Overview

The Strixhaven occupies hundreds of acres, spread out over six campuses. Each of the university’s five colleges has its own campus, and the central campus, home to the Biblioplex and Strixhaven Stadium, serves as a hub for university life.
Well-maintained roads connect the six campuses, and walking from one to another can take a half-hour or more. Regular shuttles—large carriages drawn by horselike automata—run on an hourly schedule between a station near the Biblioplex and each of the satellite campuses, making the journey in about 15 minutes. In addition, each campus has multiple permanent teleportation circles, which faculty and more advanced students can use when they require instantaneous travel, and several magical portals exist as well. These portals can be unpredictable: they aren’t necessarily open all the time, they don’t always lead to the same places, and some require complicated conditions or keys to open.
The mission of Strixhaven University is to discover and preserve magical knowledge, disseminate that knowledge from one generation to the next, promote the free and open study of magic in all its forms, and enhance the lives of people throughout the plane through the use of magic.

History

Founded some 700 years ago by five spellcasting dragons, Strixhaven University is a premier institution of magical learning, drawing promising young mages from all around the planet to study in its halls. Strixhaven is divided into five colleges, each with its own campus, faculty, and magical specialties. Each of the five colleges focuses on the clashing of two opposing mana colors: Silverquill in white and black, Prismari in blue and red, Witherbloom in black and green, Lorehold in red and white, and Quandrix in green and blue.

TORCHES OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Five lines of beacon-towers radiate out from the center of Strixhaven like enormous spokes, stretching more than a hundred miles out into the surrounding countryside. These Torches of Enlightenment burn eternally with magical flame, symbolizing the path toward learning and an escape from ignorance. The five lines converge at the Biblioplex.

THE BIBLIOPLEX

The Library of Strixhaven, also known as the Biblioplex, forms the center of the university. Doorless, arch-shaped entrances (their design inspired by the magical star arches found across the plane) welcome inquisitive minds into the library. Inside, almost every surface from floor to unreasonably high ceiling is jammed with stacks of books. The interior of the Biblioplex is vast, with impossibly long hallways, archive chambers tall enough to have their own weather, and even pools and moat-passages that must be crossed by boat.
Within the Biblioplex is the Mystical Archive, an impossibly large wing that is said to contain a copy of every spell ever created in the Multiverse. While mortal life is too fleeting to contest such a claim, it is clear that the Archive contains an uncountable number of powerful spells.
At the very center of the Biblioplex is the Hall of Oracles, an awe-inspiring chamber lined with monuments. The heart of the Hall is the Strixhaven Snarl, a massive, luminous tangle of pure mana that illuminates this chamber like a magical sun.

Archway Commons

Just south of the Biblioplex, a star arch curves overhead like a smaller echo of the Dawnbow, and a lush park, Archway Commons, marks the site. More familiarly called the Commons, the park is a favorite spot for students—especially first-years—to gather in fair weather or to wander through on dates. Some of the university’s clubs also use the park to host social gatherings and games, including live-action roleplaying games and casual sports.

Firejolt Café

At the edge of Archway Commons and just outside the Biblioplex stands the cozy Firejolt Café, where students cram both information and caffeine into themselves before exams. The café’s name comes from its trademark beverage, which the manager, an elf mage named Ellina, brews with her fire magic. The Firejolt has a reputation as a hangout for first-year students, but older students from all five colleges can be seen inside at all hours.

Bow’s End Tavern

At the western end of the Dawnbow, where it meets the ground, stands a smaller university landmark: Bow’s End Tavern, which serves as a hangout for older students. Most patrons come for the live music, deliciously greasy food, and various potions and beverages. Others come to settle their differences in wild duels in the lot behind the tavern. The tavern’s manager is a kind but strict orc named Tulk “the Bulk” Tusktooth.

Strixhaven Stadium

The stadium where thousands gather to watch students play Mage Tower (and sometimes other sports) is located near Bow’s End Tavern.

MAGE TOWER

Mage Tower is a competitive team sport played by mage-students at Strixhaven. Each of the five colleges fields its own team and brings a mascot creature that also plays into the scoring rules. Mage Tower is the main spectator sport at Strixhaven, drawing huge crowds of fans from the university and beyond.

The Rules of Mage Tower

• Two opposing teams meet in Strixhaven Stadium. Each team is composed of five mages, plus one small mascot creature.
• Each team has a tall tower at their end of the stadium with their mascot creature at the top.
• The goal is to score a point by stealing the opposing team's mascot and transporting it back to your own tower.
• All magic that would harm a player, mascot, or spectator, or that would damage the stadium or basic rules of the game in any way, is nullified.
• Otherwise, all magic is legal, subject to the review of the Mage Tower Referee Council.
• The game lasts for three phases. Each phase lasts as long as it takes for the Mage Tower hourglass to empty, which is approximately 20 minutes. (Sometimes the last few grains of sand in the hourglass take their sweet time to roll around and drop to the bottom.)
• When time is called at the end of the third phase, the team with the most points wins.

Magical Study

The fundamental work of Strixhaven University is the application of magic to academic study. Students and faculty aren’t limited to magical topics alone; they pursue studies in every facet of existence—magical or otherwise—applying magic to whatever they study. At Strixhaven, historians call the spirits of the dead to aid their lessons about the past, and arcano-biologists use necromancy to pull at life and coax out death when teaching about the natural world. Simultaneously, mage-artists sculpt elemental energy to create animate art, and arcane symbologists teach students how to recognize and understand the magical glyphs they encounter.

Principles and Polarities

The colleges and curriculum at Strixhaven are organized around the idea of philosophical principles joined in concordant opposition. Each school embraces the paradoxical unity of two polar principles: life and death, order and chaos, reason and emotion, and so on. The five Founder Dragons are thought to embody the coexistence of these principles, while the ten deans of the colleges stand for the individual principles distinguished from their opposites.
A student’s course of learning at Strixhaven involves exploring the tension between these opposing principles, which typically involves late-night arguments in residence halls and study rooms. The university’s teaching philosophy is built on the idea that exploring opposites leads to an understanding of a greater whole. Most people believe that only a being with the wisdom (and long life) of the Founder Dragons or the archaics can truly master both halves of a school’s dichotomy, but a mage must learn at least the rudiments of those halves. A Strixhaven graduate is expected to leave the university prepared to argue the fundamental issues of their school’s philosophies.

STUDENTS AND FACULTY

MAGE-STUDENTS

The attendees of Strixhaven are known generally as mage-students. New students are called first-years until they choose one of Strixhaven's five colleges of study. All first-years wear a standardized university uniform that is distinct from the look of any of the colleges.
First-year students live in dormitories located on the central campus and often form close friendships there that last throughout their educational careers, even when members of tight-knit groups of friends join different colleges in their second year. A few students continue to live on central campus after choosing a college, particularly if they pursue extensive studies in multiple colleges or work as resident advisers to first-year students. But most students move to dormitories located on their chosen college’s campus in their second year.

Choosing a College

Before starting their second year of studies, students choose one of the five colleges—Lorehold, Prismari, Quandrix, Silverquill, or Witherbloom—to be their academic home for the remainder of their education. From this point, students wear uniforms featuring the colors of their college, though these outfits aren’t as unvarying as the first-year garb.

TWO MENTORS

Once a mage has chosen a college, they are assigned two counselors, one from each of the two mana colors of the college. The two counselors often give conflicting advice about the student's best path through the university—for example, a Quandrix student might hear one set of advice from their green-aligned mentor, encouraging them to build their skills in summoning powerful creatures, while their blue-aligned mentor might push them toward abstraction, illusion, and mathematical theory.
Eventually, the mage chooses their concentration (represented by their color identity). The mage's concentration is usually one of their college's two mana colors, but sometimes, it's a blend of both.

Course of Study

Some students, having chosen a college, spend virtually all their remaining school years on that campus and study with those professors, diving into their preferred area of study and related fields. Other students take as many as a third of their classes in other colleges, continuing the breadth of their first-year education and looking for places where the perspectives of other disciplines can bring new insight to their studies. Both approaches are encouraged at the university.

AFTER STRIXHAVEN

Graduates from Strixhaven travel many different paths after leaving the university. Many simply return to their communities, using their magic to help at home. Some mages travel the plane in search of ever-greater magic, engaging in mage duels when they encounter others along their path. Some find a new home with a loved one or with their own mystical pastimes. Some create sanctums or laboratories to continue their study, perhaps even hoping to one day return to Strixhaven as professors themselves. A select few join the Dragonsguard, an elite force of mages who work with the honored Founder Dragons.

Administration

The day-to-day functioning of Strixhaven relies on hundreds of laborers, clerks, coaches, administrators, and others. These personnel include folk like Mavinda Sharpbeak, the kindly owlin guidance counselor who takes first-year students under her wing, and Gyome, the troll chef of Witherbloom College. In addition to legions of people who devote their lives to the university’s operations, numerous automatons and artificial life-forms—various kinds of Constructs—serve in various roles, including campus guides and library assistants.
All these operations are managed by an administration overseen by the ten deans, two in each college. Each dean is an esteemed professor who embraces one side of their school’s philosophical dichotomy. The deans, like the professors who serve as counselors to students, view it as their role to disagree with each other and guide the college by way of their arguments. Furthermore, rivalries among the deans only exacerbate this combative attitude.
When the argumentative deans fail to chart a coherent course for Strixhaven, the Founder Dragons are occasionally forced to intervene. They don’t step in directly, but a director known as the Voice of the Founders—currently an imposing man named Taiva—speaks on the dragons’ behalf.

Faculty

The faculty members of Strixhaven are mages and scholars—experts in their various fields and in the use of magic to enhance their studies. They are dedicated to their research and to educating generations of mage-students who follow in their footsteps. Some faculty members value research more than teaching, while others make education their highest priority. But all find some balance between the two.

PROFESSORS

Professors of Strixhaven are mages advanced in their chosen magical field who have devoted their lives to teaching other mages. There are several ranks of professors according to seniority, distinction of magical research, and knowledge of spells.
Instructor – Strixhaven’s faculty begin their careers as instructors, focusing primarily on teaching classes and crafting curriculum, while the school administration evaluates their performance. At the end of a provisional period, which can last from one to several years, an instructor is elevated to the rank of professor or let go.
Professor – An established, accredited educator devoted to a field of magical study. Most of the educators at Strixhaven have the professor rank.
Esteemed Professor – A professor who has distinguished themselves in their career, usually through published and peer-reviewed magical research or other specialized study. Most esteemed professors have taught at Strixhaven for over twenty years.
Dean – Each college has two deans who each head up one half of that college. Each dean is a powerful mage and distinguished professor who's aligned with one of the two mana colors of that college. The ten deans are like contradictory advisors to the entirety of their college; they have deep professional rivalries with each other and always disagree with the other about the best path for studying magic.
Mage Emeritus – A professor who no longer holds a position at Strixhaven is often called a mage emeritus. Mages emeritus are frequently held in high esteem as guest lecturers and speakers.

Mascots

Each of Strixhaven’s five colleges has a mascot—a small creature associated with the magic of the school and often found wandering their respective campuses. Witherbloom’s mascots, pests, are naturally found in the world around the campus. The other colleges’ mascots are brought into being through magic.

Mage Students

Type

Educational, University