The Asterine Trinity

The Asterine Trinity are the three mages who co-founded the Alchemists of the Golden Dawn after being expelled from the Alchemists of the Eye.

History
Historically, the highest-ranking Alchemists of the Eye have usually been stodgy old men, as cautious as their order. By coincidence, though, three powerful young wizards emerged in and near Solamnia at the same time, thirty-two years before the Puncture. The great accomplishment of these wizards at such a young age led the Alchemists of the Eye to enshrine all three among the Prelates, the ten most senior-ranking members of the order; it was felt by a majority that this action would enhance both the Eye's scholasticism and its prestige.

Unfortunately for the Eye, the three new members were freethinkers who did not share the disciplined, conservative mindset of the order. The eldest of the three was Lev Smirnov, a foreigner, who at fifty was already the provost of his own mage academy. A famously scientific man, he wanted to test magical hypotheses by experimentation - designing spells around them to see if they worked - much to the consternation of the Eye, who warned that the results of an experiment gone wrong could be cataclysmic. The next was reformed adventurer Canute Lancaster, an evocation specialist given much of the credit for putting down a small undead army menacing the extreme southwest of Solamnia. Lancaster caused scandal with his unorthodox research into the origin of magic, and in particular with his assertion that not all magic derives from the power of the gods. By far the worst of the three from the Eye's perspective, however, was Sidra Arrow. Her meteoric rise to prominence from the daughter of a poor woodcutter to the arcane liaison of the Library at Palanthas had captivated the magical world and inspired countless young mages; she was only the fourth female ever to join the Prelates, and the youngest ever to be given the honor at thirty-eight. But to the Eye's horror, after her induction Sidra was caught experimenting on sorcerers - living and dead - in an effort to ascertain and replicate the source of their power.

Sidra's experimentation was termed a crime against humanity by the ruling membership of the Alchemists of the Eye, and a panel of academicians moved for her expulsion. Of the ten Prelates, only Lev and Canute defended her, arousing further outrage among the more senior Prelates. All three were expelled. The official report on the matter memorably cast them as "mortals bound by the sky, who in their sacrilegious pride aspired to asterine heights;" from this turn of phrase they became known as the Asterine Trinity.

But the matter did not end there. Lev Smirnov had a strong following among his students, Canute Lancaster among the many adventurers affiliated with the Eye, and Sidra Arrow among young wizards in general. When the Trinity founded a new alchemical order, the Golden Dawn, they had an instant credibility that previous rivals of the Eye had lacked. The Golden Dawn hence began as a cult of personality centered on the Asterine Trinity. Through astute management of their guild's image, the Trinity and their inner circle gradually defined the Golden Dawn as an order that valued invention and exploration over regulation.

Today the Alchemists of the Eye enforce a strict system of seniority; the ten governors of the order are the ten most senior members in good standing. They expect that this will prevent a recurrence of the Asterine Trinity affair.