The Academy. A symbol of magical learning and power. Its four graceful towers rise up off the ground, like delicate, beautiful fingers pointing to the sky... The academy grounds themselves are vast, and covered with many small pathways and shade trees. There are many smaller buildings, dormitories, houses, and other buildings to make things comfortable all on the grounds. But, the eye is always drawn to that which is the heart of the academy, the towers. In the very center if the grounds the towers rise. The towers all rest on a foundation of greenish marble. The marble is in a perfect circle, so massive that all of the towers The marble is totally smooth, and becomes very slick when it is wet (as many students have found out through the years at their backsides expense) Three of the towers, the towers dedicated to the three branches of magic, sit equidistant from each other on the perimeter of the circle. Each tower is constructed out of seamless marble, reddish for the creators, grayish for the enchanters, and bluish for the scyers. Each tower is identically shaped, differentiated only by its color. Each one is 9 stories tall. In the middle of the circle, the final tower reaches skyward, standing at least twice as tall as the other three, it is the dedicated to many things. Filling the first 8 floors of the center tower, is the library. The library is one of largest collections of books in the known world. Located in three of the floors above the academy, are the quarters of the war mages, and finally, the very top of the center tower, is where the head of the academy resides. Small aerial walkways and bridges stretch from the three outer towers, to the inner tower, connecting them to every level of the library.

For all that the academy is the oldest known human habitation on the island, it is not the first academy. The first academy existed thousands of years ago, somewhere on the mainland. It was a place of magical learning yes, but it had none of the rules of today's academy. Anybody could learn the magics of war. Those war magics were the downfall of the first academy. There was a group of mages there, who felt that since they had the power, they should control the lands around the academy. This caused a great schism within the ranks of the academy, and those who sought to conquer the lands were cast out, and titles stripped, all traces of their names were wiped from the academy records, they were referred to only as the Others. The Others felt that the academy had wronged them by casting them out, and left it, for a while, they used their magical might to take over a small kingdom with a strong army. After they had consolidated their position, they marched the army upon the academy. In the battles that followed, the Academy itself nearly fell; it was only the Other's inability to support a direct siege of the academy itself for very long that saved it. In the few years of peace following the war, those at the academy knew that when the others came again, they would fall. In desperation, they conceived the idea of the War Mages; mages learned in all aspects of war, from weapons work, to the mightiest destructive magics. In the end, only 9 of the thousands of mages at the academy were able complete the training, Those groups were arranged into three groups of three, where in each group, there was at least one master of every branch of magic. Over the next 5 years, there were many small conflicts against the Others, and slowly, the mages were pushed being pushed back from the vast tracts of land that the academy claimed as its own. Despite the War Mage's best efforts, they were still loosing.

When it became clear that they were losing, the academy went into an uproar, tossing around ideas, plans, and counterplans on how to turn the tide. It was amidst all this confusing, that the 9 most powerful enchanters made the ultimate sacrifice. They crafted weapons of the best quality, and then they enchanted them, pouring their very life essence into the weapons, sacrificing their lives to create weapons that could turn the tide. Each of War mages was given one of the weapons, which became known as soul blades, in respect for the enchanters sacrificing themselves to create them.

With the aid of the soul blades, the tide of the war started to slowly turn in the Academy's favor. When it seemed that victory was finally going to be assured after all those long years of fighting, the Others did something inexplicable. The gathered all their remaining armies, and marched straight for the actual academy. Most of those at the academy, felt that once again, the others would just grind themselves against the near indestructible walls of the academy. In preparation for this, the ruling council of mages, called back all of the war mages to the grounds of the academy.

When the Others army approached, mages lined the walls and parapets of the academy, wanting to catch a final glimpse of the enemy. When the army was within a stone's throw of the academy, all attention was drawn to a great creaking sound. The eyes of every mage in the academy were drawn to the massive main doors, which were slowly creaking open.

What followed was days of bloodshed as the others invaded the academy. Eventually, only about a hundred of mages remained, they had themselves barricaded in the inner sanctuary of the academy, where there was a nearly inexhaustible pool of magical energy. Unfortunately, the release of energy strong enough to defeat the combined strength of the others would create a shockwave of energy that would destroy everything within leagues.

All seemed lost, when the new and inexperienced head of the scryers branch suggested opening a magical gateway, keyed to locate a place where there was enough ambient energy to remake the academy. Just as the plan was finalized, the final assault on sanctuary began. As the scryers poured their life energies into making the portal, eight of the war mages stood by the door, holding off the assaults of the Others and their army. Finally, when the portal was ready, one of the war mages went through it, followed by the surviving mages. Finally, all were through except for the eight War mages guarding the door. It was obvious that if a single one budged from their position, the Others' army would poor into the sanctuary, and through the portal.

The eight knew this also, and thus, chose to simultaneously do the final duty that they could to protect those last survivors. They tapped into the very dregs of their power, and into the power of the sanctuary, and triggered an explosion.

Everything within thirty leagues was destroyed, leaving a massive crater where the academy had once stood. All of the most powerful members of the Others were killed in the blast, those few that remained, banded together, and left the area of their leaders downfall.

Meanwhile, the academy mages found themselves living on an island, slowly, over a large number of years, they constructed a new academy, Built mainly over the ruins of a library belonging to some race of people that had long since departed. With the aid of that ruined library, they quickly regained the knowledge that they had lost with the old academy, and began to prosper. The one surviving war mage, became the overall leader of the new academy, abolishing the old concept of the ruling mage counsel. He was the one that designed the rules to which the academy follows to this day. Of those, two are of the utmost importance. One was that only people who took the oath of a War mage, to defend the academy, could learn the destructive magics. The other is that the head of the academy must have some talent in each of the three spheres of magic, so he may know what each branch of the academy truly needs.