The Ring

Floating at a 90 degree angle to the rest of Ioth Academy--and, indeed, to the Mortal World itself--The Ring is the largest and most impressive magical structure within the school. Resembling nothing more than a flat band ring hovering midway up the Golden Sphere with the Spire in the exact middle, The Ring was originally built as a place for learned spellcasters to make their own homes in the Academy, sharing their knowledge with their peers in exchange for protection and isolation. Now, it's the main home and educational complex for students from years 5-7.

Purpose / Function

Almost two centuries after the Call of Ioth, practitioners of magical arts from distant lands as well as accomplished students and apprentices of Ioth himself needed a place to live and continue their magical research in safety and comfort, and the Ring was constructed as a place for independent arcanists to build their own homes in a community of the learned.
As the population of the academy grew, there came a need for additional living and teaching spaces for students. Some denizens of the Ring opened their mansions and mystical homes to initiates seeking instruction. One by one the masters of the manors either died of old age, vanished, or joined the ranks of the Muinteoiri. Eventually, the Ring was converted into a campus for students in their fifth through seventh years, a function it serves to this very day.

Architecture

The ring is, for the most part, composed of elemental stone enchanted with fortifying magic, rendering it nigh indestructible. The "outer" surface, which faces away from the spire, is solid stone engraved with enormous magical patterns governing the rotation and flotation of the Ring. Access points along this outer ring provide entrance, through special tunnels that accommodate the shift in relative gravity from outside the ring to inside.
On the inner surface, the Ring is divided into rectangular lots interlaced with a network of smooth stone paths and canals with magically purified water. Lots are uniform in size but some parks, buildings and areas occupy multiple lots. Most lots contain a Chapterhouse, a park or other open space, athletic field or facility, or shared property such as forges, libraries, dueling grounds and more.
Spaced precisely around the ring at even intervals, rising like spokes on a wheel yet never reaching each other, are the eight Towers of Wizardry. Each specializes in one of the eight traditional schools of magic.
There is a ninth tower that juts oddly both up and down from the ring, relative to the actual ground instead of the ring's subjective gravity. This is the Tower of War, where Wardens train and students of War Magic learn their craft. Well fortified and equipped with arcane weaponry & surveillance spells, the Tower of War also serves as a docking point for the Causeway.

Lots

1. Alchemical Plant
2. TBD
3. TBD
4. Shieldhall
5. Central Commissary
6. TBD
7. Shrine of the Sovereigns
8. TBD
9. TBD
10. TBD
11. TBD
12. TBD
13. TBD
14. TBD
15. Tarslemoor House
16. Misttower
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. Castle
20. Castle
21. TBD
22. TBD
23. TBD
24. Hospital
25. Castle
26. Castle
27. TBD
28. TBD
29. Vulsh Tobor
30. TBD
31. Floating Crystal Chapterhouse
32. TBD
33. TBD
34. TBD
35. Grand Emporium
36. Grand Emporium
37. TBD
38. TBD
39. TBD
40. TBD
41. Grand Emporium
42. Grand Emporium
43. Ice Palace
44. TBD
45. TBD
46. TBD
47. Volcano Chapterhouse
48. Zauberich Chapterhouse
49. Paurlona
50. TBD
51. Coldiron Crucible
52. TBD
53. TBD
54. TBD
55. TBD
56. Sports Field
57. Misttower
58. Elder Stones
59. TBD
60. TBD
61. TBD
62. TBD
63. TBD
64. Garden
65. Stormspire
66. TBD
67. The Labyrinth
68. TBD
69. TBD
70. Artificer's Foundry
71. Alabaster Garden
72. Alabaster Garden
73. Bubble Ball Stadium
74. TBD
75. TBD
76. TBD
77. Alabaster Garden
78. Alabaster Garden
79. TBD
80. Wyrmwand
81. TBD
82. TBD
83. Grand Theater
84. TBD

Defenses

The superstructure of the ring is heavily reinforced and the spells governing its levitation and flotation are enormous. It should repel any attempt to simply dispel or disjunct these critical spells. As long as the Academy itself and the Dawn Bubble it occupies remain intact, only a truly cataclysmic force could disrupt the ring.
As for the actual security of the grounds, the Ring is well patrolled by wardens, both on foot and in flight. The Tower of War has a quick reaction time to any reported attack or infiltration. There are no other specific security features aside from those that protect the academy as a whole or specific to individual lots or Chapterhouses.

History

About two centuries after the founding of Ioth Academy, spellcasters from distant traditions as well as students of the school had so grown in power and knowledge that they wanted a place to live full-time to continue their research. Ioth envisioned a community of masters, a place where magical knowledge could truly flourish with the sharing of wisdom among the most learned. He enlisted the help of his companions as well as the most accomplished transmuters, enchanters and elementalists. Construction took years, with Ioth weaving and reinforcing changes in the Dawn Magic suffusing the sphere while the others marked out an enormous circle, a half-mile in diameter, around the Spire. They carved into the very earth itself and walked this path over and over again, reciting incantations and laying down layer upon layer of magic.
For over a decade, there was nothing but a hubbub of activity. Then, in a single day, all the mages of the Academy gathered to raise the Ring. In an enormous display of magical power, it carved itself from the very stone below the spire around the Undercroft, splitting along clean smooth lines and rising, slowly, to orbit the Spire. The eight anchor points of Dawn Magic that gave it structure became the foundations of the Eight Towers of Wizardry. Ioth had the inner surface of the Ring divided into lots and covered with smooth paths and clean running canals, then gifted specific lots to the most powerful and learned mages.
As the centuries rolled by, the prospect of building a manor in Ioth Academy became the highest honor a mage in Anacra could seek. Great archmages, master sorcerers and secretive alchemists traveled to the school to win the approval of the Muinteoiri, perhaps even join their ranks, and build an enchanted home & research facility with the glorious power of Dawn Magic.
The finite lives of mortals meant that the original builders of each great manor passed away, or left, or in Tarslemoor's case, vanished. Upon the departure of the creator, the manors become the property of the academy, and were repurposed as Chapterhouses--dormitories and learning facilities for the academy's rapidly growing student population. Some masters even invited promising students to live with them as apprentices, but in time this tradition gave way to the more formal Seven Robes system, and the ring was designated a living space for students from the fifth through the seventh year.

Founding Date

5821

Type

University / Educational complex

Parent Location

Ioth Academy

Included Locations

• Fixture's Fixtures
• Tarslemoor House

Owning Organization

Muinteoiri