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<blockquote data-quote="Rae ArdGaoth" data-source="post: 3942835" data-attributes="member: 21064"><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>A Teacher for Laynie: Mystery at the Academy, Cont'd</strong> </span>(<a href="http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=159698" target="_blank">Part 1</a>, <a href="http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=170126" target="_blank">Part 2</a>)</p><p></p><p>Places</p><p></p><p><strong>The Orussian Library</strong></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The library charges an entry fee, either 10gp per day plus more to borrow a book, or 100gp for a lifetime membership along with unlimited free book borrowing (but only one at at time)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The library has an "Arcane" section.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The library has a "History" section.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The library has a map room, which contains several atlases and large maps.</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>Fallon</strong></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There is a school of magic in Fallon.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">On the road to Fallon there is a road warden toll that charges 1 copper per creature to pass. The funds go to the road wardens protecting the road.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">On the road to Fallon, just outside the city, there is an inn.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The town of Triesk is just in between Fallon and Old Medibaria, 64 miles from both.</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>Allimon</strong></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Allimon has a school of magic.</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>The Academy of the Chromatic Order</strong></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Academy stands among the crumbled ruins of the ancient capital of the Old Empire of Medibaria, the city now called Old Medibaria.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Medibaria was once a great empire, but it crumbled.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">At least one old man thinks that the Academy is a bunch of deluded elitists.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Academy is 550 miles from Orussus on the road through Fallon, 350 miles through wilderness.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It isn't really near anything else. The mages are stubborn, and even though the New City has moved towards the water over time and built up higher on the debris of what has come before, the Academy is still down among the ruins of the Old City, in an ancient but well-preserved complex with a central stronghold and seven towers.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Academy is an eerie place to visit in the night, as strange lights and sounds the area around it after dark, perhaps the remnants of degrading warding magic.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Academy is a huge building complex, towering over the rest of the ruins like a fortress among the rubble, and in some ways, it is a fortress. Almost completely intact despite signs of great age, the Academy is composed of a main castle-like complex in the centre and four tall towers topped with spires, each looking like a stereotypical Wizard's Tower that children would read about in storybooks, one on each corner. Strange wisps of glowing coloured light flit about around the building, and there appears to be a large stable and gardens located on the far side of the Academy from the entrance. A wide ancient road, once well-traveled, leads directly to the entrance, a set of huge double doors inlaid with mystic symbols and engraved with bas relief scenes all over. Thick metal rings on the front are apparently used to open the door, but they seem far too large and heavy to be easily opened.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The entrance is guarded by a silvery metallic form, looking a bit like a suit of armour or a man made of metal. It asks visitors why there are here in Old Medibarian.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Academy complex proper is well-furnished and well-lit, with a double sweeping carpeted stairway leading up to a balconied second level and beyond, a wide hallway leading straight ahead, two smaller hallways to each side, and doors along the halls.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Office of the Archives is where the Academy's Archivists work to keep the Academy running smoothly, under the careful eye of Dean Thrym Grolsen</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Extensive gardens are behind the main complex.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The library is colossal, with books on every subject imaginable, but most of them are about magic of all sorts. There are books dating to the height of the Medibarian Empire and beyond.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Book: Riana Kenp's <em>Elements of Magic</em>, a primer for beginning students</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Book: <em>Codex Anathema</em></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Book: <em>The Dangers of Undisciplined Magical Research</em></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Book: Hale Absalom's <em>Ethics in the Practise of Magic</em>, an advanced text on magical ethics. It covers difficult ethical debates such as privacy vs. use of divinations to prevent crimes, whether evil magic used to saved lives is still evil, and others. Most of them have no answers given in the book.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Book: Various conspiracy theory books: "Elayna Lyrue was a dragon", "Sice was actually a cross-dressing disguised elf girl", "There is a secret magic that can only be learned by standing around and letting monsters zap you with their attacks until you either die or learn it", "Bananas are actually sentient beings closely related to the aboleth".</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Book: Advanced Studies in Eldritch Weaves and Mana Flow</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Book: Spatial and Physical Transmogrifications and the Fourth Wall</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Past the library is one of the towers. In this tower is the Mordrue commons, accessible only by students of the Mordrue house. The entrance to the commons is actually a mirror, on which a Mordrue student must inscribe a rune with a wand.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The four towers of the main complex are each dedicated to one of the four founders, and each has a particular style associated with that founder. Each tower also houses the dormitories for each founder's house of students.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Imaginarium is a room that uses powerful illusions and a little bit of Shadowstuff to change its form and become all sorts of different things. The beach is a popular choice among students.</li> </ul><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Academy tuition is 2000gp per year for an average of 10 years, totaling to 20,000gp for an education there. "Highborne" (the Medibarian noble class) receive a 40% out of deference for the money donated to the Academy by the Highborne in the past.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Official Academy Policy: All items recovered from the ruins of the Old City are automatically owned by the Academy. The finder is not the <br /> keeper, and the finder is not guaranteed any compensation. It also applies to items found in other locations that are of 'significant historical or <br /> cultural value'. This usually includes all magic items of Medibarian origin.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">On Scholarships: "There's merit scholarships, memorial scholarships, and several scholarships from organisations. Highborne can try for the most scholarships, and nonhumans qualify for very few...some of the ways they decide the scholarships are...interesting, particularly the memorial scholarships. In theory, the nonhumans have as good a chance as anyone of receiving the scholarships for which they qualify, but when you qualify for more, you're likely to get more in the end, you know?"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The application process involves a test and filling out forms. The forms have fields for full name, age, height, weight, race, nationality, home city, social rank, title (if applicable), mother's full name and title, father's full name and title, and yearly income.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Forms are also required to go on a tour of the school. You also sign a liability release if you're harmed, and a nondisclosure agreement if you happen upon any magical discoveries during your tour.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The application process takes three days. The first day, the applicant has 24 hours and all the written resources of the Academy at their disposal to answer 200 questions on magic. Of the 200, 5 cannot be found in the library, and 5 are trick questions, questions about arcana that have yet be answered by the magical community. The next day, the applicant has 4 hours to complete a difficult, closed book test. The topic matter is difficult, but not very technical, and more focused on logic and problem solving. The third day, the applicant must pass beneath three arches and overcome "what has been", "what is", and "what will be". This final portion is highly variable and different for each applicant. Some applicants have come to harm in this final part of the test, and a few have died.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There are many scholarships available to prospective Academy undergrads.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If all of a student's scholarships exceed the attendance costs, the merit in particular will be depleted if the applicant goes over, but most others will continue to award. So, a very select few students actually make money by attending the Academy.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Organizational scholarships: Most of these require a scholar to promise to work with the sponsoring organization for a period of time after he or she graduates from the Academy.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Merit-based scholarships: These are based on the outcomes of the application tests. 400 gold per year is supposed to be pretty good.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Memorial scholarships: These are scholarships from pools created past Academy philanthropists. In order to better preserve the wishes of the scholarship funders, most memorial scholarships are granted based on the decision of a "chooser", an intelligent magical artifact left by the donor which decides who is worthy of the money.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Elayna Valsice Memorial: It apparently can pay upwards of the entire 2000 by itself but has only been successfully awarded once to a Freefolk boy Vanitri Duskrider, since Elayna was fairly recent and the chooser is fairly selective. Many students apply for this just for fun to see if they win the jackpot. Elayna Valsice's Chooser is an emerald sceptre. If it chooses an applicant, it glows brightly, a warm green, before excitedly announcing that it will offer the applicant 1500 gold in scholarship--if the applicant chooses to live in Elayna's house, Sice, that is. Otherwise, the amount is reduced to 500.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>The Big 4 </strong>are the scholarships associated with the four great Houses of the Academy. These are interesting because the choosers hadn't been invented yet when the scholarships were instated, so there are other selection mechanisms in place, one of which requires the recipient to join the namesake house of the school's dormitories. Each of the big four pays out a quarter of the yearly tuition.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Headmistress Elayna Daryne Memorial: </strong>In memory of the greatest leader of the Academy since the founders themselves. This one focuses on dedication, energy, commitment, and caring for those less fortunate. But above all, Elayna Daryne values imagination and vision.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Omega Memorial: </strong>The applicant needs to have a past record of research or scholarship of note in the field of magical innovations or artisanship.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Mordrue Memorial:</strong></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Sice Memorial:</strong></li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Jaedyn Limanthra Memorial: </strong>For gifted youngsters, in memory of the perspicacious young lad who passed away before his time. No chooser is involved in the selection process. (Secret: [spoiler]Jaedyn Limanthra was killed by the Dark Lord Elayna Valsice while she was actually at school[/spoiler].)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There is a modest scholarship for orphans who who don't have a home.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Anoura Valanise Memorial: </strong>A famous graduate who adored traveling to distant lands and developed groundbreaking research into translocation magics. Anoura's scholarship Chooser is a magical map that seems to be blank but draws beautiful pictures of different vistas, some visited by the applicant and others by Anoura herself, as it interfaces with the applicant. It later produces a map that details the applicant's entire chain of peregrinations across the lands. If the Chooser seems impressed with the applicant's travels and spirit of wanderlust, it will offer a small scholarship (at least once it was 250 gold per year) which doubles if the applicant chooses Anoura Valanise's house, Omega.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Elayna Lyrue Memorial:</strong> Granted based on arcane talent, strong leadership skills, and iron determination. It has been given out a decent number of times, though it isn't the easiest to get. Girls usually have the edge up over guys, but only in competitive years where there are two or more strong candidates for the scholarship. Though there is no chooser, the staff have enlisted the aid of an ancient entity that knows more about Elayna Lyrue than any living mortal, a being of such great stature that the scholarship is decided almost entirely based on her personal whims. The Mage Queen's pet kitty Mystara. Apparently, when her feline companion became ill, the Mage Queen created a new mechanical body for her, and it has survived to this day. Recently reactivated in the past century, she is smarter than most cats and able to speak Common, but the Mordrue scholars are upset that she has forgotten or never cared about most things they considered important, though she remembers well the taste of mice back when she was a flesh-and-blood cat. Mystara sometimes selects scholars by curling up in the applicant's lap to get some rest. The lesser of this type of scholarship is 250 gold.</li> </ul></li> </ul></li> </ul><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Mordrue </strong>is one of the school's founders. Mordrue House is one of the major groupings of students. Mordrue students tend to be introverts. Mordrue dormitories do not completely separate the boys and girls, but boys and girls may not share suites. The entrance to the Mordrue commons is a mirror.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Divination and Enchantment are Mordrue's schools of magic.</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Daryne</strong> is one of the school's founders. Daryne House is one of the major groupings of students. The entrance to the Daryne commons is a wall which ripples when touched and allows entry.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Daryne commons has its own small Imaginarium.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There is a secret library somewhere in the Daryne tower.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Illusion and Evocation are Daryne's schools of magic.</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Omega </strong>is one of the school's founders. Daryne House is one of the major groupings of students. The entrance to the Omega commons is a strange device made of three spinning rings with a diameter longer than a man is tall, each tilted at a different angle. This dimensional vortex can transport a visitor to a demiplane made of solid clouds. The vortex deposits visitors in a hall with a gided door that leads to the Omega commons, which connects to the various Omega dormitory rooms and facilities. The demiplane was originally created as a research project, it is called 'the Otherspace'. Whenever you exit a door on the other side, you can choose to reenter this space or walk into the normal hallway. The dorms are arranged in branches and clusters, with a large central common area for parties and get togethers. House Colors: Red<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Enchantment and Conjuration are Omega's schools of magic.</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Sice </strong>is one of the school's founders. Sice House is one of the major groupings of students. The entrance to Sice commons is a wall with a rune on it. Sice students get finely furnished single rooms, much nicer than the other dorms.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Necromancy and Transmutation are Sice's schools of magic.</li> </ul></li> </ul><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Class Offered: Portals and Planes, taught by Erlis</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Class Offered: Nexuses and Foci, taught by Grywald</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Class Offered: Curses and Malefices Throughout the Ages</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Class Offered: Basic Abjurations</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Class Offered: Force Magic</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Class Offered: Energy Magic and the Six Towers, involves planar diagrams, ley lines, and other arcane concepts, taught by Alair</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Class Offered: Introduction to Medibarian History, taught by Galton </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Class Offered: Versatility and Cantrips, taught by Namander </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Class Offered: Magical Items and Their Use, taught by Dralkin</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Class Offered: The Golden Age of the Medibarian Empire, taught by Dendril</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Class Offered: Cantrips and their Applications, Maldur</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">More Classes Offered: 'Secrets of the Ancient Past', 'Mystic Runes', 'Illusion and Misdirection', and 'Charms and Potions', followed by 'Transmutation Arrays', 'Innovative Evocations' (this with Rayne), 'Arcane Nexuses', and 'The Magequeen's Legacy', and finally to get his Journeyman's degree 'Ley Lines and Power Vortexes', 'Enchantment and the Human Mind', 'Divination and Discovery', and 'The Four Founders: Sice'.</li> </ul><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Apparently about twenty years ago, someone calling themself the 'Dark Lord' appeared at the school and began to gather followers from amongst the Highborne. The 'Dark Lord' preached about the superiority of Highborne and their special role in discovering the secrets of the universe and of magic, though other than espousing disdain and perhaps hatred for others, the lord didn't support any particularly troublesome activities until a spy tried to infiltrate and poke around at one of the meetings and was killed for such insolence. At this point, the Dark Lord made an ultimatum to return the Highborne to prominence and restore Medibaria's place in the world back to where it was in the ancient past. It never appears to have been followed through, however. As far as anyone knows, the Dark Lord just vanished and gave up on that goal, so to avoid alarming anyone, it was agreed to store the information in the secret libraries instead of the main one.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">In the Academy rules and bylaws, it says that if anyone is caught trespassing in secret areas (such as the Sice secret Library), they can be killed on sight without consequence.</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>Old Medibaria (the city)</strong></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Old Medibaria is the capital of the modern day Kingdom of Medibaria.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Old Medibaria has gates. It's a large town built of ancient stone blocks that have clearly been moved and reused. Once, this place was the capital of an ancient empire, but now it has lost its great influence. Even so, the people here cling to the memory of the Medibarian Empire.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The town is built aside and a bit above the ruins of a massive older city, apparently moving towards the nearby river, as the coastline has retreated over time.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Medibarian fashion: Layers of loose linen in browns and whites. Both men and women often wear their lightly-coloured hair long, though the men tend towards lightly-beaded braids and the women sport patterned scarves that help keep their hair spilling down the back in a controlled fashion.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The innkeeper near the gates' daughter's name is Darina. He also has a wife and at least one other daughter.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Old Medibaria has an Acrobats, Jugglers, and Tumblers Guild. They are government sanctioned, and allow only registered guild members to perform on the streets, under penalty of fine and/or imprisonment. The guild house a round stone building, it is also by the Musicians Guild on alternating days. The receptionist at the guildhouse is named Trina, she dresses in gaudy performer's clothes and wears a red ribbon in her hair.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Medibarians are very proud of their heritage and have no small disdain for outlanders.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The formal Medibarian bow: Hands palm up, then bring them together in front of the chest, fingers up and thumbs inwards, and bow the head slightly.</li> </ul><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Old City from the New City: It's to the east, down and out of the New City, not too long of a journey. Exiting the gates, make your way through a silent ruins whose buildings are missing various pieces due in part to crumbling, but mainly due to looting of the stones to build new structures in the New City. Further along is a portion of the ruins that is reasonably well-preserved, missing very few stones and subject to little of the decay evidenced in the surrounding area. Every so often, soft ethereal sounds seem to echo eldritch whispers from amidst the buildings. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Near here is a secret passage into one of the abandoned building's basements. A secret door in the wall behind a serpent statue.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Academy is in the Old City.</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>Medibarian Empire Tidbits</strong></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The name Elayna is common among the Highborne, as it was the name of the only Mage Queen of Medibaria, back a long time ago when the Empire was at its strongest. A powerful wizard, Elayna Lyrue briefly interrupted the ruling dynasty of her late husband's family and led Medibaria to great victories and expansion until her mysterious death--many say she was poisoned by foreigners who were frightened of her power and tactical genius and jealous of her beauty and arcane power. After she died, her nephew...</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Mage Queen's daughter was Princess Elayna Lyrue the Second, Shield of the Azure Dawn, Defender of the Throne, and Grand Duchess of Azrania. She escaped royal life against her mother's wishes and lived out her youth out among the world. She discovered and infiltrated a diabolical Nesfylim plot, but the dark elves captured her with the intention of using her and her magical items in a ritual to summon a dark master. The princess was rescued by an elf of unknown name, a Freefolk, and together they rode faster than the sun and beat the dusk to the Freefolk camp where the last item of the summoning ritual was located. Together, they stopped the efforts of the nesfylim. After the battle, the princess disappeared forever, and is presumed to have been killed in the fighting. The elf of unknown name, through legends about his race against the sun, became known as 'Duskrider' in Freefolk legend.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Someone calling themself "the Lord of Shadows" claimed to be a descendant of the Mage Queen and led a small uprising of a few noble houses against the established rulers. The rebellion lasted 6 months before it was quelled.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Some claim that Medibarian surnames that begin with "Val" (such as Valsice or Valdaryne) are hardly related to the suffixed part of the name at all, they just want some of the fame attached to it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Genealogy of the Mage Queen's line: Elayna Lyrue the Second is listed, though afterwards they list a ?. Going down, no surprise that the founders of the school are listed--it looks like Sice was technically descended from a remote branch of the Lyrue line, according to all the connections. At the bottom, it seems to have every Highborne there is. For instance, Sice Housemistress Kharisa Valpyren and her son Solon are listed. Kitty Valdaryne is there too, descended from a lesser branch of relatives related to the legendary Headmistress who founded the fourth branch of the Academy. There aren't any current students that are all that closely related to Sice himself, though. The bottom of that line of the tree goes to an Alhaym Valsice and her two children Zarindas and Elayna. Both of them have a ? listed underneath them.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sice himself was called a Dark Lord. He performed to some pretty horrific magical experiments, all conducted in the name of the Empire, safety, and peace of mind. Well, most of them. Some of the later ones were based on life extension, one is something called the 'Philosopher's Stone'.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Philosopher's Stone: This is a powerful item that can make wishes come true and contains the ability to perform vast magic, end diseases, transmute iron to gold, and perhaps even grant eternal youth. However, those who sought to create the stone gave up when they realised that the key component of the stone was the life and soul of sentient beings. There is even a nice illustrated diagram that seems to have been drawn by Sice himself.</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>Misc</strong></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><em>Sithinaar'liir</em> is the high elven word for dark elves.</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rae ArdGaoth, post: 3942835, member: 21064"] [size=3][b]A Teacher for Laynie: Mystery at the Academy, Cont'd[/b] [/size]([url=http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=159698]Part 1[/url], [url=http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=170126]Part 2[/url]) Places [b]The Orussian Library[/b] [list][*]The library charges an entry fee, either 10gp per day plus more to borrow a book, or 100gp for a lifetime membership along with unlimited free book borrowing (but only one at at time) [*]The library has an "Arcane" section. [*]The library has a "History" section. [*]The library has a map room, which contains several atlases and large maps.[/list] [b]Fallon[/b] [list][*]There is a school of magic in Fallon. [*]On the road to Fallon there is a road warden toll that charges 1 copper per creature to pass. The funds go to the road wardens protecting the road. [*]On the road to Fallon, just outside the city, there is an inn. [*]The town of Triesk is just in between Fallon and Old Medibaria, 64 miles from both.[/list] [b]Allimon[/b] [list][*]Allimon has a school of magic.[/list] [b]The Academy of the Chromatic Order[/b] [list][*]The Academy stands among the crumbled ruins of the ancient capital of the Old Empire of Medibaria, the city now called Old Medibaria. [*]Medibaria was once a great empire, but it crumbled. [*]At least one old man thinks that the Academy is a bunch of deluded elitists. [*]The Academy is 550 miles from Orussus on the road through Fallon, 350 miles through wilderness. [*]It isn't really near anything else. The mages are stubborn, and even though the New City has moved towards the water over time and built up higher on the debris of what has come before, the Academy is still down among the ruins of the Old City, in an ancient but well-preserved complex with a central stronghold and seven towers. [*]The Academy is an eerie place to visit in the night, as strange lights and sounds the area around it after dark, perhaps the remnants of degrading warding magic. [*]The Academy is a huge building complex, towering over the rest of the ruins like a fortress among the rubble, and in some ways, it is a fortress. Almost completely intact despite signs of great age, the Academy is composed of a main castle-like complex in the centre and four tall towers topped with spires, each looking like a stereotypical Wizard's Tower that children would read about in storybooks, one on each corner. Strange wisps of glowing coloured light flit about around the building, and there appears to be a large stable and gardens located on the far side of the Academy from the entrance. A wide ancient road, once well-traveled, leads directly to the entrance, a set of huge double doors inlaid with mystic symbols and engraved with bas relief scenes all over. Thick metal rings on the front are apparently used to open the door, but they seem far too large and heavy to be easily opened. [*]The entrance is guarded by a silvery metallic form, looking a bit like a suit of armour or a man made of metal. It asks visitors why there are here in Old Medibarian. [*]The Academy complex proper is well-furnished and well-lit, with a double sweeping carpeted stairway leading up to a balconied second level and beyond, a wide hallway leading straight ahead, two smaller hallways to each side, and doors along the halls. [*]The Office of the Archives is where the Academy's Archivists work to keep the Academy running smoothly, under the careful eye of Dean Thrym Grolsen [*]Extensive gardens are behind the main complex. [*]The library is colossal, with books on every subject imaginable, but most of them are about magic of all sorts. There are books dating to the height of the Medibarian Empire and beyond. [list][*]Book: Riana Kenp's [i]Elements of Magic[/i], a primer for beginning students [*]Book: [i]Codex Anathema[/i] [*]Book: [i]The Dangers of Undisciplined Magical Research[/i] [*]Book: Hale Absalom's [i]Ethics in the Practise of Magic[/i], an advanced text on magical ethics. It covers difficult ethical debates such as privacy vs. use of divinations to prevent crimes, whether evil magic used to saved lives is still evil, and others. Most of them have no answers given in the book. [*]Book: Various conspiracy theory books: "Elayna Lyrue was a dragon", "Sice was actually a cross-dressing disguised elf girl", "There is a secret magic that can only be learned by standing around and letting monsters zap you with their attacks until you either die or learn it", "Bananas are actually sentient beings closely related to the aboleth". [*]Book: Advanced Studies in Eldritch Weaves and Mana Flow [*]Book: Spatial and Physical Transmogrifications and the Fourth Wall[/list] [*]Past the library is one of the towers. In this tower is the Mordrue commons, accessible only by students of the Mordrue house. The entrance to the commons is actually a mirror, on which a Mordrue student must inscribe a rune with a wand. [*]The four towers of the main complex are each dedicated to one of the four founders, and each has a particular style associated with that founder. Each tower also houses the dormitories for each founder's house of students. [*]The Imaginarium is a room that uses powerful illusions and a little bit of Shadowstuff to change its form and become all sorts of different things. The beach is a popular choice among students.[/list] [list][*]The Academy tuition is 2000gp per year for an average of 10 years, totaling to 20,000gp for an education there. "Highborne" (the Medibarian noble class) receive a 40% out of deference for the money donated to the Academy by the Highborne in the past. [*]Official Academy Policy: All items recovered from the ruins of the Old City are automatically owned by the Academy. The finder is not the keeper, and the finder is not guaranteed any compensation. It also applies to items found in other locations that are of 'significant historical or cultural value'. This usually includes all magic items of Medibarian origin. [*]On Scholarships: "There's merit scholarships, memorial scholarships, and several scholarships from organisations. Highborne can try for the most scholarships, and nonhumans qualify for very few...some of the ways they decide the scholarships are...interesting, particularly the memorial scholarships. In theory, the nonhumans have as good a chance as anyone of receiving the scholarships for which they qualify, but when you qualify for more, you're likely to get more in the end, you know?" [*]The application process involves a test and filling out forms. The forms have fields for full name, age, height, weight, race, nationality, home city, social rank, title (if applicable), mother's full name and title, father's full name and title, and yearly income. [*]Forms are also required to go on a tour of the school. You also sign a liability release if you're harmed, and a nondisclosure agreement if you happen upon any magical discoveries during your tour. [*]The application process takes three days. The first day, the applicant has 24 hours and all the written resources of the Academy at their disposal to answer 200 questions on magic. Of the 200, 5 cannot be found in the library, and 5 are trick questions, questions about arcana that have yet be answered by the magical community. The next day, the applicant has 4 hours to complete a difficult, closed book test. The topic matter is difficult, but not very technical, and more focused on logic and problem solving. The third day, the applicant must pass beneath three arches and overcome "what has been", "what is", and "what will be". This final portion is highly variable and different for each applicant. Some applicants have come to harm in this final part of the test, and a few have died. [*]There are many scholarships available to prospective Academy undergrads. [list][*]If all of a student's scholarships exceed the attendance costs, the merit in particular will be depleted if the applicant goes over, but most others will continue to award. So, a very select few students actually make money by attending the Academy. [*]Organizational scholarships: Most of these require a scholar to promise to work with the sponsoring organization for a period of time after he or she graduates from the Academy. [*]Merit-based scholarships: These are based on the outcomes of the application tests. 400 gold per year is supposed to be pretty good. [*]Memorial scholarships: These are scholarships from pools created past Academy philanthropists. In order to better preserve the wishes of the scholarship funders, most memorial scholarships are granted based on the decision of a "chooser", an intelligent magical artifact left by the donor which decides who is worthy of the money. [list][*]Elayna Valsice Memorial: It apparently can pay upwards of the entire 2000 by itself but has only been successfully awarded once to a Freefolk boy Vanitri Duskrider, since Elayna was fairly recent and the chooser is fairly selective. Many students apply for this just for fun to see if they win the jackpot. Elayna Valsice's Chooser is an emerald sceptre. If it chooses an applicant, it glows brightly, a warm green, before excitedly announcing that it will offer the applicant 1500 gold in scholarship--if the applicant chooses to live in Elayna's house, Sice, that is. Otherwise, the amount is reduced to 500. [*][b]The Big 4 [/b]are the scholarships associated with the four great Houses of the Academy. These are interesting because the choosers hadn't been invented yet when the scholarships were instated, so there are other selection mechanisms in place, one of which requires the recipient to join the namesake house of the school's dormitories. Each of the big four pays out a quarter of the yearly tuition. [list][*][b]Headmistress Elayna Daryne Memorial: [/b]In memory of the greatest leader of the Academy since the founders themselves. This one focuses on dedication, energy, commitment, and caring for those less fortunate. But above all, Elayna Daryne values imagination and vision. [*][b]Omega Memorial: [/b]The applicant needs to have a past record of research or scholarship of note in the field of magical innovations or artisanship. [*][b]Mordrue Memorial:[/b] [*][b]Sice Memorial:[/b] [/list] [*][b]Jaedyn Limanthra Memorial: [/b]For gifted youngsters, in memory of the perspicacious young lad who passed away before his time. No chooser is involved in the selection process. (Secret: [spoiler]Jaedyn Limanthra was killed by the Dark Lord Elayna Valsice while she was actually at school[/spoiler].) [*]There is a modest scholarship for orphans who who don't have a home. [*][b]Anoura Valanise Memorial: [/b]A famous graduate who adored traveling to distant lands and developed groundbreaking research into translocation magics. Anoura's scholarship Chooser is a magical map that seems to be blank but draws beautiful pictures of different vistas, some visited by the applicant and others by Anoura herself, as it interfaces with the applicant. It later produces a map that details the applicant's entire chain of peregrinations across the lands. If the Chooser seems impressed with the applicant's travels and spirit of wanderlust, it will offer a small scholarship (at least once it was 250 gold per year) which doubles if the applicant chooses Anoura Valanise's house, Omega. [*][b]Elayna Lyrue Memorial:[/b] Granted based on arcane talent, strong leadership skills, and iron determination. It has been given out a decent number of times, though it isn't the easiest to get. Girls usually have the edge up over guys, but only in competitive years where there are two or more strong candidates for the scholarship. Though there is no chooser, the staff have enlisted the aid of an ancient entity that knows more about Elayna Lyrue than any living mortal, a being of such great stature that the scholarship is decided almost entirely based on her personal whims. The Mage Queen's pet kitty Mystara. Apparently, when her feline companion became ill, the Mage Queen created a new mechanical body for her, and it has survived to this day. Recently reactivated in the past century, she is smarter than most cats and able to speak Common, but the Mordrue scholars are upset that she has forgotten or never cared about most things they considered important, though she remembers well the taste of mice back when she was a flesh-and-blood cat. Mystara sometimes selects scholars by curling up in the applicant's lap to get some rest. The lesser of this type of scholarship is 250 gold.[/list][/list][/list] [list][*][b]Mordrue [/b]is one of the school's founders. Mordrue House is one of the major groupings of students. Mordrue students tend to be introverts. Mordrue dormitories do not completely separate the boys and girls, but boys and girls may not share suites. The entrance to the Mordrue commons is a mirror. [list][*]Divination and Enchantment are Mordrue's schools of magic.[/list] [*][b]Daryne[/b] is one of the school's founders. Daryne House is one of the major groupings of students. The entrance to the Daryne commons is a wall which ripples when touched and allows entry. [list][*]Daryne commons has its own small Imaginarium. [*]There is a secret library somewhere in the Daryne tower. [*]Illusion and Evocation are Daryne's schools of magic.[/list] [*][b]Omega [/b]is one of the school's founders. Daryne House is one of the major groupings of students. The entrance to the Omega commons is a strange device made of three spinning rings with a diameter longer than a man is tall, each tilted at a different angle. This dimensional vortex can transport a visitor to a demiplane made of solid clouds. The vortex deposits visitors in a hall with a gided door that leads to the Omega commons, which connects to the various Omega dormitory rooms and facilities. The demiplane was originally created as a research project, it is called 'the Otherspace'. Whenever you exit a door on the other side, you can choose to reenter this space or walk into the normal hallway. The dorms are arranged in branches and clusters, with a large central common area for parties and get togethers. House Colors: Red [list][*]Enchantment and Conjuration are Omega's schools of magic.[/list] [*][b]Sice [/b]is one of the school's founders. Sice House is one of the major groupings of students. The entrance to Sice commons is a wall with a rune on it. Sice students get finely furnished single rooms, much nicer than the other dorms. [list][*]Necromancy and Transmutation are Sice's schools of magic.[/list][/list] [list][*]Class Offered: Portals and Planes, taught by Erlis [*]Class Offered: Nexuses and Foci, taught by Grywald [*]Class Offered: Curses and Malefices Throughout the Ages [*]Class Offered: Basic Abjurations [*]Class Offered: Force Magic [*]Class Offered: Energy Magic and the Six Towers, involves planar diagrams, ley lines, and other arcane concepts, taught by Alair [*]Class Offered: Introduction to Medibarian History, taught by Galton [*]Class Offered: Versatility and Cantrips, taught by Namander [*]Class Offered: Magical Items and Their Use, taught by Dralkin [*]Class Offered: The Golden Age of the Medibarian Empire, taught by Dendril [*]Class Offered: Cantrips and their Applications, Maldur [*]More Classes Offered: 'Secrets of the Ancient Past', 'Mystic Runes', 'Illusion and Misdirection', and 'Charms and Potions', followed by 'Transmutation Arrays', 'Innovative Evocations' (this with Rayne), 'Arcane Nexuses', and 'The Magequeen's Legacy', and finally to get his Journeyman's degree 'Ley Lines and Power Vortexes', 'Enchantment and the Human Mind', 'Divination and Discovery', and 'The Four Founders: Sice'.[/list] [list][*]Apparently about twenty years ago, someone calling themself the 'Dark Lord' appeared at the school and began to gather followers from amongst the Highborne. The 'Dark Lord' preached about the superiority of Highborne and their special role in discovering the secrets of the universe and of magic, though other than espousing disdain and perhaps hatred for others, the lord didn't support any particularly troublesome activities until a spy tried to infiltrate and poke around at one of the meetings and was killed for such insolence. At this point, the Dark Lord made an ultimatum to return the Highborne to prominence and restore Medibaria's place in the world back to where it was in the ancient past. It never appears to have been followed through, however. As far as anyone knows, the Dark Lord just vanished and gave up on that goal, so to avoid alarming anyone, it was agreed to store the information in the secret libraries instead of the main one. [*]In the Academy rules and bylaws, it says that if anyone is caught trespassing in secret areas (such as the Sice secret Library), they can be killed on sight without consequence.[/list] [b]Old Medibaria (the city)[/b] [list][*]Old Medibaria is the capital of the modern day Kingdom of Medibaria. [*]Old Medibaria has gates. It's a large town built of ancient stone blocks that have clearly been moved and reused. Once, this place was the capital of an ancient empire, but now it has lost its great influence. Even so, the people here cling to the memory of the Medibarian Empire. [*]The town is built aside and a bit above the ruins of a massive older city, apparently moving towards the nearby river, as the coastline has retreated over time. [*]Medibarian fashion: Layers of loose linen in browns and whites. Both men and women often wear their lightly-coloured hair long, though the men tend towards lightly-beaded braids and the women sport patterned scarves that help keep their hair spilling down the back in a controlled fashion. [*]The innkeeper near the gates' daughter's name is Darina. He also has a wife and at least one other daughter. [*]Old Medibaria has an Acrobats, Jugglers, and Tumblers Guild. They are government sanctioned, and allow only registered guild members to perform on the streets, under penalty of fine and/or imprisonment. The guild house a round stone building, it is also by the Musicians Guild on alternating days. The receptionist at the guildhouse is named Trina, she dresses in gaudy performer's clothes and wears a red ribbon in her hair. [*]Medibarians are very proud of their heritage and have no small disdain for outlanders. [*]The formal Medibarian bow: Hands palm up, then bring them together in front of the chest, fingers up and thumbs inwards, and bow the head slightly.[/list] [list][*]The Old City from the New City: It's to the east, down and out of the New City, not too long of a journey. Exiting the gates, make your way through a silent ruins whose buildings are missing various pieces due in part to crumbling, but mainly due to looting of the stones to build new structures in the New City. Further along is a portion of the ruins that is reasonably well-preserved, missing very few stones and subject to little of the decay evidenced in the surrounding area. Every so often, soft ethereal sounds seem to echo eldritch whispers from amidst the buildings. [*]Near here is a secret passage into one of the abandoned building's basements. A secret door in the wall behind a serpent statue. [*]The Academy is in the Old City.[/list] [b]Medibarian Empire Tidbits[/b] [list][*]The name Elayna is common among the Highborne, as it was the name of the only Mage Queen of Medibaria, back a long time ago when the Empire was at its strongest. A powerful wizard, Elayna Lyrue briefly interrupted the ruling dynasty of her late husband's family and led Medibaria to great victories and expansion until her mysterious death--many say she was poisoned by foreigners who were frightened of her power and tactical genius and jealous of her beauty and arcane power. After she died, her nephew... [*]The Mage Queen's daughter was Princess Elayna Lyrue the Second, Shield of the Azure Dawn, Defender of the Throne, and Grand Duchess of Azrania. She escaped royal life against her mother's wishes and lived out her youth out among the world. She discovered and infiltrated a diabolical Nesfylim plot, but the dark elves captured her with the intention of using her and her magical items in a ritual to summon a dark master. The princess was rescued by an elf of unknown name, a Freefolk, and together they rode faster than the sun and beat the dusk to the Freefolk camp where the last item of the summoning ritual was located. Together, they stopped the efforts of the nesfylim. After the battle, the princess disappeared forever, and is presumed to have been killed in the fighting. The elf of unknown name, through legends about his race against the sun, became known as 'Duskrider' in Freefolk legend. [*]Someone calling themself "the Lord of Shadows" claimed to be a descendant of the Mage Queen and led a small uprising of a few noble houses against the established rulers. The rebellion lasted 6 months before it was quelled. [*]Some claim that Medibarian surnames that begin with "Val" (such as Valsice or Valdaryne) are hardly related to the suffixed part of the name at all, they just want some of the fame attached to it. [*]Genealogy of the Mage Queen's line: Elayna Lyrue the Second is listed, though afterwards they list a ?. Going down, no surprise that the founders of the school are listed--it looks like Sice was technically descended from a remote branch of the Lyrue line, according to all the connections. At the bottom, it seems to have every Highborne there is. For instance, Sice Housemistress Kharisa Valpyren and her son Solon are listed. Kitty Valdaryne is there too, descended from a lesser branch of relatives related to the legendary Headmistress who founded the fourth branch of the Academy. There aren't any current students that are all that closely related to Sice himself, though. The bottom of that line of the tree goes to an Alhaym Valsice and her two children Zarindas and Elayna. Both of them have a ? listed underneath them. [*]Sice himself was called a Dark Lord. He performed to some pretty horrific magical experiments, all conducted in the name of the Empire, safety, and peace of mind. Well, most of them. Some of the later ones were based on life extension, one is something called the 'Philosopher's Stone'. [*]The Philosopher's Stone: This is a powerful item that can make wishes come true and contains the ability to perform vast magic, end diseases, transmute iron to gold, and perhaps even grant eternal youth. However, those who sought to create the stone gave up when they realised that the key component of the stone was the life and soul of sentient beings. There is even a nice illustrated diagram that seems to have been drawn by Sice himself.[/list] [b]Misc[/b] [list][*][i]Sithinaar'liir[/i] is the high elven word for dark elves.[/list] [/QUOTE]
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