Faerndaar, Phrontistery of Arcana

Purpose / Function

Faerndaar bills itself as “the premier institution of magical learning in Concordia.” It is a place of enlightenment and learning, and its graduates and delegates are typically welcomed and respected where they go.
The campus occupies numerous acres of land, spread over its six campuses. Each of the university’s five distinct colleges has its own campus which connect directly to the central campus which serves as a hub for university life.
Principles and Polarities. The colleges and curriculum at Faerndaar are organised around the idea of philosophical principles joined in concordant opposition. Each school embraces the paradoxical unity of two polar principles: life and death, order and chaos, reason and emotion, and so on. Each college has two deans, each standing for one of the individual principles associated with that college.
A student’s course of learning at Faerndaar involves exploring the tension between these opposing principles. The university’s teaching philosophy is built on the idea that exploring opposites leads to an understand of a greater whole. A Faerndaar graduate is expected to leave the university prepared to argue the fundamental issues of their school’s philosophies.
Faculty. The faculty of Faerndaar are mages and scholars – experts in their various fields and in the use of magic to enhance their studies. They are dedicated to their research and to educating generations of mage-students who follow in their footsteps. Some faculty members value research more than teaching, while others make education their highest priority. But all find some balance between the two.

• Instructors. Faerndaar faculty begin their careers as instructors, focusing primarily on teaching classes and crafting curriculum, while the school administration evaluates their performance. At the end of a provisional period, which can last from one to several years, an instructor is elevated to the rank of professor or let go.
• Professor. Professors who distinguish themselves over the course of a long career – typically at least 20 years hope to be recognized with the title of esteemed professor. This honour is bestowed in recognition of groundbreaking research as well as exceptional teaching.
• Mage Emeritus. Upon retiring, a professor receives the title of mage emeritus. Mages Emirati are held in high esteem and welcomed to the campus as guest lecturers.

The Archmage and The Deans. Standing at the pinnacle of the universities administration is the archmage, a position held by an esteemed professor who have proven themselves above and beyond their colleagues. The archmage’s responsibility is both to the Faerndaar and Concordia. As such, they typically do not engage with teaching classes, but instead conduct and assist with research which benefits the school and the continent.
The day-to-day functioning of Faerndaar relies on hundreds of employees, including: teachers, labourers, clerks, coaches, administrators, and so on. In addition to these, numerous automatons and artificial life-forms – various kinds of constructs – serve in various roles, including campus guides and library assistants. All these operations are managed by an administration overseen by the ten deans, two in each college. Each dean is an esteemed professor who embraces one side of their college’s philosophical dichotomy. The deans, view it as their role to disagree with each other and guide the college by way of their arguments. When argumentative deans fail to chart a coherent course for Faerndaar, the archmage is occasionally forced to intervene.
Archaics and Oracles. The Oracle of Faerndaar is the wisest and most accomplished mage in the university, selected by the archmage himself. The Oracle’s lifelong task is to ensure that magic is used to help and protect people and not twisted to evil ends. To be the Oracle, one must understand fundamental truths about the nature of magic, know and weld hundreds of spells, and process impeccable judgement and virtue.
Mysteriously linked to the Oracle, archaics are wise, giant, long-lived beings with an innate talent for magic. They inhabit the mountains north of the school, though occasionally will venture down to the university when the need presents itself. Scholars sometimes seek them out for their vast knowledge of history and magic, by archaics tend to communicate in obscure allusion and cryptic metaphors.
Only the Oracle is gifted with the knowledge of how these creature come to be and their link to time-warping magic. Wen an Oracle dies, their mind and spirit are swept off to the distant past, drawn backward through time towards the intense magical power which brough the world into being. Splinters of the Oracle’s soul and its fragmented memories coalesce into a creature – a newborn archaic. Every archaic alive today was born at the dawn of time from the mind of someone who has lived and died as an Oracle. Archaics speak in cryptic allegories not only to tease and test the eager minds of young mages, but also to cleverly sidestep time paradoxes.
Choosing a College. Students at Faerndaar typically spend fours years at the university before graduating. During their first year, they join a course of general studies, which lays the foundation for the more specialised work to follow. During this year, they wear a uniform of black, white, and grey. They’re encouraged to study broadly so that they become acquainted with a wide range of disciplines.
First year students live in dormitories located on the central campus and often form close friendships there that last throughout their educational careers, even when members of tight-knit groups of friends join different colleges in their second year. Most students will move to dormitories located on their chosen college’s campus in their second year.
Before starting their second year of studies, students choose on of five colleges to be their academic home for the remainder of their education.

• The College of Lorehold. Lorehold is the College of archaeomancy, a term which describes the exploration of ancient things through magic. Its mages explore the past by pouring 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 Concordia, gathering relics of bygone ages and learning dead languages to unpack the secrets of history.
• The College of Prismari. 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.
• The College of Quandrix. Quandrix is the College of Numeromancy – a term the encompasses the study of patterns, fractals, and symmetries to wield power over the fundamental mental mathematics of nature. Quandrix mages can summon creatures made of fractals or turn abstract theories into towering, spiraling pattern. 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.
• The College of Silverquill. Silverquill is the College of Eloquence, and has 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 ptterns of runic ink in the air. These mages make for natural leaders, fiercely competitive, with a piercing wit and a never-second-place attitude.
• The College of Witherbloom. At Witherbloom, the College of Essence Studies, mages draw power from the opposing forces of life and death. The 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 students defend ecosystems from pollution, while other 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.

From this point, students wear uniforms featuring the colours of their college, though these outfits aren’t as unvarying as first-year garb.
Upon choosing a college, a student is assigned two professors to serve as counsellors to help the student plan a course of study. The two deans of the college assign these two counsellors, who represent the poles of the college’s philosophical opposition. By design, the counsellors tend to offer conflicting advice, forcing the student to navigate opposing principles and chart their own course.
Some students, having chosen a college, opt to spend up to a third of their classes in other colleges, continuing the breadth of their first year education and looking for places where the new perspectives of other disciplines can bring new insight to their studies.
Mascots. Each of Faerndaar’s five colleges has a mascot – a small creature associated with the magic of the school and often found wander their respective campuses.

• Lorehold. The Spirit Statue Mascot.
• Prismari. The Art Elemental Mascot.
• Quandrix. The Fractal Mascot.
• Silversuill. The Inkling Mascot
• Witherbloom. The Pest Mascot.

The five kinds of mascots act as companions for students and faculty, sometimes serving as willing subjects for experiments or demonstrations, and occasionally even helping out in a duel or a more serious combat situation. Most notably, mascots are also a playing piece of sorts in the Faerndaar sport of Mage Tower.
After Faerndaar. A student’s course of study at Faerndaar lasts at least four years, but allows for advanced study for several years beyond that time frame. Most students do graduate though, and they walk a variety of paths after leaving university. Many return home, putting what they have learned to use in their communities. Some mages continue to research in some form beyond the confines of an academic program. A few alumni return to Faerndaar, sooner or later, as instructors themselves.

Architecture

Snarls and Arches. A snarl is a ‘knot’ in the fabric of magic known as the Weave. At the location a snarl is formed, spells can be amplified or distorted in unpredictable ways. One such snarl can be found within the central campus of the university.
Similarly, gravity-defying arch shapes appear throughout the university. These star arches are made from spokes of natural materials that float in an arch shape, with a precise inner curve a rough and irregular outer arch. They can stand straight or lie at an angle, and can be small or enormous, whole or broken, grown over or mysteriously clean. Their irregular spokes evoke the radiating lines of a shining star.
The star arches are a mystery left over from before the university’s founding. In most cases, the arches float inexplicably – silent, immovable, and inert. But many people report seeing an arch appear to them at a critical juncture in their lives, helping them understand a lesson or answer a burning question in their mind. Some scholars believe each arch marks the place of a great magic, such as the site of a great mage’s birth or the location of a time-lost spell. Other folk believe these arches are connected to the archaics in some way. Some students have even seen an arch come to life with magic in an archaic’s presence.
Both snarls and arches are subjects of magical research for students and faculty at Faerndaar, who also study wild and dead magic zones, floating earth motes and other weird locales.
Demiplanes. While the central campus is located within the city limits, with its growth over the centuries, the university has naturally needed to expand. To house a separate campus for each of the the five colleges, five individual demiplanes were created by the archmage using enhanced magic from the snarl. The portals to these demiplanes are located around the central campus's outer wall, within mock star arches, and each of them are accessible by all students and faculty.

History

The Phrontistery was once known as Cantamen, School of Magics and was the place Archmage Korfel studied and eventually taught at. It is one of the oldest buildings in the country, having been build prior to the events of The Confluence.
Not much is known about the Cantamen's past, save for the fact it was once a place of learning, however after the war with the elemental planes concluded, much of Wesdale, including the school, was damaged and in need of repair. While the city was rebuilt over time, it was decided that the school would be left in order to not divert attention where it was needed more.
Many years passed and life went on in Concordia, until one day Korfel returned to the city and offered to rebuild it and give it purpose. An arrangement was made with the leaders of Wesdale that, should he do so, the site would become a school for the study of the magic.
A couple years passed and Korfel eventually finished his work, establishing the palace as a university for the study of the arcane. He named it Faerndaar, meaning 'Home of Those Who Practice Art'.
Since its establishment, many students have passed through its doors and multiple colleges have been established. It now attracts wielders of magic from all walks of life and is famous across the entire continent.

Maps

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  Faerndaar, Phrontistery of Arcana

Founding Date

137 ER

Alternative Names

Cantamen, School of Magics

Type

University / Educational complex

Parent Location

Wesdale

Included Locations

• The Central Campus
• The College of Lorehold
• The College of Prismari
• The College of Quandrix
• The College of Silverquill
• The College of Witherbloom

Owner

Korfel Yaeldrin

Owning Organization

The Cloaks