Imperial College of Syran

Although closely associated with the First Church of Scripture, this school welcomes students from any of the churches in the Ecumenical Communion of Sentanos. It has a reputation for rather poor teaching methods and low graduation rates, but it has nevertheless produced some of Syran's most famous Wizards. It is generally regarded with disdain or even contempt by the other Wizardry Schools in the city, however, who point out the conspicuous absence of such success stories in recent times.

These shortcomings aside, the college does have some rare (if reputedly dangerous) grimoires in its collection, and offers rewarding possibilities for the dedicated student of Wizardry. Its current teaching staff, while treating their less able students with contempt and tending to overwork the brighter ones, are very capable wizards. Rumour has it that the school's poor graduation record in recent years is not a true reflection of its teaching methods, but a measure of the dangers that promising students have to face in the course of their studies.

The college founder, Helmat Silverbeard, created only one grimoire (Helmat's Essential Treatise) himself, but he assembled an impressive collection of other spells from the fragmentary works of now mostly long-forgotten adepts. He argued that a wizard should always begin from first principles and encouraged students to experiment with combinations or novel uses of spells. The library that he started has continued to expand over the years and various new spells have been developed or uncovered in existing works. While these collections cannot be used as grimoires, they can be used to create talismans for individual spells, such as those listed in The Imperial College Library.

The dubious content of many of these works and the quixotic tendencies of the school's teachers has led a number of adepts and even a few students to be accused of practising sorcery. The current chancellor has sought to counter these accusations by appointing a college liturgist to oversee the moral education of students and instruct them on the dangers of heresy.