Razi

Razi may be the most influential mage in the history of the Free Council^[1], and orchestrated the Great Refusal that precipated the formation of the Free Council and the creation of the Pentacle. While veterans of the Nameless War like Kosciej the Deathless led the lead the charge against the Seers of the Throne, Razi was worked hard to unify the Nameless Orders and alongside Vidocq organised peace with the Diamond Orders. He was almost certainly Mastigos, although a few stories suggest that he was Thyrsus.

Born in Shiraz, Persia in 1856, son of a minor government official, Razi Awakened at an unusually early age after exposure to High Speech in the ruins of Persepolis. The Mystagogue whose expedition caused the accident sponsored his education, and he attended the famous Dar-ul Funun university, founded by the Shah to modernize Persia. A polymath with a gift for languages, social theories, and economics, Razi became a diplomat and traveled extensively, eventually dropping out of his Sleeper life entirely after his parents’ deaths. Declining membership in the Mysterium without rancor, Razi found his calling in the rapid social development of the steadily gathering Nameless.

As he moved from Assembly to Assembly, he made the contacts that would later make the Great Refusal possible. His ability to empathize with anyone and boundless fascination with how others operate kept the often-fractious Assemblies together, but it was the firm courage of his convictions beneath the friendliness that fueled the plan to betray Hegemony.

Razi was instrumental in the planning and logistics behind The Great Refusal in the final days of the Nameless War. It was he that suggested to many of the disparate Nameless mages that they entertain the Seer's proposal to join up - all the while planning to counter-attack the unsuspecting slaves of the Throne.

Famed for his insight into many problems, love for technology, and extravagant interest in tobacco, he is said to have been magically cured of lung cancer five times. (Some stories say this was by his own magic, others imply these spells were gestures of admiring followers.) He was still active in the Free Council when the link between smoking and cancer was revealed. His response is reported to have been, “That figures.”

In the 20th century, Razi enjoyed six decades of retirement in the Pentacle he’d helped create, appearing at Convocations and Assemblies all over the world. He politely refused any attempts to put him in charge of anything, but took a keen interest in anything new.

Razi has not had well-attested contact with any mage since the early 1970s, and the official Free Council line is to assume he is dead. He was over 100 years old the last time he was seen, after all. On the other hand, there is also no firm evidence that he has died, for among mages absence and age do not always imply death. A few Libertines say that he has joined the Oracles.

• MTAw: Tome of the Pentacle