Macabre Boccob

Here's what you guys would all basically know about Boccob and his church, The Eternal Library.

Among the Pantheon, Boccob serves as the god of magic, but his nature seems to place him outside the realm of the other deities. Where Moradin or St. Cuthbert are active in the lives and affairs of mortals, Boccob's main selling point is that he simply doesn't care. He seems to be above the struggles of the world, and thus magic is a force that is a cast off of his own power. This has a number of effects in the legends of Stumgort and Aversill. As the argument goes, if Boccob was more responsible with magic then human power wouldn't continually have to be reigned in by the gods. If this is, in fact, the case, it wouldn't matter much. Boccob seems to care very little about who gets power or who doesn't. He is worshipped less as an attempt to gain favor and more as an exercise in the discipline that his followers see as necessary to use the powers that they uncover. As the myths go, if Boccob does actually notice you, his power is so great as to wipe you out of existence.

From a political standpoint, there are a number of organizations that deal with arcane secrets and lore, as well as numerous groups dedicated to the policing of magic use. The Eternal Library (church of Boccob) is generally at the forefront of the politics of magic in any civilized human area (Elves prefer Corellen Larethion). Wizard advisers to political authority are almost always appointed by The Eternal Library, and organizations for monitoring or policing magic use either begin as offshoots of the Eternal Library or are given authority by that group.

For this reason, figuring prominently in each major city is an Eternal Library. It's appearance depends on the city (Seacourt's is garish and polished; in Streckhorn it is a dark place uninviting and Gothic), but its general upkeep is pretty much the same. Most of the Library is off limits to non-church members (and even these areas are divided by one's status in the church), but it provides services such as the sale of magic items, instruction in magical skill and spells, numerous commercial casting services, professional services such as sages and scribes(though not Wayfairers), incarceration for magical beings, as well as the bureaucratic upkeep of magical licensing (it's as RMVish as it sounds).

Outside the city, the Eternal Library often operates temples for the collection of arcane secrets from the wilds and from prelapsarian ruins. In like manner, most of the Libraries less metropolitan plans are carried out in rural temples, such as magical laboratories, observatories, and academies.

Other major organizations that perform similar services to the Eternal Library are The Wayfairers Guild, The Pragnastic Assembly, The Hall of Secrets, and The Order. There are any number of smaller guilds, colleges, and schools for wizards, but none have the kind of political power wielded by the organizations listed above.