Ardent Mage

The Ardent Mages are a human society of quasi-sorcerers from Auriga.

Society
The Ardent Mages are a human society that have mastered the use of Dust, augmenting their minds and abilities. The primary power these sorcerers derive from is their anger.

The outward appearance other races see them as, a race of stoics. Though this stoicism serves and reflects their society. In order to manipulate the Dust abilities to their fullest, an Ardent Mage must dissociate their mind from their body. Thus elaborate pain rituals have been developed to test themselves and to withstand the their physical discomfort. The more pain they can endure, deeper their relationship with Dust becomes. To them pain is a fundamental element of their society, to the point where children are taught from a young age to withstand it.

History
The Ardent Mages are a distant relative of the Roving Clan civilization, focusing on the high-technological potential of Dust instead of its commercial value. In ancient history they were on the verge of extinction at the hands of a failing Aurigan ecosystem (the world's temporary death, as she would describe it). These circumstances forced them to develop pain rituals in pursuit of survival, their religious traditions are borne of the belief that their gods gave them power in appreciation of this self-inflicted torture, and the fact that it did work.