Background Notes: The Heart’s Eye University
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The Heart’s Eye University
Motto: “We Stand On The Shoulders Of Giants And Become Giants Ourselves.”
Like most of the schools of magic, the exact origins of Heart’s Eye are lost in the mists of time. Some stories claim the school was founded by a group of exiles from Whitehall, others that Heart’s Eye is far older and only became part of the network of magical schools after the empire united the continent. There are hints that both stories may have some truth in them, despite the vast distance between Whitehall and Heart’s Eye. However, such matters are of academic interest only. Heart’s Eye is no longer the school it once was.
The modern era began roughly twenty years ago, when Heart’s Eye was attacked by a necromancer. For reasons that remain unknown, the nexus point was snuffed out, the defences were badly weakened and therefore unable to keep the necromancer from storming the walls. A handful of students managed to escape before it was too late. The remainder died, we assume, when the castle fell. Heart’s Eye became the lair of a necromancer until two years ago, when the Necromancer’s Bane – Lady Emily – reignited the nexus point, killed the necromancer and laid claim to the school. It has since been reopened as the Heart’s Eye University. There is so little continuity between the two incarnations that there is no point in dwelling on the school as it once was.
Heart’s Eye is effectively divided into three sections. Heart’s Eye itself is the castle, raised from the ground by the unknown founders and – eventually – claimed by Lady Emily. Heart’s Ease is the town near the former school, also technically under the school’s jurisdiction (although, in practice, run by the city council). The Foundry, sitting between the town and the school, is a vast collection of workshops, factories and vocational training schools. It is, in many ways, the beating heart of the growing industrial revolution. The ideas born within the Foundry will change the world.
The castle houses most of the university’s educational and research departments. Older magicians shake their heads at how magical and mundane education is blended together, sometimes to great effect. There are, at least in theory, classes covering everything from alchemical mixtures to animal husbandry and everything in between. Students are largely free to attend whatever classes they like, as long as they are not disruptive. There are no overall exams. Instead, students who wish to obtain a degree in anything from magic to economics are required to apply for and take the exam themselves, when they feel ready to take it. There is some dispute over how much a degree from Heart’s Eye is actually worth – the other schools are united in their disapproval of the university’s educational model – but they cannot deny the magical exams are set and proctored by the Allied Lands. Mundane subjects are given certifications, signed by masters.
The admissions process itself is somewhat complicated. Students are free to apply for a place at the university itself, whereupon they will work towards a certification and/or an apprenticeship. (One of the university’s biggest draws is the prospect of completing an apprenticeship without a master.) Fees are minimal, but older students are expected to help younger students without complaint (on the grounds that the best way to understand a subject is to try to teach it) and a handful of other duties. Apprentice craftsmen from Heart’s Ease or the Foundry are free to attend whatever classes they like, when they’re not working; their masters are encouraged to give them time off to study. Finally, outside students are free to attend classes too, but there’s a small fee for regular attendance.
Junior students are assigned to single-sex dorms shared between 10-20 other students. Older students are allowed shared rooms (they can choose their own roommates, male or female) or remain in the dorms if they wish. There’s no attempt to supervise or bar relationships between students, although there is a strict ban on sexual relationships between teachers and students.
The blend of magicians and mundanes has both good and bad results. It has led to discovering ways to combine magic with technology to produce newer and better results, but it has also led to friction and – at times – outright violence. Unlike Stronghold (which also combines magical and mundane students, but keeps them too tired to worry about it) Heart’s Eye offers time for reflection, which can sometimes lead to resentment. The school authorities do their best to keep everything relatively peaceful, but there have been a handful of nasty incidents.
The administration itself is somewhat divided. Lady Irene, the Administrator, is known for being firmly neutral and even-handed. The other administrators are somewhat less neutral, with three different factions slowly taking form. The Old Guard wants a return to the days when Heart’s Eye was just a magic school, the Progressives want the university to be a centre for political reform, the Emilyists want the school to remain nothing more than a research and development centre as well as an educational institute. It is generally believed there will be trouble when Lady Irene dies or retires, as both the Old Guard and the Progressives are certain to entangle the school in outside affairs (and thus encourage the other two factions to unite against them.) It doesn’t help that there is no clear structure for electing and/or replacing councillors who overstep their bounds. Indeed, there is no clear idea of where the bounds actually are.
Heart’s Eye – unlike other magic schools – makes an attempt to treat its students like mature adults. It expects them to attend lectures and behave themselves, without being reminded. The rules are relatively simple and enforced firmly. Disruptive students are often assigned to menial tasks, when they’re not expelled. The school is also firmly meritocratic. Heart’s Eye attaches no importance to royal rank or family status. Students are expected to respect each other for their talents and their talents alone. It works, sometimes.
Heart’s Ease has grown remarkably in the year since the university opened for business. The remains of the town was claimed by the school – there were very few survivors and few wanted to return – and sold to businessmen and merchants who were willing to invest in the growing complex. The network of factories and workshops – separate from the Foundry, although closely linked – has grown rapidly, as has the number of transit barracks, apartment blocks, shops and schools. There is no registry of residents, leading to estimates that range from understatements to gross overstatements. People flood into the town to try their luck and either stay or go. The administration doesn’t care.
The town operates on a form of constitutional democracy. Everyone over twenty-one has the right to vote, as long as they pay – very limited – taxes. The city councillors are elected in line with the constitution, then sit in office for a period of six months. There are provisions for recalling them, if the votes are unhappy, but – so far – they have never been tested. The council is responsible for maintaining the local infrastructure, such as it is, and operating the police force. Again, the laws are very basic … but they are enforced. It is generally believed the system will have to be modified as the town continues to expand.
The rights of the citizens, voters and non-voters alike, are laid down in the city constitution and apply equally to all. They have the right to speak freely, to own and bear arms, to attend schools, to enter into contracts (and marriages) and/or to leave employment and apprenticeships if the relationship isn’t working out. Craftsmen and magicians alike have the right to profit from their innovations, as long as they register them at the patent office and allow others to build on their work. The system is a little confusing at times, and credit is sometimes lost, but it boosts progress in matters both magician and mundane. A dozen average minds working on a problem, and building on each other’s work, can sometimes progress faster than one great mind. (Or so Lady Emily insists.)
Heart’s Ease is linked to Farrakhan and Lokane City, the capital of Tarsier, through the Heart’s Eye Railway. The railway itself is crude – the desert is not particularly suitable for permanent railways – but serves as both a promise and a threat of what the future might hold for the Allied Lands. It isn’t uncommon for runaways from Farrakhan to ride the railway to Heart’s Ease in the hopes of finding work and shelter.
The exact legal status of the university has never been determined. Heart’s Eye was technically independent before the necromancer crushed the school; the university insists it isn’t part of the Kingdom of Tarsier, but the monarch may have other ideas. The university’s relationship to the rest of the magic schools is vague too, not least because it presents a challenge to their way of doing things. The older generation of magicians sees it as a threat, or a fad that will never last; the newer generation sees it as a chance to escape the shackles of the formal educational system and reach for glory.
Matters are complicated by the simple fact that Heart’s Eye is a refuge for all sorts of political activists, who have their leaflets printed in Heart’s Ease, out of the reach of the local monarchs, and distributed back home. Wild political ideas, from constitutional democracies to outright socialist and anarchist states, are discussed openly: the famed Leveller Manifesto, a transcript of a speech given by ‘Common Man,’ was printed and bound in Heart’s Ease before being distributed right across the Allied Lands. The influx of political ideas alone has caused unrest in a dozen kingdoms and cities; the brain drain as young and intelligent people head to Heart’s Ease has made matters worse.
And now the Necromantic War is effectively over, it remains to be seen how long Heart’s Eye will be allowed to exist …
