Calasairey War Academy

The Calasairey Academy of War Magic is operated by the Arcane Circle, Athranar's governing body of magic. The Circle appoints the headmaster and the head of each of the academy's towers to oversee the curriculum and education of their students. The headmaster in turn hires professors for the towers and represents the academy in official matters—such as the Circle's conclaves or public statements. The headmaster also possesses the ultimate authority to resolve disputes within the academy, with only the Grand Magister of the Arcane Circle above them.   The academy complex itself is built around five towers, one for each of the four pillars of Athranarian war magery and the fifth tower for housing the school's administration.

Eilís Tower: Combining martial and magic disciplines, and named after the first mage knight in Nesian history. Within this tower, students are taught different forms of martial combat and trained in the wearing of armour. They learn how to mix magic into martial combat disciplines and how to fulfil their role as reserve officers.

Senna Tower: Magical espionage and reconnaissance are some of the core duties of an imperial war mage and are taught in Senna Tower, named for the infamous Senna Valtieri. Within this silent tower students learn all manner of spells to peer across vast distances, hide oneself from onlookers, and twist minds to one's gain.

Aracar Tower: To alter the terrain is to alter the battle itself and those studying in Aracar Tower learn this quickly. Named after Aracar Tilmiril who once raised a castle from nothing in but a moment, students in his tower learn to cloak terrain in illusions, raise fortifications, and tear apart the land.

Adaen Tower: When all else fails to deter the enemy, war mages must fall back on overwhelming force. Named for the mage that brought down a meteor to level a castle, those within Adaen tower learn the most devastating spells to unleash upon a battlefield. Unrelatedly, there is often smoke billowing from its windows and very little within is made from wood, cloth, or paper.

Munera Tower: Named for the primary Athranaran goddess of magic, the Munera Tower is home to the academy's administration. At the top is the headmaster's office, looking out over Calasaire.

Admittance

Potential attendees to the Calasairey War Academy are divided into three groups:

Those sponsored by lords. Usually, these mages are members of their lords retinue and earned battle experience through their service. This is the largest group of attendees and are merely attending to gain formal training in war magic and are not required to take an entrance exam.

Those that graduated from Athranar's other academies. The War Academy's staff have records of their performance in prior education and scouts at the majority of Athranar's arcane schools; if they have displayed sufficient skill in the pillars of war magic, they are not required to take an entrance exam.

The rest. These hopefuls are mages that were self-taught, informally trained outside of the academies, or failed to show enough talent to bypass the exam requirement.

Entrance Exams

The entrance exam is intended to measure how well prospective attendees can already use the skills they'll learn in the academy. Every year, a professor from each of the towers—exempting Munera Tower—is selected to proctor a section of the entrance exam; each devising a task to test for the skills necessary in their tower. In order to keep the exam different every year, professors are barred from proctoring it two years in a row. This has lead to wildly different exam years with tasks ranging from simple to borderline impossible. For example, the Eilís Tower task in 1E 1277 resulted in a professor being permanently banned from proctoring the exam after he placed the exam-takers in the path of an orcish raiding party and yelled, "Ye survive and ye pass!"   Contrary to most other arcane academies the entrance exam for the Calasairey War Academy isn't one-on-one. Every examinee is gathered together and given the same task. This is intended to judge an underappreciated power wielded by war mages: teamwork. The instructors are grading their skills and usually don't care about the completion of the task. This has led to exam-takers failing for displaying too much competitiveness, while groups that were able to cooperate all passed despite only one of them completing the task.

Seeking a way to endear himself to his new subjects, construction of the academy began in 1E 1175 during the reign of Emperor Jascien. His death three years later in 1E 1178 would delay it's founding despite construction having finished that year as his son and successor, Octivien, had to freeze the school's funding to pay his army for the Second War of the Isle. His victory in the war would allow for it to open in 1E 1183 as the Amortelis School of Magic.   It struggled during its first few years having to compete against other magical institutions in Calasaire and across Rissanon, especially without being administered by the Arcane Circle. When a new headmaster, Damien síl Rellethán, was appointed by Emperor Octivien to fix the academy's enrollment issue, a new purpose was decided upon. Damien understood that the Amortelis School couldn't compete with other institutions' foundational knowledge, but it did have the backing of the emperor and Athranar had a host of veteran war mages without much to do between conflicts. With Emperor Octivien's blessing, Damien invited war mages to come teach at the Amortelis School as professors. Many, having just been on the losing side of the Second War of the Isle, declined the invitation with varying degrees of hostility, but a number did accept and brought a wealth of knowledge about both magic and warfare with them. With these professors, and free tuition for students so long as they joined the military afterward, the Amortelis School became the main academy for training war mages and earned a reputation for producing highly skilled mages suited to the battlefield.   The academy continued business as usual until the ascension of Empress Calielle, the daughter of Emperor Octivien, and her attempts at imperial reform. She came to power in a time when the strength of the throne was the lowest it had ever been following her father's appeasement efforts to avoid a second revolt during his reign. She needed allies and the Arcane Circle was willing to provide, should the Amortelis School of Magic be placed under their control. Calielle eventually relented and the Circle took over operations in 1E 1206.   Thanks to the experienced mages housed within, the academy survived the Sack of Calasaire in 1E 1219 and would assist in the city's recovery after the Vasalain Wars ended in 1E 1221. Seeking to distance themselves from the Amortelis dynasty that many blame for Athranar's collapse after the war, the Amortelis School's leadership voted to rename the school to the "Calasairey Academy of War Magic"—a move that was quickly accepted by the Arcane Circle. The newly renamed Calasairey War Academy continued to train mages for the Athranarian remnants that established an imperial republic governed by what little of the Athranarian Parliament survived the Vasalain Wars. When Emperor Ryain restored the empire in 1E 1289, the academy returned to its former position as the greatest tool of Athranar's military.