The Arcane College

The sole magical institution in Alba

The Arcane College is the premier institution for the teaching of magic in the Kingdom of Alba. It also happens to be the sole official magical educational institute, so the title is hardly well earned. The college is an experiment fifteen years in the making and, thus far, it has been a rousing success. The College was founded by King Gerard IV and Archmage Bartholomew as a means of supplying the King's army with the warmages it so desperately needed. The old mentor-apprentice way of doing things simply wouldn't have been able to keep up with the army's demands, but a centralised institution where mages would come together to share their knowledge with the next generation would. In the fifteen years since then, the College has grown to become a school for all who can afford it, not only the military, and the Archmage takes great pride in the work they have done. He hopes to create the preeminent institution of magic in all the Dominion, one that does not primarily cater to war and violence.

Structure

The College is by the Archmage is his capacity as an officer of the King, and because of that royal appointment, Bartholomew is the sole authority within the College. He serves at the pleasure of King Gerard, and until he disappoints his king, he will remain Chancellor of the College. Having only fifteen instructors, the College is still small enough that there isn't any need for a governing body or a council to manage the College, but Bartholomew and the senior instructors have already begun planning for the future. The Archmage's ultimate plan is independence, or at least greater autonomy, from the King in order to turn the College into a true centre for magical learning rather than an expeditious means for the King to get his warmages. Bartholomew's plans include an elected chancery, a grand council of mages and a whole bureaucratic arm of the College one it grows large enough to sustain itself. But for now it is the only the Archmage and the fifteen instructors that deal with the day-to-day business of the College. These aren't the only members of the college staff, however, as there are cleaners and cooks and assistants and butlers that deal with the menial work, but they are all organised by the Archmage's steward who runs the college's "household".

Public Agenda

"To teach the Words of Power to all those who are capable." It is the manifesto of the College, and to a large extent it is true, but the College was founded to provide the King with warmages to serve in his army. As such there is a hidden agenda that the Archmage wishes to keep from his student and the public: most of the mages who graduate from the college will be recruited into the King's army to serve on the forefront of the war with the Eternal Empire.

Assets

Perhaps the greatest asset the College possesses is the network of catacombs that lie beneath it. When King Gerard and Archmage Bartholomew created the College, the king gave the Archmage an old abandoned castle in the midlands of Alba. The castle, and its noble owners, had suffered terribly at the hands of the Eternal Empire two centuries earlier, and the castle grounds had remained abandoned and in ruins since then. Folk tales and superstitions had kept away everyone for centuries until the College moved in, and thus the catacombs beneath it remained a secret until one curious student opened a certain trapdoor in a certain cellar. Months later, an instructor found the cellar, the trapdoor, and promptly got lost in the miles of catacombs. When he finally made it to the centre to catacombs, the instructor discovered what was left of the missing student. The poor young man had stumbled upon an ancient altar at the heart of the catacombs that had been used by the pagans of old in sacrificial rites. The spirit that fed upon the lifeforce of others had grown hungry and irate over the centuries and millennia that its altar had lain dormant. When the student had come close to its altar, the spirit seized its chance and possessed the unfortunate young man. It was in this state that the instructor found him, mutated beyond human recognition, but fighting to survive against the powerful spirit within him. In the months since he had become lost, the student's body had been transformed by the spirit into something more primal and elemental. The student looked like some form of golem, with skin of bark and stone, plants with flowers and fruits growing out of him, bees and butterflies finding nests on his body, and his feet firmly rooted into the ground. The spirit called itself Blackthorn (the original name of the castle before the College moved in) and has been an invaluable asset to the College. As soon as it was discovered, the Archmage barred the cellar leading to the catacombs from all but himself and his instructors and set guards to protect the entrance. With the catacombs once again secret and secure, the spirit Blackthorn has become the College's greatest asset. Blackthorn knows more about the words of power than any man the Archmage has met, and its knowledge about the flows of magic on and within the planet is a treasure trove of arcane knowledge. The spirit, however, never does anything for free, and the Archmage has been loathe to grant Blackthorn everything it has asked for. As such, the knowledge the College has received from the spirit is little, but already it has been a great help to the College's understanding of magic. The Archmage hopes that in time he will find a way to break through Blackthorn's resolve and unlock the mystical secrets kept within.

The Study of Magic

After fifteen years College has entered its adolescence, and much like a teenage boy it is finding its way in the world. Teaching the Words of Power to students and unlocking their minds to understanding the vast world of magic has become commonplace and routine. The College has become excellent at what it does, but now it strives to do more. The Words of Power and the language of magic is a mystery onto itself. How it came to be, and how humanity learnt to use and control it is lost to history, and has been relegated to maths, legends and religion. The College seeks to shine the light of knowledge into this dark well of ignorance and find out exactly what makes the magic work. It is a nigh impossible task (as the Archmage is well aware), as there is no tangible place to begin. The mages have to dive deep into every legend and story of magic and hope to piece together a coherent narrative, and from there go out into the world to see if these fairy tales hold water. The College does not yet have the ability to put all its resources to this task, so the Archmage has had to come up with some creative solutions. The first of these is to reward the College students for any information they can retrieve that speaks about the origin or workings of the Words of Power. If the students can put some of their scholastic acumen to the the task of deciphering this information, they would be granted special privileges within the College. This has already created a culture of elitism and rivalry, where the students compete with each other to gain the most rewards and privileges. The second creative solution the Archmage came up with was to put a public bounty on the information. He made it known far and wide what was needed, and adventurers and mercenaries flocked to college for what they believed was easy money. Many tried to swindle the College with falsified information, but after a few "disappearances", the word got out not to try and fleece the College. Anyone wanting to collect on the bounty can visit the College and speak with the instructors and researchers. Here they can find out where to start looking, what to look for, and how much they can expect to collect. The College is always helpful with adventurers coming to call, because they know the little effort they expend on these scholastic mercenaries pays off more than they can know. The adventurers have the time and inclination to go where the College doesn't have the resources to go. All of this searching is leading to what the Archmage believes will make the Kingdom of Alba the most powerful nation in the world. If they can understand how magic truly works then the College can discover the Word of Power for every single thing that exists (not merely the handful of Words that currently exist). Once they have this, they could manipulate everything in existence. They could become masters of this universe and rule it as they see fit.