The College of Wizardry
What's Unknown Today Will Be Known Tomorrow
"What happened that day remained a mystery to the two Knights. When their joyful frolicking through the woods turned to shock and awe as she suddenly triggered an explosive display of colors and lights, laughing their hearts out at the realization of what was happening.
But he never understood why he was unable to replicate it, or why it seemed like she was born with a power he wasn't worthy of having. Jealousy would get him nowhere. These were all just questions and, to him, all questions had answers; He just needed to find them."
T
he Pursuit of Knowledge, the Acknowledgement of Trends, the Classification and Categorization of Concepts, Theories, and Possibilities; the archiving of what came before, the discovery of what will come next, and the question of if you can haphazardly fiddle around with things you don't yet understand to hurry it up a little.
While the title usually refers to the central campus in Stonewood, "The College of Wizardry" is a collective name representing all of the smaller colleges and organizations united under the study of magic and the world around us. Technically speaking it's better described as a University or Institution, but according to its Archwizards "College of-" simply sounds better. To those actually attending, the name you'll hear most often is just "The College".
The Archwizards
Despite The College's age, its original founders and the current heads are one in the same. Wizard and Sorcerer of the Archmage Guild.
Those who've met them (and they DO make an effort at meeting with as many students as possible) nearly always describe a charismatic, passionate, happily married pair of mages who're damn near inseparable and have devoted their entire lives to the pursuit of knowledge.
Those who've met them (and they DO make an effort at meeting with as many students as possible) nearly always describe a charismatic, passionate, happily married pair of mages who're damn near inseparable and have devoted their entire lives to the pursuit of knowledge.
How long those lives have been, however, remains a mystery. Not out of any legitimate need for secrecy, but as a symbol, or perhaps an inside joke, representing the perpetual quest for answers that wizards embark on; no matter how small or inconsequential the question may be in the grand scheme of things.
A Love for Magic; A Love for Each Other
As the story goes, the two were childhood friends who accidentally "discovered" magic on their own. Their wonder and curiosity is what led to their Discoveries; Sorcerer evolving with an Elven-like Spark and Wizard, who unexpectedly evolved as a Craft Type, becoming a living, breathing Spellbook.
They made a promise to each other that day, two in fact. The first was to never stop learning, and the second was to always share what they learn with the world. It couldn't possibly get more simple than that. To make the unknown the known, and to protect the known from ever becoming the unknown again.
College History
Adventurers to Archivists
Apparently their first approach was the life of adventure. Traveling the world, exploring ruins, uncovering lore and, of course, studying the magic across different cultures. A first approach that, to put it bluntly, should not be anyone's first approach. But according to them, this was simply hands-on learning with just a few extra steps.
Eventually they retired from that life, finally proceeding to "Step 2". They recorded all of their experiences, catalogued their first hand accounts and interviews, organized their magic items and vast assortment of knickknacks and doodads, and opened their own public archive tucked away somewhere in Market Town. Lorehaven, they called it.
The ol' mom & pop shop turned out to be leagues more popular than expected. What started as patrons quietly browsing became requests for the couple's stories, and from that came those hopeful for quick lessons in magic. Their eventual tutoring side-gig became a dedicated class of aspiring mages, and soon after that Lorehaven would promote itself to a school for the magical arts.
Their passion paid off. From what they could only assume was the result of teaching the right person with the right connections right around the time a new magic system was being theorized by Knights, The College of Wizardry would soon set up shop in Kingshelm. The Heart of Stonewood.
Diversity of Study
In the beginning the college was for Wizardry and Wizardry alone. However, as the institution grew, as the needs of the city changed, as people enrolled, attended, and graduated, it became apparent that it might be in their best interest to broaden the vision. Nowadays, while magic is still very much the focus, the college has branched out into a variety of different studies, trades, and career paths.
It accomplished this by building a "web" of sorts, funding new schools and programs with different focuses and goals while reestablishing itself as the center piece. Some of the more popular having grown to the size of small towns in their own right. Maplewood is one such town, across Lake Nimue and Northwest of Stonewood Forest, where The Maplewood Institute specializes in the study of Dungeons.
The most common path students take begins in The College. Here they pursue lessons in magic, broad fields of study, trades or craftsmanship, etc; usually leaning towards a more introductive or generalized approach. As their education progresses, some choose to stay and specialize in Wizardry, History, and/or Archiving. Those choosing to specialize in different, more specific fields are transferred to any partnering colleges providing those courses.
This system also came with the bonus of broadening and streamlining the flow of information, The College shares its resources with its partners and vice versa. In a way, the college has actually returned to its roots. It once again serves as an archive while giving magical lessons on the side, as a treat, and the pair wouldn't have it any other way.
"It wasn't until his parents mentioned Affinities that everything clicked. Sorcerer may have had magic from the start, but it wasn't unique to her; it could be learned. It was through both their efforts that Wizard had finally casted a spell and Sorcerer learned to wield her own power.
On that day, through the reckless curiosity of children, the very soul of Wizardry had been born."
Campus Life
Friendship & Academia
You wouldn't believe it, but dormitories filled with passionate, dedicated Knights all united under the goal of education turned out to be the ideal conditions for Guilds to start forming. Damn near sprouting up like Kobolds on an average Saturday. See, the dorms here aren't much different than any other homes you'd find in Stonewood (you're essentially just living in a big house with a hefty handful of roommates), so it's not uncommon for one of these houses to just declare themselves a guild if they grow particularly fond of each other's company.
Of course, since these are Knights, this became so popular that The College itself began to officially recognize these Guilds as such. It's because of this tradition that Guildball eventually grew to be the most popular sport in Stonewood. It's that damn pride of their's.
Wealth of Lore
It comes as no surprise how important The Lorehaven Archive is to both The College and Stonewood as a whole. It very well might literally be the largest collection of information we have, hard stop. Now, The College isn't stupid, which is why the continuous flow of knowledge is so invaluable. There isn't just one single copy of everything stored in one of those big ass vaults with the funny wheel on it, and as such if anything were to happen to the archive we would, within reason, be able to recover. Even so, The College takes extreme measures to ensure that its contents are safe while still remaining as accessible as possible to the public.
But you could probably assume all of that already. So instead here's a wholesome piece of lore for you: not only does this archive serve as the administrative office where Wizard and Sorcerer reside, but tucked away in a corner of the building lies an almost exact replica of their original archive; complete with the dim lantern light, the smell of old books, and the creaky, well trodden floorboards that always gave them a small fright when opening up their shop for the day. Some say it might literally just be the same room, somehow transported from one building to another.
The Food Situation
The first lesson every magic user learns is to never turn down a free meal. Magic is notoriously taxing to use consistently and its a fact of life that anyone or anything that does so needs to eat damn near irresponsible amounts of food to compensate. (Fun fact, this is the REAL reason why Beasts & Wildlife that utilize magic are so aggressive and dangerous, as if the literal spellcasting wasn't enough.)
It's because of this unavoidable rule that a lot of the culture here revolves around food. Students are encouraged to pack accordingly and eat in class, the more popular professors even having a small pantry in their classrooms for snack-related emergencies, and dotted around campus are kiosks handing out free Mana Bars to whoever needs them.
Mana Bars are small, nutrient-dense snacks made with ingredients like oats, granola, various nuts and seeds, raisins, chocolate, etc. mixed together with Rune Bee Honey over a low flame, pressed, baked, and cut into cute little bars for convenience.
Probably unwise to use as a meal replacement, but will absolutely give you the quick boost you need.
Mana Bar
Probably unwise to use as a meal replacement, but will absolutely give you the quick boost you need.
Mana Bar
Sorcerer, for some reason, also seems to always have Mana Bars on her person. You don't even need to ask, she'll already know you want one and will proceed to give you two. She has yet to run out of them.
The Grand Larder
This is the second most important building on campus (Or the first depending on Sorcerer's current mood), located right at its center to ensure that it's equally accessible from any possible angle. This massive building is both a dining hall and communal pantry that's always open no matter the time. There are limitations to the amounts of food provided of course, it's in everyone's best interest that there's enough to go around and it can be paid for after all, but The College does prioritize ensuring no student goes hungry. In addition, The Grand Larder is also the most popular spot for students interested in part-time positions.
Reading Time: 10 min. (1863 words)
A Love for Magic; A Love for Each Other
Adventurers to Archivists
Diversity of Study
Friendship & Academia
Wealth of Lore
The Food Situation
Mana Bars
The Grand Larder
College of Wizardry OST
Campus Day
Campus Night
Dormitory
The Lorehaven Archive
The Grand Larder
Table of Contents
The Archwizards
College History
Campus Life
Related Sauce
All the art is made by me unless labled otherwise!
Hey Jo! Tip for finagling around wordcaps, try embedding text with images in a program like Inkscape. You can import an image to a layer then add a text box and arrange it nicely then export as a jpeg or png. I'm assuming the word limit is for typed words not actual read words. See below for examples. IMO it's better to add text in a vector program than in a image editor because the text can be scaled as you choose and comes out looking neater. It might come in handy if you want to pair flavor text with artwork. Nice job as always!
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Thanks for the heads up, I might look into that!