Firestone Academy for The Magically Gifted
The Firestone Academy for The Magically Gifted is a wizarding school based in Strathold but operating throughout Osternfel and Arvernfel. The organization is known for its strict learning methods and the somewhat limited freedoms of its students and graduates, yet it is one of the only accepted organization certified by the Andorian Alliance to handle magical training.
Structure
The organization is overseen jointly by the High Inquisitor of Strathold and a delegate from the Assembly of Bishops, often a bishop of Talador. Outside of the screening and admission process, the two mostly won't interfere with the academy's day to day management, which is left to the care of House Firestone.
Faculty members must be former students and also have an appropriate military background. Each applicant is screened and checked by several organizations to ensure no ill intents or misalignment with the Dogma of The Four. The pedagogical board is somewhat more loose in its composition, but will often include former members of the Inquisition.
Students are governed in classes, depending on age and natural affinity, with each student majoring in Abjuration, Divination, Enchantment or Transmutation.
History
The academy was opened 1469 by Vin Firestone, a former nullifier who was displeased with the lack of action by the Conclave of Magi in regard to maleficarum in the Andorian Alliance. He would especially criticize the organization inability to apprehend their own rogue students and graduates.
Under the watchful eye of the The Inquisition a controlled, safe environment was operated in Strathold to ensure the safety of those who manifested their first signs of magic.
The academy started receiving new students under extremely rigid conditions. While the conclave would take anyone who managed to provide the admission fee, Firestone would screen new students based on their age, origins, chosen beliefs, magical affinities, familial heritages and more. Additionally, a phylactery of blood was also taken from each student, an act that is performed in the Conclave only for nullifiers and those with the rank of Magus or above.
Firestone's methods, while invasive and controversial, proved to be effective. Within half a decade more than 500 new students where admitted into the institution, most of them coming from the streets of Strathold and nearby settlements. Those who managed to graduate would often be given a limited selection of high paying career paths, often in artificeries, military and even the inquisition itself. Graduates would also be allocated residence in their working area, often in predefined neighborhoods.
Originally, students were escorted by venatores wherever they went. This was done to govern trust between the students and the venatores, but proved to be a catastrophic failure in 1487, when Firestone had to apprehend a group of his own students. The close proximity has created much friction between the group and their charge, leading to an argument during which one of the students killed one venatore and severely injured the rest. Fearing the wrath of the inquisition, the group fled to a cave near Sigriva. Firestone was killed in the first exchange between the group and the Inquisition.
After the incident venatores maleficarum where stationed in the academy in place of the rank and file that was used prior. Also, instead of accompanying the student everywhere, these venatores served as sentinels stationed around the academy in case of an emergency. Finally, those stationed in the academy also required to undergo further training to ensure they are properly fit to interact with non-combatant population.
Since Vin Firestone's death the academy is managed and maintained by House Firestone with financial assistance of the Andorian Alliance. The academy operates in several locations around the Ostig Plateau, and is responsible for the majority of Osternfel's and Arvernfel's magical education.
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