Solomon Page

Traits

Arcanima prodigy, but are demonologists meant to be this adorable; scholar on ‘Nymian Post-Convention Diplomacy,’ ‘Mathematics on Universal Structure,’ and ‘Metaphysical Architecture & Sacred Forms’; will talk your ear off about his interests if you let him; prepare for the deep inhale before he answers even simple questions; prone to wanderlust and uncovering secrets best left buried; oscillates between being a wet noodle; and unexpectedly competent; quietly thinks he’s hot shit (finger guns); protective of his arcane ‘intellectual property’; very driven and passionate but tries not to step on anyone on the way up; but sometimes he gets tunnel-visioned; and sometimes things break.Mother is the exarchos of a Sharlayan island; writes extended letters home where he talks all around the issues; able to return whenever he wants to, but can't bring himself to do it; Calamity trauma, probably; likes to keep busy so he's always finding new projects to work on and rarely stays in one place for any time at all; spent his childhood in warzones so his grasp on morality is skewed, sketchy, and tenuous at best; maybe he never left— in heart, in bones; maybe that’s why arguments leave his hands shaking for hours or why it feels like he’s trying to kill you during them; subtly obsessive tendencies; curiosity will one day kill this cat; he knows this, and he's weirdly fine with it; “everything I’ve ever let go of has claw marks on it.”

Biography

For people who want the more long-winded (but certainly still fairly abridged) version of Solomon's biography, from a young Sharlayan governor's son to a Limsan arcanima academy, war, and beyond. However, to get a more visceral taste of this, the 'stories' link at the top of the page might be useful!

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Philosophies

Ever wanted to know what a Freislerian Custodian, Arcane Territorialist, or Neo-practic is? Oh. No? Well, that's unfortunate, cause...

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Publications

It should be noted that the list of academic publications attached to Lord Solomon Page consists mostly of knowledge collated together from already-public sources for: ease of use; cultural localisation; ethical considerations; the marginal expansion on certain subjects; or tying rarely-connected studies together. This is typical of his bloodline which, although filled with skilled and decorated magi, continues to hold a reputation of being staunch, arcano-academic conservatives and traditionalists celebrated by the Sharlayan Bibliothec faction.

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Biography

The Page Family is a known quantity in both the islands of the Northern Empty and Ul'dah, jewel of the desert. Solomon Page is heir to the main branch on the Sharlayan island of Tuhl in the Northern Empty, but much of his young childhood was spent abroad. At eight, he studied under tutors in Ul'dah. At ten, he attended the La Noscean Admiralty Academy of Arcanima and Natural Philosophy. At fourteen, the Calamity hit, the silver spoon fell from his mouth (solid, final thud), and he was promptly enrolled in the school of hard knocks.Things were so much more chaotic back then: the moon falling; the shelling and endless fire; the awful silence. So with the star torn asunder, maybe the powers that be looked the other way when a boy but fourteen years old marched into the world of condottieri and landsknecht to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those twice his age, running (stumbling) into the fray.And being a prodigy was supposed to be easy, but they said it would be a great adventure and that they would do great things - that they should be proud. The story book is waterlogged and stained in some gutter, now, though.It's not until seventeen that he sees his mother, his father, his two little sisters, baby brother, and dozens of cousins again, but by then it's too late, he'd lost the ability to sit still because he'd only learned how to make his head a vacuum by drowning it in noise - by never stopping. He will say that it was the world that did the breaking, not him; all he’s done is simply adapt to the curve.Four years later, he lives in the Ul'dahn estate of his first cousin, once removed, and still writes about a dozen family members every month, but he makes sure he's never catching his breath. It’s easy with his penchant for delving into the deep maws, fathomless depths, and Old Bones of the earth. That’s where they keep the Good Books, after all: the ones about Long-Limbed Neighbours and Ever-Smiling Chaperones; the ones that read you far quicker than you read them. It’s just his special interest, though, that’s all.He’d really rather like to go ballroom dancing, too.

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Philosophies

“Ugh. Oh yeah, the date was going great, honestly, at least until I learned he was a Custodian.” / “Custodian? Of what? And why’s that a problem?” / “Capital C.” / “Oh. Ohhhhhhhh. A Freesbee. Guh-roooooooooss.” / “Right? So archaic. Probably dances around in funny hats, too.”

Freislerian Custodialism. Named after the movement's founder, Custodians believe that magic should be used for the betterment of society as a whole, but not necessarily via sharing its lore. They argue that total dissemination is liable to do more harm than good, and that it is instead the duty of trusted, proven, learned magi and sages to work it safely.Arcane Territorialist. Territorialists are chiefly concerned with their central, oftentimes zealous belief that a mage has a right to protect their intellectual property. Additionally, they often push for laws granting greater sovereignty over their “tower enclosures” (whatever primary residence and grounds they conduct their magic in) on the basis that, since spellwork has a tendency to alter the laws of physics in their domain, they see no reason why it shouldn’t alter the laws of the land, too.Neo-practicism (Dalmascan Demonology). Neopractics choose to embrace the “beautiful pageantry” of extraplanar worlds as a topic worthy of study and appreciation, while still stressing the fact that dealing with their residents should be done only when absolutely necessary (such as when they are already in our world), from a purely professional standpoint, and with assumed (though they would hazard to say 'factual') hostility. Although a neopractic prefers to eschew arbitrarily-weighted phrases like “good” and “evil” due to being universal abstracts, they often insist that interdimensional diplomacy should consist largely of “maintaining borders” and keeping both sides in their own ponds, believing that one need not hate them to still accept certain cold, hard truths: that whatever small chance one might find a glimmer of likeness or commonality is not worth the damage of trying; that the vast majority of demons are far more interested in using us and then eating us when our use runs out than being our friends; and that although some of them may choose to look like us, act like us, sometimes even almost think like us, that are not us… and they do not belong here. Conveniently, Solomon is adept at doing mental gymnastics to rationalise why he should be afforded dozens of exceptions.

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Academic Publications

Written by “Suleiman effendi” (most likely Solomon) under the guidance of Emre effendi, the book attempts to make a case for the superiority of the “Dalmascan approach” (or “method”) to Demonology over that of the Sharlayan model, including the rungs system. According to Suleiman, its attempt to make a purely-practical system of categorization, leads to it being hamstrung and inaccurate both literally and practically. It suggests that, since the demon’s greatest weapon is knowledge, by demonstrating your own over its actual structure, culture, hierarchy, and spiritual sympathies puts it immediately on the backfoot and less certain it can exploit your ignorance. Beyond the practical side, it goes out of its way, on numerous occasions, to discuss the “bright, vivid, and breathtaking pageantry” of many of its fiefdoms and duchies, and that the pleasure of that knowledge and experience makes knowing worthy in and of itself, to not be broken down into “yet another” simple twelve-step program.

Synopsis pending.

Unlike many of the other publications, this one was potentially quite groundbreaking– potentially, because a few hours after submitting it to the Sharlayan Studium, he sent in a request to have it removed, and so all that remains is the name in the logbook.

An ethnography regarding the role of the state, state-approved sainthood, and magocratic jingoism found in the island-nation of Ismyrna, and on how its republic turned rapidly autocratic under its charismatic leader, Kiamke Zavoi.

A treatise on the danger of freeing someone from love potions, charms, and enchantments meant to romantically ensnare another, and how the ‘love,’ fabricated or otherwise, feels no less real to the individual, and losing it no less painful– or even more painful due to how rose-tinted and perfect it's designed to seem.

Synopsis pending.

Although the author emphasises the importance of removing moral judgments from entire disciplines of magic, he uses enchantment as ‘debatably’ (for rhetorical purposes) a far more heinous form of magic than demonology has ever been, as it violates an individual's mind and strips them of the basic, inalienable right of ‘choice.’ It makes extensive use of visceral parallels.

Synopsis pending, but it really is written on the tin.

Synopsis pending.