Methusial¶
Methusial was an arch-wizard of the failing council of the Order of Wizards who led a large body of followers out of the order, won the opening battles of the civil war that followed, and was killed soon after. His splinter group, led on by his two human apprentices, became the Nexa-Vinian Order (S386, S372).
The split from the Order¶
By his time the council of arch-wizards that governed the Council of Wizards "was down to four" and "began to flounder. They became bitterly divided over how to deal with issues" (S386). "The arch wizard Methusial and a large group of followers announced their intention to leave the Order of Wizards. Civil war broke out and Methusial's insightful preparations led to early victories that destroyed or imprisoned much of the leadership of the order, including the current head arch-wizard, Erazmius. However, Methusial himself was killed shortly after" (S386). The old order was left "scattered and leaderless."
The war that grew from his split is the Nexa-Vinian War, dated 1864 to 1895 MA in the Age of Magic. His apprentices Nexagar and Vinias "stepped up to lead the group," and the splinter took their names (S386).
The Halls of Methusial¶
In the Fifth Age, the Halls of Methusial, "Archwizard," lie in Brusau, in a place of bedrooms, offices and religious texts associated in the same notes with a hidden sect of Arcantus and a great library; among what is kept there is a book in the Ancient High Kalari language, the Book of the Eye, and an armory of golden plate (S186). The halls were visited in the Sancturi Campaign.
Erazmius¶
Erazmius was "the current head arch-wizard" of the Order of Wizards when Methusial broke from it, and one of the leaders Methusial's opening victories "destroyed or imprisoned" (S386). Which of the two was his fate the history does not say. The Compendium tells the same war without naming him: Methusial's early victories "destroyed the leadership of the old order" (S372).
Earlier accounts¶
The Compendium (S372, S384) adds that the council "eventually failed several hundred years later" after falling to four, and does not name Erazmius. The Fourth Age account of the order's origins (S358, 2026) does not mention Methusial: there the Council of Wizards "fell apart after most of the Archwizards fell in the demon wars (all except one, Lothos)," and "an alliance between two of the remaining apprentices of the Archwizards" founded the Nexa-Vinian Order. That telling leaves no room for other surviving arch-wizards; Methusial is kept here from the older histories, the only sources that name him.
Gap
No source gives Methusial's people, his sphere of magic, his reasons for leaving the Order, or how he died. Whether he was one of the First Wizards or a later arch-wizard is not said. The Fifth Age notes do not say who built the Halls of Methusial or when.