Opaline Center for Golemic Studies (Institution)

More Everway stuff by Rolfe

Opaline Center for Golemic Studies (Institution)
See Also: WestCliff and Opal

One of the largest schools of magic in all the universe, the Opaline Center for Golemic Studies focuses, as the name implies, on Necromancy, Animation and Enchanting, and more specifically on the creation of Golems. The school has grown so large as to dominate the city of Above in which it stands, and nearly everyone here owns some amount of magic.

Usurper Force: Grinding Gears
Normal: Ingenious Progress Inverted: Crushed By Your Own Technology

People: Nearly everyone in the city of Above is a scholar, warlock and/or engineer. Most work for or attend the college. The populace is composed mostly of humans, but with a larger-than-normal number of humanoids from nearby Spheres. It is a good place to be a Spherewalker, Wizard or similar Intellectual, but not best place in the Universe to be poor and ignorant. Children of Alumni, known as “Legacies”, are given extensive bonuses during the application process - in effect meaning that if you enter the Center you are ensuring an education for the next several generations of your family line.

Not-Quite-People: Of course, after students and faculty, the next largest population group in the School-that-is-a-City would be Golems. Silver, Clay, Flesh and all other types of Golems can be found here, of unusual form and a great many different powers. The two most dominant design techniques come from the two largest branches of the Center: those being the School of Necromantic Arts and the GearGolem DesignDivision. As a result, expect to see plenty of large composite Flesh Golems whose eyes have been replaced with carved Opals and multilimbed squat Iron Golems with churning gears, crushed opal inlay and exposed steam conduits.

Economy: Golems are of course the most prized export of this land, but often hard to transport. The “export” of Students is actually quite low for a college. A full education here takes 10-20 years for the average student, and by then most have accepted teaching, research or “manufacturing” jobs in the City and decide to stay on. Then end result of all this is an ever-growing society of wizards and machines.

Geography: The city of Above lies atop a large flat butte, overcrowding the top of the plateau. Smaller settlements dot the sides of the descent and the rolling plains at its base. Most notable of those shantytowns is the community of WestCliff.
The Center controls and owns nearly the entire city of Above - only a few scattered blocks and buildings are owned by private interests, most of them powerful Alumni. Huge warehouses and towers dominate entire blocks, and much of the city has been converted from its original construction. Various “neighborhoods” are marked out as subcampuses and divisions: for example, the Campus of the School of Necromantic Arts includes a few contiguous blocks that had once been a huge Cathedral, graveyard and catacombs. A domed latticework of copper and bone has been built over the graveyard to collect the spiritual energies of the place.

Above College of Architecture: Numerous golems of many different sizes has lead to the establishment of a division of the University that specializes in unusual architecture and engineering. Buildings must be large enough to facilitate golem movement, sturdy enough to survive the sort of accident a two-ton blending of steel and necromancy can cause, and yet not so overpowering as to block out the mystical connection to moon, sky and stars that magic frequently depends upon.

Gates: All the gates in the Realm of Opal are located on University Grounds. This was not always the case, but they have always all been atop the Butte, and the college has over the years bought up the land the gates rest upon. As such, each gate is clearly documented, with signage nearby that states the destination location, the clearance in hieght and width to pass through the gate, and documented longest and shortest times it has ever taken a walker to clear the Gate into the next Sphere. A full list of Gates in Above is on the Opal page.