Keeper of the Glorious Fountain

The hot springs of Peregro are beautiful but dangerous as this steam plume suggests.

Overview

The Keeper of the Glorious Fountain is an Imperial title established by the Imperial Senate during Winter 378YE. The title is a sinecure, requiring minimal responsibility but offering a regular income of crystal mana.

The sinecure involves custodianship of the Glorious Fountain of Dawn and Dusk, based around a series of geysers and hot springs in Morrow - a site that is ripe for further development. While the day-to-day operation of the marvellous fountain is overseen by a small professional staff, the Keeper might still be called upon to deal with any problems that are outside their area of expertise.

During the Spring Equinox 380YE, a plague of crystal-eating vermin saw the Seante commission white granite wards to help protect the Fountain, which had the unexpected outcome of adding additional production to the sinecure.

Responsibilities

The Keeper has no particular responsibilities; they simply receive a bounty of crystal mana from the Glorious Fountain of Dawn and Dusk. If the Fountain, or the hot pools from which it rises, were to be threatened in any way then it would be the responsibility of the Keeper to deal with those threats. The Keeper may also be called on to deal with any threats to the small staff who maintain the fountain; there is some risk of problems with the vallorn or Therunin to the north.

Powers

Bounty of Mana

The Keeper of the Glorious Fountain gains custodianship of a sinecure. They receive an income of 9 crystal mana each season.

Appointment

The Keeper of the Glorious Fountain is appointed by unanimous decision of the Urizen senators. If a unanimous decision cannot be reached, the title may be appointed by the Imperial Senate instead.

The title can be held by an Urizen citizen. The Keeper has tenure, and serves until they die or step down. They can be revoked by the General Assembly, the Wintermark National Assembly, and by the Assembly of the Nine.

Tatiana of the Auric Horizon, first
Keeper of the Glorious Fountain

The Glorious Fountain of Dawn and Dusk

In western Peregro are found a series of geysers and hot springs, beneath which lies a nexus of powerful subterranean magic. The magic occasionally bubbles to the surface through the hot springs - on occasions when this happens, the waterspouts are transformed into pure superheated steam, rich with arcane potential. Harnessing the magic of the springs has proved especially challenging.

Recently, a talented Architect named Camilla Sunspire proposed a unique way of harnessing the magic without damaging the magic - or risking an accidental explosion. Following her plan, an intricate arrangement of mithril-lined pipes would channel the flow of water from the largest spring into a specially constructed fountain. Designed with intricate pipes and valves, the fountain would rise to a crescendo at both dawn and dusk (rather than every four hours, twenty-seven minutes, as the natural geyser does). In addition to harnessing the magic of the pools, the mithril pipes caused an accretion of crystalline mana to form around the edges of the wide heat-resistant basin which could be harvested without risk.

When Senator Cato proposed in Winter 378 that a sinecure be constructed, the work of Camilla Sunspire was brought to the Civil Service's attention and the delighted architect was invited to assist with the building project which was completed shortly before the start of the Summer Solstice 379YE.

The fountain itself is maintained by a small staff, assisted by a cadre of ushabti designed specifically to work in the dangerous heat of the hot springs. In addition to collecting the crystal mana, cleaning the fountain's workings, and performing minor calibrations to the valves based on the average rainfall, the staff are kept busy extracting coins, debris and other mementos thrown into the fountain by travellers who do not understand its purpose - or the danger of one of these trinkets blocking one of the main pipes...