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Azariah Amaranth - The Dark Lord and leader of The Knights of Walpurgis. His philosophy is one of complete freedom for each individual, believing that government control only destroys who we are as people, and he values personal freedom above all else, regardless of whether or not freedom means a lesser quality of life or danger to the mass public. His mantra, "No gods. No Kings. Only Man" speaks for his intentions to topple the government, allowing all beings on this earth to do as they will.

A being of chaos, Azariah rarely moves against the government or the people himself. Instead, he chooses to prove, through the actions of his Knights and the reactions of the people, that mankind is basically cruel, cowardly, and self-serving, and that any form of authority is just a weak attempt at bringing a sense of order to an otherwise chaotic life, and that in the end, this forced order only benefits those on top.

Little has been discovered about Azariah's past. The ex-auror Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody has uncovered a few details, one concerning a trial for a man who had been sentenced with an inconceivable punishment: the removal of his magical powers. Moody Believes the Dark Lord is this man, and without his own magic, Azariah now has a strong connection to the Elementium, which is a magic of the physical existence itself (see Elementium). Azariah himself has admitted this to some extent during a duel with Headmistress Bidelia Belleford and Deputy Headmaster Nate Aphelion.

It has been noted that he sometimes takes a shadowy form of terrible power, similar in composition to that of the dementors. It has also been noted that in this form he is vulnerable to the positive force of the patronus charm, also much like the dementors.

!Xabbu Basarwa, a member of the San tribe of southern Botswana (San on Wiki) and a foreign student at Hogwarts, seems to have a strange sort of connection between himself and the Dark Lord, and seems to know much more about the situation than he lets on.

(See Knights of Walpurgis)

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The Dark Lord- (See "Azariah Amarianth")

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Elementium- A type of magic about which little is known thanks to the Ministry for Magic's ban on teaching or practicing it. It is said that one in 500 wizards are capable of using Elementium, but if they are not trained, the power simply fades away. Each elementium user can control one of seven elements (Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Plants, Light, and Darkness) or a curious version of the elementium where power over all of the elementium save for light and darkness is present, with Light and Darkness being very rare even amongst elementium, and the power to control all seven being almost unheard of. Because it is a magic unlike conventional wizardry, the Ministry has no way of regulating it, this, combined with the fact that it is possible for house-elves to have this power as well, the Ministry has for many centuries banned it outright. Anyone caught teaching even the basic premise of the Elementium to even someone who hasn't even the potential to do it themselves, faces a punishment of no less than life imprisonment in Azkaban for treason against the Ministry.

Despite these bans and heavy punishments, Professor Charles Tortal (see Magical Concepts Class) has chosen to teach his students, and has discovered one user of each elementium amongst his student body. Known elementium users are:

-Tristan Nightshade - Earth
-Bellatrix Black -Fire
-Katriane Quicompoix - Wind
-Ian de Ponte du Lac - Water
-Emmeline Gray - Plants
-Addie Lumineux - Light
-Hellius Surla - Shadow
-Julian Kahn - Molecular control (gives him power over everything but light and shadow.)

In addition, it is believed the Dark Lord has an advanced version of Julian Kahn's powers, with the obvious difference being his penchant for using the powers of darkness, though he seems incapable of wielding light and can even be damaged greatly by it. (See Azariah Amaranth)

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The Higher Plane- In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows it is revealed that in order for Ravenclaw students to gain access to their own lodgings, they must answer a question at the door. One of these questions asked was "Where do vanished objects go?" to which Professor McGonagall replied "Nothing, that is to say, everything". Far from this being a simple matter of not-so-simple, mind-melting philosophizing, this realm of "Nothing and Everything" is, in fact, a great, wondrous, and also sometimes terrifying reality.

This realm is referred to as the "Higher Plane" to all who have a deep connection to the place. In actuality, all living things share a connection to this place. To the centaurs, it is the Unconscious Domain a place where all knowledge is stored, and all things are connected. (See Centaur Divination It is from here, they believe that all seers receive their visions of the future, a place that can only be visited by them and a perhaps a few human beings, can only visit when in a trance. It is believed to be the realm where all vanished objects go, and from where objects can be conjured. !Xabbu Basarwa had once referred to it as the place where all human hearts and minds are connected. (It should be noted that the Unconscious Domain is noted in Jungian Psychology as the "Unus Mundus", Latin meaning "One Mind", a place Carl Jung explains as accounting for the connections human beings have with each other on an emotional level). Other than that, there is little more known or even theorized about this place. The veil, which stood in the Department of Mysteries on the lowest floor of the Ministry of Magic before its destruction--in which the veil was also obliterated--was revealed by Anton de Ponte du Lac, who had heard it from former Minister Hugh Logan shortly before his death, to be an entryway to this realm, having been created in the early days of the Ministry through experiments in the vanishing of human beings to the Realm of Nothing and Everything (see Human Vanishing Experiments and The Veil).

Human Vanishing Experiements- The difficulty with vanishing a living being becomes more difficult with the complexity of the living entity itself. Among the most difficult to vanish? Human beings and other sentient races--though we shouldn't let that get to our heads. Still experiments in the vanishing of living human subjects have been conducted in the past, however, with disturbing results. Many that have been vanished have never reappeared, trapped forever in that realm where vanished things go, into nothingness. There were a few, however, that were brought back from that place. But they weren't people anymore, though. They would return, physically fit, but mentally unstable, sometimes completely dead to the world, as if trapped somewhere else. Though a door had been created to this realm from these experiments (See The Veil) to the realm where vanished objects go (See The Higher Plane), the Minister for Magic of that time ruled that if contact with this realm lead to the destruction of the human mind, then the the mysteries of this other realm were not worth the risk. Those that came back relatively stable--enough, at least, to speak fairly coherently--complained of hearing voices, but even their minds were scrambled. Eventually, they, too would suffer serious mental breakdowns. The situation finally became truly serious when those other than the test subjects were suddenly claiming to hear things being spoken to them, and being driven mad by it, overwhelmed by what many of them had described the overpowering feeling of longing by this voice. A few even said that this thing, whatever it was, was coming, that it was close. That it was coming through the archway.

At last, a complicated bit a of magic was created in the form of the veil that now blocks the archway. The voices ceased, though those whose minds were too far gone would never recover. The veil keeps whatever might have been trying to get out, in, but still allows for those wanting in to go there. The veil and the gateway itself stood within the Department of Mysteries until its destruction.

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The Knights of Walpurgis- A group of Dark witches and wizards bent on the toppling of the wizarding government. Consisting mostly of various witches, wizards, and vampires and others who feel that the Ministry enjoys too much control over their lives and feel that it should be destroyed, the K.O.W. plots the government's downfall and preaches of a day when everyone is free to do whatever is they will and seek whatever it is they desire. The Knights are a force that idealizes free will, putting it above all over human values--even human life.

Unlike the man around whom they rally, Azariah Amaranth (See "Azariah Amaranth"), the Knights have been known to be violent and bloodthirsty. The Dark Lord, being an advocate for total freedom of choice will without a master for each individual, regardless of the consequences to each individual, does not keep his Knights from the murders, rapes, and destruction for which they hunger.

The masks that each Knight wears not only serves as a disguise to keep his or her antics as a Knight from affecting their public faces, the masks hold a significant meaning to each Knight. Feeling that their "public face" and all the names, titles, and responsibilities their public lives force upon them only belie their true selves, the Knights wear these masks to remove the "false identities" with which they feel they have been branded, often referring to his or her mask as his or her "true face". Outside of the order, a man may be a wealthy billionaire, a father, and a husband, but these are merely falsities which only serve to distract one and others from who they "really are". This tradition amongst the Knights demonstrates their belief that the current world order, or any order for that matter, only serves to allow the very few to control through the invisible strings they force on others, inhibiting their freedoms and who they are as people.

The Knights of Walpurgis were named for "Walpurgis Night", the night opposite Halloween on the calendar. (Walpurgis Night on Wiki)

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Magical Concepts Class- Though not often taught during the course of a young wizard's education, Magical Concepts is the study of magic itself, in a general sense, with the goal of understanding just what makes magic work. Many who study it hope to unlock the secrets of magic, in hopes of better understanding the gifts each witch and wizard possess. Before the office of Headmistress was filled by Bidelia Belleford, the class was only of interest to those wishing to become Unspeakables--researches at the Ministry of Magic who study the mysteries of magic in depth and who are sworn to secrecy--or perhaps just the very curious, The Headmistress decreed that the subject would be hereby required for all students up to Fifth Year. After taking the O.W.L.s, the class can be dropped if a N.E.W.T. in the subject is not needed for that particular student's long-term goals.

Magical Concepts, at its heart, deals with the theorizing on, detecting, and interacting with pure magical energy (see Pure Magic).

Magical Concepts is taught by Professor Charles Tortal.

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Pure Magic- Or, Pure Energy. It is the basis of all magic, and is magic that has yet to be directed by a spellcaster towards a specific purpose. Any idiot with the gift for it can cast a spell, it is simply a matter of learning and repeating the steps for manipulating magic that have already been laid out by another person. Creating spells requires much more non-linear thinking in terms of how one manipulates magic. And even the greatest and most powerful wizards prefer to use incantations and wand-waving in most situations, as attempting to improvise manipulation of magic on the fly is both dangerous and unpredictable. Non-verbal spells are the first step towards manipulation of pure magic, as the caster can no longer rely on the incantation to direct the magical energies he evoking. Wandless magic would be the next step, though, again, even the most powerful witches and wizards in the world prefer an instrument through which to channel and direct magical energies. The human mind is easily distracted, and, as such, unaided spell casting can easily go awry. It would take much discipline to manipulate magical energies in stressful situations like duels or competitions, and so it is not a common practice to go without a wand or even without incantations to direct the magical energies one is using. Still, it is believed that the greatest witches and wizards of our time or any time have had some grasp of the concept of pure magic and how to manipulate it, as it takes a great mind to think in such an abstract fashion.

Pure magic is a very abstract concept, about which nothing has been proven, only theorized. For instance, it is believed that the magic used by untrained witches and wizards is pure magic. There is no thought as to what the spell they are casting is going to do, and, in fact, one cannot even refer to it as "spell casting". The magic that the young witch or wizard is (often unknowingly) manipulating simply reacts to emotion or impulse. If the child is angry, then glass might break. If a child is filled with an urge to get away, he may find himself somehow transported away from the place where he did not want to be. Yes, many people can apparate with a simple thought and a gesture, and there are spells which can shatter things, but it is important to note here that in this case, the children did not employ any of these methods. They did not cast a spell. The magic in them simply reacted to something in their thoughts, a reaction to stimulation rather than a following of a command. That is the subtle difference, and it has been seen many times that magic has a way of reacting to strong emotion, as is seen with the Patronus Charm, and other various (unconfirmed) tales of magic reacting to one person's sacrifice for another, magic acting without a spell to ensure that a person's sacrifice was not in vain and protecting the person that this martyr had died protecting.

As it is very difficult to assess the true nature of pure magic (pure magic itself is only a theory) many ideas (some logical, some seemingly wild imaginings with an almost religious tone to them) have sprung up concerning the nature or pure energy. Some believe that it is all around us, and that it reacts to emotion and urges in every day life, even in muggles. Perhaps, if a muggle is sick, and he really, really, wants to get well, magic will react to this urge and speed his recovery. It is also theorized that when muggles "pray" (attempting to contact astral beings that they believe make and control the world which they call "gods") are actually manipulating magical energies unknowingly. If their prayers seemed to have been "answered" by the gods, then it is simply magical energy reacting to their thoughts and feelings. Most witches and wizards of learning do not accept this theory, as they believe it would insinuate that muggles are indeed capable of using magic, which they say is just not possible or we would all be witches and wizards.

Others say that magic is a force of life itself, and that it gives us life and is connected to our very souls. They believe that magic is "in us, around us, and through us" or is even synonymous with life itself. Some (witches and wizards) merely have the power to manipulate these ever-present energies to their wills. Quite a few odd cults have sprung up around this idea over the years, leading many to the conclusion that the theory is just the wild imaginings of mentally unsound fellows.

And yet, when the power of the Elementium (See Elementium) is concerned, the theory seems have more validity. Only one in 500 wizards are capable of this power to bend a certain element to their will (and when one considers just how few wizards there are in the world, this is a very small percentage of the population--almost unheard of). Their only limits to what they can do with their element seems to be their imagination, and no incantations are required, though one is said to be used in the training of an Elementus. This seems to be an example of energy manipulation without method, the magic of the Elementium being moved only by thoughts or feelings (it is said the that the elementium reacts strongly to feelings of hate, anger, fear, and grief.)

It is true that magic is not monopolized by western men and women waving about their sticks. The Shamans of bushman tribes in Africa have been purported to truly have power of their own. They often employ trances used to come in contact with what they call the "Spirit World". This could be an example of manipulation of pure magical energy, as there is no spell being cast, it is merely a thought and a prayer.

Pure Magical Energy is a theory taught prominently in Magic Concepts Class (See Magic Concepts Class) at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

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The Veil- An old stone archway is housed within an area of the Department of Mysteries known as the "Death Room". The archway has been confirmed to be the door to the realm of the dead, more specifically where the souls of living things go when they die. A few people, a rare few, have even reported hearing voices when standing near the veiled archway, feeling as though there are are people hiding just behind the veil. The veil itself is a complicated and ancient bit of magic designed for holding something back, but what no one knows--or if they know, they are not telling. The true purpose of the veil and the archway is known only to the unspeakables who work in the Department of Mysteries, and enchantments have been placed upon them so that they cannot divulge its secrets. Before his death, Minister Hugh Logan revealed the Minister of Magic is the only person who is privy to this secret who is not bound by any enchantments, but it was quite clear to Anton de Ponte du Lac, that Hugh Logan did not fully understand what he knew.

(See Human Vanishing Experiements and The Higher Plane.)

In any case, the veil and the archway both are now gone, their secrets lost in the destruction the Dark Lord has left in his wake along with all of the Department of Mysteries.

Eleonore Collins

May 22 2009, 11:31:17 AM

Maybe we should put something on S.A.V.I.O.R and the Defense Group? :/