Apsium Magical Institute

Apsium Magical Institute
Type	School
Leader	Instructors and board of benefactors
Headquarters	Harkek, Tamkaranu
Goals	Education, magical research
Scope	Tamkaranu
Members	Students and instructors of magical arts

The Apsium Magical Institute (pronounced AP-see-um) is widely regarded as one of the premier locations for the study of magical arts, not only in Tamkaranu but in the entire world. The Institute's permissiveness has also led to its reputation as a hub for strange, dangerous, or unethical experiments.

Location

The expansive campus of the Apsium Magical Institute is located in the Tamkaranu city of Harkek. Covering hundreds of acres south of the city and home to around two thousand students at any given time, the Institute could easily be considered a city in its own right. The campus includes libraries, learning and instructional halls, living quarters, an observatory, and other facilities, as well as a great deal of "empty" space in which students can perform experiments without endangering the rest of the school. The outside perimeter of the campus is walled and warded to keep the ongoing activities of the school separate from Harkek and the surrounding countryside.

Magical practitioners who studied at Apsium can be found throughout the world, but particularly in the regions around the Chaska Sea. Among many it is seen as a sign of prestige to have learned under the teachers of the Institute.

History

The Apsium Magical Institute was founded in Y8990^* by Ukalar Apsir, a renowned wizard originally hailing from Sarepta. In his life, Apsir was undoubtedly a skilled mage, though official histories published by the Institute tend to exaggerate this rather heavily. Apsir is buried on the grounds of the Institute - while those astute enough to notice can detect his tomb is actually a portal to a demiplane, the Institute forbids anyone from entering.

Interests and activities

The primary purpose of the Institute is to educate students in the mastery of arcane magic - the institute does not instruct in psychic, occult, or divine magic. Entry requirements can be quite high, and always involve a demonstration of skill. Prospective students who pass the minimum qualifications must also make the journey to Harkek, where they then must display their existing skills in magic. Simply casting the highest level, flashiest spell one knows is rarely enough to be considered for entry - rather, points are given for creative use of magic. Exact entry requirements vary, depending on which instructors are selected to judge the prospective students that year. (For mechanical purposes, it would be extremely unusual for anyone lower than level 3 to be admitted, and more likely level 5 would be common.)

Students do not study at the Apsium Magical Institute for a fixed duration. Instead, students are required to undergo a yearly assessment of their improvements, as well as present the results of their own independent magical research. If a student shows unsatisfactory improvement or lackluster research, they are required to leave the Institute at the conclusion of the year. As long as one manages to maintain a standing at the school for at least a few years, it is not seen as a negative to fail the assessment.

Instructors at the Institute are usually, but not exclusively, former students. The requirements to become an instructor are informal, based on the judgement of the existing instructors, but are widely considered to be almost unattainable - the Institute only wants the best, after all. In return for teaching, instructors are granted access to the Institute’s expansive resources and provided assistance in pursuing whatever interests them.

As a result of the requirements and culture of experimentation, the Apsium Magical Institute has developed a reputation as a place where great magical advancement takes place. Students and instructors develop new spells and refine others, master the art of construct crafting, and so on. Conversely, the Institute also has a reputation for reckless and sometimes unethical activities, as students push their abilities and knowledge while disregarding the consequences, often openly and blatantly. While the Institute attempts to contain news of accidents and other mishaps from spreading, they are known to have resulted in the deaths of students on multiple occasions.

Notable individuals

Instructors at the Institute are considered to have equal standing to each other. Instructors almost always have a particular specialty that they teach, and go to pains to avoid interfering with other instructors’ activities. Apsium recruits skilled magical practitioners from across the world, and as a result the instructors are individuals of a variety of ancestries and hail from a wide array of cultures.

The Institute is funded and organized by a board of wealthy benefactors, most of whom are important figures in Tamkaranu society.