University of Alásháran

The **University of Alásháran** is one of the oldest existing necromancy schools still in service. The university is renown as the leading authority in the field of necromancy, which it maintains with its strict hiring practices which ensure that only the best of the best can become teachers. The school was founded by the archlich Zog, who still to this day serves as its headmaster.

The majority of the students are send here by influential orc families in order train as the family head necromancer. Often these are children who don't stand to inherit much from their parent's fortune, but on occasion these might be the children of trusted family friends. The high tuition fees ensure that only those worthy of the university's education can attend. However this has also caused the majority of its students to be predominantly orc, as the wealthy of other races foolishly do not see the benefit of paying so much money to learn necromancy.

## Moral code

The university of Alásháran has a strict moral code for the use of necromancy. For one it is seen as taboo to raise a death person as thralls without them agreeing on it before their death. On the other hand it is also frowned upon to bring an beings back incompletely before they could return from the Moon of Reincarnation, usually in the form of ghosts. Several of the professors, both current and retired, are members of the Order of Alásháran which makes sure that these morals are enforced outside of university grounds.

## History

The university was founded by the Zog the Lich Lord after he captured the castle from Feranor the Black hooded, a powerful warlord who had enslaved Zog's people for several decades. Zog founded the university with the hope that it could prevent others from falling to the same dishonourably mistakes that he had made when he was younger and to provide a place for the poor and downtrodden to learn necromancy. It took 50 years before the university was officially recognised by the other schools of necromancy as an legitimate learning institution. As the school's prestige grew over the years its tuition fees grew as well until the school was too far removed from Zog's original vision to reverse course.

### Sarum Incident

In the year 1407 students of Alásháran made their way to Sarum, a small farming barony. Seeking adventure they drunkenly raised the dead causing an international incident that led to war in 1410 with the nearby fortress monastery of Verax. In a response the university banned the students according to official moral guidelines. But further denied that the investigation team had failed to apprehend the students on time. However within the university it was clear that new measures were put in place to prevent this situation from happening again.

## Layout

The first thing students see when they enter the school is a small park forever cast in a mild darkness by the long shadows of the school's four towers. From this park students walk into the main lobby, a long rectangular building with a small bell tower on top, crafted from the same rune-inscribed black monolith that the rest of the castle was build from. The lobby is attached to the mountainside. It is inside of this rock that most classrooms have been carved away, with smooth and well decorated tunnels connecting them to a central staircase. This staircase goes all the way to the old sentry tower which gives a beautiful view of the surrounding moors and the nearby forest. It is in this tower that headmaster Zog keeps his personal office and where he lives for most of the school year.

The students themselves are divided in three divisions, each with their own dormitories: The Bat Division, the Spider Division, the Warg Division. Those in the Bat Division are taught how to manipulate the necrotic mana in the air. Their dormitories are in the second highest tower on the campus, only surpassed by the one Zog lives in. Those in the Warg Division are taught how to use necromancy to manipulate and curse their enemies whilst on the front line. The Wargs use the old barracks as their personal dormitories and have their own private sparring ring. Those in the Spider Division are taught how to use the necrotic mana inside of their enemies to inflict wounds and diseases. They make their home deep underground in the old dungeons of the castle, right next to the medical bay.