D&D: The History of Gallanburgh

 "Welcome to Gallanburgh, the university city. Home to the greatest colleges in the world, any Wizard or Sorcerer trained in these most august halls has more access to arcane knowledge and power than any other! Studying with us, not only puts you into the top tier of magic users on the Haggard Coast or Northlands but will act as a seal of approval in cities like Ballenmouth and Wolfthorpe. More than that, our graduates go on to help defend ships, join armies, uncover lost lore and serve their communities." 

Gallanburgh University welcoming speech, made annually by High Chancellor Armston Felton (traditionally this is as far as the speech gets before the High Chancellor falls asleep at the podium).

Background: Five hundred years ago, Gallanburgh was once a small village, a place of no particular importance. That changed when Humbor Salladore, a wizard of the Bright Order, came to town, setting up a small school to train other people in magic. For the next twenty years, he worked on establishing his school. Specialising in evocation magic, his students became skilled at creating powerful elemental effects. Most of his alumni went on to join armies, becoming highly sought after as the Daltarian Empire splintered into small kingdoms.

One of Salladore's most promising students, Jenna Rosewater, elected to stay and help teach - only taking time away from the school to go adventuring with a small party of friends (the Guardians of Gallanburgh - now immortalised in stone in the city square). She pioneered many new spells and took the opportunity adventuring presented to test them in the wild. Rosewater's other great legacy was the foundation of the university library, which was initially situated in her home and accessible only to those who could cast the  Light cantrip, as flames were forbidden within the library (a stipulation still in effect today). Rosewater was always willing to teach the cantrip to anyone who didn't know it, so insistent was she that no fire be permitted near her precious books. In winter this would lead to ranks of students shivering over tomes in the library, wrapped in thick fur cloaks as their breath steamed, something Rosewater recorded in journals as "good for their resilience, especially as Gallanburgh winters are usually cruel". 

Gallanburgh began to grow thanks to the school and library. New inns were erected to house visitors and petitioners, and boarding houses sprang up to house students once there were too many to live under Salladore's and Rosewater's roofs. Other businesses began to flourish in the town, attracting more merchants and adventurers (who have always been a staple of the city's economy).

A New School: Eighty years after the founding of Salladore's school, another wizard came to the town and established their own school. A specialist in Enchantment, Donnel Mallister set up his establishment on the far side of town in a specially built house with an enchantment laboratory in the basement. He quickly attracted the attention of new students or Salladore's pupils who wished to learn different spells. A fierce rivalry between the two masters sprang up based on their ideas of usefulness and utility. Both were willing to admit that the other type of magic was perfectly sound... but neither was willing to concede that the other's speciality was as effective as their own. Most conversations quickly ran into the problem of "but it's not as good as enchanting" if one was peaking to Mallister, or evocation if the speaker was Salladore. 

To make things worse, Rosewater became besotted with the enchantment master, who was blessed with far more striking looks and had an air of sophistication Salladore lacked. Romance blossomed between the two wizards during the third winter after Mallister arrived. The pair married the following spring (Rosewater wore an apple blossom headband, beginning a tradition for spring brides). 

This led to Salladore retiring in a fit of pique and leaving town. Rosewater took over the running of his school, aligning it far more closely with Mallister's. Leaving any rivalry behind them, the pair began to teach together, allowing students to learn spells from both of them and centralising the administration. Rosewater abandoned her house, giving it over to become a library and administration centre for both schools. 

Expansion: At this point, there still wasn't a university, but under Mallister and Rosewater, the schools renamed themselves as Colleges, a name that's stuck. Sensing opportunities to expand, both wizards sought another teacher who could add to their joint efforts. They found that in Harina Golyaran a conjurer from Ballenmouth, who agreed to relocate to Gallanburgh and set up the Golyaran College, bringing her students with her. She donated enough books to the library to more than double what the Colleges had and is remembered in the Harina Golyaran Reading Room.

This established the form of the university for the next few decades, as each College worked to establish stronger ties with each other and new traditions grew. These included Pranking Day on the first day of spring. Students played pranks on their teachers and were permitted to go to the pub after their studies. Summer had another day where students could get drunk without fear of reprisals, as part of the week-long Festival of Magic, where every student is required to show off their prowess.  Great feasts were created for the autumn and winter seasons and dignitaries from other cities and organisations - including rival schools - were invited to participate.  

At the same time, the Wardens' Office was created and students became subject to a strict curfew and rules of conduct, including no drunkenness outside of permitted occasions. Created in response to several Pranking Day jokes that ended badly and brought trouble to the university's doors (for example Salethy Norn managed to set fire to a farmer's barn with an ill-guided fireball spell while an attempt to make a talking hat that could choose which speciality of magic students should pursue was greeted... poorly by the teaching staff). 

Working together, the Colleges became renowned as premium educators and through their alumni began to exert some influence by becoming court wizards of renown across the region. This led to a new influx of students and the establishment of the first dormitories specifically for students as cohorts grew in number. It also led to the first exams to enter the Colleges, as the growing numbers of applicants allowed Mallister, Rosewater, and Golyaran to become more selective. 

After a century, the university boasted:

Salladore College: specialising in evocation magic and linked to military and adventuring groups.

Mallister College: specialising in enchanting and reaching out to other groups that would be able to provide employment for their alumni. 

Golyaran College: specialising in conjuration magic and with a strong tradition of providing graduates to several employers ranging from shipping companies to the Thieves' Guild in Ballenmouth.

The Library: Held within Jenna Rosewater's home during this period.

The Wardens' Office: Operating out of part of the Library building, the Wardens' Office attempted to control the students' actions and police their behaviour. 

The second century of its existence was to be a testing time, as the number of colleges grew, but the town also attracted the attention of enemies. 

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This concludes the first part of the world-building exercise I'm calling "Eep, I need to add detail to this world!" before flailing wildly. As you can probably tell I've modelled Gallanburgh pretty heavily on Oxford and Cambridge... but I have wizards and sorcerers. I'm not planning for any Warlocks to appear as students, just because that doesn't really vibe with my understanding of that class. There will be more entries to this over the next few weeks, for both the history and what Gallanburgh is like in the present day, and then I'll make it available as a downloadable PDF for DMs, GMs, and all the other masochists who run games to use as a location.  If I can work out how to do a decent city map, I'll throw one of those in too. 

Oh, and apologies for the wee dig at the Harry Potter series.