Academia Arcanos
Deep in the inky void of interstellar space, hovering in the fluorescent azure clouds of the Maari Nebula is the great space station of Academia Arcanos. It is by far the largest single institution of higher learning and applied science in Elyrion today. Famed for its schools of magical practice, the Academia also harbors vast halls and laboratories dedicated to the studies of physics, chemistry, biology, computational and mathematical sciences, and even a significant economics, political, and moral sciences division. Its library, containing untold thousands of physical tomes as well as vast data-banks and digital reserves, is easily the single greatest collection of mortal knowledge anywhere in Elyrion.
The Academia is unique not just because of its contents, however. It is among the only major constructs fed by the powers of the divine remaining in Elyrion after the Silence, and the only known space station anchored to a deep-space ley line. Legend has it that the Academia station was built in the age before the Silence, a station built in the name of the Forgemaster and bound to the Ley-Lines by his will. The precise involvement of the scholars of the Academia during the Ley War is unknown, but surviving records show that the ruling chancellors of the station went to great lengths to try to minimize the conflict, albeit in vain. The Forgemaster forsook the Academia shortly before the Fall. The station now draws its strength from the Navigator, who was the chief among the gods in constructing the Novabridge and took advantage of the Forgemaster’s abandonment. Despite this, the station is still a major source of worship for the Forgemaster, a natural consequence of its principal occupation.
The Academia is constructed around a superstructure of a shape similar to a large collection of towers from medieval-era fortifications. These towers are further surrounded by a large ring, which contains hangar bays, stowage areas, and other modules and facilities essential to the station’s operation. Within the core structure are intermixed labs, classrooms, lecture halls, dormitories, sensor arrays, and various other important rooms and facilities. The station’s core is approximately 60 kilometers across, while the ring has a diameter of 100 kilometers and is approximately five kilometers thick and tall. The tallest of the spires at the station’s core stretches 100 kilometers from bottom to peak. The station’s energy and gravity originate from a mysterious object known as the Starstone, which sits in a heavily shielded and reinforced module at the base of the central module. The divine magic which the stone channels fills the station’s internal volume with gravity (with a strength of 10m/s^2); it also originates the electrical energy which powers the station and its facilities.
The Academia is among the most diverse and dynamic cultural sites of Elyrion, largely due to the mixing of students and faculty from across colonized space. Its significant population of permanent residents hail from every species, and many languages are spoken in its halls (much of the lingual diversity has been attributed to the enthusiasm of the linguistics department). The economy, while significant, is by far the least self-sustaining of any major settlement in Elyrion. While food is grown in large volumes on site and essentials such as water and air can be efficiently reprocessed, many essential goods must be imported via trade along the Novabridge. The Academy’s leadership, due to the vast knowledge and value of the research produced, wield a surprising amount of influence in surrounding systems and in the broader politics of the Nova Compact.
