Akadimía tis Stigmís (aka.diˈmi.a tis stiɣˈmis)

"There is no better place to study deeply than the Academy upon Istoríos."

— Callisthenes of Macris

The Akadimía tis Stigmís, or School of the Moment, is an ancient insititution of scholarship located near the village of Prono at the base of the mountain Istoríos. It was founded to allow scholars to take advantage of the gift of time that the mountain grants to contemplate and investigate the universe. Istoríos is known as the "Mountain of Eternity", because of the unique way that time behaves upon its slopes.

Istoríos's Gift

When one first climbs the mountain, time appears to operate normally, flowing by at a regular rate. But the Daemon of Istoríos has granted a special gift to those who wish to contemplate deeply upon a topic. Whenever a person on the mountainside chooses to stop and focus on a particular thought or observation, time ceases to pass for them. As long as they can retain a singular focus, the moment will stretch out into infinity. All motion around them ceases, allowing intricate study of animals or other moving phenomena in great detail. The thinker does not suffer from thirst or hunger, does not need to sleep, nor do they suffer from heat or cold. Someone observing them will see them being virtually motionless, except for occasional flickers of their eyes, or a rapid turning of pages in a book.

This state ends as soon as the thinker ceases to maintain their focus, and the ability to maintain it is a skill in and of itself. Those who have mastered the art of complete focus report having experiences that lasted for subjective weeks or months at a time (although the difficulty of measuring time in these conditions makes such estimates highly unreliable). Many have returned from the mountainside and rapidly written whole books they composed in a moment of intense concentration. Perhaps the most famous scholar of the Akadimía is Callisthenes of Macris, who is said to have spent five minutes thinking each morning, before writing for hours on end on his contemplations and conclusions.

The Recent Catastrophe

Late last year, an earthquake devastated Melosia. The Akadimía was destroyed, its building reduced to ruins and rubble, along with the entire village of Prono at the bas of the mountain. Many of the scholars who resided there were killed in the disaster, and those who survived have left the mountain and taken up residence in Kastro, the only functional port remaining on Melosia. For the time being, any who seek to study upon Istoríos must do so without the Akadimía, but plans to rebuild are already underway.