Acadeum

A global and universally recognized order of scholars from all species, peoples, and creeds, the Acadeum is indisputably one of the most influential entities in the Centerlands and beyond, controlling much of Creacias’s wealth of knowledge, arcana, and history. Although its seat of power lies in the isolated, mountainous peninsula of Galdeum, the Acadeum works through its thousands of Chroniclers spread throughout the globe and has outposts, called the Acannals, in almost every major town and city in the Centerlands outside of the Thraxian Empire and Hett. Furthermore, the Chroniclers hold sway over the majority of the Spellspires (nine of the known 16), and therefore dominate much of the teleportation power of the known world. This also allows the Chroniclers to travel quickly and unhampered across great distances and dangerous territories, collecting, disseminating—and often selectively burying or even destroying—the lore of the Centerlands. The Acadeum portrays itself as a neutral organization, simply chronicling events and cataloging facts, but many of the other powers of the world view the Chroniclers as elitist, secretive meddlers who hoard and monopolize knowledge for their own obscure purposes. Since the fall of the Voran Empire, the Acadeum has actively tried to influence what fills the power vacuum and has been largely successful, even if it will never take credit. And since they control so much of Creacia’s collective memory, it might never be truly known how much influence the Chroniclers, especially those locked away in impenetrable Galdeum, truly have.

History

The Acadeum arose from the ashes of the early-Erudite Human civilization of Hycis, which was inadvertently burned to the ground in an attempt to rid the Galdean Peninsula of its thick forests of magic-nullifying, Soulvein-infused Shedar trees. Although the Erudites succeeded, the vast majority of their population and civilization perished along with the trees. Most of the survivors crossed the Hycin Sea to establish the Pentacle, Ruos, Gathis, and Ephesus. The small remainder—merely several thousand but including what was left of their famed yet disgraced order of scholars—left the charred and lifeless shores seeking refuge in an ancient temple hidden amongst the snowy peaks of the nearly impenetrable Galdean Mountains. There they slowly turned the ruined temple into the greatest center of knowledge and learning in all of Creacia, inviting masters of mundane, arcane and divine lore to add to the grand opus of the world. When the Chroniclers began to open the secrets of the Soulveins and Spelltowers during the second half of the second millennium, their reach, wealth, and power exploded across the world, many Chroniclers serving as advisors to kings and warlords across the Centerlands.

Structure

The true hierarchy of the Acadeum is only known to the Chroniclers, though it is commonly known that there is a council of ten Lore Masters who preside over the dealings and direction of the Acadeum’s work. The Lore Masters represent the foremost scholars in ten subjects: History, Geography, Mathematics, Alchemy, Mathematics, Astronomy, Medicine, Engineering, the Arcane, and the Divine. Below them, the Ten Orders are a very rigid, extremely competitive meritocracy (similar to Tarn’s systems of advancement) based on dozens of increasingly grueling oral, written, and applied examinations. The Acadeum is open to all races, peoples and nationalities, but tends to favor the highly cerebral and analytical capacities of Erudite Humans, High Elf (Elenesti), and Natyr (Goatman), three races that comprise the vast majority of all high level Chroniclers. Once a young pupil is accepted into the Acadeum, they are whisked away to Galdeum, stripped of all their family ties, religious or national affiliations, and dedicate their entire existence to the pursuit of knowledge in the name of the Acadeum.

The Memory of the World