Interlude II.

“There was murder... there were unspeakable practices, and all of them were for the good, the bloody good, the bloody myth, for the grail, for the Tower.”

―STEPHEN KING, The Gunslinger

     The history of the Tower is the history of the Ministry, and of the Capital at large. While I could take you across the country on a guided tour of magically-significant sites (by province or pentacle, as you prefer), it's not necessary to the narrative so unless we get to one of them I won't waste your time. Where goes magic, so goes life. The rivers and fountains and streams and pools it forms draw living creatures like iron to a magnet or moths to a flame. Early man followed its pathways in his migrations across the land, settling where magic energies pooled and gave abundant life to the world. As these settlements grew, the unsuspecting geomancies of Sleeper public works and civil engineering changed the landscape, damming the flows, redirecting their courses, and forming new pools. Where these settlements flourished the Power took on the flavour of the local culture. Borders and boundaries established by the consensus became mystically significant as the frontier faded and the idea of Canada reinforced itself. Magic gone fallow since the fall of Hyperborea was repurposed as a nation was born. For centuries the greatest source of accessible magical power within the Dominion was the Mount Royal Node. Because of this, prior to the Accord in 1982, Montreal was the eldritch capital of Canada.

     It is of note that I said 'accessible' with regard to the Mount Royal Node. The greatest source of 'clean' magical energy anywhere in the Dominion is hands-down the York Sky Node, five times the size of Mount Royal. Unfortunately its position five hundred metres above the ground meant it was pretty hard to get at. Until they built the Tower.
     553 metres tall. Three years and 63 million dollars to build, a marvel of technology, effort and tradesmanlike know-how. A few years after it opened, they built the dome as a battery to hold the extra flow, and then a big concert and sports venue a few years after that. Then power plants. Condominiums. All climbing to the sky thanks to the extra geomantic juice provided by that giant lightning rod grounding the Sky Node to earth. Leaving out all mention of its value as a phallic symbol, the eldritch wealth provided by the Tower is the real reason Toronto is the largest city in the Dominion. And since 1982, it has been home of the Ministry of Supernatural Resources. 
     While most Commonwealth nations have their own analogue of this governmental branch, nowhere in the world will you find one as well-organized or tightly run as Canada's, and that's a fact. The MSR opened its doors on July 2, 1982, the day after Canada became a nation in its own right. Along with the Canada Act, the Secret folk of the Great White North signed the Arcanada Accord into law. A document which codified the powers and responsibilities of the new and expanded Ministry, it allowed folks of all Secret heritages to study at Ministry schools, hold office, and vote their say in the Secret affairs of the nation. It also retired the existing Ministry of Magic and established the current pentacle system with Toronto as capital city.

     The MSR itself consists of two broad divisions. The Administrative takes care of all of the bureaucracy. They deal with licensing, prophecy, administration, and handle the money. Their magical style is typically subtle, involving minute adjustments over long periods of time, in an effort to steer Canada as a nation towards its higher destiny. White magic is scary in the same way climate change is; hard to notice happening, but impossible to refute its results. Like the Ministers, the Administrative wears the White Coat of Sorcery, and so go by the obvious nickname of “the Whitecoats”. Its methods are arcane, its members are some of the smartest people working in magic today, and as an entity the Administrative doesn't miss a tic. If you have a Whitecoat show up on your doorstep, you'd better hope they don't have a reason to be there.

     The Executive is the other division. They're a federal policing and executive body dedicated to keeping the Secret peace domestically and abroad. Red magic goes 'boom', and is about as subtle as a kick in the balls. Big magic, lots of glory and adventure, danger around every corner. Overseas, they safeguard Sleeper soldiers from the detrimental effects of hostile foreign sorcery. At home, they conduct archaeomantic surveys and raid lost Hyperborean ruins for lost knowledge and artifice. As a defacto police service, they handle the most grievous breaches of the Secret. As such, they get access to all of the coolest toys and spells to help them in their mandate. Theirs is the Red Coat of War, and the prestige that goes along with it. 
     Neither of these divisions are exclusively the province of wizardry any more, either; the Accord's pan-supernatural inclusionist policy means that many of the best Whitecoat prophets working today are faerie folk, and you can't miss the growing numbers of weres in red coats. All of these people and others have their concerns represented at the Tower, and the modern Ministry is a busy, multicultural place.