Ruvaak Strunmah
Part of a series of reference materials recorded for The Order.
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The Mage Academy at Ruuvak Strunmah is very old, the first built after the Great Accord. The Black Mountain, as humans call it, has been a landmark for many millennia. A massive volcano once occupied the spot; Ruuvak Strunmah is the plug left after its fires cooled and the cinder cone was worn away by the elements. In many places, one can see the hexagonal columns typical of this sort of volcanic stone; I believe that here it is called ‘basalt’.
The academy was built on top of, and quite a bit into, this gigantic pillar of very hard black stone. The sides of it are incredibly steep, and the academy was once reachable only by flight. When the academy began accepting non-dragon students, however, a permanent portal was placed at the foot of the mountain, leading to the grounds of the academy proper.
Not surprisingly, a village sprung up around the base of Ruuvak Strunmah - though by now it is more of a thriving city. All sorts of magical goods from the academy are traded there, and this is how it is funded. No one with magical talent or even an interest in magic is turned away... but it is expected that students will contribute in some way. It can be as simple as assisting in upkeep of the facilities, or as complex as scribing scrolls or participating in the creation of wondrous items. Apprentices often gain practice and contribute at the same time by performing cleaning and mending tasks with magic, conjuring water, and similar.
The academy is made up of eight Colleges, one for each generally-accepted school of magic: Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation. There is some disagreement about where certain subschools belong; for example, Conjurers, Evokers, and Transmuters may all lay claim to Healing magic, depending upon how the healing is performed. While most mages find that they naturally gravitate to a particular school of magic, and may find another all but impossible, relatively few will specialize as I have, choosing to forgo training in one or more disciplines in order to concentrate on one in particular. Those that do often become teachers, usually of their chosen school of magic, though of course they may teach any spell that they know. As an example - though I am a Diviner, I often teach the Sealing spell, which is a Transmutation, simply because there is need.
The academy also hosts the largest and most advanced alchemical lab on Un’Lein. While many Alchemists are Transmuters, like my brother, they may study any school of magic, and as such they are sometimes called ‘the ninth college’.
Is that all right - ? [clicking sound]
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