Tower of the Sun

After completing their studies the sparks of the Hastauretian Academy Custodia, a historied college for civil spell weavers in Karphion, are presented with a series of tests and opportunities to demonstrate their magical prowess to their sponsors and prospective patrons. Each year the students are presented with a varied selection of tests, but one of the most striking is a challenge to construct the Tower of the Sun, a structure that reaches as far into the sky as possible, which is capable of bearing a two ton trebuchet meant to demonstrate power and range of influence. After the tower has been created, the students of the neighboring Mystic Arrow military academy are challenged to demolish it with as few spells as possible, producing a second dramatic show of arcane might.   During the reign of Emperor Gisulfus Sabinitius, a new precedent was set for the Tower of the Sun by Optatus Zosimus, the head of his class or Spiritus Primus. Optatus devised a new methodology for sculpting stone with rituals, and guided his class in conjuring a Tower of the Sun out of the bedrock of the pasture two hundred and forty feet tall, more than half again as tall as any before it. In addition to its spectacular height, the resilient stone construction took the students of the Mystic Arrow five days to topple, compared to the single day previous delicate wooden or composite structures had taken. In reward for the innovation and demonstration of leadership and power Optatus received an imperial scholarship to attend the prestigious Basilikoi Magi academy for high magi in Kesafit, before going on to command spellcasters in the emperor's army.   No official score is given for the Tower of the Sun, but properties such as innovative construction techniques and ability to produce durable or exotic materials for its construction demonstrate qualities of both the students and of the works they may one day build for the lords or courts they serve. In some years variation of the test pit towers built by teams of students against each other.