University of Magical Arts

Across the whole of the Flanaess, the rich and the humble alike dream of sending their children to Greyhawk's prestigious University of Magical Arts. Rightly considered the finest training institution of the arcane arts on the continent, the university accepts applicants based on merit and potential magical aptitude, paying little heed to such meaningless trifles as social class, race, or familial connections. Both wizards and sorcerers are accepted, though many of the more traditional instructors favor wizardly hopefuls, finding it easier to confer magical teachings through rote study of arcane formulae than to guide a would-be sorcerer through the process of tapping her inherent potential for magic through far less tangible means.
The university is situated within a massive pyramid that many scholars consider one of the greatest architectural marvels of the modern Flanaess. Each of the structure; three sides is exactly 222 feet long and 181 feet high. No doors, windows, or marks of any kind mar the pyramids walls—low-level students announce themselves at a pre-arranged spot and are taken within by tutors armed with magical means to bypass the pyramid's many protections. A six-foot-high wall surrounding the pyramid is likewise featureless.
The pyramid features an immense underground auditorium and nine floors, each representing a specific level of arcane magical study. Initiates learn cantrips and 1st-level spells on the main floor, and as they progress in study. students move on to higher floors and more rigorous curricula and tutors. The floors get smaller and smaller as they approach the pyramid's zenith. A mess hall takes up a large portion of the ground floor, as do dozens of small dormitories for the use of students in their first through fifth year of study. More experienced students and instructors are expected to keep quarters in the city proper, or on some demiplane parallel to the university's metaphysical axis.
Though instructors and senior students pass in and out of the university with regularity, the youngest and rawest applicants do not leave the pyramid for at least two years after their initial visit. During that time. the would-be arcanists study the fundamentals of magical theory. Graduates of this strict regimen, during which no spells are actually taught, liken the process to a test of endurance - a weeding out of dilettantes and those who lack the discipline required to channel arcane magic appropriately.

Type

University / Educational complex