Brorvonius
via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.
The wizard Brorvonius is famous both as one of the finest magicological minds in the history of Realmgard, as well as for his abrupt retirement from any and all magicological pursuits. Born into the territory of the Duchy of Middlesbrooke, Brorvonius first appears in the historical record named among the contributors to a manual on the prudent use of fire-based magic. The original manuscript was, ironically, lost in a fire. Numerou, copies, however, survive throughout the magicological libraries of Realmgard.
Bronvorius’ sudden retirement and seeming renunciation of magiclogy is treated as tantamount to a sudden, unexplained disappearance (not an entirely unheard-of fate for prominent wizards), though Brorvonius himself is, in fact, recorded to have lived for a period of time after his retirement.
The circumstances of this sudden, unprompted retirement and abandonment of a life of magicological study has let to decades of indecisive speculation, not helped by Brorvonius himself refusing to elaborate. While the notion that an old, accomplished man simply retired is widely accepted, given Brorvonius’ status as the foremost wizard of his day — if not ever — has also led to more outlandish theories. The fact that Brorvonius abandoned his tower at the top of the Brorvonberg outside Middlesbrooke has given rise to theories that Brorvonius’ dabbling with less-than-wholesome magic inadvertently led to the conjuration of some malevolent being that drove him from the tower and has haunted it ever since, though the evidence for this is merely circumstantial.
The contents of Brorvonius’ tower remains one of the greatest ongoing mysteries in Realmgard. The magic keeping the tower locked and sealed has continued to vex generations of aspiring treasure-hunters.
As Brorvonius himself was an advisor of the Dukes of Middlesbrooke and involved with the court, that Bronvonius was driven from Middlesbrooke by politcal intrigues has also been suggested. The two most common variations of this theory centre on Brorvonius either being exiled by the machinations of a jealous magicological rival seeking to take control of his tower, or else Bronvonius’ torrid, secret love affair with a lady of the court — in some versions, even the Duke’s wife or daughter. This, too, has little concrete evidence but remains a tantalising possibility for certain historians.
Brorvonius was known to be both a powerful wizard and a prolific scholar. His works on alchemy are held in particular high regard and several techniques and alchemical devices still widely used originate with Brorvonius. While he is most associated with the Ducal court of Middlesbrooke, Brorvonius was patronised by many of the rulers of Realmgard and spent at least a brief time at many of the courts throughout the continent. Similarly, he lectured at many of Realmgard’s universities and participating in numerous disputations with the other magicological luminaries of his day.
In the years of retirement, Brorvonius retired to the south of Gallicantu, caused a minor stir by marrying a much-younger woman, rarely uttered so much as a word about magicology, and devoted the bulk of his time to artfully arranging flowers. In fact, the last book he is known to have written was a lengthy discourse on the art of flower arrangement.
I’ve mentioned Brorvonius’ locked tower before and I do intend to write a story to give that some pay-off. Ultimately, that fairly cryptic reference to a wizard named Brorvonius made me realise that I had a historical character I could work on fleshing out, though that this point, I don’t have much beyond “best wizard ever.”
With that in mind, Brorvonius isn’t really based on a real person, though the picture I used is a painting of Paracelsus, a fairly important figure in chemistry and medicine. The connection to a famous alchemist does kinda work, but I mostly picked that image because it’s actually pretty close to how I’ve been envisioning Brorvonius in my mind.
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