The Scholomance History

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The Scholomance History

This is a crystal transcript of a speech given on the opening day of the Scholomance

Greetings magi, scholars, kindred, dead, undead and all who wish to learn, welcome to the grand opening of the Scholomance, Academy of Dark Arts. This academy has been an ongoing project for over 30 Sosarian years. And thanks to the immortal will of the Lich Lord Azalin and the work of countless slaves the Scholomance is now open to teach the dark arts in our realm.

Tonight you will hear a little history of the Scholomance, you will hear why this school is important and how it can help you. And to finish the evening, we will conduct a small ritual to seek the continued dark blessing upon this establishment.

In the time before the defeat of Mondain, possibly in a time before Zog had cast the Armageddon spell, the frozen wasteland that you see outside was the Stygian Empire.

It is believed by some that during the height of the empire, dungeon Deceit extended across the whole island and was a place of dark arts where all the evil of the land congregated much like the modern day Caina. There is some debate as to whether the Ebon Skull ruled from somewhere in Deceit or whether Golgotha was always it's purposed seat of power, but the important fact remains that everything from the Well of Souls on the northern tip of Dagger Island to the southern tip where Wintermoor now stands was once the Stygian Empire.

Even in those distant days, this building stood as a dark beacon to those who wished to learn the dark arts. The Scholomance was the center of Necromantic power in Stygia. Used for centuries for research and experimentation, the Scholomance has much dark history behind it that those of us in the archeological circles are excited about.

Not all scholars agree as to why Stygia fell but most agree it was some sort of curse upon the followers of Oblivion by Oblivion itself for their own arrogance towards their master. Hopefully, thanks to the lives of many slaves, Caina will uncover more about those last days of Stygia to avoid it's fate.

For upon the curse or soon after, most of the buildings that once existed on Dagger Island were either destroyed or buried in a mixture of rock and ice, to be rediscovered only in our time.

The Scholomance, the building you see around you today is one of those buildings that survived for millennia under ice and snow. About 40 Sosarian years ago, our slaves dug up what turned out to be the necromancers tower and excavation of the entire building finished a few years latter. Very quickly it became clear that because of the ancient dark blessings upon this structure of blood and stone that it would ideally serve as a central point for spreading dark teachings in Sosaria once again.

The first Head Dean, Morthond, discovered the principle of the Spheres of Knowledge, a mystical system of learning to help students learn more quickly then the norm.

But apparently it was not Oblivion's will for the Scholomance to be used yet. Events and crisis seemed to cause the Scholomance to be abandoned, until recently.

A few years ago, this building called to me to be used for it's purpose. And upon seeking the permission of the Lich Lord, the work of Morthond and those before him was handed to me. A call was sent out and those you see before you tonight and others answered.

More are and shall be added with time all with the glorious purpose of teaching the Dark Arts in our land.

Now some of you maybe wondering why the Scholomance should be important to us. Or some of you maybe concerned that teaching the Dark Arts to the public will endanger our dark causes. And some of you are maybe wondering what this ancient building has to do with them. These and other questions will now be answered.

Though true that most of the Shadow Conclave guilds have grown in the past centuries, the sad fact remains that even in Felucca, the "dark facet" we are greatly outnumbered by the forces of light. Each guild in the Shadow Conclave has dealt with this problem in their own way. But now, there is a tool at your disposal to increase the spread of your dark ways.

First, the Scholomance shall provide an appropriate base to teach your newer members the ways of darkness. Time that many masters now waste teaching their initiates how to conjure a fireball can now be used for deeper and darker research.

Secondly, the Scholomance will focus on training up the young ones of our land presenting to them early in their lives the different paths of darkness in our land. For we all know that many do not choose a path of darkness simply out of ignorance of simple truths. It is our hope that upon graduation, most students choose to continue along a path of darkness in one of the Shadow Conclave guilds.

And finally the Scholomance shall give a common rallying point for all members of the Shadow Conclave, encouraging communication between the various guilds and increasing our strength in numbers ten fold.

Now some of you are concerned that spreading these dark teachings will increase the power of our enemies. But the fact remains that one cannot pursue the ways of virtue while using the ways of darkness. By spreading the dark ways in our land, we shall increase the spread of Oblivion's will like a dark cancer upon the land.

The Scholomance will help us grow stronger. The Scholomance will help us spread our influence. And the Scholomance will help all serve our dark masters more fully.

Walk in Darkness,

Speech given at the Scholomance opening in the 337th year after the defeat of Mondain by Lady Jadis Sruentus, Second Head Dean of the Scholomance (or April 28th, 2002)

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