Arcana Regulation Bureau

The Arcana Regulation Bureau (sometimes abbreviated A.R.B.) was an official organization of the Arlanestran Territories. The Bureau's primary responsibility was to enforce government law regarding the usage of magic; in particular, to hunt down and capture those practicing magic without a license.

Early History

The Bureau was founded in 605 LA as a response to the growing distrust of practitioners of magic, particularly wizards. The horrors of the Logos War, wherein the kingdom of Chernarus used a weapon called the Logos Vortex to destroy two cities, was still fresh in the minds of Arlanestran citizens. Though the Vortex was dismantled not long after the fall of Chernarus, fears that the unstoppable mass destruction would be repeated caused Executor Duncan Varner to form the Bureau.

The A.R.B. created formal licenses, essentially making the practicing of magic a government-sponsored activity. Only by submitting a formal request, along with rigorous testing and a steep fee, could an individual be allowed to use magic within Territorial borders. Wizarding schools and even Bardic colleges were not immune; those organizations would have to heavily regulate their students, and report any violations to the government.

The Bureau exploded in popularity with the citizens of both the Arlanestran Territories and the Kessler Dominion. Eventually, the Bureau became so powerful that its reach exceeded the borders of Arlanestra, pushing into the Dominion and beyond. Magic-users, on the other hand, were usually resentful of the A.R.B., though few dared to challenge their ever-growing authority in public.

Shaping of Frontier Life

While magic was practiced in Arlanestra and Kessler, it was carefully watched. The expansion of the Arlanestran Territories westward created a Frontier, where clockworks and technology became standard, but without the infrastructure and history of formal magical practice as in the east, arcane arts were relegated to the realm of the outlaw. Hedge wizards and outlaw sorcerers would occasionally escape Arlanestra and head west to the Frontier, where the Bureau's resources were thin enough that local sheriffs had to be utilized to prevent violations of Arlanestran law.

The Rise of the Thaedran Imperium

Eventually, three wizard schools in Arlanestra- the Aurora Tower, the Elysium Tower in New Volkenburg, and the Starspire- organized a secret plot to rid themselves of the heavy fetters of arcane regulation. Grand spells cast in 659 LA allowed the towers and the lands surrounding them to tear out of the ground and rise into the air, causing widespread ecological destruction and massive earthquakes. A brief attempt to stop the rising rebel "Skylords" by the AR.B.'.s agents was stymied, and an uneasy truce was established.