Firthaven College

**Type**
 **Motto**
 **Location**
 **Current Head Master**
 **Student Body**

**Firthaven College** is one of the three predominate schools located within the continent of Radorah, focusing mainly on general historical, geographical, literary, musical arts, and medical studies. Most predominantly, Firthaven is known for its profound story of origination within Radorah, being the first known established house of education and is best known today as the largest literary and history college worldwide. Firthaven is considered a very prestigious and selective school, only known to accept a few hundred students every academic year. Students typically begin attending Firthaven College at fourteen years and graduate at twenty years, spanning their career of study over six years.

## History

### **Foundations of Firthaven**

Long ago, before the notorious Defixius Knights were formed, and before the famed Lexicons of Leinettes were written, the continent of Radorah welcomed its first human inhabitants, traveling north from Kellerian. The reason for this migration, while not entirely confirmable, lies within the inevitable occurrence of desertification.  Unbelievably, the now dry and sandy continent of Kellerian once gave home to large rolling green grasslands, lush swamps and marshes, large freshwater lakes, and of course, forests of immense size and diversity.

While farming had always been a longtime practice of the humankind of Kellerian, land preservation techniques were not. Having the ability to practice this technique of farming for the first time in the history of the world soon exhausted all of the open areas of the continental landmass.  This, along with a ravenous series of droughts, caused the humankind of Kellerian to develop navigating ships, capable of traveling longer distances, not only in rivers but in the dangerously uncharted open ocean.

Seeing as how all of this took place long, long before and forms of written histories or communications had been developed, it is very unclear as to what drove these explorers to choose the paths to row their ships to. It can be assumed that the travelers caught on to the movements of birds flying north, in attempt to return to their original homes in the break of the budding season. This, or the travelers could have simply made complete guesses, hoping that there would be land elsewhere within these large watery expanses capable of sustaining their livelihoods. Whichever it may be, these adventurers began to shape history as we know it as soon as they pushed their boats off of the old shores of Kellerian.

Logically, Eldaragest was the first of the foreign lands to be inhabited, seeing as it is the closest of the seven other continental lands to the one of Kellerian.  The small continent of Eldaragest offered many resources to the settlers, especially from its vast amount of rivers and open access to the seas around it. However, the small land area of Eldaragest caused the settlers to soon move further east and north, eventually allowing them to discover the continents we know today as Shotamria, Bryuland, and of course, Radorah.

636 is the year recorded containing the event in which the first settlers landed their ships onto the southern coast of Radorah, specifically on the peninsula of the nation we know today as Claysuria. And this is where our history begins - well not quite for another four hundred years does Radorah welcome the walls of Firthaven. Over those several hundred years, however, a series of events unrolls in which the need for a written set of history and documenting of events comes to need.

In the year of 881, there lived a farmer who simply went by the name of Lein. A man of simplicity and traditional values, Lein lived high above the eastern plains on a large plateau. On this plateau was Lein's grain farm, the largest and most successful in the whole of the realm.  The rolling mass of land which made up the plateau boasted soil that was unusually rich in minerals. This, along with the added potency of the sun's rays reaching the top of the plateau, allowed the yield for Lein's wheat to be nearly three times more than the traditional farmer's in Radorah.

After the first few growing seasons, Lein noticed he had ample amount of surplus grain; far more than any man could use even in five years! Extremely surprised and confused by this, Lein thought to himself of the potential uses for his collection of crops. With potential to become one of the wealthiest businessmen in Radorah, Lein decided instead to donate every single bushel of wheat he did not need throughout the entire continent. Continuing to do this for over thirty years, Lein was seen by the vast population of Radorian poor (which at the time, was well over 90% of the population) as a savior, for hardly anyone ever came close to growing hungry throughout any time of the year.

Lein was a devout follower of the great god of wisdom Baltora, and used this as his reasoning for why his farm performed so well for such a long time. This soon attracted the Baltorian Monastery's attention.

Farmer Lein was visited by the monks of Baltora in the middle of his seventy-fifth year of life. The monks, full of knowledge and goodwill, offered Lein an honorary position within their monastery and were met with a grateful acceptance.  The monks were eager to teach their newest inductee the basic foundations of religion in the first winter of their arrival at the monastery.

Upon their arrival, the monks were met with a large and terrible storm, with shattering bolts of fiery lightning striking all around. Some say this storm was a battle of the gods above; a contemporary testing of good versus evil. Baltora sought to send a message to monastery, however, he was heavily stifled by the trio of tormenting, who had escaped from their cradles in which Baltora placed them many years ago. Alone and weakened, Baltora manipulated the lightning of Pyrtoral and redirected it onto the monastery. With a forceful strike, the lightning took hold of the monastery and instantly incinerated the wooden beams and thatched roof while engulfing the entire interior into a forest of towering flames. After the explosion, the storm began to clear and quickly gave clearance to the twin moons which hovered comfortingly in the clear night sky.

After the length of the night had ended, the monks awoke from their slumber and were met with the remainder of the charred monastery. The sheer size had been severely reduced, and only the stone blocks on which the exterior was formed by still stood. However, these stones appeared very unlike how they did in their time of existence before, for every inch of their surface was covered in charred etchings of symbols. Upon further inspection, the monks found these to be letters, legibly forming messages that collectively formed a story. Over the next several weeks, the monks spent every hour of every day transferring the script from the brick onto pieces of parchment until two copies were formed and bound, and entitled The Lexicons of Baltora.

The two copies of the Lexicons were brought back to the Lein's plateau, seeking a safe haven. Lein's home and farm had unfortunately also met with the fate of the wretched storms, receiving the same treatment the monastery had gotten, minus the unscripted message from Baltora. Due to the seclusion of the plateau, the monks remained and constructed huts to temporarily live in until something better would reach their thoughts. Seeing as this was the first time Baltora had contacted humankind since its original creations, the monks saw great importance and value in their books, and studied them devoutly.

Instructions for the constructing of a large temple were found to be in the end of the manuscript, and the monks followed them to the letter. After a long ten years, a temple with a triangular roof, surrounded on all sides by 24 marble columns, was completed. The white quartz walls, golden trim, and meticulously sculpted arches dawned over the land of Radorah high above on the peak of the plateau.

After even more time, the interior altars dedicated to each of the thirteen gods were completed. Lein, by this time, was extremely old and weathered, nearly on the verge of passing into the afterlife. The monks bestowed Lein with the honor of performing the first prayer to Baltora at his grand altar in the center of the large temple.

Lein, with the holy book in his hand, recited a prayer, thanking the gods and the monks, and the citizens of Radorah who so highly respected him for a wondrous and meaningful life. With eyes close, and a warming smile cutting through his unkempt beard, Lein's life drifted out of his physical body, and likely transcended high above to aid Baltora in his struggle for supremacy over the lesser gods.

After the death of Lein, the monks buried his remains in the plateau, in which they then officially named Leinettes in his honor. Lein's most dearest friend - Kruthaige, was appointed to be the first mentor of the new order at Leinettes, titled as the Master of Leinettes.

Not long after the formation of Leinettes, word spread quickly and vastly throughout the entire world, drawing attention to all of the closest and most devout followers of the Baltorian religion. Huge figures of scholarly aspects soon became common pilgrims to the plateau, and eventually, a new order of monks was founded, simply referred to as the Order of Leinettes.

Together, the order completed many copies of an annotated version of the words of Baltora, titling it The Lexicons of Leinettes, and dispersing it throughout the world for all who were capable to read and study. Through these acts, the religious following of Batlorianism spread like a blazing wildfire through the great Brandbark Forest.

It was here, in Leinettes, that the common idea of a written collection of histories and lores could be held all together in one place. In the year 1030, a northerner from the Hanarikar Lands named Gradajivus Firth began working on a building in which he dedicated as a library; the first of this idea. He named this library Sagacia Pointe, or The Point of Knowledge, and it still stands just to the west of the Leinettes Temple today. He placed the Lexicons of Leinettes on the first empty shelf within the library, followed by many more books, some of which were written by himself alone. However, books in this time were extremely uncommon, with nearly three-quarters of the population not being capable of reading or writing such things.

Troubled by the walls in which he wanted to destroy to release the full potential of his and his collaborators' work onto the world in which he so loved, Gradajivus traveled west, away from Leinettes toward the next highest peak in Radorah - Mount Trenethor. Gradajivus knew that this mountain was commonly used as a waypoint marker for many travelers and merchants of different kinds, making it a common meeting point for thousands.

With the help of the monks that traveled with him, Gradajivus built a small stone pavilion which he used to teach reading and writing classes to the travelers passing by the mountain. He asked no payment in return for this service aside from the usual share of food and drink in which traders often carried toward the Nalmorian River, just to the east.  After a short while, more and more citizens of Radorah, eager to learn this important skill, began to flock toward the foothills of Mount Trenethor until the classes were too large for the monks to teach alone. Seeing a great interest from his peers, Gradajivus Firth sent two of his monks back to Leinettes to seek funds to build a proper establishment in which teachings could be held at.

The request was granted.

Firthaven College was the name the series of schoolhouses took on. The first school in the entirety of Radorah it was, with well over three hundred students completing the first year of classes which made them entirely adept in linguistics, reading, writing, and even keen on the history and geography of Radorah. As the years grew on, more and more peers seeking knowledge amassed in the yards of Firthaven, offering higher payments for more extensive study opportunities.

In 1035, the town of Marbridge was established just northwest of the few small buildings which made up Firthaven College. In this town, an official government was established to rule over the students which resided within the confines of the property, and within the next ten years, Marbridge grew rapidly, quickly becoming the second most populated city in Radorah; just behind Ryvenport.

Seeing an opportunity in the collection of wealth, two more schools were soon founded in Radorah to compete with the successful Firthaven College. However, focusing entirely on the same subjects as the College of Firthaven drew these two schools to a near collapse due to a lack of interest and good rating from the public. Within the first few years of their establishment, the College of Gladedius and the Academy of Morthington both redirected their focus of study to mathematics/arithmetic and physical combat training respectively.

Seeking to all eliminate one another, the three schools soon went to physical state of war. Morthington and Gladedius often set out to perform raids on Firthaven, forcing a strong attention to defensive measure to be taken by the College. Originally, the single largest hall of Firthaven was expanded upon, taking the role of an outpost which overlooked the Lakhara Lake for invaders.

While a series of raids resulting in losses of life did take place, the fighting did not grow to such a point of severity to cause the college to focus any more heavily upon its fighting force, and soon, the tension died out entirely. Allowing for more focus to be placed on studies, the college reverted its large outpost back into a building of education, naming it Outpost Hall, after its short-lived but massively

important service as the defensive outpost. By this time, the town of Marbridge had developed quite an extensively sized and skilled military, which offered a generous amount of protection to the college which ever so greatly helped populate the town itself. With this, a new era was brought into the higher classes of citizens within Radorah, allowing for a great access to knowledge and enlightening to occur. It is said that our school; Firthaven was responsible for the initiation of such an era.

After the school's fourteenth year, the graduating class body numbered roughly two thousand - four hundred; approximately seven times larger than the class of the school's first official year. With this great popularity, the school began to hire the sharpest of minds from all around the known world, recruiting professors from as far as Wheründia with extremely highly offered wages. Along with the new staff, Firthaven welcomed a series of new buildings, one being its famous elegant Grand Tower, which housed the headmaster's office on the very top floor. This tower, shadowed only by Mount Trenethor's greatness from only several hundred feet away, even outmatched the height of Marbridge's clock tower.

With these new additions, the college expanded even further, earning its rightful place as not only the largest, most beautifully rich college, but also the highest rated for class experiences in the entire continent.

### **Involvement in the Transcontinental Conflict**

Firthaven College played a very crucial role in the Transcontinental Conflict and served as the birthplace for the Revolutionary Union under King Auberda. Although skeptical to show any opposition to the Askeldian Empire at first, Master Saureyes and the college board were quickly convinced otherwise by Tavuress Auberda after an Askeldian official visited and threatened the campus.

Not much changed after the formation of the Revolutionary Union and Askeldia took little concern with the events unfolding at the college, although it is debated as to whether or not Diskella was aware of the severity of their involvement.

### **Headmaster Saureyes**

Saureyes Lithiem is widely argued to be one of the greatest headmasters of Firthaven. In 4184, Lithiem was working as professor in the college in the subjects of divinity and Radoran history. He had only been working at the school for ten months when the current headmaster, Rolawn Bendectius died suddenly from a disease he had contracted during a visit to Kellerian. After a meeting of the school's council, Saureyes won the election for the new headmaster by a mere three votes. This election result was quite controversial to many due to the short amount of time Saureyes had worked at the school, but his credentials and experience were not looked over, and helped him substantially in the victory.

### **Areas of Study**

Firthaven offers five main fields of study that are generally classified under literary, historical, geographical, craftsmanship, and medical studies. As the school was founded on the basis of teaching literary skills, this house of study has always and currently is the largest and most expanded. While on the other side, the medical field of study remains the smallest and most confined in the school.

**Literary Studies**

* *General Reading & Writing*
* *Creative Writing*
* *Informational Writing & Documentation*
* *Publishing & Printing*
* *Critical & Analytic Reading & Writing*

**Historical Studies**

* *Radorian & Local Historical Studies*
* *General Foreign Historical Studies*
* *Eastern Historical Studies*
* *Northern Historical Studies*
* *Western Historical Studies*
* *Ancient History and Archaeology*

**Geographical Studies**

* *Geology*
* *Cartogrophy & Map Studies*
* *Western Geography*
* *Eastern Geography*
* *Northern Geography*
* *Radorian & Local Geography*
* *Mining & Prospecting*

**Craftsmanship Studies**

* *Theatrical Performing*
* *Musical Arts*
* *Architecture*
* *Publications*
* *Painting*
* *Scultping*
* *Various FIne Arts*

**Medical Studies**

* *Surgical Studies*
* *Hairdressing & Blood-Letting*
* *Basic Doctoring*