Edmar School of Magic and Potions

## Backstory

The Edmar School of Magic and Potions was established by the great wizard Cornelius Edmar after retiring from adventuring in 314 HE. Through one of his travelling companions, he acquired a taste for potion-making, and when he decided to open a magic school, he also added several potions classes to the curriculum.

Edmar was the first headmaster of the school, and he nominated as his successor his son, Janus Edmar. When Cornelius died in 387 HE, Janus took over and became the new headmaster. Some mages thought Janus was incompetent and disliked him taking the position. A few of them even left the school, which led Janus to step down in 340 HE. He nominated as his successor another professor at the school, Petur Alvanis. This choice was generally very well accepted.

Petur acted as headmaster until 355 HE, when he suddenly died of a heart attack. He was succeeded by Berenwald Folvinatis until he died in 398 HE. He, in turn, was succeeded by Anselm Vaughn, who, at age 24, was the youngest headmaster to date.

Anselm was succeded by Epsur Materan in 456 HE, who was followed by Andro Kaiten in 488 HE, and finally the current headmaster, Garnall Vagolor, in 519 HE.

## Education

When students enrol at Edmar, they may choose to specialize in one or a few types of magic. There are a few mandatory courses, but most are optional. Students can customize their curriculum by selecting the classes they prefer, but they can only advance to the next rank if they acquire a certain level of proficiency in their chosen fields. This threshold is arbitrary to an extent, but is set by the teachers according to the student's choices. If a student were to elect to take only conjuration classes, for example, they would have to show a much higher level of mastery over conjuration magic to advance rank than a student who diversified and took classes in all magic types. Conversely, though, they would only need to learn the basics of every other type.

The least prevalent magic type at Edmar, as in most other schools, is necromancy. All necromancy books available at the library are restricted and may only be consulted by students above a certain rank. Additionally, there are few necromancy courses available, and spells used to create undead, such as *Animate Dead*, aren't taught at all (although a few are detailed in books in the restricted sections). Instead, the necromancy classes mostly consist of offensive necromancy spells, such as *Witch Bolt* or *Ray of Sickness*.

Despite this, necromancy isn't a forbidden subject by any means. It is openly discussed in many classes, both to teach students the basics and to teach them how to defend against necromancers if the need arises. The only subject which is explicitly considered taboo is the construction of a phylactery, or becoming a lich in general. A student may be expelled for discussing this subject on school grounds, but some more understanding teachers try to discourage the student from this path before reporting it to the headmaster.

## Faction Background

### Equipment

A certificate of rank, 2 health potions, a bottle of black ink, a quill, and a pouch containing 10 gp.

### Feature: Researcher

Your long days going through books in the school library have made you an efficient researcher. When you attempt to recall a piece of knowledge related to magic, if you don't know that information, you know where you can look for it (this could be at a library, from a specific mage, etc.)