Discussion of Borderland Academy
Aug. 22nd, 2020 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kimurhoFrom a Facebook chat, 2020 August 22
A friend wrote : --
I feel like it is incomplete without summoning and dismissal, as well as- for lack of a better term- the manners you need for interacting with the manifestation of your work so that you don’t get eaten or otherwise.
me: --
Summoning of magical and mundane creatures (flesh and blood) and, of course, safely dismissing the same, would be a major school. I could be persuaded to include the summoning of elementals and spirits (divine, infernal and mundane) into this tower curriculum as well; which means I need a different name for Destruction Magic/ Elemental magic. ... I really REALLY hate the term "destruction magic"
friend :--
Summoning major and minor
There are other terms; you’re discussing the yin and yang concepts.
Creation & destruction
Birth & death
Light & Dark
Day & Night
Deconstructing
Constructing
me :--
What I think about so-called "Destruction Magic" is that it is offensive magic in a combat situation but can also be used to ... I just lost a word somewhere
friend :--
Was also thinking what about Known history and law? There’s got to be that one tower that’s super important but is mind numbingly dull for all but a few, that most dread but recognize the need for the basics.
That would make nine towers. 3 x 3
me :--
Re "Known history and law" ... I'm of the opinion that that would be covered in General Studies.
I'm basing a lot of my planning on high school (and Hogwarts and a book called "The Practical Guide to Wizardry"). So, students enrolled in the Academy ... which I imagine as a prep school for the magically inclined ... range from first year (7th grade - 10-11) to seventh year (freshman college - 19-20); except it's not quite that simple.
1st - 3rd year students take all their classes in the Tower of General Studies. They do have some courses in magic - General theory/ Introduction to - sort of thing ... but those are in the Tower of General Studies. They require permission to leave the Tower grounds.
4th - 5th year students have Core curriculum classes in General Studies and they board in the Tower of General Studies, but now they are starting to know what they want do, what their interests and strengths are ... so they also take classes in the other Towers of Learning.
6th & 7th year students are pretty much taking Freshman college classes while still under the aegis of Borderland Academy. They are considered mature enough to take lodgings in one of the other Towers of Learning or even private lodging in town.
When the students of Borderland Academy graduate, they are considered qualified at the lowest level of magic-use. At that point, they can continue working in the Tower of their chose field of study, they can transfer to Bowbridge University, they can join the Border guard, or they can go home and set up as a basic village magic-user.
The Borders are the lands between ... between our world and Faerie, between the different realms of Faerie, the lands of Goblins, of Dragons, Dwarves, Giants, &c. Many of of the races of Otherfolk, as they are collectively called in the Borders, consider humans as cattle. Wild-raised humans are considered a delicacy and a sport to some (goblins, some races of giant). Human settlements need magical as well as mundane protections.
me : -- You mention "- the manners you need for interacting with the manifestation of your work so that you don’t get eaten or otherwise", which I belatedly recognize refers to the proper rubic dealing with spirits, beasts and Otherfolk, but it triggers thoughts about attitude and philosophy.
All students of Borderland Academy are required to take an ethics class every year - pass/ fail basis. If they fail, they are held back - can only take "core classes" until the ethics prof passes them. If they fail twice ... they are "sent down" ... expelled from the Academy
friend :--
If that’s the case, what’s the name of the rebel school for those that got das boot? Cause you know that the naughty ones don’t just go away. They make noise
me :--
Re the school of necromancers ... Not something I'm going to think of right now because I'm planning the Academy and I don't want to overwhelm my mind trying to create everything at once
friend :--
Just don’t forget about them
me:--
I want Borderland Academy to be a ... an organically grown school - all the towers uniquely different, reflecting the needs and philosophies of the field of magic taught within. There would be a village - but is it outside the grounds like Hogsmeade or an ordinary private academy/ prep school ... or is it more like Cambridge and Oxford with the Towers of learning set in the matrix of the town? If the latter - would each Tower be enclosed in a high wall with separate grounds? Bowbridge University would be the premier institution of higher learning - is Bowbridge the seat of government as well, or "simply" a University town?
A friend wrote : --
I feel like it is incomplete without summoning and dismissal, as well as- for lack of a better term- the manners you need for interacting with the manifestation of your work so that you don’t get eaten or otherwise.
me: --
Summoning of magical and mundane creatures (flesh and blood) and, of course, safely dismissing the same, would be a major school. I could be persuaded to include the summoning of elementals and spirits (divine, infernal and mundane) into this tower curriculum as well; which means I need a different name for Destruction Magic/ Elemental magic. ... I really REALLY hate the term "destruction magic"
friend :--
Summoning major and minor
There are other terms; you’re discussing the yin and yang concepts.
Creation & destruction
Birth & death
Light & Dark
Day & Night
Deconstructing
Constructing
me :--
What I think about so-called "Destruction Magic" is that it is offensive magic in a combat situation but can also be used to ... I just lost a word somewhere
friend :--
Was also thinking what about Known history and law? There’s got to be that one tower that’s super important but is mind numbingly dull for all but a few, that most dread but recognize the need for the basics.
That would make nine towers. 3 x 3
me :--
Re "Known history and law" ... I'm of the opinion that that would be covered in General Studies.
I'm basing a lot of my planning on high school (and Hogwarts and a book called "The Practical Guide to Wizardry"). So, students enrolled in the Academy ... which I imagine as a prep school for the magically inclined ... range from first year (7th grade - 10-11) to seventh year (freshman college - 19-20); except it's not quite that simple.
1st - 3rd year students take all their classes in the Tower of General Studies. They do have some courses in magic - General theory/ Introduction to - sort of thing ... but those are in the Tower of General Studies. They require permission to leave the Tower grounds.
4th - 5th year students have Core curriculum classes in General Studies and they board in the Tower of General Studies, but now they are starting to know what they want do, what their interests and strengths are ... so they also take classes in the other Towers of Learning.
6th & 7th year students are pretty much taking Freshman college classes while still under the aegis of Borderland Academy. They are considered mature enough to take lodgings in one of the other Towers of Learning or even private lodging in town.
When the students of Borderland Academy graduate, they are considered qualified at the lowest level of magic-use. At that point, they can continue working in the Tower of their chose field of study, they can transfer to Bowbridge University, they can join the Border guard, or they can go home and set up as a basic village magic-user.
The Borders are the lands between ... between our world and Faerie, between the different realms of Faerie, the lands of Goblins, of Dragons, Dwarves, Giants, &c. Many of of the races of Otherfolk, as they are collectively called in the Borders, consider humans as cattle. Wild-raised humans are considered a delicacy and a sport to some (goblins, some races of giant). Human settlements need magical as well as mundane protections.
me : -- You mention "- the manners you need for interacting with the manifestation of your work so that you don’t get eaten or otherwise", which I belatedly recognize refers to the proper rubic dealing with spirits, beasts and Otherfolk, but it triggers thoughts about attitude and philosophy.
All students of Borderland Academy are required to take an ethics class every year - pass/ fail basis. If they fail, they are held back - can only take "core classes" until the ethics prof passes them. If they fail twice ... they are "sent down" ... expelled from the Academy
friend :--
If that’s the case, what’s the name of the rebel school for those that got das boot? Cause you know that the naughty ones don’t just go away. They make noise
me :--
Re the school of necromancers ... Not something I'm going to think of right now because I'm planning the Academy and I don't want to overwhelm my mind trying to create everything at once
friend :--
Just don’t forget about them
me:--
I want Borderland Academy to be a ... an organically grown school - all the towers uniquely different, reflecting the needs and philosophies of the field of magic taught within. There would be a village - but is it outside the grounds like Hogsmeade or an ordinary private academy/ prep school ... or is it more like Cambridge and Oxford with the Towers of learning set in the matrix of the town? If the latter - would each Tower be enclosed in a high wall with separate grounds? Bowbridge University would be the premier institution of higher learning - is Bowbridge the seat of government as well, or "simply" a University town?
