23 - Lake Arstva College

## Lake Arstva College

Named for the religious source of healing magic, this college sprawls for several nautical miles. Dedicated to the collection and study of knowledge, and Mecca to warlocks and clerics alike, this college leads the field in gathering medical spells and information. Lake Arstva's library is known throughout as the primary holding place of *all* basic spells, as well as ongoing research into more esoteric ones. Copies of the tomes are allowed, as long as you swear to accommodate any wandering College researcher, or any members of the Anti-Necromancy Corps. Emblazoned over the Library doors are the words, "We Must Do Research" and carved into the floor of the main Foyer in flowing script is, "This I Choose To Do"

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### Lake Arstva

Historians debate whether Lake Arstva was ever real, following legends and myths back centuries. While many stories have spung up all the legends agree on a few key things.

### The Origin

Many years ago, when the land stretched on unbroken and the water was kept separate, there was a single point of entry between the plane of the gods and the material plane. The land was thirsty, but the gods were selfish, keeping for themselves the liquid that gave them strength and life. only where they crossed from thought to tangibility did there accumulate the condensation of their being, and the land drank, and lived. Green pooled in this place, and with it, life. Small animals, fey, monsters, all bits of divinity on the mortal plane, all malleable and changeable according to the gods wills. And as more gods came through this pathway to play with these new creations, more water dripped from them, and in this place, the crossing place, god touched water dug it’s place into the country side. With its life energy concentrated, it created a lake with legendary healing properties. From there it spread. Life running wild, going further, faster, covering the plane. And once it had covered every inch, it began to concentrate, dripping beings into fact. and more gods came through that rift, to play with the animals their presence had created. The longer the gods stayed, the stronger that life giving force, that water, grew, until it formed, shaped bits of land and bits of god and a whole lot of water into sentient beings.

With sentience came consequence, and the gods withdrew back to their own plane for the most part, clutching what water remained in their ethereal hands, only occasionally letting some slip through in storms and rain.

and We Remember. Remember the rift, the source. Remember and honor the first lake, the first concentration.

### The Anti Necromancy Corps

The Anti Necromancy Corps, or TANC - pronounced tank - for short, are a large organization devoted only partially to the re-ceasing of the previously deceased. Their main goal is of a preventative nature, reaching people who are grieving or hurt and helping them before they get hell bent on vengeance by any means, or have the brilliant idea to try to bring their loved ones back to life. There are four main subsections to TANC. The Roving Groups, The Auxiliary Corps, Research, and Training.

#### Composition of a TANC Roving Group

TANC RG's are composed of five members. Three of them are Counselors, while the other two are always paladins. The paladins main focus is the protection of the counselors, with secondary goals of information gathering. While still mainly scholars, Paladins must take courses in weaponry to a sufficient level before they are allowed to join a Roving Group.

#### The Counselors

The Counselor program is open to bards, clerics, druids, warlocks, and wizards. It is long, arduous work, but it teaches grief therapy, trauma counseling, crisis aftercare, and general talk based therapy. Not everyone is suited for the RG's and that's fine! There are always positions in the College for those that are more research inclined, and less willing to create fast bonds with many people. Bards are encouraged to follow the lore track, Clerics are recommended to follow the life track, Druids are recommended to follow the circle of the land, Warlocks are expected not to have entered into pacts with fiends, and wizards should not specialize in necromancy. While open to many, the stringent entry guidelines do alienate some applicants.

#### The Auxiliary Corps

Those who still want to go the Corps track, but are more inclined towards longer lasting bonds are encouraged to join the Auxiliary Corps, who reside at the College for the most part, but are dispatched following news of a large catastrophe while the RG's do triage. They remain at the site of the catastrophe for at least five years, ensuring that citizens are able to return to normal life, or at least even footing, and providing stability after the upheaval. The Auxiliary Corps are not for those with wanderlust, requiring devotion and empathy throughout the entire process.

### The Pro Grief Faction

Scholars who had specialized in necromancy, with pride, have banded tether to create the pro rien faction. Based on stringent studies, there is no evidence to the effect of TANC, nor a direct causal link between grief and necromancy. Nor is there a causal link between necromancy and disasters. Because of the refusal of TANC to allow those with specialties in necromancy into the counselor service, they have created their own group, encouraging people to face and work through their grief in their own way. While necromancy may not be able to bring back your loved ones, certain necrotic spells can allow you to speak to them, and to gain closure. The pro grief faction enables people to communicate with the dead, and teaches them skills that remind them to take care of themselves, like self defense. Their motto is “No Extra Bodies.” Because of the reduse, reuse, recycle mode of approaching death and the dead.

### A Word of Warning

   Lake Arstva hosts within its walls both those who are desperate to seek knowledge, and those who would rather pay their way through. There is corruption, with certain members of the staff cheaper than others. Look to closely and you'll disappear. Ignore it and you'll fail. There are bitter stidents, and angry students, and ambitious students, and all the types of people you would find, anywhere, in a confined area, embroiled in magic. Factions break out, and there are fights, and through the chaos some students keep their heads down and glean truly dangerous information from the library stacks.

### College History

The Impetus for the creation of TANC was a devastating attack on the college, by a group of necromancy students, stuck on the prejudice against them, some deals with fiends, and long standing traditions of their family. They took it farther than anyone had ever expected them to, leading to the utter destruction and subsequent rebuilding of the college. There were no survivors. A Being stepped in, once the last survivor died, and took the lives of the circle. The ruins laid barren for a year, then academics began to trickle in once again, escorted by adventurers. It slowly got rebuilt, remaining a leader of study, and with a slightly dirtier reputation.