Ascendant

An Ascendant is an initiate of the Doctrine of Emanations, the ancient gnostic teaching that all creation flows from the Black Sun through the six Dragon Aspects and down through Seven Veils of illusion. Where mages study the mechanics of arcana and druids listen to the voice of the living world, the Ascendant turns inward - seeking to pierce the veils that separate the mortal soul from the divine light at the source of all things. They are scholars of the unseen, contemplatives whose power comes not from mastering external forces but from stripping away the barriers within themselves.

Role and Philosophy

Ascendants do not worship in the conventional sense. They study. The Doctrine of Emanations teaches that the six Dragon Aspects - Taninsam, Tanin'iver, Leviathan, Tiamat, Tatsu, and Tohu - are not separate gods but refractions of a single original light. The Ascendant's path is to understand this, not as doctrine repeated from a book, but as lived experience. Each veil pierced brings the initiate closer to the undivided source and grants deeper insight into the hidden structure of reality.

This philosophy makes them unusual among adventurers. Ascendants tend to be quiet, observant, and unsettlingly perceptive. They ask questions that make others uncomfortable and see connections that others miss. Their loyalty is not to any nation, crown, or temple - it is to the truth, whatever shape it takes. This makes them difficult to predict and, to some, difficult to trust.

Spellcasting

An Ascendant's magic is rooted in the manipulation of the veils themselves. Rather than drawing on raw arcana or elemental forces, they thin the barriers between layers of reality - revealing hidden truths, unravelling illusions, and channelling emanations of the Dragon Aspects directly. Their spells often manifest as light and shadow in equal measure, reflecting the paradox at the heart of the Doctrine: that the Black Sun creates through darkness and illuminates through absence.

At lower levels, an Ascendant's abilities focus on perception and protection - seeing through deception, warding against corruption, reading the residue of spiritual forces. As they advance and pierce deeper veils, they gain access to increasingly potent channelling abilities, drawing on the archetypal forces that exist beyond form and time. The most accomplished Ascendants are said to touch the sixth veil, the Veil of Form, becoming conduits for the raw patterns from which all things are shaped.

Place in the World

The Doctrine of Emanations is studied primarily at the great library of Rivermount, where the Illuminated Order of the Silver Dawn maintains its halls of contemplation and its carefully guarded archives of sacred texts. Most Ascendants begin their training there, though the Order sends its initiates out into the world once they have passed the first veils - believing that true understanding cannot be found in books alone.

Ascendants are rare. The path demands a temperament that most lack: the willingness to surrender certainty, to sit with doubt, and to look at the world without the comfort of familiar illusions. Those who walk it carry themselves with a stillness that stands apart from the noise of battlefields and taverns. They are sought after as advisors and interpreters of omens, but they answer to no authority beyond the light they follow. In a world where the Eleven Seals weaken and the Void presses closer, an Ascendant's ability to see what others cannot may prove more valuable than any sword.