Casamnis College

Extract from The Last Fortress by Andreas Rocha

## School Crest

Casamnis Coat of Arms

**Casamnis College** (officially, *The Hall, Fellows and Scholars of Her Imperial Majesty's Royal College of Krystalmere*) is a private college for children and young adults in Krystalmere, a small town in the Delenthor's Crown on the borders of the Mirrorlake. It was founded in -1239 EM by Irisia Delenthor under the name, "*Irridescent College of Victory of Krystalmere-by-the-Lake*", intended as a sister-college to the Irridescent College (later Irridescent University) of the Shining City. Casamnis is particularly well known for its ancient history, its vast wealth, and for the many famous alumni (Old Casamnians) who have gone on to hold significant power in Delenthor and beyond.

Casamnis has been strictly co-ed since its founding, according to the original design instructed by Irisia herself. Nevertheless, the majority of students are boys, especially from aristocratic or wealthy merchant families, and those girls who do study at the school are often discouraged from pursuing the political, academic, clerical and otherwise influential careers which the boys are encouraged to pursue.

Casamnis remains the largest college of its kind in Delenthor, with 983 enrolled and boarding-only students, who remain in full residence at the college throughout the academic term. The yearly fees for a place at Casamnis stand at 28,650 GP (9,550 GP per term, for three yearly terms, as of 453 EM), making it the second most expensive educational instituion in Delenthor, and fifth in the known world. However, not all attendees pay the full fee - each year, between fifteen and thirty percent of students have three-fifths of their fee waived to allow students from more modest backgrounds to benefit from the education offered at Casamnis, and a small number of students may attain a full scholarship to study at the college for free, assuming they can keep up the rigorous academic standards required by such scholarships.

## History

### Fort Krystalmere

Prior to the establishment of Casamnis College, the site was used as a fortress, originally built to defend the Delenthorian heartlands during the war with Vydhrar, the Slumbering Winter. The fortress remained in semi-active use throughout the latter half of the second millenium before the current era, and played a pivotal role in defending the Mirrorlake area during the war with Zhetanax.

### Founding of Casamnis (-1239 EM)

According to legend, when Irisia saw the fort at Krystalmere on her final march north against Zhetanax, she is said to have declared, "*this place shall no longer be a place of swords and blood; it shall become a place of quill-pens and learning*".

In the year following the defeat of Zhetanax, Irisia returned to Krystalmere and made good on her promise, instituting what would become Casamnis College with a substantial endowment from the Imperial Treasury.

### War with Lochar (-250 EM to -200 EM)

During the war with the Locharni peoples (see History of Ardulidyl and Lochar), Casamnis College was used as a centre for military operations by the Shining Mantle, cementing already close ties between the College and the military establishment of Delenthor. Ever since, Casamnis has been the official reserve headquaters of the Shining Legion should the Shining City itself by compromised.

### Fire (10 EM)

Around 10 EM, a major fire broke out in the student's dormitories. According to contemporary records, eighteen children lost their lives, countless precious tomes were lost from the library, and the south and western wings of the compound were completely burnt down. The college was restored in a more modern style with the help of a generous donation from the Lyden family, and a plaque was placed in the foundations of the new southern wing to honour those who were lost in the flames.

The children who died in this fire remain a source of ghost stories among the students at Casamnis to this day.

### Accusations of Necromancy (305 EM)

In the early 300s, Casamnis College came under public scrutiny when rumours spread that the college was hosting a ring of underground necromancers amongst its tutors who, according to accusations, were teaching the students various forms of black magic, as well as encouraging the study of scriptures devoted to deities besides Irisia. A significant scandal ensued, with the College firing six of its tutors and setting forth a new statute forbidding teachers from teaching "*necromancy, communion with the dead, idolatry, heresy, false doctrine, black magiks, perversities, and anything else contrary to Delenthorian character*".

To this day, Casamnis remains one of the few colleges which, despite including various courses in arcane magic, will not teach any art from the school of Necromancy save only healing spells - at least, not in any official capacity.

### Crown War (434 EM to 443 EM)

During the Crown War, Casamnis College supported the war effort by producing propaganda for use both at home and in Eskarell.

## Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Casamnis College was bestowed by Empress Irismila II in -952 EM, granting the College a standing equal to any noble family in Delenthor headed by an Earl or nobleman of lesser rank. This coat of arms is reserved for use by the college, the Provost of the college, the current Headmaster, any delegated endowned with authority to represent the college, and descendants of the first Provost.

The blazon for the arms of Casamnis College is a heater shield divided per chevron sable and erminois with a crescent argent in the first quater. For the achievement, it bears lambrequin of ribbons to the sinister or and to the dexter sable, a lord's helment argent with a torse purpure and sable, a crest of an astral crown argent, with the college motto enscribed on a scroll beneath.

## Twelve Houses

Casamnis College sports a complex House system, originally composed of nine houses when the house system was first established, but expanding to twelve over the course of the college's history. Students are assigned a house according to a number of factors, including their scores on the entry exam, whether or not their family has made previous donations to the college (and the size of those donations), as well as special houses providing for the "vocational" tracts of the college, such as the Antetharian (for theological students intending to pursue ordination) or the House of Blades (for those being trained to join the Slender Blade).

### The Empress's House

When Casamnis was first established, it was intended to host only 70 students, who would reside within the college, living and studying alongside the tutors at the expense of the endowment granted by the Imperial Treasury. Over the years, the school attracted an increasing number of applicants, and in order to accommodate them all, the House system was introduced, with the establishment of the five Oppidan Houses and three Vocational Houses.

However, the original 70 scholarships reserved in the foundation deed were set aside to become the Empress's House. Where the Oppidan and Vocational Houses lived in accommodation in the nearby town of Krystalmere, the students of the Empress's House lived within college, in the rooms originally set aside for the 70 scholars reserved in the foundation.

Membership of the Empress' House is extremely selective, with only the top 100 scores on the entrance exam being elligible for membership in the house, and continued membership dependent on remaining within the top 100 students at the school.

While on college grounds, members of the Empress's House wear long black gowns extending to the shins, with a large sleeves extending to the elbows and a gold trim. When required, they wear a fur hood.

### The Oppidan Houses

The five Oppidan Houses (from *oppidum*, "town") were established to account for the overflow of new student members beyond the original 70 students laid down in the foundation deed of the College. The accommodation for the Oppidan Houses is situated in the village of Krystalmere, with students from these houses required to walk to the College grounds each morning before class, returning often late at night once their studies were complete.

Among the five Oppidan houses, two - **House Zimavich** and **House Drevni** - are reserved for legacy students whose families had previously provided significant donations to the College. These houses enjoy the largest accommodation blocks with relatively small student bodies (20 students to House Zimavich, 23 to House Drevni).

Of the three remaining houses, **House Eruditio** (25 students) and **House Taina** (23 students) hosts students who perform exceptionally academically but either failed to achieve the standards required to be members of the Empress's House, or otherwise chose to give up the opportunity in order not to be set apart from the other students. Eruditio is the only house to bost its own library.

Lastly, **House Imenie** (70 students) hosts students who received some other selective scholarship from the College, besides an academic scholarship. This typically includes artistic, choral, and sports scholarships.

Members of the Oppidan Houses were moderate-length grey robes extending to the back of the knee, with no sleeves, and a trim indicating the student's house (azure for Zimavich, Byzantium purple for Drevni, green for Eruditio, crimson for Taina, and black for Imenie).

### The Vocational Houses

In addition to the five Oppidan Houses, three Vocational Houses were established at the same time, intended to support students pursuing particular careers that required training beyond the education usually provided by the College. Each Vocational House includes unique facilities and live-in tutors intended to support students in developing the knowledge and skills necessary to excel in their particular chosen discipline.

The oldest and largest of the Vocational Houses is the **Antetharian**, a house intended to prepare students for entrance to the Ir'Thara, the most prominent theological college of Delenthor. The Antetharian hosts 135 students (commonly known as "Antis"), as well as a large Chapel to Irisia.

The second largest of the Vocational Houses is **House Medeis** (71 students). House Medeis is intended for students studying the arcane arts, and it boasts a large repository of material components to allow students to practice their forms outside of school hours, as well as magically reinforced furniture and walls to prevent any "accidents" leading to a fire in the town.

The final Vocational House is the secretive **House of Blades**. Accepting only 7 students at a time, the House of Blades operates largely independently from the rest of the College, training applicants for membership to the Slender Blade, Delenthor's secret service.

Members of the Vocational Houses typically wear moderate-length black robes, extending to the back of the knee, with no sleeves, and a trim indicating the students house (silver for Antetharian, Byzantium purple for Medeis). The exception to this rule is members of the House of Blades, who wear long black robes, extending to the ankles, with long sleeves extending to the wrist, and no trim.

### The New Houses

The three New Houses were established in the late 300s EM to cover the increasing number of students interested in attending Casamnis. Three New Houses are recognised, each named after the donour the provided the funds to build the house - **House Lyden** (190 students), **House Vemda** (175 students), and **House A'Dan** (175 students). The New Houses are the largest and most crowded houses.

Members of the New Houses typically wear short grey robes, extending to the hips, with no sleeves and no trim.

## School Calendar

### Terms

The Casamnis school calendar is divided into three yearly terms, referred to as 'halves'. Each term is named after a major historic festival, although not all such festivals are still widely celebrated in Delenthor.

* **Wintertide Half** is the longest term of the year, lasting 12 weeks from mid Veena to mid Isila. It is named after the Wintertide Festival, celebrated towards the end of term or shortly therafter. New students are only admitted at the start of Wintertide Half, unless under exceptional circumstances.
* **Nativity Half** lasts for 10 weeks, from mid Xil'tar to mid Terias. It is named for *Nativitas Imperatricis*, a traditional holiday celebrating one of the disputed birth-dates of Irisia on the 7th of Urshen. While the proposed birth-date celebrated in the Nativitas Imperatricis has since been widely rejected by scholars, and the festival fell out of favour in the wider Empire in favour of celebrations of Irisia's victories and ascention, it remains an important holiday in the Casamnis College calendar.
* **Highharvest Half** lasts for 10 weeks, from late Terias to early Azieron. It is named for the Highharvest Festival, which falls in the break after Highharvest Half, and is the traditional term in which exams are sat and practical assessments are performed.

### Celebrations

Casamnis College is famous for maintain a number of holidays which are rarely, if ever, celebrated outside of the College across the wider Delenthorian empire. These include certain traditional holidays which have fallen out of favour elsewhere, such as the *Nativitas Impratricis* after which the second term of the year is named, as well as a number of celebrations which are unique to Casamnis.

**Lydenmas**, also called 'the Ninth of Coron', is a feast-day celebrated at Casamnis in honour of the Lyden family and their donation to repair the college after the fire of 10 EM. The holiday is usually held on the first working day of the eigth week of Nativity Half (which rarely actually falls on the 9th of Coron), and it involves only a half-day of work, with a large feast in the old dining hall, and the burning of effigies of a certain Provost of the College from the early 20s EM on a large bonfire just outside the college grounds.

**Amramas** is another important Casamnis holiday, celebrated on the feast day of Amar in Amril. On Amramas, male students compete for the attention of female students in a series of competitions - athletic, arcane, and academic. The culmination of the day is a match of the Casamnis ring game, a game of contact football between the Empress's Scholars and the arrayed Oppidians, Vocationals and 'Newis' (members of the New Houses).

In the ring game, five participants at a time from each team are placed in a walled circle, with goals at either end, and encouraged to use any means necessary to deprive the other team of the ball. When a participant is injured, they are tapped out for a new member from their team. The game typically lasts until either one team has exhausted all of its players or a team was able to score ten successive goals without the opposing team scoring one.

## Headmaster and Provost

The highest authorities at Casamnis College are the **Headmaster** and the **Provost**.

The Headmaster of Casamnis is responsible for academic and student welfare affairs, supported on the academic side by the Senior Tutor and council of tutors, and on the welfare side by the college chaplaincy.

The Provost is the chairman of the Governing Body of Casamnis. The Provost is selected by the Imperial Family, and is supported by a Vice-Provost and ten fellows who are elected by the college.

## Fees and Scholarships

According to official college figures, around 83% of students pay the full tuition fees from their own personal finances, with 27% on some kind of financial support. Just over 7% of these are the Empress's Scholars, with the remaining 20% divided between choral and musical scholarships, other academic scholarships, and support programmes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Of the around 20% of students who have some financial support but are not Empress's Scholars, the majority only receive partial financial support, being still required to pay between 20% and 70% of the full school fees (between 5,730 gp/year and 20,055 gp/year).

## Discipline

Casamnis College is renowned for its harsh disciplinary procedures.

Students who failed to achieve academic standards were often required to engage in manual labour and household chores for their house. Other common punishments included 'exposure' (being forced to stand out in harsh weather conditions wearing only a shirt and breeches) and 'copy' (were students were required to meticulously copy out well-performing students work in careful hand).

Severe academic infringements could lead to a 'rip', where the offending piece of work is publically torn in half in the college quad, with the offending student forced to tie the two torn halves to their collar for the next week.

Students who frequently bore 'rips' were referred to as 'papernecks', while those who were repeatedly subjected to manual labour or chores were called 'serfs'.

For non-academic offenses, manual labour and 'exposure' were also common punishments, although corporal punishment was the most common treatment, administered by a Prefect or Tutor in a public space (the Library, or the college quad in Summer). Corporal punishment, known as 'birching', was so common, in fact, that the morning of the fifth day of each week was set aside for the sole purpose of attending to the backlog of students in need of punishment.

### Prefects

Although punishments were typically enforced and carried out by tutors or fellows, students from select student bodies were also granted the power to judge infringements of the college academic or penal codes and inflict punishments in accordance with the disciplinary standards of the college. These students were known as **prefects**, were allowed to wear red ties or ribbons where other students wear black, and included all students who belonged to any of the following groups:

* **Senior:** Members of the Casamnis Society (see below), commonly referred to as 'Senior', a self-elected body composed of the most popular, well-regarded, and successful students of the college.
* **Upper Sixth Committee:** An academically selected praefectorial group consisting of the 10 most senior students from each of the Empress's House, the Oppidian Houses, and the Vocational Houses. Members of the Upper Sixth Commitee are entitled to wear silver-lined coats, waistcoats and/or boots. They also act as Emissaries, summoning students who have committed grave offences to their punishment on behalf of the fellows, tutors, or master.
* **House Captains:** Each house elects between one and two house captains, who are entitled to wear their house badge on their chest or hat, and who act as both prefects and as wardens for their accommodation, ensuring students are in bed after curfew.

## Societies

### The Casamnis Society

The most senior and powerful of the student societies at Casamnis College, the **Casamnis Society** - commonly referred to as '**Senior'** - is the oldest self-electing society at Casamnis. At the end of each school year, up to 5 students from each year may be elected to 'Senior', using an open ballot weighted according to the house the student belongs to, with the Master and Fellows also casting a vote. Being elected onto Senior represents a major goal of most students of Casamnis.

Members of Senior earn the right to wear hats with a tassle, to carry a weapon on college grounds, and to sit on the Southern Wall overlooking the Mirrorlake. In addition, all members of Senior are considered prefects, and fulfil various additional functions at the university, such as saying prayers in chapel or giving speeches at parents' evenings.

### The Lyden-Howler Club

The **Lyden-Howler Club** is an invitation-only club reserved for the wealthiest male students currently studying at Casamnis College. The Club is famous for their rowdy drinking party, bawdy behaviour, and for causing destruction wherever they go when they chose to take a night out on the town. Rumours tell of all kinds of strange and debauched iniation rituals that students must go through to be admitted to the Club, although no member of the Club will confirm which are true.

### The Foxhounds

Often seen as the erudite counterpart to the riotous Lyden-Howler Club, the **Foxhounds** are an invitation-only club that prioritises wealthy students, although it has been known to admit students who demonstrate 'excellence' in other ways, such as through outstanding academic achievement or incredible sporting prowess.

Where the Lyden-Howler Club is know for trying to have as much 'fun' as their exorbitant wealth can buy them, the Foxhounds focus is on creating connections and networking opportunities, laying the groundwork for future political ambitions.

### The Chivalrous Order of the Blades of Sigurd

The **Chivalrous Order of the Blades of Sigurd**, commonly known as '**the Blades'**, began life as a fencing society before expanding to cover all forms of militarised sports including horse riding, archery, and sailing. These days, the Blades describe themselves as a 'society for adventurers', intended for peer-to-peer training in skills that would be necessary for a career in the military, as a mercenary, or even dungeon-crawling.

While the Blades functionally act as a general sports society, membership is predicated on subscribing to and upholding a strict chivalric code, and members who achieve higher ranks in the society learn secret signs and signals to allow them to easily identify other members of the society.

### The Lunar Society

The **Lunar Society** was originally formed as a cross-house society of House Medeis and the Antetharian, although it has since expanded to welcome students from all Houses. Members of the Lunar Society commit themselves to the study of the arcane and eldritch arts, of occultism, esotericism, and mysticism, and to the discovery and translation of ancient tomes of forbidden lore.

The Lunar Society was in large part responsible for the Necromancy palaver in the early 300s EM, which at its height forced the society underground. While the society returned to public operations in the late 330s EM, it was far more secretive than before, with members forbidden from sharing their work in the society with any outsiders.

Over the years, the Lunar Society has expanded to several other major educational institutions in Delenthor, including a branch at the Irridescent University.

### The Casamnis Lodge

Known as 'the most secret of secret societies', the **Casamnis Lodge** is as much rumour and fable as known fact. The Lodge is said to be highly secretive and esoteric, with the true doctrines, principles, and goals of the Lodge being successively revealed as the Initiate ascends up the various ranks within the Lodge. It is also said that the Lodge is merely one branch of a larger, secretive, esoteric organisation. There are rumours that the Lodge once existed but that it has not accepted new members in centuries, but every now and then the signs once associated with the Lodge will appear again painted on corridor walls or branded on doorframes.

What is fairly well documented concerning the Lodge is that members of the Lodge are forbidden from revealing their membership to anyone outside of the Lodge, indicating their membership to one another with a secret handshake. As such, the exact size or scope of the Lodge is impossible to determine.

Traditionally, the Lodge only accepted male students as members, although it is rumoured they may have accepted a handful of female students over the past few decades.

### The Sisters of Irisia

The **Sisters of Irisia** is a sorority at Casamnis College, established in 353 EM to provide a place for the few female students to find the kind of support and camradery that the predominantly male-oriented (or male-exclusive) societies provided. The Sisters only accept female students as members, and although the sorority began as an inclusive endeavour to support female students across class and social divides, it has become increasingly elitist over the years, and is now largely considered the female equivalent to the Foxhounds.

It is notable that the Sisters of Irisia hold a famously biological-essentialist view of who counts as a 'female student' and is therefore allowed admittance into the sorority, with the initiation process apparently including students stripping naked before a council of older members to 'prove' their gender by their particular physiology. The sorority does not accept transgender students, or intersex students who are deemed to have 'insufficiently feminine' bodies, and indeed this requirement to have a 'feminine body' has been used to exclude certain female students who did not meet the beauty standards of the sorority.

### Informal

The following societies were founded by students of the college, but never officially recognised.

* The Casamnis Literary and Lost Causes Society

## Relations to Educational Instutitions

Casamnis College was originally founded as a sister-college to the Irridescent College, which went on to become the Irridescent University of the Shining City. This ancient connection remains, with students who graduate Casamnis given preferential treatment in the admissions process for the Irridescent University.

Casamnis College also has deep connections with Ir'Thara, the predominant theological college of Delenthor, and with Tor Bellic, the pre-eminent military academy and central training facility for the Shining Mantle, with students from the Antetharian often attaining places at the former, while the latter has a special admissions and scholarship program from graduates of the Blades.

## Old Casamnians

### Politics and Military

* **Algernon Lockridge**, graduated 395 EM as a member of House Eruditio, an elected member of Senior, and a member of the Lunar Society.
* **Lord Dragos Kerovich**, graduated 417 EM as a member of the Empress's House, elected member of Senior, and treasurer of the Foxhounds.
* **Lady Inaris Kerovich**, graduated 226 EM as a member of the Empress's House and elected member of Senior.
* **Lord Francis Lyden**, graduated 404 EM as a member of House Lyden.
* **Count Arthur Whitehorn**
* **Aleksi Willowbough**, graduated 428 EM as a member of House A'Dan.
* **Lord Victor Kingsley**, graduated 429 EM as a member of House Zimavich, an elected member of Senior, president of the Lyden-Howler Club, and captain of the Casamnis ring game team.
* **Lorelei Blackburn**, graduated 432 EM.
* **Matella Blackburn**, graduated 428 EM.
* **Augustina Willowbough**, graduated 428 EM as a member of House A'Dan and standard-bearer of the Blades of Sigurd.
* **Lady Serafina Lyden**, graduated 445 EM as captain of House Lyden and an elected member of Senior. Briefly a member of the Sisters of Irisia, but said to have left after a dispute with the elder sisters.
* **Vadin Kerovich**, graduated 446 EM as a member of House Zimavich, elected member of Senior, and Knight of the Blades of Sigurd.
* **Quintoris Kerovich**, graduated 450 EM as a member of the Empress's House.

### Academic

* **Dr. Pioter Ironwood**, renowned anthropologist of the Irridescent University, graduated Casamnis College in 390 EM. In his final year, he was captain of House Drevni and an elected member of Senior, with his name also appearing on the membership rolls of the Foxhounds for the latter half of his time at the college.
* **Dr. Jace Ashwood**, graduated in 432 EM as a member of House Eruditio and secretary of the Lunar Society.

## Controversies

### Tina Burroridge (415 EM)

The famous actress Tina Burroridge was touring Delenthor throughout the 410s. In 415 EM, the Slender Blades were sent to investigate rumours that Ms. Burroridge was seducing and 'corrupting' the boys of Casamnis College. The then Headmaster, one Ric Windril, refused to cooperate with the Blades, and reportedly paid some exorbitant price to remove the story from the papers as quickly as possible.

### Money Laundering (427 EM)

Although Casamnis College has been accused of money laundering and supporting other white-collar crimes at various periods over its history, the most famous scandal came in 427 EM, where an exposé from an undercover private investigator at the school revealed that the school would regularly accept large 'donations' from Locharni nobles