The University

The life of the mind. Art from FL.

> *"What is the University? It is what you may call a castle manned by learning and scholarship. Or a vicious and permanent dog-fight between Benthic College and Summerset College."*
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> *"Fallen London's two colleges, Benthic and Summerset, enjoy a healthy rivalry. They play team sports with each other. They play pranks on each other. On certain days of the year, they play trumpets and French horns at each other." (Like the Oxford-Cambridge boat race. But with trumpets.)*
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**The University** is Fallen London's primary institution of ~~period-appropiate pseudoscience~~ ahem, *knowledge and innovation*, formerly known as **King's and University College**. The University is divided into two colleges, Benthic and Summerset, which have a notoriously fierce rivalry.

## Summerset

> *"What's Summerset College like? A place of indolent privilege. Minor nobles rub shoulders with the black-gowned children of clergy, parliamentarians and lawyers in its peaceful quadrangles."*
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**Summerset** is the more well-bred side of the University, typically comprised of the children of higher society, clergy, lawyers, and officials. It does not allow the soulless in.

**The Provost of Summerset** is, ironically, affiliated with devils, enough so that there have been rumors about how he's actually a devil who files down his horns and teeth.

In the *Sunless Skies* timeline, following the exodus to the stars, Summerset has established a base camp within Traitor's Wood in the Reach. Unfortunately, their expedition seems to be for naught.

The motto of Summerset College is *"Superbe et sophistice."*

## Benthic

> *"What's it like at Benthic College? Eager young radicals throng the halls. Students flaunt their tolerance and diversity; friendships with devils are highly prized. Revolutionaries infest the eaves. The soul trade thrives."*
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**Benthic**, the lower-bred college, is more inclusive; it allows the soulless, devils, revolutionaries, and children of poor families to enter. Its more tolerant researchers may also exchange items of value with those who've been formally banned from the university, and Benthic actively rewards students for being prosecuted by the Ministry of Public Decency.

The motto of Benthic college is *"Omnes adsint, quamvis dementi, quamvis nefasti."*

## Known Departments

* The Department of Additive Surgery (probably involves organ grafting)
* The Department of Advanced Theology (the study of complex religions?)
* The Department of Antiquarian Esquivalience (the study of avoiding age-old responsibilities)
* The Department of Chiropterochronometry (the study of using bats' flight patterns to measure time and encode messages )
* The Department of Contemporary Cryptotheology (may be related to the rites of the Crooked-Cross)
* The Department of Criminal Rehabilitation & Eradication
* The Department of Cryptopalaeontology (the study of cryptic fossils)
* The Department of Cryptophilology (the study of cryptic languages)
* The Department of Cryptospelunking and Transportable Antiquities (the study of the cryptic excavation of relics)
* The Department of Epigraphical Mathematics (the study of trigonometry, perhaps?)
* The Department of Esoteric Cryptozoology (the study of specialized cryptic animals)
* The Department of Exotic Herpetology (the study of exotic amphibians)
* The Department of Extrapolatory Cartographic Zoology (the study of mapping animals?)
* The Department of Infernal Estates (the study of Hell's properties)
* The Department of Infernal Rarefactions (the study of Hell's substances)
* The Department of Infernal Relations (the study of Hell's politics)
* The Department of Muscular Amplification (the study of muscle gain)
* The Department of Neocartography (the study of new maps, because maps are weird down here)
* The Department of Palaeomycology (the study of extinct fungal lifeforms, very important down here)
* The Department of Paradoxic Optics (the study of the Neathbow)
* The Department of Phrenology & Applied Cranial Exploration (the study of brain segments, a notorious pseudoscience; usually involves very blunt objects)
* The Department of Semi-Semiotics (the study of half-symbols?)
* The Department of Subterranean Divinity (the study of the gods of the Unterzee)
* The Department of Supernumerary Faculty (the study of High Numbers)
* The Department of Tonsorial Alchemy (alchemy with barbers, we suppose)
* The Department of Venomous Rarefaction (how pertinent)
* The Department of Xenotheology (the study of Rubbery Men's religion)
* The Department of \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ (the Correspondence)

## References

2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Sidebar Snippets, *Fallen London*
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Hallowed Quadrangles, *Fallen London*
4. ↑ Disguise yourself and cause mischief, *Fallen London*
5. ↑ Lurk disconsolately around the margins., *Fallen London*
6. ↑ Something to burn?, *Fallen London*
7. ↑ A Campfire, *Sunless Skies*
8. ↑ Superbe et sophistice, *Fallen London*
9. ↑ Under the counter, *Fallen London*
10. ↑ A secret about the Masters, *Failbetter Games*
11. ↑ Omnes adsint, quamvis dementi, quamvis nefasti, *Fallen London*
12. ↑ A peculiar practice, *Fallen London*
13. ↑ Consider your options, *Fallen London*
14. ↑ The body in the library, *Fallen London*
15. ↑ The Professor of Antiquarian Esquivalience, *Fallen London*
16. ↑ A colleague with a problem, *Fallen London*
17. ↑ Cricket, Anyone?, *Fallen London* *""Bats!" [...] what we can learn by studying bats!" [...] Did you know they're sympathetic to a certain frequency? [...] what else you can encode into their flight patterns. [...] like the Hamburg Alphabet. [...] chiroptera can write it across time."*
18. ↑ Take tutorials for a little extra cash, *Fallen London*
19. ↑ Address the University, *Fallen London*
20. ↑ Trade in academic favours, *Fallen London*
21. ↑ Pay someone else to research for you, *Fallen London*
22. ↑ Sign here, and here, and here..., *Fallen London*
23. ↑ A scholar returns to the Surface, *Fallen London*
24. ↑ A meeting with the Dean, *Fallen London*
25. ↑ Donate your finds to Benthic College, *Fallen London*
26. ↑ Allow the Junior Researcher in Epigraphical Mathematics to seduce you, *Fallen London* *"Now, the fascinating thing about trigonometry..."*
27. ↑ Trade airy theorems with the Dean of Epigraphical Mathematics, *Fallen London*
28. ↑ Find someone who can help, *Fallen London*
29. ↑ Polite, probing persistence, *Fallen London*
30. ↑ Listen to the Implacable Detective, *Fallen London*
31. ↑ Listen to the Youthful Naturalist, *Fallen London*
32. ↑ Consider your options, *Fallen London*
33. ↑ The mechanics of progress, *Fallen London*
34. ↑ The Other Thing in the Other Chapel, *Fallen London*
35. ↑ Conclude your study of Mr Spices' tears, *Fallen London*
36. ↑ The Deadly Dapperlings, *Fallen London* *""They introduce themselves as graduates the Department of Muscular Amplification, and claim to have formulated a mint that grants you impressive strength. One of them [...] lifts the weight with ease – as if the metal casing were [...] full of feathers.""*
37. ↑ Speak to the Dean of Neocartography, *Fallen London*
38. ↑ Claim to know the Dean of Palaeomycology, *Fallen London*
39. ↑ The Alarming Scholar, *Sunless Sea*
40. ↑ Academic Discipline, *Fallen London*
41. ↑ Get the Semi-semiotic Fellow on your side, *Fallen London*
42. ↑ Buy your way in, *Fallen London*
43. ↑ An Invitation to High Table!, *Fallen London*
44. ↑ Visit him at the laboratory, *Fallen London*
45. ↑ Accept the Dean of Xenotheology, *Fallen London* *"She is a student of faiths. The Church interests her, but so does the faith of Axile. And, of course, she is a University woman."*
46. ↑ A long list, *Fallen London*