Floating Coin

The Floating Coin is a strange educational centre and it is often mistaken for a bar or a hostel out in the northwestern expanse of Endref often called the Periphery. Within the Periphery, the Floating Coin is a hub of activity and trade and, naturally, education.
Physically, the Floating Coin is a round squat building that appears to be "floating" on the kettle lake that it is built on. There is a narrow rock passageway which extends out into the lake from the shore to the Floating Coin, with the rocks made buoyant by some means that is still under much debate. The rocks themselves are wide enough for a wagon to approach, and there is some scholarly research which claims that the rocks could somehow be sunk at will if the Floating Coin were to ever come under attack. However, if such a mechanism exists, the workings of it have been lost for many years. The Floating Coin is covered with windows on the outside, at regular intervals, with solid brass abutments displaying in between the windows. The windows themselves are made of an opaque glass that allows very little light through, but which give the Floating Coin a striking appearance. Over time, some of these windows have been broken (accidentally or on purpose) and replaced with regular glass, so anyone approaching the Floating Coin can see inside. The roof of the Floating Coin is sloped inward and there is a central area within the Coin where water flows done through the coin and into the lake below. Though Endref receives little snow in the winter, there is a heating system to melt any snow that accumulates on the roof and run the water downward. The main doors to the Floating Coin are rectangular and made of brass, and they swing on a rotation system that causes both doors to more or less pivot in place. This door function means that wagons cannot make it into the Floating Coin, and so a system of wooden platforms has been built off the rock causeway that allows merchants and others to unload their wagon before it sending it back across the lake to a half-decent stable on the shores of the lake.
The inside of the Floating Coin is a collision of design and function. Largely, the interior is full of old upholstered furniture and what were once regal appointments that are now worn and, in some cases, falling apart. The wooden in the place is very polished, though it is also full of gouges and scrapes. Upon entering the Floating Coin, there is a small fountain that is full of coins, all of which float on the surface and which visitors are allowed to use to pay for their fees (as required), though the proprietors do keep an eye to make sure someone isn't taking too much. There is a rounded counter behind the fountain where the proprietor and his children work, directing those who enter either to speak to him (if they require lodging), to go down one floor (if they require food), or to go down three levels (if they are looking for the educational complex). The proprietor's name is Recklan, and the ownership of the Floating Coin fell to him after his aunt died about 40 years ago.
To get to the educational complex, a guest needs to walk over to the top of the spiral staircase that winds downward. The first sub-floor, which houses a bar, is entered after taking one half a rotation along the staircase. Beyond that, the staircase gets tighter and tighter wound until it gets close enough to the falling water flow to make some of the stairs lightly damp (and spray occasional guests).
The entire Floating Coin structure is built on top of an older structure that partially collapsed into the lake, at least one hundred and fifty eoch prior. The old building, which was said to be like a small castle in the centre of the lake, exists in ruins beneath the Floating Coin and some rooms, which did not collapse fully, are still accessible from within the lower chambers of the Floating Coin. The central staircase, for example, was from within a tower of the original structure (or so it's said) and much of the university is directly from the original building. The university itself, officially called Sederat's Hall, is more often called Sodden Hall. The university has a poor reputation, given that it rarely entices new students and much of a faculty (if they can be called that) focus on studying the building itself, or the ruins of the old Sederat castle rather than pursuing anything truly interesting. Eln, as well as a hand full of other members, are studying protoendren in an attempt to figure out what their stories might say of the time before current geopolitical powers, and potentially what they can tell of what is happening south of Mesle (across the Neol Strait).

Type

University / Educational complex