The Synod



The Synod are a group of Mages coming from Cyrodill who come to Skyrim in hopes of finding artifacts of great magical power.

Mzfult:
Once you join the College of Winterhold you go with your mentor (Tolfdir) to a set of ruins in nearby called Saarthal where you find the Eye of Magnus. Upon finding that you quest to the Augur of Dunlain who tells you that the key to taking the power from the Eye is to use the Staff of Magnus, on return to the College, Mirabelle Ervine (At least I believe that is who it is) informs you that the Synod have recently visited and asked about the ruins at Mzfult. The ruins are actually a very complex set of Dwemer machinery that at the end you find run a device that the Synod have been trying to get running for a while.

When they originally quested there (As told by the Mage you find there) they brought a focusing crystal that they had spent months enchanting to get the ocularry working properly, yet when they traveled through Skyrim, the cold had warped the crystal. So they sent one man back to Cyrodill to get a new crystal to leave the rest stuck in the ruins, fighting of the Falmer and other monsters that inhabit the ruins. On return the Mage dies and loses the new crystal which you can find somewhere in the ruins.

When you return to the mage which you that I got the info from for the last paragraph which the focusing crystal he brings you to the ocularry and has you allign the pieces so the light shines through, using a frostbite or flames spell on the focusing crystal when in the device will suffice to allign the light rays in the spots where you allign the pieces. When you get the device running you find out that it was inspired by technology from the Mages Guild in Cyrodill and instead of projecting the stars onto the wall, it projects all of Tamriel, but not just the land, it also shows sources of great magical power, but only two spots show up. One being the College of Winterhold where the Eye is and the other being in the Labrynthian which is where you presume to be the home of the Staff. Afterwards the mage promptly leaves to go report back to Cyrdoill, while leaving you once again have a vision of the Psijic Order who tell you to return to the College right away.