Lunar Academy

The Academy

Founded some 700 years ago by Ailith Lunar, Lunar Academy is Solaris' premier institution of magical learning, drawing promising young mages from all over Sorus to study in its halls.

The physical location of the Academy is actually a mystery. In order to attend classes, students that live in Solaris must head to the administration building and present their student pass, at which point they will be allowed to traverse a portal that transports the students to the Academy's hidden location. While this has been a source of controversy since the founding of this institution, the residents of Solaris have grown to accept it.

Lunar Academy is divided into five colleges, each with its own campus, faculty, and magical specialties. The mission of the Academy is to discover and preserve magical knowledge, disseminate that knowledge from one generation to the next, promote the free and open study of magic in all its forms, and enhance the lives of people throughout Sorus through the use of magic.

Enrollment

Each of the 5 colleges feature their own faculty, campus, magical specialties, identity, logo, and mascots. Students pick their preferred college in their second year.

The first year of classes are free at Lunar Academy, provided that you are a resident of Solaris. Second and third year students must pay to a 500 gold fee to continue their education with a specific college. Scholarships are available to eligible students, and students also have the option to pay off any remaining tuition fees by taking up a job at the Academy.

Lorehold College of Archaeomancy

Lorehold is the College of Archaeomancy—a term that describes the exploration of ancient things through magic. Its mages explore the past by poring over archaeological sites, calling forth magical energy from old tomes, and summoning the spirits of long-dead historical figures. Lorehold mages travel far and wide across the world, gathering relics of bygone ages and learning dead languages to unpack the secrets of history.

Studies and Philosophy

Lorehold College is devoted to the study of history, broadly understood to include the various aspects of culture, behavior, and social relationships that shape historical events. Its studies include various subdivisions of history (military history, social history, cultural history), archaeology, anthropology, psychology, sociology, religion, and economics. It overlaps with Prismari College in the field of art history, with some students splitting their studies between the two colleges. Lorehold mages use their magic to unearth secrets and share illumination.

Order and Chaos

Lorehold’s two deans carry the titles Dean of Order and Dean of Chaos, as order versus chaos encapsulates the fundamental conflict at the heart of Lorehold’s philosophy. This conflict revolves around the forces that underlie and drive history. Is the course of time driving toward a well-ordered ideal state or slowly devolving into chaos? Are deep patterns hidden in historical texts, or is time a series of coincidence and happenstance?

The perspective of order emphasizes the structures that pull people together—law, religion, economics, education, social class, and so on—and how those structures drive historical events. Order focuses on systemic changes and the actions of people collectively.

The perspective of chaos, by contrast, emphasizes individual actions, personal bonds of families and friends, and the disruptive force of lone, passionate people in history. Scholars of chaos gravitate toward reckless discovery and the spirit of adventure in their research of the past—the essence and emotion of history over precision or procedure.

Lorehold Campus

Pillardrop, a series of historical buildings excavated from below Solaris, now used for research, classwork, and housing. Precarious bridges link one neighborhood of Pillardrop to another, often directly passing the enormous stone faces of old statues. Every Lorehold class has a story of some careless student making a misstep on one of these bridges or in some particularly crumbling section of the ruins.

Effigy Row, the heart of the Lorehold campus. Its pathways are lined with monuments of famous historical figures, including past professors and prominent mage-students as well as war heroes and heads of state from ages past.

Kollema Hall A grand, multi-tiered gallery where Lorehold mages gather for large lectures and demonstrations.

Prismari College of Elemental Arts

Prismari, the College of Elemental Arts, is devoted to the study and practice of art intertwined with magic. The mage-students of Prismari wield magic in spectacles of creativity: masterpieces of showy, over-the-top magic. They use elemental magic to express who they are and how they see the world, often combining different types of energy—fire, water, air, earth, lightning, heat, cold—in powerful expressions of conflict and harmony.

Studies and Philosophy

Prismari College is dedicated to the arts. Its scholars view art as the fundamental form of self-expression and magic as a tool, a medium, and an inspiration. Prismari studies focus on visual arts (including architecture, painting, and sculpture) and performing arts (such as dance, music, and theater). The curriculum overlaps with Lorehold in the field of art history and with Silverquill in the literary arts, and some students divide their time between Prismari and one of those other schools to pursue these interdisciplinary fields. Prismari mages use magic to weave the elements into their creations; they might juxtapose fire alongside paint, ceramics, or fabric, or they might choreograph elaborate works that unite a dancer's movements with gusts and eddies of air.

Perfection and Expression

Prismari's two deans carry the titles Dean of Perfection and Dean of Expression, and they often express the fundamental conflict of their philosophy as perfection versus expression—or, sometimes, as intellect versus emotion. What is the purpose of art? Is it to make people think things or make people feel things? Is it supposed to be carefully thought out or raw and spontaneous? Is mastery of art a matter of honing precise techniques to a point of perfection or of perfectly expressing a raw emotional state? Does art aspire to express universal truths or intensely personal ones?

The perspective of perfection focuses on technique, analysis, theory, aesthetics, and universal principles. It embraces intellect over emotion, strives to be thought-provoking and reflective, and aspires to mastery. Its mages tend to use elemental forces of cold, water, and wind.

The perspective of expression instead emphasizes the portrayal of personal emotional truths. Its mages value improvisation, innovation, and rule-breaking, and they often favor elemental magic using fire, lightning, and earth.

Prismari Campus

Conjurot Hall, a towering structure with a glassed-in observation area, encircled by constantly changing strands of elemental energy. The residences and workshops of the two Prismari deans are on the top level.

Opus Walk, Hundreds of Prismari creations are displayed along a path that winds through the central campus buildings, giving the path its name.

Furygale, at the outskirts of the Prismari campus, the abandoned creations of thousands of past artist-mages have coalesced over the years into the notorious region of Furygale. Roped off by magical wards and warning signs, Furygale is several acres of ever-changing magical energy, gales of ice and wind and fire, and elementals gone rogue. While dangerous, it also provides a source of wild inspiration, and it remains a popular spot for students who wish to duel without being interrupted by faculty.

Quandrix College of Numeromancy

Quandrix is the College of Numeromancy—a term that encompasses the study of patterns, fractals, and symmetries to wield power over the fundamental mathematics of nature. Quandrix mages can summon creatures made of fractals or turn abstract theories into towering, spiraling patterns. They love to expand and multiply; they can increase their knowledge or size by bending numbers. They dwell in the overlap between the theoretical and the natural—from the fabric of their robes to the nature of their spells, they make use of repeated elements, clever symmetries, and surprising geometry to express the complex truths they study.

Studies and Philosophy

The studies undertaken within Quandrix College include mathematics, physics, logic, statistics, metaphysics, and various fields of theoretical magic. Students from the other colleges occasionally delve into Quandrix courses to bolster the theoretical underpinnings of their studies, and Quandrix’s studies of nature and Witherbloom’s explorations of practical biology have some significant overlap.

Substance and Theory

Quandrix’s two deans carry the titles Dean of Substance and Dean of Theory, reflecting the philosophical division within the college. Is mathematics a natural force that exists in the universe independent of the constructs of intelligent minds, or is it a theoretical framework created by those who study it?

Is the work of the scholar to discover what is or to define what could be? The perspective of substance emphasizes physical reality. In this view, math is embodied in the natural forces of the multiverse, waiting to be discovered by those with the intellectual fortitude to delve into those secrets. Quandrix mages who embrace this view use magic to bring numerical concepts to life, creating or altering physical reality out of mathematical possibility.

The perspective of theory focuses on the abstract realms of conjecture and possibility. Its scholars view math as a lens through which a mind can understand the cosmos, not something that exists independently in the world. Mages who embrace this perspective use their spells to weave illusions and manipulate the fabric of magic itself.

Quandrix Campus

Torus Hall, the central hall of Quandrix campus lies at the end of a geometric series of walkways, ending in the ascending ramps to the towering building. Torus Hall's architecture is mapped to an ever-changing three-dimensional grid, which slowly evolves.

The Arithmodrome, on the outside, it appears to be a large cube of water, ten feet on each side. But the inside is an infinite-seeming theory-space where the rules of reality are suspended. Mages use this space to explore theoretical numerical possibilities.

The Cultivarium, an eye-popping, sun-drenched garden of spiraling, cyclical plants, and fractalized animals.

Silverquill College of Eloquence

Silverquill is the College of Eloquence, and its mages—stylish, intimidating, and driven—are masters of the magic of words. They create spells from spoken-word battle poetry or magical manifestations of the written word, scribing patterns of runic ink in the air. These mages make for natural leaders, fiercely competitive, with a piercing wit and a never-second-place attitude.

Studies and Philosophy

The curriculum of Silverquill College revolves around words, encompassing literature (including fiction, essays, drama, and poetry), languages, linguistics, oratory, rhetoric, and dramatic performance. Students from other colleges often take Silverquill courses to improve their communication skills, learning to speak and write more effectively about their primary field of study. Silverquill and Prismari see overlap in the area of performing arts, with Silverquill emphasizing verbal performance and Prismari focusing more on dance and other forms of movement.

Radiance and Shadow

The two deans of Silverquill are called the Dean of Radiance and the Dean of Shadow, highlighting the college’s use of metaphor in describing its philosophical differences. The metaphor of radiance and shadow takes concrete form in Silverquill magic, as students learn to manifest brilliant light or inky darkness with their spells. The fundamental argument among Silverquill’s scholars centers on the purpose of communication. Is it to help others or further a personal agenda? Does literature selflessly better society or selfishly advance one’s own goals?

Silverquill Campus

Grandloft Hall, the main Silverquill building is a vast space with shafts of light that streak in from the enchanted windowpanes far above. Grandloft teems with balconies, loges, booth, daises and other spaces where orators can perform their craft.

The Dramarium, a facility where Silverquill students train in physical fitness, dance, martial arts, and other acts of physical performance.

The Gray Room, a preparation space which contains a special sensory deprivation chamber for mage-students who want complete silence in order to meditate.

The Rose Stage, a rotating circular platform on the Silverquill campus with a backdrop of roses made of magical ink that creates excellent acoustics.

The Loquacious Lyceum, a training ground meant only for the upperclassmen of Silverquill.

Witherbloom College of Essence Studies

At Witherbloom, the College of Essence Studies, mages draw power from the opposing forces of life and death. These mages brew their spells from natural components and the essence of living creatures, using that power to heal or harm the living or to raise or entreat the dead. They can cause entire forests to blossom out of nowhere or call down old curses that scourge flesh from bone. Some Witherbloom mages defend ecosystems from pollution. while others revel in the power of corruption. They’re at home riding zombie crocodiles down a languid river, picking herbs for a potion to treat a disease, brooding over a chorus of swamp frogs, or summoning fearsome avatars of nature.

The use of Necromancy magic is permitted on Whiterbloom grounds, but the practice is outlawed in Sorus at large. While students are allowed to manipulate the forces of life and death for the purpose of study, one must never commit the ultimate taboo; resurrection of humanoids. Doing so will result in immediate suspension and possible intervention from The Order of the Gauntlet .

Studies and Philosophy

The curriculum of Witherbloom College focuses on various sciences, revolving around the life sciences. Biology, ecology, botany, chemistry, and related sciences combine with the study and manipulation of the magical energy of the Positive Plane and the Negative Plane, the primal forces of life and death. Witherbloom’s curriculum shares some overlap with Quandrix’s analysis of the mathematical patterns in nature.

Growth and Decay

The two deans of Witherbloom are traditionally called the Dean of the Root and the Dean of the Vein. These titles are a somewhat abstract way of framing the core division in the college’s philosophy: is growth or decay the driving force in nature?

The philosophy of the root (growth) focuses on life and its irrepressible drive to thrive. This view celebrates the diversity and adaptability of lifeforms, from the tiniest cells to the most complex networks of living things. The growth philosophy asserts that the urge to survive and reproduce is the most essential principle in the cosmos. Mages who adopt this view wield positive energy and practice healing magic.

The philosophy of the vein (decay) focuses on the inevitability of death and decay. The decay philosophy sees life energy as a resource to be consumed, rather than a good to be nourished for its own sake. Mages who adopt this view wield negative energy and practice necromancy.

Witherbloom Campus

Sedgemoor, the bayou area that encompasses the Witherbloom campus, is known for a range of swamp creatures: bats, crocodiles, zombified animals, lumbering beasts called brackish trudges, and canine creatures called groffs. Sedgemoor is an excellent place to find herbs, spider silk, fungi and other ingredients for potions and spells.

Widdershins Hall, the center of the Witherbloom campus, a kind of bog mansion that looks like it was grown out of Sedgemoor itself. The hall has a cozy inner chamber where students gather for classwork.

Detention Bog, a stinking and thoroughly unpleasant marshland where Witherbloom students who misbehave in class are sent.

Witch's Clinic, Witherbloom’s medical facilities.

Students and Faculty

Mage-Students

The attendees of Lunar Academy are known generally as mage-students. New students are called first-years until they choose one of the Academy's five colleges of study. All first-years wear a standardized university uniform that is distinct from the look of any of the colleges. The uniform consists of white, black and gray robes or clothing. Generally, after a student's first year of basic curriculum (hence the name), they choose one of the five mystic colleges. Thereafter, they dress in accordance with their chosen college.

Two Mentors

Once a mage has chosen a college, they are assigned two counselors, one from each of the two philosophically opposing principles of the college. The two counselors often give conflicting advice about the student's best path through the Academy. This is by design, as this approach encourages critical thinking and forces the mage-students to explore the college's two philosophies.

Professors

Professors of Lunar Academy are mages advanced in their chosen magical field who have devoted their lives to teaching other mages. There are several ranks of professors according to seniority, the distinction of magical research, and knowledge of spells.

Instructor – A mage who teaches classes and their own curriculum but who has not yet passed a provisionary period of observation and evaluation to become a full professor.

Professor – An established, accredited educator devoted to a field of magical study. Most of the educators at Lunar Academy have the professor rank.

Esteemed Professor – A professor who has distinguished themselves in their career, usually through published and peer-reviewed magical research or other specialized studies. Most esteemed professors have taught at Lunar Academy for over twenty years.

Dean – Each college has two deans who each head up one half of that college. Each dean is a powerful mage and distinguished professor who's aligned themselves with a philosophical principle. The ten deans are like contradictory advisors to the entirety of their college; they have deep professional rivalries with each other and always disagree with the other about the best path for studying magic.

Mage Emeritus – A professor who no longer holds a position at Lunar Academy is often called a mage emeritus. Mages emeritus are frequently held in high esteem as guest lecturers and speakers.

The Ten Deans

Lunar Academy was founded by Ailith Lunar , but she never intended to lead the Academy. Instead, she designed it to be led by Ten Deans, two for every college. The Ten Deans are as follows:

Lorehold College of Archaeomancy

• Augusta Tullus, Dean of Order

• Plargg, Dean of Chaos

Prismari College of Elemental Arts

• Uvilda Mistcoiler, Dean of Perfection

• Nassari, Dean of Expression

Quandrix College of Numeromancy

• Kianne, Dean of Substance

• Imbraham, Dean of Theory

Silverquill College of Eloquence

• Shaile Talonrook, Dean of Radiance

• Embrose Lu, Dean of Shadow

Witherbloom College of Essence Studies

• Lisette, Dean of the Root

• Valentin, Dean of the Vein

Mage Tower Stadium

The Colleges are in a constant state of intense rivalry not only in the halls of Lunar Academy, but also in the fields of the Mage Tower Stadium. Mage Tower is a sport that is deeply engraved into the cultural and social aspects of the Academy.

The rules are simple: two opposing teams meet in the school's large stadium, each team accompanied by their mascots. Each mascot sits on a tower and the goal is to steal the opposing team's mascot and transport it over to their own side. The use of all magic is legal, except that which would physically harm opponents, mascots, or somebody in the stands, or damage the stadium. There are three phases of play, each lasting twenty minutes, and then a winner is declared.

Central Campus Notable Locations

• Archway Commons, a lush park just South of the Biblioplex.
• The Biblioplex, an enormous domed building that rises above the rest of the campus.
• The Dawnbow, a massive arch of jagged stones that floats above the Biblioplex.
• The Hall of Oracles, a hallowed hall filled with statues of the Academy's Ten Deans and Ailith Lunar. At the center of the hall, a pulsing ball of energy known as the Snarl powers the Academy. The Snarl is akin to a miniature sun radiating blue arcane light.
• The Mystical Archive, the forbidden section of the Biblioplex which holds the most powerful spells.
• The Bow's End, a pub
• The Firejolt Café
• The Mage Tower stadium
• Residence halls for first-year students
• Administration buildings