Museum and Research Institute of Alt'Ena

The Museum and Research Institue of Alt'Ena (Short: MRIA, or sometimes MuRia) is an independent research institute in the 11th district of Alt'Ena closely associated to the Magical Academy of Alt'Ena and highly venerated as a source of information and innovation of the Domin Andaimon.
The institute was built up by late Karrion Jai,Deme (or Jaiuuuudem since the name is an old dwarven dialect rarely used nowadays) who quit his position at the Magical Academy to have more neutrality when venturing into the dungeon was still new to the dwarven society. In his youth ca. 600 years ago, Jai,Deme would often dismiss his studies at the Alt'Enan Academy to explore the at the time still untamed dungeon. Finding various trinkets and slowly mapping the dungeon upper levels, allowed him to write several influential manifests of how the dungeon - and dungeons in general would be built. Before attaining higher ranks at the academy, he would dissappear in one of his trips only to be returning 12 years later.
Form his last trip, Jai,Deme would bring back an artifact called the "dark-sun". This masterwork artefact was able to greatly amplify magical energy put into it and emits it at lightless heat. Selling this artifact to the Clans of Alt'Ena fueled the century of Smithing that sparked in Alt'Ena. Form the fortune he would found the Insittute and create public interest by describing his adventuring in his shortly thereafter published book, "Among Daimons". The original manuscrip of this book is supposed to be still there
By now the Institute is led by the Clan of Löytosatian, the adventuring Dwarves. This change in leadership happened gradually by the decades after Jai,Deme's Death and is ling finalized. The clan is curating a rather big collection of artifacts from dungeons, but also one of the leaders in Daimon research. Especially the latter, is often connected by collaborations from the Magical Academy and the Domin Andaimon and one of the main financing methods of the current institution..
Director and Leadership are venerated Dwarf Coronalo Kenrith Magran, and his wife Lissy, the curator of the collection.

The Institutes collection

Within the collection many objects of the Jeruvian Dungeon, but also from Dungeon around the world have been gathered. These are artifacts telling of the time before the Sealing, live in the Ruinous Cities before the Rask arrived, and arcane artifacts of more or less higher power. Other held objects are just related to the studies themselve, like old manuscripts, books or notes from the various scholars of the institute.

• The first map - The map first created by Jai,Deme. There are several notes added to his original drawings, as well as physical paper stapled to the map from later scholars of the insitute. The practiced of adding to the original map stopped around a century after forming the institute and now it is preserved as a historic document.

• First Manuscript of "Among Daimons" - First Manuscript of the infamous book created. Some whisper that it notably differs in many aspects from the published version. Other agree: "Yes, Jai,Deme was many things but he writer he was not."

• Daimon collection - perserved Daimon parts for studying

• Everlight Candle - a mysterious candle light apparatus that always emits light on command. This artefact has been subject to many studies since light production is always created due to magical trinkets, that always have to be maintained for city light.

• Models of the Dark Sun - Several models that try to explain how the dark sun works. Mostly failing.

• Jai,Deme’s Compass – A mysterious compass that always points to the nearest dungeon. It is unknown whether he created it or found it. It was found among his belongings after his death and never once was mentioned while he was alive.

• Different Jeruvian Dining Set – Intricate plates and goblets from the Ruinous Cities of the Jerulian Dungeon, inscribed with unknown runes. The runes seem to be not magical, but rather for writing. They have not yet been deciphered but all evidence point to phrases related to eating and drinking.

• The Endless Quill – A writing tool that never runs out of ink. Often used by the director of the institute.

• Phantom Armor Fragment – A piece of armor that flickers with ghostly energy.

• Orb of Recalling – A sphere that returns to its owner when thrown, no matter the distance.

• Poetic Rune Stone - A non-magical stone tablet with carved runes. Parts of the runes where similar to a speach used by some sentients living in the far east of Vualtar, an originally insular community. They read: "And past and future unite to form the present. Thus, time is what we take from the river. And when we dream there is a way to look back into the river. They weep at the thought of whats to come. Only the gods..." The other parts have not been conclusively translated, but there is at least 10 times as much information carved into the stone. And some even argue that at least part of what was translated has to be wrong. Only that it was a societal important artifact, like a well known poem, persists in academic circles. Using different types of runes seems therefore to be political in the pre-sealing area.

• Jeruvian Crown – A ceremonial crown worn by leaders of the Ruinous Cities. Altough some have recently speculated that this artefact is actually a childrens toy that aims to resemble an actual crown.

• Dungeon-Walker’s Boots – Boots enchanted to make the wearer faster and quieter in dungeons. This is an artifact created by an archmage around 200 years ago. It is seldom used nowadays due to the danger of being lost.

• Broken Jeruvian Sword – A fragment of a sword used during the pre-Sealing era, still retaining a faint magical aura.

• Jeruvian Music Box – A box that plays hauntingly beautiful melodies when wound.

• Fragment of the Leviathan Chain – A piece of a legendary chain said to be used to bind colossal creatures. Other interpretation relate this to the shipping ankor chains.

• Runestone of Binding – A stone used for binding objects, creatures, or spells. the sail is very faint by design. Making it possible for objects to be hung at the wall but removed if wanted. Very popular among the curators of the collection.

• Ancient Sword Smithing Handbook - in the more historic section of the collection is under a thick glass an old handbook discovered in the Jerulian Dungeon. It is written in one of the languages found in the dungeon that have not yet been deciphered. However, its illustrations alone resulted in several innovations of sword making and magical application around the year 2800. Some of which are still fundamental now in certain areas of magical crafting. The long texts between the sparse illustrations suggest a wealth of knowledge still hidden in the book. But due to the real danger of its old paper falling apart when handled it is seldom looked at nor really studied now. By now it is mostly forgotten as an object of study.

• Various Magical Gems - Every now and then gems with magical energy are found. While many of these can be used for various tasks and are thus handled as artifacts, some have yet unknown purposes. They often fall into the hand of the collection sponsored by some of the more rich Dwarves of the Clans who buy these regularly from adventurers.

• Samples of everyday life - Part of researching the dungeons is archaeology. While not the largest colelction in the world, the Alt'Enan Institute houses several trinkets of everyday life - especially from the Jerulian Dungeon of course. They are neatly sorted into categories like "pottery" or "amateur drawings".

Daimon collection

• Heart of Ember – A pulsating core of a fiery Daimon, still warm to the touch. It was taken from a specimen encountered in the Karraskian Dungeon. No other specimen have been known to be slain, but few have been encountered. They occur in the deepest part of that dungeon where unbearable heat is emitted.

• Wings of the Void – Fragmented wing membranes of a flying Daimon, shimmering with void-like patterns. They seem to be better for swiming than actually flying upon close inspection. The Daimon type is called the Jerulian Mudbasker.

• Bloodstone Crystals – Crystalized samples of Daimon’s blood, pulsating faintly when imbued with Mana.

• Daimon’s Tailbone – A spiked tailbone from a feral Daimon. There are several in the collection form a few different species of Spiketails.

• Molten Scales – Scales from a lava-based Daimon. It has recently been discovered that the Daimon does not grow these tehmselve but rather harvest them from real magmatic matter and fused it to their exoskelleton.

• Ancient Fragment of Daimonic Glyphs – Skin or membrane from a Daimon, inscribed with unknown glyphs. Historic object that has been found outside the dungeon in what appears to be first millenial Jerulian villages uncovered near the dungeon.

• Planctonic collection - largest collection in the world of Daimon Plancton form various dungeons. Described in detail and result of many new microscopic Daimon species known. Many of the hired scholars research these samples. They are sorted in gigantic shelves specifically made to store the collection.

• Unknown specimen Louis - A specimen of unknown origin in a 100litre presevervation tank. It was discovered in the colleciton around 200 years ago, but there was no documentation from which dungeon it came from. There is no other speciment that resembles it, making it completely unique. Thus, over the decades since its "discovery" every now and then a new student will look at it and try to identitfy the specimen. It has been named Louis by an unknown student and the name stuck.

• Preservation experimentation station - Preservation of the mostly Miasma based Daimon beings can be tricky at times. The institute houses the first experimentation station with various chemical ingredients and machinery to try out different preservation methods. While in the early years of dungeon research the institute was the leading research body of innovating these methods, it has since been overtaken by one of the three institutes stationed in the Karlan. Yet, the research at this station still remains active and they try to innovate mostly on older methods developed herein, like formaldehyd formulas for different Daimon-types and jelly taken from wild jelly creatures or plants to preserve smoke like Daimons.