The Palestra Magus, first built three hundred years ago, is the result of
several noble families in Notos not wanting to have to send their children off
to Masters of the Art, who would often put them up to "preposterous" tasks
and "unbearable" chores. They gathered together the finest Masters they could
find, built up a small school for them to teach in, and put them on a payroll.
Since then, the school has undergone many changes, most of all increasing in
size and capacity. Today housing and teaching several hundred students on the
main campus, the Palestra Magus is the foremost institution for Mana in the
entirety of Terranotos. This means it is often privy to, if not the designer
of, the newest magical items and magically-enhanced weaponry. It makes a
respectable amount of money selling such products, to those it deems worthy
enough to wield them - enough so that it doesn't need to subsist on charity
work and the food of lowly field workers, like that dreadful Palestra Ferratus.
Palestra Magus is primarily a school for noble children, due to its enormous
cost. Technically, however, it is open to anyone who can pay the price of
tuition. Those students who do not have at least some title or claim to fame,
however, are often shunned by the student body.
The Palestra Magus also holds an annual fundraiser - not so much because it has
to, but because it can - called the "Sir Guile Social," a week-long event to
bring the school's alumni and students together, bridging old and new, past and
future. In it, the top students will compete with illustrious alumni to
entertain spectators. Be it simple magic tricks for the younger children of the
alumni, to intense competitions for those alumni who prefer to see the deadlier
side of magic. All in all, enough is usually raised to keep the school afloat
easily until the next Sir Guile Social.