Collegiums

For every collegium built, a country prospers

Written by Rat_King

Atop the mountains of Asturica, there to this day stands the great college of Virstall. Ancient and mighty the hub stood still as the oldest collegium in Seneca. Created before the humans arrived on the continent. The walls of Virstall, lavishly decorated with ancient dwarven mosaic and wall carvings. Beautiful ancient Virstall architecture present to be learned from and admired by Senecan students.
One such dwarf made it her dream to reach the skies. And to achieve her dreams, she sets forth to study in the halls of the Lisseford Collegium. As she sets foot on the campus, steam-powered machinery is being tested by the students at a nearby lawn. A museum of prototypes, successful and otherwise has it's own room dedicated to the scholars who invented them. A great library containing various pieces of knowledge as students and scholars alike share a table in the study. And finally, the skymoor, where future pilots, engineers, and air navigators learn how to make or fly a Senecan airship.
An orcish scholar makes his way back to the Milafonse Collegium to report his findings to the council. Undoubtedly the largest collegium in all of Seneca, almost built like a small city and where the Archsavant resides. As he walks the icy winter paths of the Academe, he is steadily greeted by students and colleagues alike. Gaslight lamps hanging about the walkways leading him to his dorm where he could rest and practice his speech for tomorrow's report.
At the core of it all, A collegium could be considered as a place of learning for Senecans. In some cases, collegiums can serve as manufacturers of certain objects, vehicles, or whatnot. It could even be a place for raising armies in times of need.

Purpose / Function

"Ahhh...... The hub of knowledge, it will always feel like home to me. Shame about what happened to the alchemical ward though, next time the staff shouldn't let Pavians wander around the west wing. There'll be fewer explosions then."

— A monologuing prof. Laswell, returning to the Tybard Collegium

Collegiums were built to house, study, and advance knowledge on anything that the Senecans find that may be useful to their society. Most of the technologies of Seneca present today were developed in Collegiums. Slowly honed and adjusted as they were introduced to Senecan society. Well-known technologies such as Senecan medicine, steam-powered machinery, gunpowder, ways of taming beasts, and much more.
Collegiums also doubles as a place to train scholars, engineers, savants, alchemists, tacticians, apothecaries, and other professions that require extensive mental training. Additionally, it also functions as a community for the learned, having multiple dorms within its campus.
In certain cases, though rarely, some collegiums became military training facilities.

Denizens

Usually scholars from Seneca or from places influenced by Senecans. Humans and Dwarves are the most common scholars, engineers, and such but a close runner-up are the Orcs making up about 1/8 of the population. a small number of Nazca scholars can study in the collegium halls of Carrion and rarely if ever, they would go overseas to the prominent Senecan schools.
In harmonist Rhoygir, certain Beastmen scholars exist but their studies aren't on par with their Senecan counterparts.

Design and Facilities:

Facilities and buildings will be marked n* if required to make a collegium. Otherwise, that facility is optional for a collegium to function

The list of facilities

• Campus Grounds*
  A general area where students, researchers, professors, and scholars tread around outside the collegium buildings. May have fields for outdoor sports activities.
• Classrooms*
  A place where educators come to hold classes in order to teach their students and pass on knowledge.
• Domus Magistri*
  A building where professors and educators come to organize and plan their classes. Every department has it's own building and it's own dean.
• Librarium/Library*
  Where all general or specialized non-confidential knowledge is to be learned and public books on display for everyone to read, borrow, and study. Just remember to return the books on time or else the librarian will send the collegium's muscle at you. a Librarium is just a collection of specialized libraries found in one building. For example, The librarium of Virstall, which contains a library of medicine, machinations, alchemy, philosophy, engineering, and history.
• Laboratories*
  Where theory testing comes to be. Required to at least be equipped with only the needed tools for experiments, brewing, research, tinkering, and other activities in the lab.
• Testing Grounds*
  Either through a specified indoor room or just a plain enclosed space outside the Campus where engineers and students can test their inventions and machinery.
• Dormitories*
  Most of the scholars of that Collegium reside here, the campus should provide a living space for their residents. This is where the learned come to bond with one another. To stay in the dorms, one must be able to pay its expenses either through money or through credit for your work.
• Observatory(Required: Mountainous regions)
  The stars and the cosmos are still a mystery to some, but for the Senecans it is something to be studied. Equipped with a great telescope and certain astronomical tools, the scholar can read into the stars for omens coming from the gods and study their divine nature.
• Alchemical ward(Required: Separate Laboratory and component storage)
  The favorite building of the Alchemical department. A place where they can mix and match different components as much as their heart desires without having to worry about blowing up the campus.
• Machinarium
  A place where tinkers, engineers, and artificers come to make machineries of iron, steel, and brass powered by steam or any viable sources of power.
• Skymoor
  A great tower stands in your collegium, for that place shall be where airships dock and depart.
• Theatre
  Debates, presentations, and other expressive performances. This is the stage of the artists to prove and express themselves.
• Underwater Observatory(Required: Coastal area)
  Much like the skies, what's beneath the great blue is still a mystery. So the Senecans built a place where they could reach the depths of the ocean, studying it's very residents while wearing dive suits.
• Undermoor(Required: Underwater Observatory)
  But of course, not all of the oceans can be reached. Until the Senecans built the Undermoor, the house where Submersible vehicles come to be made and deployed.
• Greenhouse
  Should you grow specific plants for your experiments, grow them in the greenhouse.
• Terrarium(Required: Greenhouse)
  A larger greenhouse serving as its own ecosystem. If the higher-ups allow it, then it is possible to have animals inside.
• Animal Enclosures(Required: Animals duh..)
  A shed for uncommon and/or exotic animals, just so scholars can learn about them should they ever encounter such on their travels. Other collegiums also use it as a hub in teaching scholars how to tame certain beasts.

Alternative Names

Academe

Type

College / Academy

Related Professions

• Scholar

Related topics:

Humans
Dwarves