| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Rinaldo |
Posted - 27 Aug 2020 : 02:41:45
My gaming group is campaigning in the Forgotten Realms and we're thinking of starting a magical university but can't decide where to put it, so I thought about asking the most knowledgeable people on the net for their opinion. Some details:
Playing 3.5
Set before the Spellplague
The University will consist of six colleges:
College of Lore (mundane subjects)
College of Wizardry (general arcane magic)
College of Theology (dedicated to Azuth and Mystra)
College of Swords (dedicated to warmages)
College of Songs (bardic college)
College of Artifice (artificers from Eberron, which we're passing off as "ancient arcane secrets of Netheril")
The University is founded upon a full set of the Nether-scrolls, looted from the Netherese Library-Enclave of Blethered (We found the enclave drifting abandoned on the Astral Plain, all it's people dead or fled).
To recap, where would you put it and why? |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Steven Schend |
Posted - 19 Apr 2022 : 17:32:18
quote:
Originally posted by Rinaldo
The enclave just has too many advantages to ignore. One, it's going to put us on the map, for good or for ill. Yeah, it's going to attract enemies, but it's also going to attract potential students and teachers, as well as other staff. The quasi-magical infrastructure is intact, so we have water, plumbing,lighting, heating, and cooling, all of which will save us a ton of money trying to build it ourselves. The enclave will hold parts of all the colleges, but mainly the Lore College and Bardic College, as well as an aerial stables and skyship port (the enclave is 200 acres and can hold 2,000 people comfortably). We weren't going to fly it over any cities (unless we have to). I asked the GM about the Shadovar attacking, but he just made a joke about moving to "Shady Acres" (the bad side of town), so who knows.
One option to think on is to bring the Enclave into Realmspace up among the Tears of Selune; be sure to plant air-generating trees and plants to sustain the atmosphere, but once in place/orbit, it will only bother those who're up there already.
Just a thought…and given the powers you're already talking about in play with your campaign, it'd be easy enough to build a portal from said school/enclave down to an access point in the Realms NOT in one of the major cities (many of which are warded/shielded from portal activity not already entrenched).
Steven Schend
who thinks he'd LOVE to go to school in space instead of some mundane city in Faerun… |
| Delnyn |
Posted - 16 Apr 2022 : 18:48:48
I wonder how the organization is coming along, assuming it hasn't been summarily obliterated. Mystra watches the Nether Scrolls like a hawk. If she suspects somebody is going down "the Karsus path", she will smack down with the banhammer. It is a matter of life-or-death for Mystra after all. |
| Delnyn |
Posted - 16 Apr 2022 : 17:52:15
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Unless you hire a person to research one spell and one spell only, they're going to be dividing their focus.
You're better off going with the person who knows his spells backwards and forwards and can teach it to others, rather than hiring some yahoo who may not know it as well.
Based upon my firsthand experiences in graduate school, I strongly assert subject matter expertise and teaching to others are two very different skills. The super-duper scholar can get bogged down in covering every little nuance that happens to pop up in the original discourse. The student will likely get totally lost and deem the scholar the true yahoo.
The practical instructor who does not know the spell nearly as well as the aforementioned scholar will not digress into all the details. Therefore, they teach only what the student needs to know to cast the spell, no matter how sloppy the scholar may view the casting. |
| redking |
Posted - 15 Apr 2022 : 04:12:40
Why bother with "where" in the spacial sense when you have magic? Make it like the old Gygax short story, Odd Alley, Weird Way.
https://mystical-trash-heap.blogspot.com/2020/05/facts-about-odd-alley-and-weird-way.html
Your university has various access points from around the world, leading to a demiplane that houses the grounds of the college. |
| cpthero2 |
Posted - 17 Sep 2020 : 19:41:15
Acolyte Rinaldo,
I would consider the following, which is a smattering of what other keepers of lore have offered here within and my own material.
If you're going to have a floating enclave, I would strike a deal with Halruaa. Have it parked right at the shoreline between Lath and Halarahh. As a part of that arrangement, have a mutual defense pact negotiated between Halruaa, and other friendly, powerful nations that could quickly come to the aid of Halruaa. In exchange for said aid, they would naturally have access to the University as well. Having the most powerful Diviner on the planet on site is certainly a help in portending issues, as well as the rest of that super powerful nation of wizards, etc. Netyarch Zalathorm Kirkson is a level 20 Diviner, in addition to his 4 levels of Loremaster and 5 levels of Halruaan Elder. He even punks Gromph Baenre as a Diviner...
Also consider using whatever information is in the scrolls to start positively impacting economic trade for those nations that come to join the mutual aid organization. It helps maintain a greater incentive to be a part of the organization, which comes along with plenty of rules to ensure everything stays on the up and up, going forward.
Have a multi-national council of rulers (one from each joined nation), that rule democratically to have the location of the enclave as an exclusionary zone, such as the United Nations campus in New York.
Then control access to the library in much the same manner as the Vatican allows for access to its vaults of information. I would just look up what they do, and add some magic-sauce to it. ;)
Either way, having that kind of sought after lore in a location is going to bring the pain, regardless. Thay is going to go after that like they have 5 minutes to live. Szass Tam, if he had a mouth to drool with, would be drooling forever.
Best regards,
|
| sleyvas |
Posted - 04 Sep 2020 : 15:47:53
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
It's one thing to have a novice listen to your ideas. Its another thing to have someone of a similar skill level but different focus listen to your ideas. Granted, there doesn't necessarily be a designated "design" department. It might be something to just have a periodic group meeting to discuss what projects people are working on, and certain people at the university might be designated to be part of a committee to make that happen between departments.
I'm not talking about having a novice listen to ideas. I'm saying that an instructor is going to have to know their stuff backwards and forwards to be able to teach it -- and students aren't going to have the same perspective, so they're likely to come up with the questions that make the instructor think "Hmm, I wonder if that's possible..."
So you've got that instructor, with a deeper understanding of magic and multiple people questioning him about why this works and how that works and all that -- and then there's your pure researcher who knows the same spells and learned them the same way, but who doesn't have that same deep understanding or constant questioning and has only his own viewpoint to go with.
Of those two, who is more likely to come up with something new?
Wooly, reread what I wrote. A "research" department doesn't need to be a dedicated group, but it could be a group whose goal is to listen to what different groups are doing and then extrapolate from that that there might be synergies that can be accomplished or possibly see a thread of an idea that department X is working on that department Y should hear about so they can think on something similar. It comes down to people being different in how they think and learn and interact. Some of the people in department X will likely be so focused on what they're doing that they effectively sit with blinders on focusing on the things that are coming their way. They may be brilliant at that thing. Other people may be less focused and technically inclined, but more social and able to understand things at a high level, and thus able to communicate between groups. To equate this to IT, it would be like the active directory group, the desktop group, the voice group, the network engineers, and the mainframe group all being in a meeting. They all may know their specialty, and it all focuses on computing, but they don't communicate well, and so a lot of times, they need someone with some cross talent to come up with ideas that incorporate pieces from the various specialties. |
| Rinaldo |
Posted - 04 Sep 2020 : 03:38:30
An interesting debate, but anyway, here's the College of Divinity
College of Divinity
Faculty of the Ars Notoria
Department of Magical Ethics
Department of Holy Magic (Clerical Magic)
Department of Philosophy
Department of Arcane Theology (Gods of Magic)
Department of Diviane Theology (other Gods)
Department of Metaphysics (Study of the Weave)
Department of Canon Law (the Magebond and Religious Law)
Nobody had any idea of the prestige classes that would be taught at this university?
|
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 03 Sep 2020 : 22:59:57
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
It's one thing to have a novice listen to your ideas. Its another thing to have someone of a similar skill level but different focus listen to your ideas. Granted, there doesn't necessarily be a designated "design" department. It might be something to just have a periodic group meeting to discuss what projects people are working on, and certain people at the university might be designated to be part of a committee to make that happen between departments.
I'm not talking about having a novice listen to ideas. I'm saying that an instructor is going to have to know their stuff backwards and forwards to be able to teach it -- and students aren't going to have the same perspective, so they're likely to come up with the questions that make the instructor think "Hmm, I wonder if that's possible..."
So you've got that instructor, with a deeper understanding of magic and multiple people questioning him about why this works and how that works and all that -- and then there's your pure researcher who knows the same spells and learned them the same way, but who doesn't have that same deep understanding or constant questioning and has only his own viewpoint to go with.
Of those two, who is more likely to come up with something new? |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 03 Sep 2020 : 19:17:19
It's one thing to have a novice listen to your ideas. Its another thing to have someone of a similar skill level but different focus listen to your ideas. Granted, there doesn't necessarily be a designated "design" department. It might be something to just have a periodic group meeting to discuss what projects people are working on, and certain people at the university might be designated to be part of a committee to make that happen between departments.
On the school being targeted for having new spells, that's going to be any magic school though with any success. This is why a few of us have been pointing out that before you do anything, working out security protocols is essential to a place like this surviving. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 03 Sep 2020 : 15:01:20
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Rinaldo
Woooly Rupert. Because a seperate researcher would be able to focus all their attention on the project at hand, instead of dividing their focus.
Unless you hire a person to research one spell and one spell only, they're going to be dividing their focus.
You're better off going with the person who knows his spells backwards and forwards and can teach it to others, rather than hiring some yahoo who may not know it as well.
While I do have some trouble seeing this place surviving (but I have no idea of the power level of the campaign or what the DM has given them), I can understand his concept of a separate group for research. Unfortunately, I view magic design through the lens that I've seen with my own work in real life. In many ways its similar to IT. Sometimes you need someone with an outsiders perspective to come in and say something that makes even the expert go "wait, I never thought of it like that". Sometimes you need an outsider to have an overview look of a lot of things to go "hmmm, I think we need X created in order to do things better".
But we already have the outsiders -- the students. Students are going to ask all sorts of questions like that and challenge the instructor.
And another skilled wizard wouldn't really be an outsider -- because they're using the same basic spells to do the same basic thing.
So it comes down to Wizard X and Wizard Y. Both know the same spells. X knows how to cast them, but that's it. Y knows how to cast them, and he knows the ins and outs of them well enough to teach those ins and outs to others... So Y has the deeper understanding of everything involved and would be the better person to develop something new.
Putting the experience aside for a moment, though, there's something else I just thought of: if it's known that this place is producing new spells, that makes it a target. It's already well-established in the Realms that there are wizards who hunt down other wizards just to gain their spells. This new spells department is going to be putting up a big sign that says "Attack here for spells no one else knows!" |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 03 Sep 2020 : 12:45:32
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Rinaldo
Woooly Rupert. Because a seperate researcher would be able to focus all their attention on the project at hand, instead of dividing their focus.
Unless you hire a person to research one spell and one spell only, they're going to be dividing their focus.
You're better off going with the person who knows his spells backwards and forwards and can teach it to others, rather than hiring some yahoo who may not know it as well.
While I do have some trouble seeing this place surviving (but I have no idea of the power level of the campaign or what the DM has given them), I can understand his concept of a separate group for research. Unfortunately, I view magic design through the lens that I've seen with my own work in real life. In many ways its similar to IT. Sometimes you need someone with an outsiders perspective to come in and say something that makes even the expert go "wait, I never thought of it like that". Sometimes you need an outsider to have an overview look of a lot of things to go "hmmm, I think we need X created in order to do things better".
So, to put it into a different viewpoint, I guess an example from my job would possibly help. They were using one monitoring platform. Something happened monetarily and they needed to switch platforms. They setup a tools team to build out this new tool. Meanwhile, they told us we had 30 days to migrate all of our monitoring, and we had never even heard of the product. 30 days and NOTHING was monitored yet. So, what happened? I contacted the tools team and said "where's my fracking account then and I want to be an admin". So, they give me an account (I was one of the first people to get one), and they go on with their planning sessions. I skip all their meetings and try to teach myself, and I turn up monitoring on one of my devices. Next thing I know, my phone rings. Some guy I never heard of is calling me asking me how I had just discovered my device. I explained what I did and then proceed to put all my gear in after I ask HIM how I can make it so I can filter to just my devices. He tells me that piece. I start discovering my own stuff, and setting up reports, etc... with questions I give them and they research the idea and give me answers.
So, the moral of this story is that it took that tools team to find the base product and give a path forward, but they didn't have an idea of how to USE the product to achieve their ends. However, I knew what I needed, but I didn't have time to research any new tool, because I had stuff breaking I had to fix, new access I needed to open to get things working, new links I had to setup to get things working, etc... Sometimes you need a team whose focus isn't on developing that end product, but rather trying to find out if there's a new "methodology" out there that can be applied to many different things.
To give another example but in a more magical sense, one team might note that there's a new type of spell out there that's making use of a retributive aura (i.e. someone hits someone and they are affected somehow in return) like fire shield. The team decides they need to research a way to take that spell and distill out the metamagic part of it so that someone can learn how to make a retributive aura out of any spell. At first they're thinking to do do various damage types and they drag in all the top invokers. They're working out frost, lightning, acid, sonic, necrotic, radiant, etc... versions. But then someone they mention about it at lunch speaks up and says "well, why can't we make a version that can take on pretty much any kind of effect... for instance a charm or a dispel magic?". All of a sudden, the idea of a "rainbow shield" metamagic effect is born and a separate team gets handed the idea that they need to get down to how the most basic kernel of this functions. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 03 Sep 2020 : 02:59:16
quote:
Originally posted by Rinaldo
Woooly Rupert. Because a seperate researcher would be able to focus all their attention on the project at hand, instead of dividing their focus.
Unless you hire a person to research one spell and one spell only, they're going to be dividing their focus.
You're better off going with the person who knows his spells backwards and forwards and can teach it to others, rather than hiring some yahoo who may not know it as well. |
| Rinaldo |
Posted - 03 Sep 2020 : 01:09:28
Woooly Rupert. Because a seperate researcher would be able to focus all their attention on the project at hand, instead of dividing their focus. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 01 Sep 2020 : 04:57:51
quote:
Originally posted by Rinaldo
Your partly right, but didn't go all the way. The instructor making the new fireball would be working on his own time for his own reasons (he's a pyromaniac), the researcher would be working on it because the University wants it done. There is a difference.
Why couldn't the instructor do it because the University wants it done? |
| Rinaldo |
Posted - 01 Sep 2020 : 03:24:03
Your partly right, but didn't go all the way. The instructor making the new fireball would be working on his own time for his own reasons (he's a pyromaniac), the researcher would be working on it because the University wants it done. There is a difference. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 01 Sep 2020 : 03:00:21
quote:
Originally posted by Rinaldo
Wooly Rupert- Arcane Research would be various secret projects.
Fine, but it's still redundant to consider it a separate thing. Again, why have a separate person to build a better fireball when you could use the fireball person you already employ? It's not like teachers/professors do nothing but teach -- especially with a university approach; an instructor may only have a couple of classes each day, and is likely to have at least one day free for planning/grading papers/other academic pursuits. |
| Rinaldo |
Posted - 01 Sep 2020 : 02:03:36
Wooly Rupert- Arcane Research would be various secret projects.
Sleyvas- If I have to take one for the team, so be it. I'm about ready for a new character anyway.
What prestige classes do you think a magical university would teach? |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 29 Aug 2020 : 10:34:16
quote:
Originally posted by Rinaldo
Archanamach- We have 5 players right now, and of those five, four wield arcane magic in one form or another, so most of us are getting a boost right now (I've already read the Arcanus Fundare!). And I always thought it was the advanced age and arrogance of the typical Netherese that did them in, not the magic itself...
I really DON'T like the idea of the Chosen getting involved, for reasons I said above. And if they do offer us a deal, I will vote no to that.
I still say the beast defence would be a mythal and maybe an army of constructs to help.
Wooly Rupert- The idea of putting the Enclave over water is a good one, but we're still going to need ground facilities somewhere.
SaMoCon- Calimshan is a bit too far away and I think too political to want to set up there.
Your ALL right about probably needing a small army to hold onto the enclave, but I'm hoping to use the Maior Creare to craft an army of construcs to use for defence. But right now we're on a quest to the planet Coliar in Realmspace to find a former archwizard whose now an archlich, one who actually studied at Blethered, to hopefully secure his help in raising a Mythal to protect us. After that, we're going to try to make a deal with a certain Tome Dragon in Candlekeep...
Just to note, raising a mythal often involves a sacrifice of one of the casters if it has any decent level of use. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 29 Aug 2020 : 04:53:01
I think Arcane Research is redundant -- I would think that new spells would fall under the existing categories. Why have a separate person to think up a better fireball instead of having the fireball expert cover that?
Not sure there's going to be a lot of use for History, aside from "you could find long-lost spells and nifty magic goodies in this spot..." |
| Rinaldo |
Posted - 29 Aug 2020 : 03:34:57
Oh, and here's the basic structure I worked out for the College of Wizardry (or College of Magic, i still haven't made up my mind). Anything I missed or need for a school of magic? Any ideas are welcome.
College of Magic
Faculty of the Arcana
Department of Arcane Knowledge (arcana)
Department of Spell Casting
Department of Magical Artifacts (how to make and use scrolls
and potions, and identify other magic devices)
Department of the History of Magic
Faculty of the Elements
Departmnet of Fire
Department of Water
Department of Earth
Department of Air
Department of Ice
Faculty of the Ars Magica
Department of Abjuration
Department of Enchantment
Department of Necromancy
Department of Illusion
Department of Transmutation
Department of Divination
Department of Evocation
Department of Conjuration
Department of Metamagic (advanced course)
Faculty of Mysteries
Department of Magical Phenomena (spellfire, portals, mystic
maelstroms,etc...)
Department of Arcane Research (inventing new spells)
Department of Natural Magic (magical plants and animals)
Department of Exotic Magic (eastern magic, elven magic,
etc...)
Department of Cosmology (the Inner and Outer Planes)
|
| Rinaldo |
Posted - 29 Aug 2020 : 03:27:08
Archanamach- We have 5 players right now, and of those five, four wield arcane magic in one form or another, so most of us are getting a boost right now (I've already read the Arcanus Fundare!). And I always thought it was the advanced age and arrogance of the typical Netherese that did them in, not the magic itself...
I really DON'T like the idea of the Chosen getting involved, for reasons I said above. And if they do offer us a deal, I will vote no to that.
I still say the beast defence would be a mythal and maybe an army of constructs to help.
Wooly Rupert- The idea of putting the Enclave over water is a good one, but we're still going to need ground facilities somewhere.
SaMoCon- Calimshan is a bit too far away and I think too political to want to set up there.
Your ALL right about probably needing a small army to hold onto the enclave, but I'm hoping to use the Maior Creare to craft an army of construcs to use for defence. But right now we're on a quest to the planet Coliar in Realmspace to find a former archwizard whose now an archlich, one who actually studied at Blethered, to hopefully secure his help in raising a Mythal to protect us. After that, we're going to try to make a deal with a certain Tome Dragon in Candlekeep... |
| SaMoCon |
Posted - 28 Aug 2020 : 22:25:20
If we are only being asked about where to set up a magic school then I would suggest Suldolphor in Calimshan. I consider Calimshan to be the most advanced, wealthy, & cultured human nation in Faerun that is secong in population size only to Mulhorand. The city of Suldolphor itself is considered necessary for both national trade & defense resulting in considerable efforts by the government at all levels to ensure the good order & safety of the metropolis. The city is East of Almraiven, the mecca of magical study in Calimshan known as the City of Spells, but is mostly independent from direct rule by the syl-Pasha. The city population is larger than Waterdeep's and more than 3 times larger than Baldur's Gate during the years covered by 3.xE (late 14th century to pre-Spellplague) and the general population of Calimshan has a tolerant to favorable attitude about spell casting.
Your players don't need to bring in the Nether Scrolls or a Netherese Enclave since either one would just make enemies of people, organizations, and nations that would otherwise be friendly or indifferent. Really, there is no need for such things if the PCs are already powerful enough to even think they can protect them from all comers. |
| The Arcanamach |
Posted - 28 Aug 2020 : 20:08:06
Don't forget that a floating island would be prime real estate for dragons. Oh yes, there will be dragons. Be on the lookout for cloud giants too (I'm assuming the generally good-aligned storm giants would leave you alone). |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 28 Aug 2020 : 20:06:21
quote:
Originally posted by Rinaldo
The enclave just has too many advantages to ignore. One, it's going to put us on the map, for good or for ill. Yeah, it's going to attract enemies, but it's also going to attract potential students and teachers, as well as other staff. The quasi-magical infrastructure is intact, so we have water, plumbing,lighting, heating, and cooling, all of which will save us a ton of money trying to build it ourselves. The enclave will hold parts of all the colleges, but mainly the Lore College and Bardic College, as well as an aerial stables and skyship port (the enclave is 200 acres and can hold 2,000 people comfortably). We weren't going to fly it over any cities (unless we have to). I asked the GM about the Shadovar attacking, but he just made a joke about moving to "Shady Acres" (the bad side of town), so who knows.
Yep, lots of advantages, and it will attract young wizards as well. It's also hard to keep ahold of. To put it in one perspective, there's a lot of sports teams that have a ton of advantages that lose to someone else who is willing to put in the effort to take it away from them. Just fair warning, because were I your DM you'd best have some security prepped way before you ever bring that thing over to the realms as a clarion call for all wizards to come and get it. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 28 Aug 2020 : 19:59:13
If I had a floating Netherese enclave, I'd park it over water, someplace. It doesn't have to be that far out -- a few miles offshore would be far enough away from even the most concerned neighboring city, so long as you were away from the sea-lanes to their port.
Parking offshore means no one claims the land you're parked over; there's no territorial concerns and you're not causing any issues for anyone on the ground. |
| The Arcanamach |
Posted - 28 Aug 2020 : 19:20:21
It sounds like your group has some power under its belt and your arcane casters are about to get a big boost (perhaps too big relative to the others in the party). I don't know what kind of DM you have but, according to Ed, the Nether Scrolls tend to drive their readers to madness. I think this is why the Netherese culture turned out the way it did, with so many of the wizards who were allowed access to them being eccentric (at best). Even Iolaum does not appear to have been entirely immune to this. I'm just throwing that out there as a potential warning but it depends on your DM.
I actually like the idea of bringing in an old enclave but I'd wait until your group is quite sure they stand a reasonable chance of holding onto it. Even if you have a gracious DM, it shouldn't be too easy to retain...you guys should really have to work hard to keep it.
The Chosen, in my opinion, will get involved regardless. I mean, it's a returning enclave. And I'd be willing to bet some of them would be informed directly by Mystra that the scrolls were in play. I'd say you're going to need help from them just to keep the more powerful/persistent factions at arm's length. But that's just my take on it if I were running such a campaign.
I'm trying hard to come up with an idea that is 'best' but I'm coming up short on it. You'll need LOYAL followers and many of them will need to be wizards, something I assume you won't have right away. Reading the scrolls before bringing the enclave to Toril is almost a must (and by as many in the group as are willing to do so). Developing spells and creating new magic items for security purposes is necessary as well.
Bottom line: If I were a player in this game I'd be thinking of all sorts of things to ensure success before revealing ourselves to the wider world. |
| Rinaldo |
Posted - 28 Aug 2020 : 18:16:23
Yep, big place. Plenty of room. And we haven't even explored the rooms under the city yet.
|
| see |
Posted - 28 Aug 2020 : 16:34:19
200 acres? Really?
A circle 3,200 feet in diameter is 184.6 acres, which is pretty darn big by the standard of Realms cities. For example (checking against the Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas), that's larger than any of Arabel, Berdusk, Hillsfar, Marsember, Mulmaster, Ordulin, Scornubel, Selgaunt, or Suzail. |
| Rinaldo |
Posted - 28 Aug 2020 : 02:03:41
The enclave just has too many advantages to ignore. One, it's going to put us on the map, for good or for ill. Yeah, it's going to attract enemies, but it's also going to attract potential students and teachers, as well as other staff. The quasi-magical infrastructure is intact, so we have water, plumbing,lighting, heating, and cooling, all of which will save us a ton of money trying to build it ourselves. The enclave will hold parts of all the colleges, but mainly the Lore College and Bardic College, as well as an aerial stables and skyship port (the enclave is 200 acres and can hold 2,000 people comfortably). We weren't going to fly it over any cities (unless we have to). I asked the GM about the Shadovar attacking, but he just made a joke about moving to "Shady Acres" (the bad side of town), so who knows. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 27 Aug 2020 : 22:48:45
quote:
Originally posted by Rinaldo
First, thank you all for replying.
Secondly, we're quite well aware of how valuable the Nether Scrolls are and how every faction in the Forgotten Realms will want to get their hands on them but we do have a plan.
First we will the information in the Planus Mechanus to create our own Demiplane. This will be our hidden fortress and storehouse and where we will keep the Nether Scrolls (it was decided it would be best if the Scrolls never set foot on Toril again), and the majority of the books we found (by the way, the Library of Blethered was founded by, and dedicated to, Ioulaum). Instead we will use the Scrolls and books to develop our curriculum. Of course some of the books will be copied and brought to Toril for use in our own University Library (and for trade with Candlekeep).
As for the Enclave itself, it will be stripped of it's most valuable arcane and mundane objects and plane shifted to Toril. Not only is a floating University impressive as heck (giving major bonuses to our reputation), but it still has it's mythallor, and by using that we can use quasi-magic items to really hold down on expenses.
And thirdly, we're going to use the mythallor to raise a mythal over the enclave and ground University.
Arcanamach- I did think of Waterdeep (1st choice) and Silverymoon (2nd choice). We don't want the Chosen involved because they tend to take action without getting consent from others and have a bad habit of doing things "for your own good". I could see Khelben stealing the scrolls himself for various reasons. I actually own the College of Wizardry supplement from 2e (I believe that's where spellpools came from) but I haven't read it in decades. Thanks for reminding me.
Omenborn-I didn't think of Baldur's Gate and you have several very good points to consider, especially the Flaming Fist.
Aryk- Yeah, staying the heck away from Halaster and Undermountain is definitely a good idea.
Wooly Rupert-They can only come after us for the Scrolls if they know we have them. And we're not telling.
Sleyvas-Your right, Blethered is homebrewed by our GM. And we're not planning on telling anybody (including our teachers) for a long time. If anybody asks, we found the information in various abandoned places and tombs.
The Portal-Library sounds very complex and hard to make work practically, but it's something to think about.
Having a floating academy pretty much guarantees we won't be tied to any specific politcal polity and gives us freedom, although I bet we have to make an alliance with somebody sooner or later, probably the Lord's Alliance.
As another question, what powers would you want a mythal for a university to have?
I had wondered if you would try to transfer the enclave itself across planes and use it for the school. Bear in mind that that will probably draw as much ire as the nether scrolls as well, in more than one way. Personally, I can't see any groundling city being happy with a floating enclave above it (unless its really small) unless they have certain controls over it or extreme benefits from it. Second, the enclave itself will be a draw for other power factions. The Shadovar were able to maintain hold over two of them (I don't think they had more than that), and even at that one of them got assaulted and taken out. Granted, maybe you're playing in a campaign where your players wouldn't have balked at the idea of taking on all of the returned Netherese, etc...
On the portal network setting up versus building your own demiplane... if you have problems working out a portal network only capable of passing books between a few locations because of maintaining the security.... all I can say is baby steps |
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