The Academy of Ipsola
One of the oldest magical academies in T'sara, the Academy of Ipsola's would be seen as one of the great centers of learning if it were not isolated by the great desert surrounding it, and if weren't marred by corruption and greed.
Structure
The Academy of Ipsola, like many academic facilities, is run by a Dean, who is responsible for approving all of the college staff, and setting the overall policies and rules of the school. The school staff is broken up by the magical school they specialize in, such as conjuration or enchantment, with a Headmaster of each school, who is responsible for the hiring and management of the individual professors. The professors are granted full autonomy in how, when, and who they teach. Some of the staff in fact will only teach students on a one-on-one basis.
Culture
The Academy is driven largely by a culture of self-centered aspirations and mercenarial quid pro quo. Nothing is done for someone without consideration of how it benefits them. The staff expect to be rewarded or incentivized for nearly everything. Teaching higher specialities of magic or other concepts frequently requires additional costs directly to the professor. Students only work with one another if there is a material gain. More likely, they'll turn on one another to remove competition and to prove their own superiority.
The rash of selfishness, corruption, and nepotism among the staff and naked ambition in the students has created an organization that is morally bankrupt and ineffective at it's intended goal of actually teaching the next generation of wizards to protect themselves and T'sara as a whole. The students who want to see the Academy improve quickly abandon the school, and the faculty hoping to change it from the inside are too few in number and without any power to be effective.
Public Agenda
The purpose of the Academy to the public is to make the studying of Magic more accessible for the common person. Most schools are a multi-year, full time obligation, under a rigorous and scrutinous curriculum, that is unfeasible for most people. Ipsola works by allowing those who are accepted, and can pay, to receive a more personal and custom methodology of learning magic. This allows individuals to learn to cast specific spells, or understanding one specific aspect of the magical world to support their day to day lives.
Assets
The greatest asset of the academy it's library, filled with texts dating as far back as the First Age. Some even appear to be of the Lost Age, but are from a forgotten language or otherwise indicepherable. None have gone through all of the texts, as the task would exceed even an Elf's lifespan, but some of the more senior staff have at least notional ideas of the subjects contained within the library. As a result, the library staff are the most scorned and distrusting of the staff. Seeing the need to preserve the books and not sell them off to the highest bidder, or allow forged dupilicates to be replicated for profit, the librarians maintain strict control of what books are lent to whom and for how long. Because the staff are the least likely to be convinced by gold or other reward, the rest of the staff finds them impossible to work with.
History
The Academy of Ipsola was created in the ruins of an organization of wizards from the First Age that sought the greater secrets of magic to fight the forces of evil. The Stewards of Ipsola, named after its founder, have long since disappeared into history books, though their legends are commonly told, often to inspire or fascinate children or those seeking magical study.
The Ipsola Academy was not created until the Third Age, when a knowledgeable but naive Gnome wizard saw that there were those in the wastes who were capable of learning magic but lacked teachers.
The Ipsola Academy was not created until the Third Age, when a knowledgeable but naive Gnome wizard saw that there were those in the wastes who were capable of learning magic but lacked teachers.
Demography and Population
The majority of the students are humans, although most of the staff are elves or gnomes. The school holds a small concentration of orc wizards among the staff, an unusual sight in more prominent and prestigious schools.
Because the school is so mercenarial in nature, it is therefore removed of any overt bias or discrimination: Imperial coin from a tiefling is just as good as crom human as elves, as an example.
Because the school is so mercenarial in nature, it is therefore removed of any overt bias or discrimination: Imperial coin from a tiefling is just as good as crom human as elves, as an example.
Foreign Relations
Normal magical academies tend to look down on Ipsola for how they conduct themselves and the seemingly corrupt nature that it works through, and there is a lot of public condemnation by prominent members of those schools. Despite this, the old saying holds true that skill admires skill. Wizards who graduate from extensive training from Ipsola are still respected by others, despite their means of teaching or instruction. A few notable archmages have been known to try and have it both ways; publicly denigrating the school and it's methods while privately touring it's extensive library to answer a specific question or gain insights into some magical mystery.
Type
Education, Magic
Leader
Currency
Although the academy is well outside the territory of the Intransican Empire, Imperial currency is the accepted currency here. Those who travel here with other coinage can typically find conversion in the city outside. Students who establish a good rapport with the professors, or who are offering enough money, may use non Imperial currency to pay for individualized instruction.
Location
Controlled Territories
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