Magecrest

Magecrest is the second biggest, and youngest, city in Elphora. It is dedicated to Danu, Goddess of Knowing and Learning.
Unlike the other cities of Elphora, Magecrest did not grow organically, and was instead pre-planned in it's entirety before any of it was built. Magecrest is a completely circular city. It is split into 4 districts, or rings, each encased by a circular river. None of the rivers are connected to a natural water source, but they flow magically around (and were built magically). The rivers provide water for the city. No creatures live in the water. The water is an unusually bright blue, and the people of Magecrest proudly claim that they have the cleanest and tastiest water in all of Elphora.
The Innermost Ring of Magecrest just houses Castle Iledrith (home to the Duke of Magecrest) and The Magecrest Magic Institution. The two buildings appear to be connected, however it is impossible for students of the school to get into Castle Iledrith from within the school - although household members of the castle can go back and forth from school to castle. The Innermost Ring is also home to the boarding for The Magecrest magic Institution.
The Magecrest Magic Institution teaches from age 11. It has schooling from ages 11-18 in the magical arts. Students who pass the entrance exam gain free access to magical education up until the age of 18. Alternatively parents can pay a yearly fee of 150g for their children to attend. The school teaches all the schools of wizardry, as well as regular subjects such as maths, Vanorian, and history. Students are only taught to perform cantrips up until the age of 16. from 16-18 students begin to be given access to first level spells.
The Magecrest Magic Institution also provides degree level teaching, although only in magic. Students have to pass the entrance exams and pay a yearly fee of 300g to work at a degree level. The school offers a number of different degrees for different skill levels. There is the option for students who attended the lower school to start at a higher level of study, learning second and third level spells during their three year degrees. There are also degrees that are aimed at students who did not have magical upbringing which teach cantrips and first level spells. At degree level you are expected to specialise in one school of magic. There are also courses focused on alchemy and weapon enchantment. The school has an outreach programme in Faewren, teaching the art of Bladesong, and are currently looking into working with one of the bardic colleges.
The most notable physical feature of The Magecrest Magic Institution is the waterfall coming from the upper window of the observation tower, which flows upwards from the river to the window. At the end of the school year university classes will take it in turn to all go up to the observation tower and vote on who the least popular student from the class was. The winner of the vote would get thrown out of the window. The stories say this is why the waterfall flows upwards, to cushion the fall of the student.
The other rings - the Outer Ring, the Middle Ring and the Inner Ring - are largely sorted by class, with the wealthiest people living in the Inner Ring and the poorest in the Outer Ring. All of the rings (bar the Innermost) have a Southblock, Eastblock, Westblock and Northblock, with each block being dedicated to different things - for example, Eastblock is exclusively housing. The Middle Ring Northblock is home to The Magic Museum, which houses a number of magical curiosities, as well as some magical mishaps from the school that were able to be saved. Each ring has at least one library and one church.
There are three bridges on each river in Magecrest that are used to cross between the rings. Every hour of the day all of the bridges (twelve in total) rotate to a new position. When looking at the city from a birds eye view at any time it can be seen that one of the Bridges each lines up with an hour on the clock. The bridge schedule is done in such a way as to make transport harder at certain times of the day in and out of the Outer Ring.
To maintain Magecrest's water supply the Southblock of each ring has a water factory, usually situated underground. The factories employ wizards, clerics and druids to cast create or destroy water to maintain the levels. It is common for the water factory to be a wizard's first job after university. The school also offers reductions on accommodation in exchange for work at one of the water factories. There have been accusations that this is exploitative.
Magecrest is also home to Elphora's only magic-safe prison. Multiple precautions are taken to prevent magic being cast. Prisoners that are not high risk are permitted to work at the Outer Ring Southblock factory, however a number of precautions are in place to stop the prisoners casting any spells that are not create or destroy water. They are also not permitted to cast it as anything but a ritual.
On the 15-16 of Danom (month 10) Magecrest holds Annay - the festival of progress - designed to celebrate Danu.
The city also holds a festival in Solma (month 7) at the end of the school year, to allow students to display what they have been working on.
Magecrest is run by Duke Falin Terrenglade. He has been working on expanding the school's reach outside of just Magecrest and has therefore recently increased the fees to enter the school. He and his family live in Castle Iledrith