As I reflect upon my tenure as Archmage of the Magii of the Inner Flame, well, I find it difficult to just jump right into Day One of My Term as Archmage. A bit of background is in order. Upon my arrival to this wonderful, magical land, I met many fascinating and magical folk and each one was a member of this mysterious Magii of the Inner Flame organization; people like Lexington, torko, Strawbrain, Estlor, Furchin, Warlocke, Isabo, Llama, Floyd, Luminere, Pappy. I can't name them all but you get the idea. I idolized them as they ran about displaying their powers, casting spells, working wonders. I quickly applied to become a mage, having been endowed with magical skills from my own world. I hoped to hone these skills with the help of the MIF.

As a young mage, torko began teaching me everything he knew about spells, magic, conjuring and the like. Long days were spent with him, training intensely and learning the rules of magic and generally all things MIF. Whilst I utterly enjoyed my studies (being smitten with my mentor!), when not studying or practicing, I joined other mages and wizards for a swim in Snake River. We had such fun tossing everyone in and seeing if they would sink...I mean float. Ah, but I digress. Anyway, suffice it to say that I learned most of what I know today from torko. I worked tirelessly to learn everything about each rank and moved up at a steady clip. Finally, Furchin asked that I become his other firstmage, Estlor already being one.

I was thrilled and humbly accepted the post. Under his tutelage, I learned the art of stealth and ambush food-fighting! How many poor Karchanians did we lure into the enchanted forest only to pummel the unsuspecting victims with a variety of food stuffs? But more importantly, I learned how to test people for entrance into the MIF and back then, EVERYONE wanted to belong to the MIF. When Furchin retired, Estlor became archmage and I remained a firstmage under Estlor and Estlor picked Warlocke as his other firstmage. When you become archmage, you inherit a firstmage from your predecessor and then you get to hand-pick who replaces you. Eventually, MOST firstmages go on to become archmage and so it is important that you put much thought into who you pick to replace you. If you treat this selection lightly, it could make trouble for the MIF in the future. Anyway, during Estlor's reign, we spent an awful lot of time in the sewers of Pendulis battling the hideous creatures there. Some could not be beaten by a single person so we had to go in as a gang and hope everyone made it out alive. But we only did that for practice because our real nemesis, Zhanos, was very active during Estlor's reign and if we weren't fighting in the sewers, we were fighting on the battlefield. I remember that we never got any sleep during those times.

Estlor's reign as archmage ended when mine began and I became the first female archmage of the MIF! I immediately pulled Floyd from the MIF ranks to serve as my firstmage. Warlocke remained as my other firstmage, with me having inherited him from Estlor. As I happily, albeit nervously, took over the reigns of leadership of the MIF, Karchan was still at war with Zhanos and his faction. Every day, I was embroiled in either a battle, a negotiation, a threat or some such with Zhanos and his forces. Every day, I watched good mages, wizards and even sorcerers get critically wounded and I saw good non-MIFers, like the Knights and the Rangers, get bloodied and beaten, too. Those were dark days, indeed.

Estlor and I got into a heated argument during my reign and I still think I'm right...to this day. I merely wanted to create a position under that of firstmage without seeking approval of the then Eternals like Estlor, torko, Furchin, and Lexington. This wasn't expressly forbidden by the constitution. In fact, if you read the first sentence of the first amendment, this was something I could do as a power of holding the office. We argued for weeks until he finally ended in all by amending the constitution with Amendment #2. But not before I did what I wanted to do anyway. So, during my reign, there was a single position under the firstmages but that position did not become permanent. We had it only during my reign and since I have waited so long to write my memoirs, I can't rightly recall the name of the position. I remember the arguing moreso than what the argument was about, probably because Estlor would get so mad, his face would turn purple and...oops, I digress again. Anyway, years later, I found out that it wasn't my idea the Eternals opposed, so much as it was the fact that I hadn't asked for their permission. To this day, torko and I, even though we have long been married, still don't agree about that whole constitutional argument.

Truly, my greatest contribution to the MIF was laying down procedures, coherent procedures, for MIF duels. As I moved up through the ranks and was tested by different elders, the parameters for each duel changed: the number of attacks, the number of defenses, who would go first, who keeps a record. I felt rather unsure of myself but began, as a wizard, to institute some standards when I tested folks in membership duels. By the time I finally became archmage, I had the standards down pat and soon, others began using these procedures. I suppose I need to get those down on paper before I get any more forgetful. Never, in my many years here, did I ever not believe in the MIF and its magic nor did I ever leave its ranks.

I've been a staff-carrying member for a long time now and I hope you (young mage that may be reading this) make the journey all the way to Eternal-hood and perhaps serve in office of the greatest magical organization in the Land of Karchan.

~Morganza, Eternal of the Atmosphere of the Magii of the Inner Flame