The Sacred Order of Knowledges Mystical and Arcane

The Great Library of Mystra

No longer full to the brim with wizards from far and wide as they are no longer able to teach the creation nor casting of spells due to the lingering effects preceding The Great Arcana Totality event.

The academics that now reside inside the ancient building instead discern the use of a myriad of magical items and devices which have been seized, borrowed, stolen, or generally "obtained" from the various towns and cities in the Kingdom of Erigold.

Once their use has been divined the academics then usually attempt to use these items in ways the benefit those with enough wealth to acquire the services provided by the university. A handful of the most exceptional professors have managed to re-purpose some magical items to create fantastic new devices utilising the items unique abilities.

## Motto

> Nunc id Vides, Nunc ne Vides *"Now you see it, Now you don't."*
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## Wizardry

The title *wizard* is said to be derived from the archaic word "Wys-ars", meaning one who, at bottom, is very wise.

The senior academics do not understand how magic actually works at all, instead they relying on centuries of lore and use of magical items to achieve the desired effects.

Younger students enthusiastically experiment, pushing back the boundaries of knowledge and making new discoveries about the nature of the universe. They don't understand how magic works either, but have much more exciting words to explain why not. These often invoke images of particle physics.

The main issue is a generalised worry to where the power actually comes from and what sort of (often eldritch and downright monstrous) entities excessive use can attract.

## Grounds and Buildings

The University is a large walled-off complex. Aside from The Great Library, the geography of the **The Sacred Order of Knowledges Mystical and Arcane** is somewhat fluid, with rooms shifting and disappearing on a regular basis. It is much larger on the inside than on the outside.

Entrance and exit into the complex is by one of the gates. These gates close in the evening, and students who like to get out after this have created an alternate opening known as Scholar's Entry. This is a place in the wall where bricks can be slid out to form a usable ladder, and has always been known only to students. However, many students forget that all the staff were, in their time, students themselves.

## The Great Library of Mystra

Like the Bodleian Library at Oxford, **The Sacred Order of Knowledges Mystical and Arcane** Library features chained books – although at Oxford this is done to protect the books from the students, whereas at **The Sacred Order of Knowledges Mystical and Arcane** it is done to protect the students from the books.

The high concentration of magical lore has warped the Library interior into a locus of L-Space where the concepts of distance and direction are only vaguely defined (it is generally described as resembling an M. C. Escher pastiche of the Bodleian or the British Museum Reading Room). The Library contains almost every book ever written in The Kingdom of Erigold.

Access to libraries of other times or other realities is restricted to the Librarian himself. People entering the deeper parts of the library usually carry chalk, until the chalk turns into something else.

Those studying in my adhere to three simple rules to ensure abuse is kept to a minimum:

1. Silence
2. Books must be returned by the last date stamped
3. Do not interfere with the nature of causality

## Staff

### Archchancellor

The head of **The Sacred Order of Knowledges Mystical and Arcane** is the Archchancellor, considered an important figure and holds a seat on the Cometwight council (although this council itself has no power either), in which he acts as a magical advisory to the Patrician of Cometwight.

### Bursar

The Bursar is a quiet, reserved person, who took the job of University treasurer because he had an affinity for numbers (the Archchancellor describes him as "*one of those idiot servants*") and there was less competition for the role than other faculty posts.

### Dean

An incredibly obese man who is generally found in his study reading a grimoire or in the great hall eating. His only job is to sit around, sleep and eat incredibly big dinners. He also attends some of the functions that are held by guilds or clubs around the city on behalf of the University and partakes of other people's big dinners.

### Librarian

The Librarian was transformed into an orangutan as the beam of magic fired upwards through the library. On discovering that being an orangutan had certain advantages for a librarian – he can climb up to high shelves, for example – he refused to be transformed back into a human and has remained an orangutan ever since. The other wizards have gradually become used to the situation, to the extent that if someone ever reported that there was an orangutan in the Library, the wizards would probably go and ask the Librarian if he'd seen it.

Being an ape, he is known for his violent reaction to most people calling him a "*monkey*". He speaks a language whose vocabulary consists primarily of the single word *Ook* (originally *Oook*), inflected for simple affirmations and negations. *Eeek* is also occasionally heard, particularly in moments of panic or rage. Nonetheless, most people seem able to understand him.

### Other staff

* Head of Inadvisably Applied Magic
* Praelector and Reader in Invisible Writings
* Master of Traditions
* Chair of Indefinite Studies
* Lecturer in Recent Runes
* Chair of Oblique Frogs
* Professor of Revolvings
* Professor of Extreme Horticulture
* Professor of Applied Anthropics
* Reader in Esoteric Studies
* Lecturer in Creative Uncertainty
* Professor of Dust, Fluff, and Miscellaneous Particles
* Lecturer in Vindictive Astronomy
* Professor of Recondite Architecture and Origami Map-Folding
* Devious H. "Dragonbreath" Collabone
* Professor Ritornello, Master of the Music
* Mrs Whitlow, the domineering head of the kitchen
* The gardener