"When you're the kind of player that is fascinated by the idea of magic, rather than the actual use of it in and of itself, you tend to find the idea of the Tower irresistable. And if you aren't, you can't imagine why people would waste their time. I think that worrying about "who to let in" is pointless, because the ones we want will be the ones that come."--Mahrin Skel
What is the Mage Tower? The quote above gives a fairly good explanation of it's residents, but what is the Tower Project?
In general each tower has a few things in common. Each is publicly funded, and money is raised by those mages that reside on the shard in question. Each tower is intended to be a center for learning and a place to roleplay the profession of a mage. Each is to remain open to the public. Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances that make this impossible, but for the most part it is true. There are basically three rules, those being 1) no killing, except for practice that is concentual by both parties; 2) no looting, unless said looting is done with the intention of saving equipment from a possible thief and returning it to the original owner; 3) no stealing. People breaking these rules are to be dealt with by the mages who reside in the tower.
The residents of the tower are everyone and anyone interested in magic. They come together because of a common interest. While often a tighter knit group than most guilds, the Tower is not a guild. It is simply a group of mages who come together to have fun and learn from each other.