A total of seven Magus Academies exist on Aqualon, and though the two located on the Ocean Belt wield considerable power and prestige among the many islands there, they are barely known in the Great Land and are looked down upon by the five Magus Academies of the Middle Lands.
The Magus Academies of the Middle Lands
Each Magus Academy in the Middle Lands is attached to one of the five great cities of the Middle Lands.The Spire of Rahn
The Spire of Rahn is thought of as one of most beautiful buildings of the Great Land, if not the most beautiful one. It reaches 252 meters into the sky and is pure white with wavy, spiraling designs winding up to its tip and water ever flowing down its sides into Lake Rahn in Aquaris. Here water magic is taught to the students of the academy, and the base liquid for spell ink is crafted in its secret alchemy laboratories. Save for the Faculty of General Scholastics, all faculties of the academy are geared towards research and education in magic.The Bonfire Shrine
In a great glass sphere layed half inside a mound of soft earth is the Eternal Flame of Lumina Aka, maintained constantly by the mages of the Bonfire Shrine. This is a sacred order, dedicated by virtue of tradition to keep the flame alive by educating new generations on the secrets of fire magic. Because fire magic was used to such terrible effect in the past that it actually caused the Brotherhood of the Null to be founded in response to an event related to its misuse, there is a great emphasis on control and inner balance in the curriculum of this academy. However, some educators of the other Magus Academies of the Middle Lands look down on the Bonfire Shrine due to its esoteric tendencies. It is notable that the Charwoods owe their name to the order: The charcoal burners of Lumina Aka are all former initates that have turned their craft into an iconic business, providing one of the city's main exports.The Grand Academy of Fulgrath
The Grand Academy of Fulgrath is unusual among the Academies of the Middle Lands in that it teaches lightning magic only as one of many faculties and is renowned for the Faculty of Weather Science it houses, which is second only to the Shunkashûtô Institute of the Yamato Kingdom . Maintaining an unusual trade arrangement with the technocrats of Miyako Fluxum, they have procured, tested, and implemented several powerful machines that were created to be operated by lightning magic. There is a certain degree of internal difference in opinion within the other Magus Academies of the Middle Lands regarding the Grand Academy of Fulgrath's dealings with technocrats, as there is still quite a bit of enmity between these and the mages. The diligent pursuit of knowledge, however, is perceived as laudable by many, hence the dissension.The Gladering University of the Arcane
This Magus Academy is located in the city of Arda and teaches earth magic alongside several other academic subjects. Just like the Grand Academy of Fulgrath and to some extent the Rickard Leeuw Magistorium, the Gladering University of the Arcane has more than two sizable faculties not directly related to the practice of magic. Glades have an architectural significance in the city of Arda, and while it was initially just called "Glade Ring" when it was still a small school for magic, the words melded together after a transcription error and the institute is actually pronounced "Glah-de-ring" and often referred to as just that by its students.The Rickard Leeuw Magistorium
The old donjon of Aerialis is the central building of the royal city and also the main building of the Rickard Leeuw Magistorium, founded by Rickard Leeuw during the later days of the Age of Heroes. The Magistorium puts unusually high stock in the fields of logic and mathematics, which are taught at several other Magus Academies but take up a sizable portion of the students' basic education here. However, much of what is learned is actually put to use in the studies of wind magic and beyond, where the Magistorium performs groundbreaking research in the field of clockwork magic that cannot be matched by the more conservative Gladering University of the Arcane, the esoteric Bonfire Shrine, the artistic and philosophical Spire of Rahn, or even the Grand Academy of Fulgrath, which focuses more on practical applications of lightning magic and mundane sciences.The Magus Academies of the Ocean Belt
The Monastery of Five Paths
In olden days, during the first age, when men began to settle in the four corners of the Great Land, and the Seventeen Yonder Islands, there were five sages who held supreme wisdom and enlightenment. They came from the ur-folk, who had inherited great cultures from the civilization that was before the first age when the world was still split into nine realms.Located on Nyingma, one of the Seventeen Yonder Islands that lies within the boundaries of the Corsic Ocean, the monastery was founded by the pupil of one of the five sages, who desired to atone for the horrible end of Jamphel Yeshe, now fallen to depravity, now beyond his or anyone's help or forgiveness. Holding the teachings of his masters high, he saw all elements as pathways to enlightenment and keys to the inner sanctum of the soul, and to this date, all five kinds of elemental magic are taught here. The students attune themselves to one element after the other, term by term, until they are so opened up to their wavelengths in their final term that they can attune to a different element in little more than a full day. For this, even the Magus Academies of the Middle Lands take reluctant note of this hall of learning. Nevertheless, they feel that the practise of spiritual texts as a main focus of study is, while necessary to some extent, something to be done during private studies, not as a core aspect of the curriculum, so there is some contention towards the monastery.
