# Character State

**Mira (Chancellor of Pyre Academy)**
*   **Magic:** Fire/Kineticism. High-output, volatile, and transformative. Her magic is responsive to her emotional state (flames turning violet-white and jagged).
*   **Physicality/Presence:** Leaves smoking floral patterns on stone when agitated; wears crimson silk.
*   **Personality:** Decisive, sharp-tongued, and fiercely protective of her academy's identity. She views her magic as an "engine" and resents administrative constraints.
*   **Status:** Burdened by the Imperial Decree. She feels the "Founder’s Binding"—a soul-tether to Dorian—as a physical dread, tasting of copper and rot.

**Dorian Solas (Chancellor of Crystalline Spire)**
*   **Magic:** Ice/Stasis. Precision-based, mathematical, and frozen equations.
*   **Physicality/Presence:** Described by Mira as meticulous to a fault (polishing buttons, checking timing). Bases his operations out of a glacial ridge 300 miles north.
*   **Personality:** Adheres strictly to rules and traditional values. Mira perceives him as cold and condescending, though his internal perspective is not yet explored.
*   **Status:** Currently waiting at the Obsidian Bridge to enact the merger.

**Kaelen (Senior Proctor, Pyre Academy)**
*   **Attributes:** Tawny skin, loyal, carries a ceremonial brand. Sensitive to the thermal shifts in Mira's aura.

# World State

**The Starfall Union (The Merger)**
*   **The Decree:** An Imperial mandate with a blood-red seal smelling of ozone and burnt sugar. It forces the immediate merger of the Pyre Academy and the Crystalline Spire.
*   **Founder’s Binding:** A rare magical graft that links the two chancellors into a single administrative and magical circuit. It is described as a "lobaotomy" for the institutions—fusing kineticism with stasis.
*   **Location:** The bridge between the two realms is the Obsidian Bridge.

**The Environment & Crisis**
*   **The Starfall:** A celestial cataclysm. Silver-black "ether" is drifting through the atmosphere, physically devouring stars.
*   **The Volcanic Reach:** Home to the Pyre Academy. Characterized by high heat, cedarwood, and white ash. 
*   **The Aetheric Firmament:** Destabilizing, causing the Emperor to move toward centralizing magical power under the Throne's direct control.

**Magical Infrastructure**
*   **Waygates:** High-speed magical transport exists between the North and the Reach.
*   **The Seal Catalyst:** A specific sapphire catalyst is required to finalize the ritual of the Accord.
*   **Academy Philosophies:** Pyre (Kineticism/Engine of Empire) vs. Spire (Anchors/Calculated Scribes). Their conflict is fundamental to the world's power balance.