UNIVERSITY

Social Class: Upper.

Power Center: Often—nonstandard (academic guild).

Buildings: University buildings—instruction and faculty offices (6%), library, temple (Boccob), fine lodging (7%), fine food (12% fine trades (15%; literary specialties such as bookseller, stationer, map vendor, or seal maker fine services (15%; literary specialties such as scribe, sage, translator, or cartographer dormitories (7% fine residences (36%).

Description: The pride of the city and the home of elite youth, a university is a place not only of learning, but of prestige. Large buildings, constructed of imposing stone and carved in old-fashioned and classical styles, bedeck the landscape. Some are squat and sturdy, and others reach for the heavens, but all convey a sense of age, knowledge, and often arrogance. Arcane and alchemical experimentation is nearly as common as in magic districts. The inhabitants are young, except for the academic staff, and most dress well. As in so many other wealthy neighborhoods, the poor and shabby are discouraged from lingering on the university’s well-landscaped grounds.

Plot Hook: A favored professor has been arrested for preaching “sedition” against the crown. Government offi cials claim he is inciting students to riot, while the professor and his supporters swear that he was simply presenting both sides of history, pointing out how the government can improve. If someone does not calm things down—which might require proving the professor’s innocence or guilt—violence could sweep the campus and even the city.