The Mage Academy of Palynor
Located on a plateau overlooking the great City of Palynor, capital of the Kingdom of Paxolia, is a large magical academy, the oldest on the Continent of Arros, and which has received and educated Elemental Mages from all over the region for more than two thousand years.
Structure
Upper Management
Much like the other mage schools on the continent, the academy of Palynor is administrated by a Headmaster. He leads and is elected amongst the members of what is called the school's Upper Council. This council is composed of various heads of smaller boards, commitees and council who manage various aspects of the school, such as student welfare, School maintenance, school budget and foreign relations. The students also have a representative at the upper council, who leads the student welfare commitee.Lower Management/Personel
The academy's pernonel have various backrounds and origins. While most of them come from Paxolia itself, and many even live within Palynor itself, some come from other neighbouring countries, and even from Enask, across the sea. The staff includes the teachers, their assistants and translators, as well as librarians and archivists, cooks, gardiners, janitors and maintenance workers. Alchemic healers are on stanby to heal and treat more serious injuries during combat training.Student body
Any and all Elemental Mages can be admited to the school. While other mage academies may receive students as young as 8 years old, this one prefers to wait until the student's abilities are nearly finished developing, which makes them less volatile and easier to ascribe them a starting grade. The school has a capacity of about 3000 students, but the average number of student is usualy closer to a bit over half that amount, especialy during long peace times on the continent. Students are divided by their elemental types and these groups are kepts together in the same area of the school, regardless of grade, age or gender, though male and female mages have separate dormatories, showers and training rooms.Admitions
Every 6 months, invitations are sent to potential recruits. The academy prioritize Elemental Mages with a type that is currently in low numbers, in order to keep each class relatively stable. Mages themselves, their guardian(parent or otherwise), or even their future sponsor can put their name down. The Academy doesn't require proof of elemental capabilities but charges a steep price for the application, which weeds out fakes ones but also forces poorer mages to seek out a sponsor, usualy a Mercenary Guild, in order to pay. Sudents must arrive by the 15th of October for the winter session and the 15th of April for the summer session. When they do, they have to demonstrate their abilities in front of a judging pannel, made up of the school's Upper Council as well as the most senior staff. If deemed unsatisfiying, the student can be rejected outright, but this is relatively rare.Lodging
Students at the academy live in 7 dormatory buildings, segregated by elemental type, but not by age or gender. Each building is three stories tall, and each floor is occupied by a grade. The second floor is occupied by the novices, the third floor by the Apprentis, and the fourth floor by the seniors. The first floor contains communal showers and baths, a small non-magic training room. Each student room is equiped with a bunk bed for two people, who each get a desk. An 8th dorm building lies abandoned. It used to house Shadowmages training at the school, but since their extinction centuries ago, it has stayed empty.Curriculum
Grades
Students at the school are divided into three grades, based on the strenght of their magic abilities. These are Magi novicae, or Novice, Magi Apprentae or Apprentis and Magi Seniorae or Senior. Each grade last 6 months, but mages are allowed to fail each one 2 times before being kicked out.Magic Practice/Training
For most mages, training takes place 4 days a week or every other day, from 8am to 6 pm, a patern which allows their Mana to recover. They train in pairs with their peers, supervised by the teachers. Novices have only 2 days of training, and 4 days to learn more magic theory.Magic Theory and general knowledge.
Apprentis and Seniors attend Magic theory and general knowledge classes 2 days per week, while novices attend for 4 days. Here, mages learn about various aspect of each other's magic and soulbound magic as well as important general knowledge, such as mathematics, geography, and History.Free Time
The last day of the week, students enjoy what is called free time. During this time, students of all grades are allowed to mingle together, explore the vast school campus and even go into the city.Optional classes
If a student is particulary good at a subject, they may be offered the option to take other classes where they might struggle more. For example, a novice who's really good in Magic theory classes may be offered to replace some of them for more practice classes. Horse riding lessons are also offered to those in need during the free time day.Special Events
Expeditions
These activities are reserved for senior students and comes in two versions. The first version is done before the second and serves as preperation for the much thougher 2nd version. It usualy lasts 1-2 days and is contained within the vast school campus, while the second version instead lasts about a week, and is done outside the school proprety, in the wild wood north of the city, called the Peryn forest. In both versions, groups are formed with people of diverse elemental types who must work together to reach a specific goal, which is usualy to capture various objects located throughout the campus or the forest. In the second version, they also learn basic survival skills, like how to make a fire, build a shelter, find clean water, and how to hunt, skin and proprely cook various animals. During all of this, they are closely watched by the teachers, who grade them on various aspects of their skills.Tournament
At the end of each session, a fighting tournament is held in the academy between the Seniorae mage. While this tournament is largely done for entertainement, many mages with great abitions and/or from prominent noble families participate since it is attended by many guilds representatives. Getting far into the tournament increases their chance to be picked by them during the auctions. The tournament starts with a series of qualifying rounds, then quarter and semi-finals are held and a finale between the two strongest mages is held. The winner is immortalised with a bronze plaque depicting their names, age mage types and the date of their victory, which is exposed in the Hall of Champions. They also gets a bronze medal, which doubles as a Talismans.Guild Auctions
The representatives of various Mercenary Guilds operating on the continent, many of which have headquarters in Palynor itself, are invited at the end of the each session to observe the closing tests and the tournament that follows. Some of the guilds provide one of their member to spar with the mages as part of the judging process. The chosen mages for the auction are the best performers of both the tests and the tournament. The price that guilds pay to recruit them into their ranks is payed to the school as reenbursement for their stay. The mage must accept the result, even if they don't like it, but some mages already have sponsors, who payed their stay and training at the school in advance and thus, do not participate.Assets
The Buildings
The academy is made up of a large collection of buildings of various size, age and function. The oldest and greatest of these buildings is the Great Hall, built in the form of a massive castle. It houses the Headmaster's and most teacher's living quarters, the grand dining hall, which can accomodate up to 1000 people, the kitchens and the pantries. It also contains the Hall of Champions, which exposes the thousands of bronze plaque of previous tournament champions. Other important buildings at the school include the great library and its extensive archives, the different student residence halls, a pair of interior and exterior pools, half a dozen heated baths, gymnasiums and many training arenas as well as the arena of champions, where the tournaments are held.The School Proprety/Campus
The land on which the school is built is nearly as large as the city of Palynor itself. However, most buildings are clustered together on the southern 1/4 of the land, near the city itself, leaving the remaining 3/4 occupied by gardens, greenhouses and stables, and then woods. Along the campus limits, a large stone brick wall was erected, seperating the school proprety from the rest of the woods to the north.
Founding Date
1718 Bc
Type
Educational, School/Academy
Alternative Names
Palynor's Mage School/Magic Institute of Palynor
Location
Related Species
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