The most prestigious school for magic in Astrodia, located in Artmegía. The main campus is called the Acropolis.
Teleportation circles exist at the Academy, costing 50 gold per group of 8 to use.
Colleges
Silverquill college - Focuses on words, encompassing literature (including fiction, essays, drama, and poetry), languages, linguistics, oratory, rhetoric, and dramatic performance.
Witherbloom College - Teaches necromancy. Located on a satellite campus to the south of the Acropolis. Aren Greycloak has set out to investigate and possibly destroy this college. Professor Lang is based here and may be able to help with rare diseases.
Lorehold College - Focuses on history, archaeology, and anthropology. Its campus is Pillardrop. Where Asha studied before being expelled for researching forbidden knowledge related to the White Forest.
Prismari College - One of the five colleges. Little detailed yet.
Quandrix College - One of the five colleges. Its campus is the one closest to the White Forest.
The Academy follows a five-college structure: Silverquill, Lorehold, Prismari, Witherbloom, and Quandrix.
Magical Item Buyback Program
The Academy has posted an official decree across Artmegía offering gold compensation for any magical items brought to the main campus. Lucian Cugg is attempting to sell the Golden Chalice through this program.
Arcane Reclamation Initiative
The formal office handling item submissions. Staffed by Ms. Maris and junior apprentices such as Tobin. Three-step process: initial Identify assessment, hazard/curse evaluation, and scholarly review. Submitters must sign an enchanted disclosure form (reveals true name if a false one is attempted). The Initiative appears to have a watch list of specific items — see Golden Chalice for details.
The Biblioplex
The grand central library of the Academy. Majestic marble archways, tomes for miles. Houses a Snarl (tangled essence of pure magic) in the Hall of Oracles, which serves as a power source for the university. Staffed by cogwork archivists — magical constructs that guide visitors to texts.
- 1st Floor: Open to public and first-years
- 2nd Floor: Restricted to upper-years and professors
- 3rd Floor: Prohibited
An Oracle of the Academy exists somewhere within — supposedly the most powerful being at the school. As of Session 11, Tobin reports the Academy’s “repo man” may be an experiment with the Oracle involved — see Hall of Oracles and Arcane Reclamation Initiative.
The Watchmen — and Who Really Built Them
The constructs standing guard at the Biblioplex doors were not designed at the Academy. Correspondence recovered from Morgana’s Tower in Session 9 established that they descend from the guardian line built by the Freedale witch Morgana (the forge) and her Academy colleague Verelda (the “animating lattice” theory). Both women deliberately hid the origin:
“Tell your colleagues at the Biblioplex their new watchmen owe more to a witch in the hills than they’ll ever know, and let’s keep it that way — I’d rather not explain myself to a room full of deans.” — Morgana to Verelda
Two facts make this campaign-relevant rather than trivia:
- Per Asha’s history check, these guardians are posted throughout the Academy, not only at the library.
- Each is a shield guardian bound to a single command amulet — so the Academy almost certainly maintains a control room holding every amulet. Whoever holds those amulets controls Academy security.
The party recovered a working amulet for the (older) Freedale guardian and knows exactly how the mechanism works. The open question is whether these constructs are also the muscle the Arcane Reclamation Initiative will send after the Golden Chalice.
Campus Locations
- Bow’s End Tavern — Popular on-campus tavern. Owned by Tulk (“the Bulk”), a full orc. Known for Dwarven Ales and more exotic options.
- University Inn — On-campus lodging, 5 gold/night.
- Fire Jolt Café — Most popular campus café, owned by Alina Tanglewood. Known for permanent illusion décor and the 10-gold Fire Jolt Latte (grants fire resistance for 1 minute).
- Rose Stage — Performance space on campus.
Access
Students receive an ID that allows them to use the Academy’s teleportation circles. Expelled students like Asha have their IDs revoked.
Session 6 — The Central Mystery (May 31, 2026)
Simone’s enchanted map of magic exposed a profound anomaly: none of the three known magics spike at the Academy.
- Arcane magic spreads uniformly everywhere, yet does not concentrate at the Academy despite the Snarl and the Biblioplex.
- Higher-being magic is concentrated where expected across Astrodia — but shows nothing at the Academy, strange given it was reputedly founded by Dragons and giants.
- Divine magic shows only a tiny, recently-appeared speck — traced to the Golden Chalice the party brought back two days prior.
So what actually powers the Academy is unknown. This is now one of the campaign’s central mysteries — see Types of Magic and The Fourth Magic.
It was also confirmed that the Academy suppressed Asha’s forbidden research into the White Forest, expelling her — the injustice that gave rise to the S.A.T.O.. The chalice was registered with the Arcane Reclamation Initiative, placing the party on the Academy’s watch list.