One of the problems puzzling me is this - I feel the community closest to the Academy ... within walking distance ... would be a small town or large village.

But I also want the colleges of Towers University to be close enough that the 7th year students can take classes or even, in come cases, board at one of the University Towers - which argues a much larger community.

In addition, I am fixated on having 8 Towers of learning for ... well, the purpose of establishing magical wards. One tower for each of the 8 divisions of the year; the Quarter days (equinoces and solstices) and the Cross-quarter days (Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasan or, as they are celebrated now, respectively, Halloween, Ground-hog's Day and May Day. We lost Lughnasa at the beginning of August).

In the history I'm considering, the realms of Faerie used to Border immediately on the Mortal lands but they separated and the Borderlands came into existence. Could the Towers of Learning be the reason for the separation? Could spells practiced within those Towers be the reason the Borders are maintained?

If I go this route, I would want the Towers to be well separated ... serving as the vertices of a polygon that forms the seal or pentacle of the massive ritual. Alas, that means that the Academy Tower would not be convenient to any of the other Towers of Learning ... well, that none of them would be conveniently closer to any other, come to that. Unless ...

What if there were a room in each of the Towers, a room identical in each one, empty except for eight doors? What if that room isn't exactly IN any of the towers - simply a door to that room ... and back out again?

This would solve my problem about the village nearest to the Academy. But what other problems would it raise?

Ideas? Thoughts? Objections? Anyone?