chapter of her order to clean out the valley of any lingering dead.

1776666

That is impressive.

1776676
Indeed.

1776666
I could see how her story could be taken with a grain of salt before any outside verification. What happened to mountain lion? I'm guessing it's part of the reason for her title.

1776678

So while we're on the subject of history of magic.

What has been the biggest magic related disaster?

1776680
If I recall correctly, it died of wounds sustained during the fight. She tried to help it, but there's only so much you can do to treat a mountain lion. I think she had it skinned and made into a cloak to help keep her warm in her work up north.

1776686

That's...

Remarkably practicable.

1776689
By all accounts she was a practical fighter.

1776684
Well, there was a sorcerer who blew himself up trying to see into the future. He summoned ten thousand demons after slaughtering an entire village to draw them to himself, and then after he tried his homegrown spell, the resulting explosion not only destroyed him, but made a giant crater and destroyed two other villages.

1776696

In an attempt to see the future he killed three villages worth of people?

Without even small scale experiments to see if 1) it would be even possible or 2) To find flaws in his spell?

Bucking moron.

Also ten thousand demons?

That's more than a little bit overboard.

1776696

I've gone through most of the classes. I've got everything down expect runes.

Which I just need to memorise better.

So I'm pretty much good.

1776698
Would you like to hear about Mentalists?

1776705

The, arguably, most scariest class of magic wielder in existence?

Sure, why not.

1776707
Should I tell you about the Painted Lady?

1776709

She was the one who got the Lich Blackthorn right?

You really like lich stories.

Go ahead, I sit here attentively.

1776712
Liches hold a special place in my heart.

No one is really sure where the Painted Lady came from, who she trained under, or where she managed to disappear to, but even the Mentalist Covens know nothing about her. I remember her as a very beautiful pony, who spoke only rarely. She arrived just as we began receiving reports from Crescent City of ponies going missing in large numbers from certain bars and brothels, and offered to ride with my Order to investigate. It was a good thing we accepted her offer.

Upon reaching the city, it was clear after a cursory examination what had occurred in these bars. They reeked of necromancy. After some deliberation, we knew that if we left this necromancer for too long, he or she could become a real threat. The decision was made to lay a trap, and the Painted Lady said she would be the bait. She didn't offer, she didn't request, she made a statement. At this point, we were all more than wary of her, so we agreed.

She was placed in the bar that night, and sure enough ,she was propositioned by a shady looking individual around midnight or so. Before we could move in, however, a fight broke out in the bar, and when we broke it up, she had vanished. We thought her dead for sure, and spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what we were doing next.

Imagine our surprise the next morning when she showed up at our safehouse, with our lich in tow. One glance at him, and it was clear what had happened. We hadn't asked what kind of Mentalist she was, though we had our suspicions.

The lich had been enthralled to her, completely and totally under her control. He made nary a peep on the ride back to the Capitol, and he lay still and without a sound as Lady Everstar and her scientists dismantled him, piece by piece, to see how he worked. When he was finally ended, the Lady disappeared, never to be seen again.

1776718
How long will we have access to all of the information to study from for the final?

1776726
The test is closed book on the honor system, and you can study right up until the test starts.

The test will be posted at six o'clock in the evening on Friday, and is due exactly twenty four hours later, same as the midterm. It will consist of general knowledge questions, some translations, and a few moral questions. Results will be posted in class on Monday.

1776729
Well then with that, I shall bid you a good night.

1776731
And you as well! If you have any other questions, you can contact me through the usual channels, either through PM or at collegiaarcana@gmail.com

1776729

Haha.

8 Am for me.

Wake up for the day with a test.

1776718

No one is really sure where the Painted Lady came from, who she trained under, or where she managed to disappear to,

*Replays lecture on the Painted Lady again*
I wonder... nah... old crone.
*Walks away.*