Maersk University

Perhaps the oldest, most well-renowned, and largest educational institution in North America. Maersk University serves as the only institute of higher learning outside of The Federation of Magic and The Coalition States. Not only did this University survive the darkest years of the cataclysm, but its continued growth and success is testament that the darkest days are behind us. In this way it is one of the brightest beacons of hope to the beleagered peoples of Rifts Earth.

History

During the darkest decades of the great cataclysm, schools were abandoned and teaching a forgotten profession. The only knowledge passed down from one generation to the next was whispered in the dark while avoiding the attention of supernatural predators, slavers and would-be conquerers. The sum collected knowledge of humankind was lost in less than a hundred years. There was but one exception in North America. Two 40-foot steel cargo containers marked with the MAERSK company name sat among the ruins of Minneapolis, Minnesota. They served as schoolhouse for a couple of teachers whose names are forgotten in time. Parents would send their chidlren to Maersk for shelter and protection and, hopefully, a better future. Books were scavenged from the rubble of civilization and collected, and the schoolhouse grew in renown. A nearby orange container with the Hapag-Lloyd name on it was added to the schoolhouse. It was used as the place for learning about ley lines and magic. As Dee-Bee populations rose and they became more permanent residents of the planet, they joined the humans for education. These aliens were initially segregated to another container with the Evergreen logo on the side. Eventually this segregation ended as the majority of the student body became non-human and integration was inevitible. The Evergreen name now stands as a symbol of both the original mistreatment of non-humans and the ultimate primacy of non-humans in today's world. Two hundred years later, those four containers remain preserved as museum items, memorializing the humble beginnings of this great educational institution.