Eight Ways College
Teachers, guardians and protectors of the arcane arts
The Eight Ways College is now taking applicants for students of the arcane arts for the coming year! If you've got the coin and the brains, or maybe just the talent, they'll open doors for you that you never knew even existed! Come and change your life forever, and learn that power comes not from swords, but from the winds of magic themselves!It's a rare town that doesn't have a student of the Eight Ways training in their town guard, or serving as an advisor to the town's mayor or nobility. As the central authority of arcane magic, and one of the outspoken voices around the dangers of uncontrolled magic of all kinds, the Eight Ways hold a power in Arkeran that is pervasive but essential to the continued stability of the world. Entrance to the Eight Ways consists of a lengthy application and testing process, a generous monetary donation (at least 2,000gp but the college is happy to take more), and the personal recommendation of an existing member of the college who has attained the membership of at least the second circle. The college makes its continued revenue from providing magical services to those who can afford them, which ranges from spellcasting for hire to magic item commission. To become a member of the second circle it is a requirement that the student spend two years serving in a town guard contingent - this provides the college with a continued income, exposes students to the dangerous abuses of magic, and reinforces the college's importance to civilisation. Many students continue to maintain a relationship with the guard captains they served under, and more than a few would-be villains have come unstuck when old favours have been called in from a third-circle student of the college. Students that pass their second-circle exam (which is usually taken around their sixth year of study) are given considerably more leeway over their own affairs and are only expected to complete college-sponsored commissions every few months or so. A large proportion of the second-circle students can still be found on campus at any given time, often lecturing, training their apprentices or researching in the extensive arcane libraries. Students who achieve membership of the third circle represent the pinnacle of study at the college. These rare mages are seldom on campus except to provide tutoring to a favourite student or to search for some obscure bit of arcane literature. Four third-circle students make up the college's ruling body along with Ilanis Rothenel, who has held the archmage position at the college for the last one hundred and twenty years. The college takes the malicious death of one of its students very personally and will spare no expense in bringing murderers to justice. Ex-students do exist and the college makes no demands of former students except that they pay a severance fee to cover the lost income for the college (which is sometimes expressed as a task or commission for the former student to undertake). Being expelled from the college is no small thing, and often results in the former student being handed over to the local law for punishment - very few students are expelled for anything other than criminal offences - the college prefers to bring student back into line and retain their investment where it can.
Friendly
While both the Eight Ways College and the Speakers of Ioun remain fairly friendly towards each other, there will always remain some mistrust due to the College's belief that knowledge should be paid for and the Speaker's ideals that all knowledge wants to be free.
Opposed
While there is a somewhat whispered respect for the accumulated knowledge of the Eight Ways College amongst the Keepers of Vecna, there is also disdain and anger at the College's willingness to share such power, even for a price. In return, the College seeks out and destroys Keepers for their abuse of magic - though more than a few ex-students number amongst the Keepers, and even some still current students.
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