The Tower of Amn
We had been heading for the whitish light for the better part of an hour. Due to its Fae nature it was visible through the early morning fog up to the harbor of Amn, but now, as the mist receded and the building, on which it was located, slowly revealed itself in the distance, it kept its otherworldly "fogginess". Everfire. A glorified lighthouse for the ships on the moonlake. I had heard of it. An entirely practical thing to do... Just like the building on which it was located. Necessity motivated the construction of the towers, and not pride. It showed. It was a fortress more than a castle... or... what it should rather be: a school. I found my courage, which i had built up over a whole week in that harbor tavern of Amn, sizzling like a burnt out candle, the closer we approaced the island. And thus my mind wandered for other things to concentrate on. It's location caught my attention. Almost three miles through the cold, clear and deep water of the moonlake. Of course. That's how far a swimmer would have to go. And cold it was. I knew that from when i first learned, why the Amnians still prefer bathhouses. "Most visitors can't take their eyes of the tower, when we approach the island, yet you have barely looked at it..." the captain said when he stepped to my right side and put his hands on the rails. ..."I have been in one of the towers already." I answered. "Yes... but its actually not one tower, but..." "...seven.I know." I finished his sentence and added: "... most of the Thirteen are not real towers. Our art does not suffice to create buildings of such majesty anymore. If you want to see a real tower, you have to go to R'hyll...
Purpose / Function
Since the second age humans tried to codify the training of arcanists, in order to control the Plague, and during all times the Church of the Creator and later the Sentry tried to achieve this by the construction of so called "towers".
The purpose of a tower is to help an arcane caster, like a wizard, a sorceror or a bard, to finish his training, such that he can face his Nemesis Fiend in the Counterrealm before it can take him over and transform him into a Plaguefiend. Or, if the council (in Amn actually the Headmistress counseled by other Sentinels ) decides, that the aspirant won't be ready on time, have him (or her) turned into an emotion- and drivingless husk, which presents no danger of becoming a plaguefiend anymore. Or any danger to anyone.
Architecture
...At least that's what i have heard. Never been there myself. Anyway..." I revealed the branding in the inside of my hand to him and added: "Eridu...i am a fully educated witch". I saw how the eyes in his weathered face immediately narrowed when he, subconsciously, took a step back. An educated man, even if I doubted that he had ever heard about the city where I finished my training. While his two crewmen have had their gaze of superstitious anxiety chiseled on their faces for the whole passage already, mostly for having never seen an Oromi woman and thus being unaccustomed to my dark brown skin, appearances didn't seem to be something which could intimidate this man. But signets of power were obviously. He gave me a respectful nod and I saw that he had to swallow. I continued: "...they are all quite big still. But their halls are empty. You think the students have time to wander the corridors when they have to study?" I shook my head. "There is way too much at stake for them." "So you are one of their new prison guards..." he said, and thus proved to have much more understanding than I would have expected of him. Then it hit me. Of course he would have. His ship would also be the one with which the husks would be brought back to the city. I looked closer. Reddish eyes, slightly sullen gaze and a light yellowish paleness. He was a Cryst user, which i could relate to. I wouldn't want his nightmares either. Have them anyway. And worse. "No..." i answered, "...I am a teacher. I will make sure that there is more than a shell left before they board your ship again."Legends speak, that once even the Tower of R'hyll, which serves as a constant reminder of what wisdom the humans lost over the ages, was dwarfed by the other twelve towers. Now they are all destroyed and on their remnants stand the new "towers", better fortresses which achieve the necessary floorspace by growing into the width and not the height. The Tower of Amn is such a building. It consists of seven octagonal towers, each made up of a large maintower with seven secondary towers attached to it, all covered by battlements. They surround a central place, in whose middle a large matte black hemisphere is embedded in the grey rock, that serves as the fortress foundation. At two points on the hemisphere two small blocks of indecipherable and unremovable white scripture can be found, both ending in an arrow, which points at a small rectangular indentation on top. According to legend, the hemisphere has been here since Humans and Elves can recall, before even the first tower of Amn was built in the third age. It was here when it fell during the Dark Times, and when the actual "tower" was erected on its ruins almost 450 years ago, only 100 years after Touran III founded the Sentry. All we know about it is, that is made of a material that no building master has ever heard of, so hard, that even steel cannot penetrate it, yet somewhat warm and silky to the touch. It is surrounded by seven monoliths, made of grey stone like the rest of the castle: Bluish-grey rock that originates from the Shearwind massif south of the lake, and that was brought here by ship in an effort that spanned the almost 50 years of the towers construction. The monoliths represent schools of magic, and stand in a circle in equidistance to the hemisphere and their neighbor. Following an imaginary line from the hemispere through each monolith, one would arrive at the entrance of the tower, in which the respective art is taught. The only missing school, the school of evocation, is located in the caverns below, and their respective obelisk is located in the middle of their main training hall which lies directly beneath the sphere. Three spiral staircases, which are located at the corners of an equilateral triangle, whose sides exactly encompass the circle of monoliths, lead down to the hall. The decision to put the school of evocation underground was mainly motivated by the thought that those, who follow this path, would need training rooms which fulfill two things: They have to be spacious and especially stable, two things which the caverns beneath the tower provide. Also a good wall of rock between them and the rest of the students seemed like a good idea. Between neighboring towers, except the towers of necromancy and illusion, a wall goes up to almost one third of a towers height, ending in battlements and parapets. Over each of these walls, at about half of a towers height, archbridges go from one tower to the next, connecting them. Southwestward, between the towers of necromancy and illusion, lies the entrance gate, framed by two slim, albeit taller towers. It leads to the dock for the ships that go between Amn and the island, and which try to circumvent the remnants of the first tower, that still lurk beneath the surface and threaten to tear open their hulls, if their captains aproach from the wrong angle. Opposing the gate northeastward stands the tower of abjuration, which also holds the office of the headmistress, the councilroom in which she sits with the members of the Sentry, and the rooms in which the final exams take place. The tower of abjuration is thus about one third higher than the six other towers, and on it's top "burns" the "Everflame", an illusionary lightbeam of ghostly whitish color, which itself is almost as tall as the tower below it, and which serves as a navigational help for all those ships which travel on the moonlake. The order of the different towers taken clockwise from the tower of necromancy are: Necromancy, Conjuration, Divination, Abjuration, Enchantment, Transmutation and Illusion.
by cyrgan
Ground floor:
The Ground floor of the Tower of Abjuration. The Ground floors of all seven towers which make up the Tower of Amn follow a similar design. They all provide rooms left and right of the main corridor for 2 teachers and their families, who teach the school of magic which the tower represents. The ground floor also provides a lecturing hall, where all the lectures of the respective school are held.
by cyrgan
First Floor
The first floor of the Tower of Abjuration. The first floor of all 7 towers of the Tower of Amn follow a similar design. They all contain a kitchen for the students, a storage room, rooms for 29 Students, a dining hall, a common room which doubles as a study room, and separate bath rooms for boys and girls.
by cyrgan
Second Floor
The second floor of each of the seven towers contains a small chapel to one of the seven gods, which doubles as a chapel for the respective aspect of the creator. The tower of Abjuration (depicted here) houses the chapel of the "Father". Each second floor also houses two armories next to the battlement parapets, beds for sixteen Sentry guards and their commanders, and two small bathrooms at the disposal of those who are stationed here.
by cyrgan
Third Floor
The third floor of each tower includes the rooms for those students, which are approaching graduation. Thus the rooms, and the whole floor, are luxurious and meant to calm the nerves of the students. This floor also contains a bathroom for those who live here, a common room where the students eat together, and two training rooms in which the students of this floor get additional private lessons to be prepared for the graduation. For recreational purposes, and to calm the nerves of the students, Headmistress Ashar Nirudi ordered the rooms in the sidetowers, once used for defense purposes only, to be repurposed into gardens, meditation rooms, a reading room with light prosa and a kitchen and storage room, such that the students can cook together. From the garden rooms, students can reach the neighboring towers via an archbridge. Usually this floor is the top floor of a tower. An exception to this rule is the Tower of Abjuration (depicted here) which additionally contains a fourth level. To reach the roof, regardless if it is the Tower of Abjuration or not, one has to leave the main staircases, and use the smaller ones which are located behind the training rooms used for private lessons.
by cyrgan
Fourth Floor (Tower of Abjuration only)
The 4th Floor of the Tower of Abjuration holds the office of the Headmistress and her private room. It also holds the council room, where the Sentry council meets, the file room which holds files for every student, and the graduation room, where students go to meet their Nemesis Fiend and hopefully banish it during their final test. As the other towers do not have these rooms, the tower of abjuration is about one third higher than the rest of the towers which make up the Tower of Amn.
by cyrgan
Roof (Tower of Abjuration)
The roof of the Tower of Abjuration. Given the additional floor that this tower has, contrary to the other six, the roof of the central octagon is one floor higher then the roof of the secondary towers that surround it. In the tower of Abjuration the roofs of the secondary towers serve as a balcony, and can only be reached via doors from the floor below. The Tower of Abjuration also holds the Everlight, an illusionary column of foggy whitish light which goes up to almost twice the size of the tower on which it stands.
by cyrgan
Roof (Tower of Conjuration and others)
Like five other towers, the tower of Conjuration is lower by one floor than the Tower of Abjuration. Thus the roofs of the secondary towers are reachable from the main rooftop via stairs.
by Cyrgan
-1st Floor
The -1st floor of the Tower of Abjuration, which stands in for all of the seven towers that make up the tower of Amn. Like in all seven towers, it consists of two storage rooms, which hold necessary utensils for classes, and a bigger room whose supporting pillars are enchanted with a cold enchantment, in order to keep the food edible that is stored here. The -1st Floor also contains two sick wards, left and right of the main corridor, which each hold a room for solitary confinement, for those afflicted by a contagious ailment, and a room with three beds, for other patients. The nurses that work here also care for the husks which are the inevitable result of a curbing. Because the school wants to keep this experience from the students, the rooms of the husks (which double as prison cells for those who are about to be curbed or which were caught in an attempt to escape), are located in the so called "Husk Ward" one floor below, with the stairs leading down hidden by a secret door, whose existence is additionally shrouded from the notice of the students by a ritual of shrouding they have to undergo once they join the school.
by cyrgan
The Hall of Evocation
The Hall Of Evocation, where all training regarding this school of magic takes place. The central hall, with the obelisk that represents this magic school in its center, is carried by seven massive colums and its own massive walls. It is surrounded by locker rooms for the students, in which they can change into their necessary protective gear, as evocation spells oftentimes tend to display harmful area effects. Divided by genders of course. Three stairs lead upstair to the central court, and seven corridors, going out from the central hall, lead to the lower levels of the seven towers, in which the students live and study the remaining seven schools of magic.
by cyrgan
The "Husk Ward"
Below the Hall of Evocation lies the "Husk Ward", reachable from all seven Towers via hidden stairs. Here the school keeps those students who have been "curbed", because the school's sentry council did not see a fighting chance for them against their Nemesis Fiend, and who are thus now emotion- and driveless husks, or those students who are about to be "curbed". The room where the "curbing" happens is the central chamber. The name "Husk Ward" is not official, but has found its way into the speech of the Sentry guards and nurses anyway, when they are among themselves. Every three to four month, usually late in the evening to escape the notice of the other students, the Husks are driven through the southeastern tunnel towards the dock, where a ship waits which brings them back to the Harbor of Amn, where they are received by either their families or the caring nurses of the Amnian Roanites, the order who cares for the psychically ill.
by cyrgan
TowerOfPower @WorldAnvil and @WebDMshow
by cyrgan
by cyrgan
Here should be the feedback of Dylonishere123. It was deleted by accident, because i used my phone to look at it and have clumsy fingers. However, as you can see i followed your advice. The answer to your question: i "chose" the DnD Magicschools because its a DnD World.