## V. DAILY LIFE & CUSTOMS
### A. Student Life
- Terms: The year is divided into three terms. Students pay tuition and undergo Admissions at the start of each.
- Classes: A typical day might include Rhetoric, Sympathic Theory, Basic Arithmetic, and a practicum in the Fishery or Physick.
- Workstudy: Poorer students work as scribes, runners, or assistants in the Fishery, the Medica, or the Archives to offset tuition.
- Social Layers:
- Rank matters: El’the outrank Re’lar, who outrank E’lir.
- Discipline matters: Arcanum students are feared or revered by commoners.
- Wealth matters: nobles and patron-backed students live more comfortably and are treated carefully.
### B. Culture & Attitude
- Debt as Gravity:
Tuition debt weighs on every conversation. Students bargain for patronage, cut corners, or risk dangerous experiments to avoid expulsion.
- Intellectual Arrogance:
Many at the University see the outside world as ignorant. This arrogance can blind them to dangers (like Chandrian or Fae) that fall outside their models.
- Ritual Humiliation:
Master-on-student humiliation is normalized—elevations and exams turn into public spectacles. Surviving social and academic cruelty is part of becoming an arcanist.
- Romanticization of Genius:
Prodigies (especially those in naming or advanced sympathy) are excused for behavior that would ruin other students. This double standard fuels resentment.
---
## VI. ECONOMICS & POWER
### A. Tuition as Control
Tuition is not simply a fee; it is a control mechanism.
Approximate pattern:
- E’lir: 10–20 silver talents per term.
- Re’lar: 20–40 talents.
- El’the: 50–80 talents or more.
- Arcanists often graduate with debts that would take decades to repay.
Results:
- Graduates are often bound to patrons, nobles, or the University itself.
- Many arcanists must accept morally dubious work (courtly intrigue, weapons research, secret projects) to close their accounts.
- The Arcanum can call in favors from indebted arcanists across Temerant.
### B. Archives Access & Information Monopoly
Access tiers:
- Basic students: general knowledge and safe histories.
- Higher ranks: obscure treatises, pre-Aturan texts, dangerous theory.
- Masters: truly forbidden volumes—old histories, Amyr records, research into the Chandrian and the Creation War.
Monopoly effects:
- The University determines what “truth” looks like in Temerant.
- Legends, songs, and oral traditions (Ruh stories, rural tales) are treated as unreliable—unless they align with written sources.
- The Arcanum can suppress ideas by burying them in the stacks.
---
## VII. SECRETS & LORE HOOKS
### A. The Underthing
The Underthing is perfect for:
- Secret laboratories where outlawed research continues.
- Hidden doors that predate the Aturan Empire.
- Fae incursions or sealed entities.
- Ancient warding structures tied to the Doors of Stone.
Plot implications:
- Players might discover chambers lined with unfamiliar runes.
- Old mechanisms might be holding something contained—or failing.
- The Masters may not fully understand what lies beneath their own feet.
### B. Creation War & Ancient History
The University possesses fragmentary knowledge of:
- A cataclysmic conflict (Creation War) that reshaped the world.
- An empire of hundreds of cities (Ergen) and its near-total destruction.
- The fall of a great city (Myr Tariniel) and legends of Lanre.
- The origin of the Chandrian, and possibly the Amyr.
Much of this is:
- Locked in restricted Archives.
- Considered “theological” or “legendary,” not empirical.
- Politically dangerous to research openly.
### C. Master Elodin & Naming
Elodin is:
- Both object of ridicule and one of the most feared Masters.
- Known to have been confined for insanity and later restored to his seat.
- Capable of calling the wind or other elements with a word.
His presence implies:
- Naming is real, current, and potent.
- The Arcanum cannot fully suppress or rationalize the old, wild magic.
- Students drawn into his orbit may stumble into conflicts far beyond normal University politics.
---
## VIII. RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER FACTIONS
- Maer’s Court (Vintas):
Nobles seek Arcanum-trained advisors; the University seeks patronage and influence. There is mutual need, but also suspicion—nobles fear what arcanists can do; Masters fear being reduced to court wizards.
- Edema Ruh:
The Arcanum trusts written history and suspects oral traditions. The Ruh preserve older, messier versions of tales about Lanre and the Chandrian. This creates quiet epistemic conflict: both may hold pieces of the truth.
- Ademre:
Adem sometimes hire the University for specialized work; the University uses Adem as discreet muscle. Each respects the other’s discipline but thinks the other is fundamentally misguided.
- Chandrian:
The Chandrian have reason to fear any institution that hoards and cross-checks history. Scholars who dig too deeply into forbidden topics often suffer “accidents.” The Arcanum may be unknowingly at war with them.
- Fae Courts:
The University studies thin places theoretically. Most Masters dismiss Fae reports as superstition, but a few quietly collect data. Any direct confrontation between Arcanum and true Fae would be catastrophic.
- Tarbean Underground:
Thieves, cutpurses, and smugglers sometimes move contraband texts, reagents, or artifacts to and from the University. Street survivors occasionally arrive as students or test subjects.
- Doctors & Physickers:
Many learned physickers trained at the University. The broader network of healers and herbalists respects University medicine but may resent its arrogance and cost.
---
## IX. PLOT HOOKS FOR GAMEMASTERS
1. Debt and Patronage
A promising student faces impossible tuition. A noble or the Maer offers to pay it—in exchange for dangerous, secret work.
2. Underthing Expedition
Strange vibrations, failures in Fishery devices, or voices in the Underthing prompt the Masters to send deniable assets (the PCs) below.
3. Archives Heist
A faction (Ruh troupe, Amyr remnant, Chandrian) needs a particular book from Mode D. PCs must infiltrate the Archives and survive the political fallout.
4. Master’s War
Two Masters feud by attacking each other’s reputations and students. PCs must navigate sabotage, blackmail, and the threat of expulsion.
5. Naming Trial
Elodin “invites” a PC to a bizarre sequence of tests culminating in an attempt to Name something. Success changes the campaign; failure has lasting consequences.
6. Chandrian in the Stacks
A series of “fires” and “accidents” in the Archives coincides with research into certain legends. PCs must identify patterns, protect scholars, and decide how much truth to pursue.
7. Runaway Device
An experimental sygaldric engine in the Fishery goes out of control, threatening to explode or tear a hole into somewhere else. PCs must shut it down without understanding its full design.
---
## X. NPC GENERATION TEMPLATE
Use this template to quickly create University / Arcanum NPCs:
```markdown
[Name], [E’lir / Re’lar / El’the / Arcanist] [Discipline]
- Age: [20s–60s]
- Origin: [Commonwealth farm / Vintish minor noble / Tarbean street orphan / Cealdish merchant family]
- Discipline Focus: [Sympathy / Sygaldry / Physicking / Naming-adjacent / Rhetoric / Archives research]
- Debt: [300–8000 silver talents], current tuition pressure [low / moderate / crushing]
- Alliances: Protected or sabotaged by [Master X], rivals with [student or Master]
- Secret Goal: [Learn a true Name / Access Mode D / Pay off debt via Maer / Prove a heretical theory]
- Flaw: [Arrogant prodigy / Politically naive / Morally flexible / Obsessive / Bitter about class or rank]