Ollscoil

In the western region of the Older Sister continent, in the area known as the Shield, the warriors have carved out small kingdoms and castle for themselves, but the largest is the great school called Ollscoil. This massive college is nearly a city in its own right, outnumbering the denizens of the town around it. The castle is ringed with massive walls of sheer granite; no cut stones adorn the outer curtain, for magic has fused the rocks together. Numerous buildings within the wall support the keep, which itself serves as a combination of library and college for those born with the Mark within the Shield. Children must choose to complete their studies here, and the school folds magical knowledge into martial prowess or song as often as it pushes for rigorous academic knowledge. A far cry from Greengate or other more 'traditional' colleges, Ollscoil collects the Marks it can from deceased wizards and weaves their memories into lessons. Script is rarely used in much of the Shield, with song and poetry and memorization serving instead. Marks are most excellent recorders of these techniques.
The castle keep is built atop a massive hill, the insides of which serve as the repository for Marks and use cunning mirrors to ensure a flow of energy may yet reach them. The keep proper has lodging for the students and various classrooms, along with a wide and long dining hall. Magical fortifications are de rigueur here, and though most kings of the Shield respect Ollscoil not just for the history it contains but for the wizards it produces, some have tried before to conquer the school and leverage their own power over it.

Purpose / Function

Ollscail serves as a college and library of Shield lore. Existing for nearly two thousand years, it has become the very soul of the people in the Shield region.
Magically inclined warriors, wizards, and the Shield's infamous song-mages hail from this college, which has trained thousands upon thousands in its long history. The Shield fiercely protects its memories.

Alterations

The castle has an unusually large amount of outbuildings from the keep. Magical laboratories are not kept within the keep proper for safety reasons, and the castle is full self-sustainable, with young wizards taught the magics to allow a castle to weather a siege. There's even a skydock despite the stormy prana churning about the area, thanks to centuries of careful geomancy. Few ships can make the flight, and only vessels commissioned and built by Ollscail itself are seen here most of the time.
Beneath the grand hill is a warren of tunnels and underground rooms, carved over the many years. Initiations into higher ranks often involve rites and sojourns in these potentially dark caverns, and should any force ever take the college, a literal underground resistance could vex them considerably.

Architecture

Solid, magically fused granite makes up the walls of every building in this castle. Brass caps on small minarets ensure that magical shielding can ward all within against small missiles and lesser magical cannons; nothing short of a siege engine or the mightiest magical cannons. The minarets are also used to accentuate the spiral design that subtly channels the prana here; unlike in the Republic, a more wholesome and naturally aligned pattern is used in Ollscail.

Type

Castle