Setting:Tabula Gloria/For'Channar/The Imperial University

Founded by Margurim II in the middle of his reign, the Imperial University was founded to be a public school for the Empire's people of all ages and levels of knowledge as well as a research facility for various disciplines. It soon became an integral institution of the Empire, eventually taking on the role as the center of Imperial foreign policy.

The Chancellor

The leader of the University is called the Chancellor. Traditionally, the Chancellor has not only directed the University under the Emperor's good graces, but also has served as the Emperor's personal adviser. The Chancellor is also fifth-in-line to the throne, behind the Emperor, his direct heirs, eligible heirs of the par'Channar bloodline, and the leader of the House of Servitude. As such, a Chancellor has yet to ascend to the throne thus far. However, there have been instances in Channarian history in which the Chancellor has taken on governmental duties during an Emperor's reign. For instance, Prifa Carbane, daughter of the famed explorer Ezel Carbane and an adept mage, served as Chancellor of the University under the reign of Alexius I. While she held the office, she led a military campaign against the Drakonid peoples to the east of the Empire. Though she ended up dying on the battlefield, the Empire drove them back and greatly expanded their territory.

The College of Antiquities

The University hosts expeditions into neighboring and faraway lands alike, a responsibility currently under the College of Antiquities. While the College has originally been created to archive and work with the many antiquities and ruins scattered about the Continent, it also has since opened up an official exploration arm in order to ensure that the relics found by the College is handled by the College's own standards. There has been grievous instances in the past in which independent adventurers the College has contracted would damage or even steal some of the more fragile and valuable relics they were supposed to study. In the current age, the College plays largely in assisting military units with the scouting of otherwise uncharted areas, oddly enough giving the College substantial political clout.

The current Master of Antiquities is Arrin Vola.

The Department of Exploration

This is the aforementioned exploration arm of the College. It runs in a standardized apprenticeship format, choosing eligible students studying at the University and inviting them into its apprenticeship program. After learning the basics of exploration, an apprentice becomes a journeyman, in which he or she will partake in an independent study of an area outside of the Empire's borders of his or her choice. Upon approval of the Head Explorer, the journeyman is graduated to become a master, in which he or she can either become an independent explorer or join the ranks of the University as an Assistant Explorer.

The current Head Explorer is Percival R. Corvinoth.

The Department of History

Though exploration is important to the College and the Empire as a whole, the relics found are of little use unless meaning can be gleaned from them. This is where the Historians come in. In this Department, students are taught to use a myriad of scientific and magical means to date relics and place them into various cultures. They are also taught to use an inferred thought process to determine what relics could have been used for during their time. Sometimes they are able to carefully deconstruct a relic to see its inner workings. Sometimes they have to rely on previous texts and accounts of the relic's time and place of origin to figure out what it did. Most importantly, they are taught to determine what meaning the relic has on the world's history at large. When students graduate from the Department, they become an Assistant Historian to work alongside other Historians. When they gain enough clout, they can start working on independent projects thereafter.

The current Head Historian is unknown.

The College of Magical Arts

The University is also a growing power when it comes to the manipulation of mana, the effects of which are commonly referred to as magic. In this world, mages have identified many forms of mana, each having their own ranges of existence, properties, and possible magical effects. With the variety of mana and magic the world has to offer, the College was created as an effort to organize the findings of Imperial mages, as well as to instruct future generations about the detailed knowledge behind them. It also houses mages of different disciplines who can be commissioned for various functions of the Empire, be it a regiment of Battlemages into a conflict, or a crew of Shapermages to help construct or maintain a landmark.

The current Master of Magical Arts is unknown.

The Department of Battle Magic

The Department serves not only as the place to be instructed on offensive and defensive magics, but also trains them to be of use on a battlefield where there are non-magical combatants as well. As such, the products of the Department are considered some of the world's most elite soldiers, able to handle the chaos and constant change of the battlefield. They are called upon for a variety of tasks, be they soldiers in a war or simply a retinue to help protect a crew from the Department of Exploration.

The current Head Battlemage is unknown.

The Department of Shaper Magic

The Department serves in the capacity of a magical public works force as well as teaching the arts of constructive and destructive magic. Though most projects can stand to be without a shapermage, the larger ones will likely employ a number of them to avoid having to hire or conscript a larger number of people to work on it, as well as to save time in the long run.

The current Head Shapermage is unknown.

The Department of Mender Magic

The Department serves as a medical triage within the city, while sending many of their ranks out into the field during expeditions and wars to heal the wounded. Though most mendermages practice in a healing capacity, there are those who use its principles to limit or to extinguish one's life altogether, as well as reanimate that which has already died. Though such practitioners are important to the Empire, the ethics of doing so ride a fine line between a necessary evil and an abomination to the natural order.

The current Head Mendermage is unknown.

The College of Truthseekers

Amended into the University under Margurim III, this College is the only one within the University directly created and headed by the Emperor rather than the usual structure of heads, masters, and the Chancellor. The College teaches people wishing to investigate cases of the transmundane, cases of special interest which may alter the very path of the Empire if left unchecked. Known subjects that are classified as transmundane include the flesh magic of Vashialian mutants, the bio magic of some of the Stormlord dissidents, as well as unscrupulous study into Benaloran technology and Weylosian tactics and smithing techniques.

The current Master of Truthseekers is the Emperor himself, Margurim XII.

The Department of Curiosities

The Department acts as both a research and surveillance arm in all matters transmundane. Most students who graduate from the College's teaching program usually find themselves in this Department, honing their skills in identifying and building knowledge of the transmundane. They work in a multidisciplinary manner, working with other Colleges within the University as well as other archival and law institutions throughout the Empire and beyond. Active transmundane investigators tap into this Department to gain valuable intelligence about whatever case they are working on. Usually though, said investigators are usually within the College itself, as independent investigators are held up to intense scrutiny and possible prosecution from the Empire for meddling in such matters.

The Department of Inquaestors

The Department acts as the policing force, judiciary, and possibly the executioner in serious transmundane cases. Margurim III knew from the growing collection of history surrounding the Old Empires that the common bond between the different Empires and their eventual destruction was a case of unbridled ambition and unchecked progress. He was not willing to let For'Channar end in a similar way if he could help it. To stem both of those factors, the Ministry was created to look into matters such as forbidden magical and technological research, as well as the rise of public figures whose messages deviated too far from official Imperial policy. The members of the Ministry, the Inquaestors, act covertly and report directly to the Emperor and his immediate counsel until an investigation and subsequent resolution is complete. To retain the secrecy of the organization, the Inquaestors are hand-picked based on the case in which they are to be assigned. They are then given the opportunity to dismiss themselves from the Ministry afterwards to prevent any possibility of those holding a grudge against the Ministry from finding out more about them. Voluntary dismissal also allows the former Inquaestors to publicly announce their former position (at their own risk, of course), a position which may hold them in high regard if they wish to enter the Judiciary or the various law enforcement groups in the Empire later in their careers. Many Inquaestors however choose to stay in the Department, resuming their clandestine investigations into the deepest mysteries of the transmundane.

The Department does not appoint a Head Inquaestor, as they report directly to the Emperor.

The Imperial Library

The Imperial Library is a massive repository of information and relics collected throughout the existence of the Empire. Located in the center of the University, the Library is a facility used by all the Colleges, as well as by the public. Given the sensitivity of some of the information and the fragility of some of the relics housed in the complex, the public only gets limited access to the materials within, only able to speak to a Librarian to ask to see said information. They would go into the Library and pull the requested item from there, and bring it to the lobby for the requester to see. To actually go inside of the Library proper and research the information yourself, you must be a member of the University and have the necessary clearance as determined by the Librarians. Though this policy has prevented a possibly widespread theft and resale of some of the more valuable information and relics on the black market, there are some scholars and philosophers who do not belong to the University who see it as discriminatory against independent thinkers at large.

The current Head of Librarians is unknown.