The School of the Staff

**The School of the Staff** is an institution in the fae realm built by Davix and Olphix, where magic users can be trained into Mages.

## Appears in

Major canon:

*The Court of Five Thrones*

*The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*

## Description

'The magic of Mages defied the physics of the fae realms, and so their School of the Staff – open to both alignments – was a palace in the sky. The legends stated that the thirteen Deans and Principals had to constantly stream a steady, powerful magic to the School of the Staff to even keep it in the air. Should the Thirteen fragment, the palace would fall, [and] the school would fail.'

Below the School proper is 'a grassy meadow, replete with rare flowers blossoming out of season. Small wisps of stratus clouds hung low in the sky, and above it, what looked like fluffy cotton-wool puffs of cumulus, even though the palace was far too low for genuine cumulus cloud. All of it was illusion, manufactured, or artificial. The whole meadow rang with magic'. Mosk Manytrees notes that the land around the School is so weirdly infused with magic that he has difficulty flower-walking, because his 'magic wouldn’t cooperate with the land. He had to work too hard to make it happen. It was a place where strange trees grew that Mosk didn’t recognise. Trees with twenty different kinds of leaves, trees with alien fruits, trees that were somehow… invented or unnatural.' There are also 'single red roses growing from the ground like pre-cut flowers', which is unnatural.

Although the School seemingly has 'turrets that stretched up to the sun’s rays' and they 'looked as though they were made of crystal', Gwyn ap Nudd doesn't know if they were real or more illusion.

When Taronis teleports Gwyn to the School, they 'landed on a platform in the sky. It was completely open to the artificial clouds around them, and the platform itself was circular and made of what felt like thick, fired clay. It rang musically under their feet. There were runes and overlapping circles inscribed all the way across it. An alphabet he didn’t recognise worked its way across in collections of words and letters. He looked around to see towers that weren’t supported on any foundations, crystal clusters that floated with no moorings and occasionally clanged like bells.' Taronis' chambers had 'a table made completely of glass – legs and all. He sat on a disk of glass that hovered in mid-air, and remained hovering when Taronis sat.'

## Residents

* Taronis
* Former:
	+ Davix
	+ Fenwrel the Mouse-Maiden
	+ Fluri the Mouse-Maiden
	+ The Nightingale
	+ King Oengus Og
	+ Olphix
	+ The Ratcatcher of Hameln
	+ The Raven Prince

## Quotations

* 'An impossible palace of towers in the sky, defying physics, floating on clouds, an edifice to everything magic could achieve. It made Mosk’s skin crawl, looking at it. This was the school that Davix and Olphix had created. A place which on the surface existed to train people with magic ability, but also existed for Davix and Olphix to steal whatever they wanted from those who came to see them. The Raven Prince described the feeling as having his entire self ransacked in exchange for being granted the privilege to learn. Davix and Olphix would have done it to everyone. Having been their prisoner, Mosk knew what it felt like to be assaulted by them in that fashion. It was a school that stood as a monument to how out of control magic had become, a testament to what could be done if one were willing to steal from dragons and then kill them. All for two megalomaniacs.'
* ‘You think you’re superior to us?’ Taronis said. ‘I mean,’ Mosk said, shoving his hands into his pockets. ‘I don’t randomly steal magic from people for no reason. I don’t charge exorbitant prices and pick and choose which clients I’m going to see based not on need but on wealth. I don’t pretend I’m a perfect, important fae just because I can do some magic. I’m not sitting in a literal castle in the sky preaching something about impartiality while it’s obvious you’re all anything but. Oh, and I killed Davix, who I think is like…one of the founders or something? Important to you all, maybe…? I don’t think I’m superior to you in magical ability, I know I have a ton left to learn, that I’ll always be learning. But morally? Yeah, I think I’m good, thanks.’

## Trivia

* The School has its own mythology, including ancient battles between Mages.
* Davix implies that the Mage's Motley, something only Mages are allowed to wear, which they must make themselves, is actually clothing that his species wore (whichever now-extinct species of fae Davix and Olphix are a part of).

## References

1. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 24 October 2019. https://archiveofourown.org/works/17959874/chapters/50374646. Chapter 17: Just Like You.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 6 February 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/7205945. Chapter 29: Classless.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 16 September 2021. https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/84324043. Chapter 15: The Enemy of My Enemy.
4. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 2 January 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/6705320. Chapter 24: Listen.
5. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 30 August 2019. https://archiveofourown.org/works/17959874/chapters/48516644. Chapter 13: The Glory of the House of Atros.