Enclave of Cianheart

The Enclave of Cianheart boasts a long and storied history which dates to far before its founding. During the 200s SC there are documents showing that elves had begun settling the Cianwood area. Scholars are divided on whether the elves settled the area due to its magical potential, or whether the elven presence has increased the potential, but all agree the region is one of the foremost non-continental magical hotspots in the world, and by far the most potent on Telgren. During the purview of the Empire of Oleandron, the region served as a base for the Imperial Magical Academy, and was only open to elves. Henceforth, the region attracted the magically gifted, and strange magic began to warp parts of the woods. In 767 S.C., after over five hundred years of exclusively elven settlement, the region has forcefully opened to humans following the '67 Coup, and after this sparked revolts, the Imperial Magical Academy would be forcefully occupied and shut down for almost a decade. Unknown to the authorities, this would prompt the Academy's brightest students to retreat into the woods and begin studying numerous types of forbidden magic. When the Academy reopened in 774 S.C. as part of the deal between the newly established East and West Oleandron, these students would not return. The new academy was planned to be open to all races and would have admitted a set amount of cadets from West Oleandron each year, being under the administration of East Oleandron. However, after only a few years of operation, West Oleandron would erupt in Elven revolt and so their cadets would arrive sporadically or not at all. The Academy continued operating for a few years with mostly western students, even during the Centaur rebellion of 781 S.C.. The unseasy peace would fall apart when, in 783 S.C., the Elven population of East Oleandron would attempt a coup in the Imperial Capital, which failed miserably. However, during this period, the Elven rebels in the forest alongside their supporters in the Cianwood wove a dreadful spell which forcefully expelled all non-elves from "their" woods. This included half-elven children born during the period of openness. As an added bonus, they expelled all those Elves who had dared to do the supposed crime of copulating with the enemy- for that is what the Cianians now saw humans as. The Cianians had absolutely no idea where the expelled were teleported by the spell, but they simply did not care.
This date marked the beginning of an independent Cianheart. Alongside the Kingdom of Soulpixt*, Cianheart waged a ceaseless war against East Oleandron, which would soon be overthrown and reborn as the human-supremacist Casyian. The war would last from 783-842 S.C.. The 60 year long war would see numerous atrocities committed by both sides and further fanned the flames of anti-human sentiment in Cianheart. However, weakened by constant war and with their population unable to sustain war much longer, Cianheart reluctantly agreed to the truce. Having essentially lost their appetite for war, Cianheart turned inwards, spurning their old ally of Soulpixt after the latter became more open towards humans in the 900s. Though they still maintained trade relations, they no longer aided one another in war. Despite cooling relations, in the end it was disease that ended their alliance. The Bluepox epidemic would devastate both Cianheart and Soulpixt. Cianheart reacted by quarantining their entire nation and going into isolation. When they returned from their 20-year quarantine, Cianheart found that Soulpixt had long since been swept aside, their disease-riddled population proving no match for the warriors of Fraspika. Seeing this, Cianheart decided their isolation would not end- they hated humans and wanted nothing to do with them, and the nearest elven nation was thousands of miles away.
Ever since then, Cianheart has remained alone, aside from a brief period where several groups of Clesentian raiders attempted to invade them, an invasion that saw them get just out of sight of the wood's edge before being set upon and massacred. Since then, centaurs have avoided the woods like a plague, and the human nations never saw much gain in taking it over anyways. However, as time advances, Cianheart may see new threats. The Emperor Csömbor I is said to desire the secrets of the woods, and he certainly has no qualms about sacrificing thousands to get it. Besides, with demand for wood always increasing, the untouched Cianwood is looking mightily attractive to merchants and nobility looking to make a profit. Only time will tell whether the era of Telgren's eastern elves in finally coming to a close or whether the forest shall stand untouched for a thousand more years.
*originally, Soulpixt styled itself as East Oleandron itself, but after the peace of 842 they would give up on their dream of restoration.

Cianheart's population is entirely made up of elves, since outsiders are slain immediately. The population also remains quite small, being no more than 250,000 people.

The Elves of Cianheart do not maintain a traditional military, instead relying on magical border guards. Every citizen has a duty to defend the borders of Cianheart, but most of the work is done by two different organizations. First of these is the Imperial Magical Academy, which requires all students to spend their 8th year of school alone at the borders, where they are expected to independently study alongside this. The second organization is the Magical Defense Association, which is a volunteer group dedicated to defending the borders. They are under no hierarchy and defend the borders of their own free will. This organization is mostly composed of Elves who have strange magical tastes which make them dislike living in society. Elves of the MDA rarely interact with others besides their monthly check-in, which is performed using magical messengers and not words anyways. A number of them have experimented with strange magic and done body modifications, forced mental changes, pheromonal/hormonal experiments, and other sorts of magic which would be taboo in most societies. However, Cianheart allows them autonomy in exchange for the small favor of border defense... for who would dare attack such an absurd defense?

Cianheart maintains no foreign relations, and the only news of its continued functioning comes from the few elves who travel outside its borders.

Cianheart is a highly individualistic nation and their education reflects this. As such, the only institutional education to be found within their borders is the Imperial Magical Academy. The IMA, running almost* nonstop for well over a thousand years by now, has perfected its studies for high elves. On an Elf's 30th birthday, they will take a voluntary magical test and those with the highest potential are selected by the IMA to constitute their next class. The IMA education lasts for 10 years, during which any outside contact is kept to a minimum, aside from two yearly one week breaks which correspond to the ends of each semester. Elves are expected to study 6 days a week with the remaining day being free to work on independent projects. While the course load varies by year, one might expect a first-year student to have 3 days of magical theory, 2 days of historical study, and 1 day of application; a 10th year might have a single day of theory and 3 days of application, their other days spent on the Final. The Final is the main requirement for graduating from the IMA, and usually takes precedence over other classes**. A student is expected to start preparing for the Final in their 7th year, and by the end of the year should have a concrete plan in place. Their 8th year is spent at the borders as per IMA policy, and they are expected to independently work on their Final during this time. It should also be noted that the 8th year students do skip one of the two yearly breaks during this time. When 8th year students return from their border duties, the final two years are devoted mainly to application, with the Final taking up much of their remaining time. Finally, at the end of the 10th year of study following the halfway break, students have the final term to finalize their Final. The last week of school is dedicated to their presentations, after which they either graduate or fail. Rarely, exceptions are made for those who failed too many classes but did complete a satisfactory Final, which allows them an extra half-year of study to finish their schooling. Failing the Final, however, is a complete failure, there are no second chances.
The Final itself can be nearly anything, however students are required to attempt to advance the boundaries of magic. This might be anything from creating a new spell, bringing back a forgotten method, combining numerous spells as art, or anything in between. While it is highly encouraged that students should be able to get their methods to work, it is still possible to pass without fully completing the intended effort, provided enough work was done to create and attempt it. Nonetheless, passing the Final is not guaranteed. Around 10% of students who make it to that point do end up failing, and many more drop out before that point. This 10% of failures does vary, with some classes being as low as 2-3% and a few having been at 20%.
There have been several notable failures in school history, either due to spells that worked but were definitely not within the spirit of the final, or whether disaster happened. Perhaps the most known of these failures is the 1270 Event, where a student accidentally created a black hole while trying to create infinite space. The black hole ended up killing half the school before some of the faculty managed to stop it- the highest rankers were in the exam room and were killed instantly, meaning it took some time to organize a defense. A posthumous fail was given to the student who created it, while all students killed in the event were given a posthumous pass. Also, in 1506, a student attempted to use necromancy to raise a zombie army and take over the school, this was of course not going to be allowed by the school. However, his spell was a little overzealous and raised the majority of the dead in all of Cianwood, instead of just the school- it took several years before the last of those were hunted down, and the former student is actually still imprisoned today. A female student in 916 was so jealous of another that she cursed her rival into a prism of fire which was designed as eternal torment; she was promptly arrested. The spell works exceedingly well however, and cannot be dispelled, so the afflicted student committed suicide. Lastly, and infamously, in 1609, a male student used a spell to instantaneously impregnate every female in the school. He was expelled for being an absolute degenerate and is also in jail- they had to make a new law for that, however. [need to decide if elves abort]
*disruptions are detailed in the history section
**Failing a few classes is not typically an issue, except for foundation classes, so elves who have done very well in their foundations can afford to drop a few classes if their Final needs more time