Dear future Student of Strixhaven,
It is an honor to announce that you have been accepted into Strixhaven University.
Your thoughtful application convinced us that you have the intellectual energy, imagination
and talent to flourish at Strixhaven.
We are thrilled to welcome you to the Strixhaven Community and look forward to the unique
and extraordinary contributions we know you will make to the intellectual and
extracurricular life of our campus.
The exciting next step is now yours. We invite you to learn more about us with the
Information we have enclosed.
Your first year here at Strixhaven you will spend in courses of general studies, which lays the
foundation for more specialized work to follow. During this year, you will wear a uniform of
black, white and gray, which will soon be provided.
We invite you to our required Orientation day in the Biblioplex’s Hall of Oracles which will
set off your first year here on campus and introduce you to the intellectual vibrancy and the
dynamic campus life that defines Strixhaven.
We ask you to complete the campus enrollment card and return it to us by the deadline of
xx.xx.xx.
While we have every reason to believe you will complete this school year successfully,
remember that your admission is contingent upon your continued strong academic
performance in the courses you will choose in the enclosed information.
Once again, I extend my congratulations on your admission to Strixhaven and welcome you
to the Strixhaven family.
Sincerely,
Avys Orisim
Avys Orisim, Director of Admission
The mission of Strixhaven University is to discover and preserve magical knowledge, to disseminate that knowledge from one generation to the next, to
promote free and open study of magic in all its forms, and to enhance the lives of people throughout the world through the use of magic.
—Strixhaven mission statement
Founder Dragons
Strixhaven University was founded by five ancient dragons who, according to legend,
hatched from the magical energy of the newborn world of Arcavios. These Founder Dragons
were among the first to master magic, and they realized that only through disciplined study
would magic be safe in the hands of other peoples. They founded Strixhaven to facilitate that
study and established the five colleges based on the magic that each dragon mastered, as
summarized in the Founder Dragons table.
To this day, the Founder Dragons roam the world. They no longer associate directly with
Strixhaven, preferring to let the deans of the colleges speak in their stead.
First year courses
Please choose at least 3 courses for your first year.
You will be automatically enrolled into the required course “Magical Physiologies”.
d6 Course Offered By
1 Arcano-botany for Beginners Witherbloom
2 Basic Magical Auras General Studies
3 Beginning Computational Magic Quandrix
4 Beginning Inkomancy Silverquill
5 History of Magic and Art Prismari
6 Introduction to Archaeomancy Lorehold
Before your second year of study you will need to choose one of five colleges- Lorehold,
Prismari, Quandrix, Silverquill or Witherbloom- as your academic home for the remainder of
your education.
From this point on, you will wear uniforms featuring the colors of your college.
Campus Overview
Lorehold College
Lorehold is the College of Archaeomancy—a term that describes the exploration of ancient
things through magic. Its mages explore the past by poring over archaeological sites, calling
forth magical energy from old tomes, and summoning the spirits of long-dead historical
figures. Lorehold mages travel far and wide across the world, gathering relics of bygone ages
and learning dead languages to unpack the secrets of history.
Studies and Philosophy
Lorehold College is devoted to the study of history, broadly understood to include the various
aspects of culture, behavior, and social relationships that shape historical events. Its studies
include various subdivisions of history (military history, social history, cultural history),
archaeology, anthropology, psychology, sociology, religion, and economics. It overlaps with
Prismari College in the field of art history, with some students splitting their studies between
the two colleges. Lorehold mages use their magic to unearth secrets and share illumination.
Order and Chaos
Lorehold’s two deans carry the titles Dean of Order and Dean of Chaos, as order versus chaos
encapsulates the fundamental conflict at the heart of Lorehold’s philosophy. This conflict
revolves around the forces that underlie and drive history. Is the course of time driving
toward a well-ordered ideal state or slowly devolving into chaos? Are deep patterns hidden in
historical texts, or is time a series of coincidence and happenstance?
The perspective of order emphasizes the structures that pull people together—law, religion,
economics, education, social class, and so on—and how those structures drive historical
events. Order focuses on systemic changes and the actions of people collectively.
The perspective of chaos, by contrast, emphasizes individual actions, personal bonds of
families and friends, and the disruptive force of lone, passionate people in history. Scholars
of chaos gravitate toward reckless discovery and the spirit of adventure in their research of
the past—the essence and emotion of history over precision or procedure.
Prismari College
Prismari, the College of Elemental Arts, is devoted to the study and practice of art
intertwined with magic. The mage-students of Prismari wield magic in spectacles of
creativity: masterpieces of showy, over-the-top magic. They use elemental magic to express
who they are and how they see the world, often combining different types of energy—fire,
water, air, earth, lightning, heat, cold—in powerful expressions of conflict and harmony.
Studies and Philosophy
Prismari College is dedicated to the arts. Its scholars view art as the fundamental form of
self-expression and magic as a tool, a medium, and an inspiration. Prismari studies focus on
visual arts (including architecture, painting, and sculpture) and performing arts (such as
dance, music, and theater). The curriculum overlaps with Lorehold in the field of art history
and with Silverquill in the literary arts, and some students divide their time between
Prismari and one of those other schools to pursue these interdisciplinary fields. Prismari
mages use magic to weave the elements into their creations; they might juxtapose fire
alongside paint, ceramics, or fabric, or they might choreograph elaborate works that unite a
dancer’s movements with gusts and eddies of air.
Perfection and Expression
Prismari’s two deans carry the titles Dean of Perfection and Dean of Expression, and they
often express the fundamental conflict of their philosophy as perfection versus
expression—or, sometimes, as intellect versus emotion. What is the purpose of art? Is it to
make people think things or make people feel things? Is it supposed to be carefully thought
out or raw and spontaneous? Is mastery of art a matter of honing precise techniques to a
point of perfection or of perfectly expressing a raw emotional state? Does art aspire to
express universal truths or intensely personal ones?
The perspective of perfection focuses on technique, analysis, theory, aesthetics, and universal
principles. It embraces intellect over emotion, strives to be thought-provoking and reflective,
and aspires to mastery. Its mages tend to use elemental forces of cold, water, and wind.
The perspective of expression instead emphasizes the portrayal of personal emotional truths.
Its mages value improvisation, innovation, and rule-breaking, and they often favor elemental
magic using fire, lightning, and earth.
Quandrix College
Quandrix is the College of Numeromancy—a term that encompasses the study of patterns,
fractals, and symmetries to wield power over the fundamental mathematics of nature.
Quandrix mages can summon creatures made of fractals or turn abstract theories into
towering, spiraling patterns. They love to expand and multiply; they can increase their
knowledge or size by bending numbers. They dwell in the overlap between the theoretical
and the natural—from the fabric of their robes to the nature of their spells, they make use of
repeated elements, clever symmetries, and surprising geometry to express the complex
truths they study.
Studies and Philosophy
The studies undertaken within Quandrix College include mathematics, physics, logic,
statistics, metaphysics, and various fields of theoretical magic. Students from the other
colleges occasionally delve into Quandrix courses to bolster the theoretical underpinnings of
their studies, and Quandrix’s studies of nature and Witherbloom’s explorations of practical
biology have some significant overlap.
Substance and Theory
Quandrix’s two deans carry the titles Dean of Substance and Dean of Theory, reflecting the
philosophical division within the college. Is mathematics a natural force that exists in the
universe independent of the constructs of intelligent minds, or is it a theoretical framework
created by those who study it? Is the work of the scholar to discover what is or to define what
could be?
The perspective of substance emphasizes physical reality. In this view, math is embodied in
the natural forces of the multiverse, waiting to be discovered by those with the intellectual
fortitude to delve into those secrets. Quandrix mages who embrace this view use magic to
bring numerical concepts to life, creating or altering physical reality out of mathematical
possibility.
The perspective of theory focuses on the abstract realms of conjecture and possibility. Its
scholars view math as a lens through which a mind can understand the cosmos, not
something that exists independently in the world. Mages who embrace this perspective use
their spells to weave illusions and manipulate the fabric of magic itself.
Silverquill College
Silverquill is the College of Eloquence, and its mages—stylish, intimidating, and driven—are
masters of the magic of words. They create spells from spoken-word battle poetry or magical
manifestations of the written word, scribing patterns of runic ink in the air. These mages
make for natural leaders, fiercely competitive, with a piercing wit and a never-second-place
attitude.
Studies and Philosophy
The curriculum of Silverquill College revolves around words, encompassing literature
(including fiction, essays, drama, and poetry), languages, linguistics, oratory, rhetoric, and
dramatic performance. Students from other colleges often take Silverquill courses to improve
their communication skills, learning to speak and write more effectively about their primary
field of study. Silverquill and Prismari see overlap in the area of performing arts, with
Silverquill emphasizing verbal performance and Prismari focusing more on dance and other
forms of movement.
Radiance and Shadow
The two deans of Silverquill are called the Dean of Radiance and the Dean of Shadow,
highlighting the college’s use of metaphor in describing its philosophical differences. The
metaphor of radiance and shadow takes concrete form in Silverquill magic, as students learn
to manifest brilliant light or inky darkness with their spells. The fundamental argument
among Silverquill’s scholars centers on the purpose of communication. Is it to help others or
further a personal agenda? Does literature selflessly better society or selfishly advance one’s
own goals?
The college’s perspective of radiance envisions language as sunlight emanating from the
speaker or writer to illuminate others and make the world a brighter place. Mages who
embrace this view use their language skills—and their magic—to uplift and empower others,
to shine light on the evils of society, and to inspire the best in those around them.
The college’s perspective of shadow focuses on the power of language to stab, to expose
stinging truths, and to obfuscate secrets. The magic of shadow mages often manifests as bolts
or blades of darkness or blotches of flowing ink, and its effects range from a sting of shame to
an assault on the target’s life energy.
Witherbloom College
At Witherbloom, the College of Essence Studies, mages draw power from the opposing forces
of life and death. These mages brew their spells from natural components and the essence of
living creatures, using that power to heal or harm the living or to raise or entreat the dead.
They can cause entire forests to blossom out of nowhere or call down old curses that scourge
flesh from bone. Some Witherbloom mages defend ecosystems from pollution, while others
revel in the power of corruption. They’re at home riding zombie crocodiles down a languid
river, picking herbs for a potion to treat a disease, brooding over a chorus of swamp frogs, or
summoning fearsome avatars of nature.
Studies and Philosophy
The curriculum of Witherbloom College focuses on various sciences, revolving around the
life sciences. Biology, ecology, botany, chemistry, and related sciences combine with the
study and manipulation of the magical energy of the Positive Plane and the Negative Plane,
the primal forces of life and death. Witherbloom’s curriculum shares some overlap with
Quandrix’s analysis of the mathematical patterns in nature.
Growth and Decay
The two deans of Witherbloom are traditionally called the Dean of the Root and the Dean of
the Vein. These titles are a somewhat abstract way of framing the core division in the
college’s philosophy: is growth or decay the driving force in nature?
The philosophy of the root (growth) focuses on life and its irrepressible drive to thrive. This
view celebrates the diversity and adaptability of life-forms, from the tiniest cells to the most
complex networks of living things. The growth philosophy asserts that the urge to survive
and reproduce is the most essential principle in the cosmos. Mages who adopt this view wield
positive energy and practice healing magic.
The philosophy of the vein (decay) focuses on the inevitability of death and decay. Its
traditional name comes from the prominence of vampires within the college, whose
conceptions of draining life through the vein have long proven an important counterweight
to the growth philosophy of Witherbloom. The decay philosophy sees life energy as a
resource to be consumed, rather than a good to be nourished for its own sake. Mages who
adopt this view wield negative energy and practice necromancy.
