Draft:Collegium Magii
The Collegium Magii is Rampart's college of magic. It develops Intelligence and Power, supplies spell-research credits, and offers a route to becoming Archmage. Its research laboratory also accepts paying visitors who are not students.[1]
| Location | City travel name | Opening hours | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed, known city destination | collegium magii | 07:00-20:59 | Current Intelligence 13 or higher; no active Circle membership |
City location
@ highlights this facility within its surrounding city streets.
These are spoiler maps. Coordinates are (column, row), starting at zero. Letters and highlighted symbols are article keys for sites and initial placements, not a literal game screenshot or a promise that a creature remains there.
Map key
| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
| # | Wall |
| . | Floor or open ground |
| @ | Collegium Magii entrance or principal site |
Coordinates retain their positions on the full Rampart map. The diagram shows the initial city; doors, alarms and other state can change.
Enrollment
Choose a at the college. Tuition is 1,000 Au at current Intelligence 13-17; at 18 or higher, a scholarship makes enrollment free. The check uses current Intelligence, so drained attributes can affect eligibility even when their maxima are high enough. Alignment, martial guilds, the Thieves' Guild and priesthood do not prevent enrollment.
Enrollment makes you a Novice, raises current and maximum Intelligence and Power by one each, and grants one research attempt. Use c to spend it. The introduction's promise of a spell is research credit, not a guaranteed spell of your choice.
Active members of the Circle of Sorcerors cannot enroll. Expelled sorcerors can, but the old membership leaves complications described below.[3][4]
Spell research
Choose c to research a randomly selected spell. Existing credits are used first; with none left, 2,000 Au buys one attempt. This paid service has no enrollment, Intelligence or competing-guild requirement: even an active sorceror can use it during college opening hours.
The result depends on current Intelligence, character level and the selected spell's current base mana cost. More Intelligence and experience improve the chance; expensive spells are harder to learn. The fee or credit is consumed even on failure.
On success, a new spell enters your repertoire and awards experience equal to ten times its base mana cost. If you already know it, its base mana cost is instead halved, rounding up, with no experience award. Repeated successes can reduce a spell to 1 mana; a spell already at 1 still consumes research when selected. Moon effects apply afterward when casting.
Research selects from the whole spell catalogue, including already-known spells and Wish. You cannot direct it toward a missing spell. It can therefore improve a mature spellbook as well as expand a beginner's, but no individual payment guarantees useful progress.[5][6]
Advancement
Ordinary promotions use b and college experience. The experience requirements are cumulative, not payments or separate amounts to earn after each promotion. If you qualify for several ranks, repeat b in the same visit. College experience shares ordinary awards with other memberships that accumulate guild experience; your character still receives the full award.
| Rank | Requirement | Research and spells | Attribute gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Novice | Enroll | 1 research credit | +1 Intelligence, +1 Power |
| Student | 400 college XP | 2 more credits; Identification | +1 Intelligence, +1 Power |
| Preceptor | 1,500 college XP | 4 more credits; Ritual Magic | +1 Intelligence, +1 Power |
| Mage | 4,000 college XP | 6 more credits | +2 Intelligence, +2 Power |
| Archmage | Already a Mage; character level above the incumbent's; bring the Heart of the Eater of Magic | Leadership of the college | +5 Intelligence, +5 Power |
Attribute gains increase both current values and maxima. Enrollment through Mage provides 13 research credits in total; unused credits accumulate. Reaching Archmage adds no further research credits or automatic spell.
The final promotion is checked automatically within the college menu and consumes the heart. The supplied incumbent, Oz, has recorded character level 10, so a fresh-history game requires level 11 or higher; an earlier player's record can change that threshold. The Eater lives on Magic Isle. College membership makes the Eater hostile, and its special attack drains mana and Power, so the appointment requires more than a return trip with tuition money. Do not sell or transmute the heart before delivering it.[7][8]
Magical defense
College membership normally gives an additional chance to counter a monster's spell before ordinary resistance. A successful counterspell spends mana equal to the attacking caster's level squared, and requires more than that amount to be available. The chance also depends on your character level. This applies to the monster spellcasting routine, not every magical beam, trap or special attack in the game.
An expelled sorceror who subsequently enrolls has an unusual disadvantage: the extra counterspell chance is absent at Novice rank and returns at Student. The former Circle experience pool also continues taking its share of later experience, despite the expulsion. Changing schools this way does not start with a clean slate.[1][9]
Strategy
The college suits characters who want a broad and increasingly efficient spell repertoire alongside another career. An Intelligence-18 scholarship preserves early cash; library research can raise Intelligence, but each attempt there has its own cost and chance of failure. Compare that investment with simply paying tuition.
Spend free credits before paying for more research. Learning new spells also contributes experience toward future college promotions, whereas reducing a known spell's cost does not. Additional guild memberships provide their own benefits while slowing the college's share of advancement.
For an outsider who only wants more spells, paying the laboratory avoids a membership commitment. It does not confer the college's attribute gains, free credits, titles or normal membership counterspell benefit. The Circle's mana-restoration service is likewise available to college students who have not been blackballed there.
Trivia
The college presents adventuring as academic life: novice classes lead to thesis credit, a Preceptor's research allowance and postdoctoral work. The Eater's heart is sent to the labs, and the Board of Trustees appoints the new Archmage. Its founding date is given as 16937, AOF; the enrollment dialogue does not explain that abbreviation.[10][1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 guild2.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 267 (
l_college). - ↑ lib/city.dat in Omega 0.90.4; city.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 9–285; city.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 303–447.
- ↑ guild2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 267–307.
- ↑ guild2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 416–448.
- ↑ guild2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 308–361.
- ↑ effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 271 (
learnspell). - ↑ guild2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 267–295; country.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 418–423; mspec.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 294–313.
- ↑ guild2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 362–415.
- ↑ mspec.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 135 (
m_sp_spell). - ↑ lib/omega.hi in Omega 0.90.4.