Cinderbrand
The Ashfall Warlords
“Burn first. Apologize never.”
The Warlords held the passes by being impossible to remove. Cinderbrand students are loud, fast, and convinced a duel is a conversation you win.
The Ember KeepBurn & Overwhelm
Malakor · Year of the Long Vigil
ArcanumAcademy
A truce nobody trusted. A school built over a sealed door. Four houses of mythical creatures learning to kill what crawls out of it — with cards, tempers, and house pride on the line.
4
Houses
4
Mythic species
22
Spell cards
1
Legion
The war within sight
How the school began
Every house still tells the story with itself as the hero. The bones of it are the same.
I
Malakor, divided
Four proud factions held the nation: the Ashfall Warlords in the passes, the Thunderpeak Riders in the high air, the Glasmere Circle in the frozen meres, the Vaultborn Masons underground. They raided each other for a century and called it tradition.
II
The Blood-Forged Legion
Something old woke beneath the border. It did not raid — it harvested. Villages went quiet overnight, and the thing that came back wearing them moved only after dark.
III
A truce of necessity
The four factions signed a pact they trusted no one to keep, pooled their magic, and founded one school in the contested middle: a place to forge the next generation into something the dark could not harvest.
IV
The choosing
Each faction sent its most promising pupil. Houses grew up around those first students, and so did the grudges. The academy has been the only thing standing between Malakor and the Legion ever since.
Four disciplines, four grudges
The Houses
Your house is your discipline, your dormitory and your politics. It decides how you duel — and who is obligated to hate you on tournament night.
House points decide the year
Fire
Skyrend
The Thunderpeak Riders
“Strike before the thunder lands.”
Riders raced storms for sport and messages. Skyrend trains instinct over planning — the fastest chain of spells is its own kind of strategy.
The Spire of Nine WindsSpeed & Chain Reactions
Rimewatch
The Glasmere Circle
“Patience is the sharpest blade.”
The Circle answered every raid with silence, right up until the trap closed. Rimewatch students are the school's best analysts and its worst enemies.
The Glass CloisterTraps, Hexes & Control
Deepstone
The Vaultborn Masons
“What we build, we outlive.”
Masons sealed the academy's foundations before the first lesson was taught. Deepstone students are slow to speak, slower to break, and impossible to rush.
The Undervault HallsShields & Endurance
What you are born as
Species & temperament
Species is the magic in your blood — one passive, one active power, and a temperament the whole school will learn to read before you open your mouth. House is what you choose to study. They do not have to agree.
Dragonkin
Fire · TemperamentalWrath first, thought second — and a fierce loyalty underneath it. A Dragonkin learns to aim their temper the way they aim a spell.
ProudFiercely loyalImpatient
Passive
Kindled Blood
Your first fire spell each duel costs 1 less.
Active · once per duel
Draconic Roar
Once per duel: deal 4 damage and your next fire spell deals double.
Thunderbird
Storm · ImpulsiveActs a heartbeat before thinking and usually gets away with it. Brilliant in bursts, allergic to waiting.
RestlessBoldGenerous
Passive
Windstep
Draw an extra card on the first turn of every duel.
Active · once per duel
Skyfall Cry
Once per duel: gain 3 mana and draw a card.
Yuki-Onna
Frost · Cold & CollectedSpeaks little and misses nothing. Feels deeply, shows almost none of it — and never loses count of who wronged whom.
MeasuredWatchfulUnforgiving
Passive
Still Air
Hexes and traps you play last one turn longer.
Active · once per duel
Winter's Verdict
Once per duel: freeze your opponent's mana for a turn and deal 3.
Golem
Stone · StoicUnhurried, unimpressed, unbreakable. A Golem speaks once and means it, which is why the whole school listens.
PatientDependableBlunt
Passive
Bedrock
Start every duel with 8 extra health.
Active · once per duel
Vault Stance
Once per duel: gain 10 shield and cleanse all hexes on yourself.
How a duel actually plays
Cards, not reflexes
Duels are turn-based card battles in the spirit of old tabletop mages. Shuffle a deck, draw a hand, spend mana that grows each turn. A well-built deck beats a lucky draw nearly every time — and each element wins a different way.
Emberlash
1Spell · FireC
Deal 3 damage. Burn 1 for 1 turn.
C · EMBEAC · EN
Fire
Burn & OverwhelmFast damage that keeps burning after the spell lands. Win before your opponent can stabilize.
Chain Lightning
3Spell · StormU
Deal 3 damage, +2 for each card played before it this turn.
U · CHAIAC · EN
Storm
Speed & Chain ReactionsCheap spells that feed one another. Every card you chain makes the next one land harder.
Glacial Snare
2Trap · FrostU
Trap: negate the next attack against you and deal 4 damage.
U · GLACAC · EN
Frost
Traps, Hexes & ControlSet the board before your enemy moves. Freeze their tempo and punish every attack they dare.
Bulwark Sigil
2Ward · StoneC
Gain 8 shield.
C · BULWAC · EN
Stone
Shields & EnduranceOutlast everything. Stack wards, shrug off blows, and let the mountain win the long game.
Mana grows
Start small, cap at ten. A cheap curve beats one expensive finisher.
Traps wait
Frost lays cards face-down that fire the moment an attack comes in.
Allies linger
Summons strike at the end of every one of your turns until they fade.
The reason the school exists
The Blood-Forged Legion
They do not march. They arrive. The Legion works only after dark, wears what it kills, and gets stronger the longer a fight drags on. Every class you pass and every duel you win is practice for the night it reaches the gates.
Bloodsworn Thrall
Pack enemy
Legion conscripts, sent in threes. Weak alone, vicious in a rush.
Hemophage
Life-drainer
Bleeds health back out of every wound it opens. Long duels feed it.
Veilripper
Shadow ambusher
Strikes between turns, when the wards are down and no one is looking.
Ironclad Revenant
Armored brute
A dead soldier welded into plate. Slow, and almost impossible to break.
Warmaster Khazduun
The Gorecrowned
The Legion's arm behind every raid on Malakor. The academy exists because of him.
The entrance rite
Choose your blood. Then choose your house.
Species decides the magic you were born with. Your house decides how you will fight, who will cheer for you, and who will spend all term trying to knock you off the yard.
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Arcanum Academy · Malakor