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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 587217" data-attributes="member: 8530">Castle of the Raven KingCastle of the Raven KingThe Castle of the Raven King is the home for the Ravensgate School, one of the most prestigious but restricted wizards schools in the world.    While the Raven God is actively worshipped by the Raven King and the Senior Instructors of the school, all of whom are both Mages and Clerics, it is the magical rather than clerical abilities that the school focuses upon.   To most of the outside world the school is only one of wizardry.   While the Raven God is spoken of to all students, it is taught more as a life philosophy that emphasizes dedicated study and use of magic, rather than as a religion. In fact, clerical magics are not even taught in the undergraduate school, and only the most skilled and gifted of graduate students are exposed to the study clerical magics in addition to wizard magic. The school also has an intensive research library.   While all of the classroom areas of the school are off-limits to everyone not affiliated with the school, most of the library itself is open to outside guests who wish to use it.   These guests are always closely supervised, and are also expected to make some type of contribution in return for use of the library.   While monetary contributions would be accepted if is preferred that guests donate one or more books that are not already part of the school’s current holdings. Students of the school are required to swear a pledge of loyalty and devotion to the Raven King.  Included in this is the requirement that they will keep secret the details of the education that they receive.   All residents of the castle wear a uniform comprised entirely of black – boots, pants, shirts, leather vests, and leather bracers.  Each also is given a hooded magical cloak.   The degree of magic granted by the cloak is directly proportional to the level of education.    Recruits to the school are given cloaks whose only additional ability is to detect the presence of magic and the ability to read various magical writings on the cloaks.  These writings can only be seen by others wearing a Ravensgate School cloak (the writings signify rank, student group, specific schools of magic, honors and awards earned, as well as demerits).   Recruits are allowed to reside at the castle for up to a year before starting their formal instruction.   They are expected to use this time to familiarize themselves with the school’s culture, conduct their own research, and most importantly decide what specific type of magic they wish to specialize in.   Once a Recruit has chosen a discipline they are then rigorously tested to make sure that the faculty concur with that decision. The school allows for a total of 320 undergraduate students at any point in time, 128 first year students, and 64 students for each upper class.  Undergraduate students are organized and housed into groups of twenty, consisting of eight first year students a quartet from each of the upper years of study.   Each of these groupings is known as a Prerogative, and the older students are expected to work with and develop younger students.  There are a total of sixteen Prerogatives, each with a unique focus on slightly different aspect of magic.   Peer pressure is a very real issue with these groups.  If ten or more members of a Prerogative agree that any member of the Prerogative is not ready to advance that individual is then required to either repeat a year or even start again as a first year student in the same or a different Prerogative.   However, most of the decisions regarding student advancement are made by members of the faculty.  These instructors have very precise and exacting standards, which must be met in full before students are permitted to advance and eventually graduate.</blockquote>

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