Alchemists of the Golden Dawn

A loosely affiliated order of wizards who seek to broaden their magical horizons by studying the magic practiced by other classes. Alchemists of the Golden Dawn are magical gourmands alert to any opportunity to understand and even practice spontaneous magic like that of sorcerers and bards, or for that matter any other kind of magic normally not available to wizards. Seth was introduced to the order by his Lupine Wars compatriot Mira Choral; she says any wizard can enter the order who can produce a magical item and does not currently belong to the Alchemists of the Eye.

History
The Golden Dawn was founded as a splinter order from the Alchemists of the Eye thirty years ago when the Eye expelled three of its members for reckless magical experimentation. The three expelled members, called the Asterine Trinity, co-founded the Golden Dawn to sponsor the creative and unconstrained study of magic. All three original members of the Trinity are still alive and serving as elders to the Golden Dawn, but they do not govern the order, because unlike the Alchemists of the Eye, the Golden Dawn does not enforce rules of conduct.

The freeform philosophy of the Golden Dawn draws chaotic, artistic wizards to the order; the number of ways Golden Dawn alchemists understand magic is as great as the number of Golden Dawn alchemists. This has led the order to repeated philosophical clashes with the Alchemists of the Eye. The Eye considers the Golden Dawn irresponsible, undisciplined, and cultish; the Golden Dawn considers the Eye narrow-minded and obstructionist. Many magical supply outlets, especially in large cities, are affiliated with one order and will not serve the other.

Mechanics
The Alchemists of the Golden Dawn were designed as a 3.5e prestige class parallelling the Eye. At tenth level, a member of this order could craft alchemical items for half the usual GP cost, use bardic knowledge, and apply metamagic (and even cast some spells) spontaneously. Unfortunately, the Puncture rendered this mechanical model obsolete. It is unknown how the order has adapted to the new reality.