You are guest 
to have entered here.
The Academy is a structure of 9 towers, of 30 floors each, interconnected on 3 different floors; the 1st, 15th and 30th. These towers each have a specific purpose.
1
/|\
/ | \
2 | 3
/ \ | / \
/ \|/ \
4-----5-----6
/|\ /
/ | \ /
7 | 8
| /
|/
9
OVERVIEW:
Top
| The Academy is a 'worldhouse' in that it exists on many planes and worlds, even worlds in which magic is scarce. A person is able to enter The Academy and then exit it on another world. This only happens if the person wishes to do so, and knows how to use the worldhouse magic.
The Academy is made of a material that is sentient. in other words, it is a living being, that houses other beings. Because of this, it is able to deflect/warp spells cast at it and within it. This posed many problems until the Headmistress and her father, learned to communicate with it. This ability to deflect/warp magic is outlined below.
|
| Table 2 | |
| d% | Effect of magic on the academy |
| 01-20 | Reflected back at caster |
| 21-40 | Spell warped (Use random determination of spell) |
| 41-60 | Spell Reflected at FULL power (Max Damage, No Save!) |
| 61-80 | Spell Absorbed (No effect) |
| 81-95 | Spell Reflected AND Warped (Random Determination at Max Damage) |
| 96-98 | Spell Partially Absorbed (Reflected at Min Damage) |
| 99 | New Spell created and thrown at caster (DM's Choice) |
| 00 | Dm's Choice |
All magic within the towers is watched/controlled by the academy. If a spell is used that is prohibited in that area, such as a fireball in the housing areas, then spell is absorbed and the caster is held in a stasis field similar to a temporal statis spell.
If someone tries to 'backstab' or otherwise attack then that person is held, except in the Entrance/training tower where this prohibition is not in effect.
On the upper floors are strange 'magic items' from the school of technology, or so the students are told. Devices that can heal with a squirt, light a room but only if it is plugged into a small hole in the wall. There are things called computers, transporters, phasers, grenades, etc.
Using the worldhouse power, the academy maintains a garrison of over 500,000 mages/fighters/and clerics. These people also double as the 'workforce' that keeps the academy provisioned. One some worlds, of very low magic and technology they have created many VERY LARGE farm that they grow all the vegitables that the academy needs, on others they have ranches for livestock, and on others they raise exotic foods.
Again using the worldhouse, they mine resources (just a few per world) that are needed. This mining is done deep underground using dwarves.
The whole system is based upon a form of education from the 20th century Earth...the college system.
The whole internal structure is one big maze. Then first floor of the entrance tower really is a maze, with the magical spell, maze, laid over the physical maze.
Everyone who resides in the academy are given a pendant that allows them to communicate with anyone within the towers. It acts as a translation device for spoken and written communication.
HISTORY:
Top
The headmistress (Esme-Zander) and her father (Alex-Zander) spent many years trying to find and/or create a fortress in which Esme could teach her apprentices. They searched for amost a decade before finding a suitable block of stone in which to carve out this fortress. When they found it, it was more than half buried in the ground and surrounding rock. They set out to magically cut into the rock and found that it resisted, even flung back, spells at them. They then hired a clan of dwarves, who were the best miners that they could find. After almost a year, the leader of the dwarf clan held an audience with his clients (the Zanders). He told then that many dwarven lives had been lost but that they had cut into the rock almost a foot. This so shocked the Zanders that they asked if the clam leader had any ideas about what might be causing all these problems. He suggested looking for a magical solution and left with his clan, never to be seen again. Many people have sought these Dwarven builders, but none have ever returned to tell if they found them or not.
Esme had just been crowned Queen of the Wild Coast, so she let her father sort out the details of this strange rock. Alex spent almost five decades trying to find a way to cut the rock. In the process he completely uncovered the outcropping of rock. It was in the shape of 9 towers with connecting halls on the ground floor. This puzzled Alex and as he meditated upon the puzzle a feeling came over him, a feeling of anguish, a feeling of triumph. This, he reasoned, must be coming from an empathic source near by. When he investigated, he found that the only possible source near by was within the rock (It hadn't occurred to him that it could be the rock). When he tried to contact it, he received a 'reflected' contact. He tried empathy and found that it, whatever it was, wanted to try and help, but it didn't understand what he wanted.
Alex spent many years after that trying to describe what he wanted. After almost twenty years of this, a door appeared upon on of the 'towers'. This surprised Alex and he contacted Esme. While he waited for her to arrive, he gathered a group of fellow adventurers together. They were going to enter this 'tower'. When she arrived he told her that he and his group were going to enter these towers and find out what was inside. She said she would wait two months and if he didn't return she was going to unleash as much magic as possible, to destroy the towers, and the area around them.
After a few days Alex returned. He told Esme about the extraordinary properties of the place. He also explained to her that the rock itself was intelligent and would, if it felt like it, help them with their plans.
Over the next decade they communicated with The Academy (they gave it a name sometime in that decade, but no one can remember when, or what it was) and created the internal structure that it has today. It took almost three more decades to fine tune the special rooms that now dot The Academy. These rooms include the energy practice rooms, conjuring rooms, and the special Null Magic laboratories.
After the first century of crafting, exploring, etc., The Academy, Esme and Alex open it to a semi-public admission system. The only requirement was that the prospective student could answer / solve a riddle. This riddle can sometimes still be seen on the great rock doors that adorn the entrance, and still is sometimes used as a 'trick question' exam.
After almost five decades of teaching, Esme decided to hire more instructors. This was difficult as most mages didn't like working together and lived apart from all others. Many did come, after Esme offered Laboratories, and 'the greatest library in the known world' to these mages.
The discovery of the 'worldhouse' ability was done by one of these mages. His name is Markos. He was working on a new spell that he calls world-Gate. It is a hybrid of the Gate and Planar Travel spells. On trying the spell, he found that the spell failed, was absorbed by the rock of the place. He then went searching for Esme, who was at her palace in Fax. When he left the Academy he found himself on another world, and that the Academy was there as well. After reentering the Academy, Markos exited it again while concentrating on and wanting to be in Fax. After a few tries, he managed to exit the Academy in Fax. He headed strait to the palace and informed Esme of his discovery.
Mail Alex-Zander at the Wizard's Academy