Locations on Campus
The following is by no means an exhaustive list of the many locations on campus, but should prove a handy guide to some of the more interesting buildings to be found if one looks hard enough.
Academy Buildings
The Academy Tower: Constructed as the first major building of the Legarro Academy, the Academy Tower stretches five stories high, and has two basement levels. One of these basement levels, supposedly, contains some sort of mystical apparatus that enables the tower for flight purposes. This is mere speculation and legend, however, to most humans, as the Tower's last recorded flight date was sometime around 150 cycles ago, and was entirely unintentional. Rumors that the Academy Tower may be used as a battle platform in the event of invading forces is also mostly speculative. The top of the Academy Tower features a walkway, and an additional observatory level. In recent times, the observatory has been fitted with a large mechanical clock generously donated by the Wandering Designs Mercenary Agency, with panels on all four directions. Three of the four clock faces show local time; the fourth shows Nexus Time, and seems to move more erratically than the other three faces. Supposedly, all four clocks can be configured to show the time in a separate location, but the current staff seldom bothers with such matters. Although the Academy Tower used to be used for holding classes, it is presently used for administrative concerns.
A list of the Tower's contents, from bottom to top:
Sublevel 2: The Sub-Basements. This region holds many old creations and projects from the early days of the Academy; Academy contract states that anything created, manufactured, or designed while in classes or using Academy materials is Academy property, and as such, quite a bit ends up down here. Supposedly, this level also contains a strange jewel that, when activated, lifts the Academy Tower (and a two-hundred-foot area around the tower) out of the ground for flight. This is mostly speculation and rumor, but prankminded students occasionally attempt to find this mythical jewel, often to their regret. Not all of the projects confined to the Sub-Basements are nonliving entities.Sublevel 1: The Basements. The basements hold two things - the offices of Academy Security Precinct (and their resultant armaments, ranging from magic marbles to 'instant dragon pills' to good old-fashioned fire swords), and the offices of the Academy Record Keepers. Generally, visiting the Basement of the Academy implies that you are in some sort of trouble, or will become so very shortly.
Ground Floor: Student Services. This floor is where students matriculate, pay up, and receive their passcards. In deferential nod to the fact that many countries consider themselves too cultured to be bothered with common keys, locks, and runestone-activated wards, the Academy generally operates on passcards; doors with passcard locks generally require that you have access to that room before they will let you in. (Sometimes, Student Services forgets to pass the matriculation notes to the department that actually handles coding this into the system, resulting in students having to sneak in with other students to attend their classes...) Student Services is also responsible for keeping information on all local events, campus-related or not; collecting funding for student organizations; handling student housing and other concerns; and handling grant and loan processes.
Second Floor: Administrative Services. Similar to the below, but for staff, professors, and administrators, the Administrative Services department handles the intricate things like 'who teaches the class if the current professor is annihilated?' and 'are there enough janitaurs to clean up the mess in the Alchemy department?'
Third Floor: Meeting Area. This floor is mostly made up of meeting rooms and lounge space, mostly for the use of Academy administrators and local government officials to talk shop well away from the prying eyes of common students and staff.
Fourth Floor: The Library. An exclusive administrators-only library is known to exist on the fourth floor; most of the texts contained here are not duplicated in the Librarium, and it is believed that herein lies the all-important lesson plans for every Academy course.
Fifth Floor: Headmaster's Residence. The Headmaster lives on the fifth floor, and presumably has spacious living accommodations. At least, nobody knows of anything else being on this floor.
The Great Temple: This building is dedicated to the patron gods of the Academy - Shydi, Arc, and Gareth. Shydi is responsible for the Academy Grove, as well as the original Tower, and statues and engravings of her can be seen throughout the Academy. Arc is best known on campush for his peculiar mannerisms and for designing the original curriculum; his engravings and symbols are most commonly seen in the Hall of History and the College of Personal Preparedness. Gareth is not well-associated with the campus except through the Medical Center; it is his gracious consent that ensures the reliability of resurrection insurance for students.
The Hall of History: A large (and incredibly complex) museum depicting events throughout the chronology of Arcydea. Some are depicted in standard museum format, but an increasing number use illusion magic, holographics, or other peculiar effects to depict quasi-realistic 3D illustrations of the events themselves, with scenes that generally last 30 minutes to an hour. Like other illusions, these do not affect visitors, acknowledge their existence, or become affected by visitors (though startled travelers may become convinced that they are being targeted and respond in kind!) Damage to a room generally shuts it down, annoys the hall workers, and gets added to the student's bill. The Hall of History connects directly to the Librarium through the basement levels. It is constructed mostly of orange sandstone.
The Librarium: A library containing books (and other Arcydean media) of all types and subjects. Certain books (grimoires, radioactive or living books, in particular) are kept in the restricted area, and others are considered reference texts and not to be checked out, but a vast majority are available as long as you pay your library fees. Late fees are quietly deducted from the student's account, unless the library staff is in a bad mood, the student's account is empty, or the student is a repeat offender, in which case sending a group of unruly students to 'recover' any late books and bring in the errant student for a chat is not out of the question. Most books have an anti-theft ward on them; anyone attempting to remove them from the library will automatically check them out (if they have a valid library account) or be restricted from leaving (if not). The Librarium is constructed almost entirely of silverwood and translucent crystals, and clearly of elfin design; an ornate sign out front (in Common, Faetongue, Subterran and Draconica) identifies it as the Librarium. The center of the Librarium, the Solarium, has a very intricate sunroof, and is rumored to be a 'perfectly still place', whatever that means...
The Second Chance Medical Center: The most frequently visited building on campus, SCMC prides itself on its ability to treat injury, disease, poisoning, death, and other mild mishaps of campus life - for the right price. Minimum prices are reasonable, but some grad students and professors have exorbitant treatment rates; undergrads don't get to spike the bill, but are often (sometimes severely) less competent. Health insurance mitigates these costs, but only to a point... This building is large, made of white stone, with a domed roof and a large red cross on top.
The Computer Lab: In the shiniest and most explosive-proofed building on campus, the Computer Lab provides a number of direct-access terminals that connect to the supercomputer array affectionately known as 'Katherine the Great'. Katherine monitors campus activities, provides networking services to all campus computers, and occasionally attempts to strike up online chats with users. Befriending Katherine can be very rewarding - but also incredibly taxing. Becoming her enemy, on the other hand, is a very bad idea.
The Simulator: An advanced building that looks like a simple cinderblock cube with a flat tarpaper roof. However, interior and exterior appearance change with the activation of a holomatrix. Some conjured furnishings, a bit of extra illusion magic, and this building can become anything from dojo to concert hall to fightercraft simulator.
The Underworld Stadium: A long time ago, explorers of Legarro discovered an old biomech production facility housed underground near the Academy. In intervening years, the facility has been cleaned out, emptied, and converted into a wanderball stadium that seats 5,000. Statues of Gareth prominently ring the play area, and occasionally spit balls of elemental sludge at random players. During Sudden Death, these statues fire much more frequently. The Stadium also hosts most of LAMAA' other sporting events. The stairways to the Underworld are accessible from the surface.
Dormitories
Trent Dorm: This large brick building is a co-ed dorm (with women occupying floors 2 and 3, men occupying floors 4 and 5, and things occupying floor 6) with its own lounge area and cafeteria. The food here is greasy and ill-prepared (usually by undergrads in desperate need of coin), and rooms are always shared, with two rooms sharing a bathroom. There are 32 rooms on each floor, as well as a floor-specific lounge area with basic kitchen equipment. In total, up to 320 students could be crammed in if necessary. Parties on the ground floor are frequent and LOUD. Most freshmen end up here. Housing costs: 40s/week (800s/semester). Room deposit: 100s.
Witherspoon Dorm: A slightly cramped and generally low-class dorm; women occupy shared rooms on the second floor, men occupy shared rooms on the third floor, and the fourth floor consists of single-occupancy rooms. There are 20 rooms on each floor, with a floor-specific lounge with basic kitchen equipment. The cafeteria food on the first floor is truly abysmal for its prices. In total, up to 100 students are unfortunate enough to reside in this dorm. Housing costs: 36s/week (720s/semester) for shared occupancy, 45s/week (900s/semester) for single occupancy. Room deposit: 120s.
Airitane Hall: A large brick dormitory that accommodates many students -- and has absolutely no temperature control! Students generally find themselves transferred to this dorm between semesters if they've managed to offend the administrators; there are eight floors, with twenty shared rooms on each floor, and there is no cafeteria in this dormitory. Floors 1, 2, 5, and 6 are women-only shared rooms, and 3, 4, 7 and 8 are men-only shared rooms. Most of the windows are painted over in black, and it's nicknamed 'The Oven', as the air conditioning hasn't worked in forty years. It was a Villian Studies hall until it was used for a thesis for 'Applied Torture Methodology on Voluntary Participants.' Up to 320 students may discover themselves stuck in this hellish dorm. Housing costs: 50s/week (1000s/semester). Room deposit: 120s.
Morton Dorm: A cramped dormitory, the large first-floor lounge area nevertheless makes this an excellent party dorm. The cafeteria in this dorm is actually pretty good, too. There are five floors in total, four of them dedicated to shared-occupancy lodgings (12 rooms per floor). A total of 96 students could conceivably occupy this dorm at any given time. Housing costs: 35s/week (700s/semester). Room deposit: 90s.
Logsdale Dorm: This large dorm is high-class, and devoted entirely to spacious single-occupancy rooms. Six floors high, with the first floor devoted to the best cafeteria available on campus and a private study hall, this dorm has 15 rooms per upper floor to house a total of 75 affluent students. Housing costs: 120s/week (2400s/semester). Room deposit: 300s.
Nexica Dorm: The tallest dormitory on campus at a massive 13 floors, Nexica Dorm is named such mostly because it is the most common housing place for students from Nexus City, and because it is prone to a variety of small but ultimately annoying misfortunes. The ground floor has a small cafeteria with the widest selection of 'ethnic' foods on campus; the upper floors each have 24 rooms, with all floors but the 2nd and 13th being shared-occupancy. This dorm houses the most students (528 at maximum capacity), and its low expense draws in the poorest students. Housing costs: 20s/week (400s/semester) for shared occupancy; 30s/week (600s/semester) for single occupancy. Room deposit: 75s.
Alvin Dorm: Shunned by most of the more interesting students on campus, Alvin Dorm is a six-floor dormitory with a decent cafeteria and study hall, four floors of shared occupancy (20 rooms), and one floor of single occupancy rooms (16 rooms). In total, 176 students can occupy this dorm. Housing costs: 45s/week (900s/semester) for shared occupancy; 60s/week (1200s/semester) for single occupancy. Room deposit: 150s.
Roger Dorm: The second most elegant dorm on campus, consisting entirely of reasonably-sized single-occupancy rooms. The first floor has a very large lounge area, good cafeteria, and a study hall, but is mostly used for cultured parties. The upper floors each have 24 rooms for single occupancy only, providing for a total of 120 students to live in. Housing costs: 80s/week (1600s/semester). Room deposit: 200s.
Halls
(Not all halls are listed yet.)
Alexander Hall: Many CMD and CPE classes, and a few CLS classes on magical beasts, are taught here. One of the oldest buildings on campus; emanates very strong but subtle magical vibes.
Altair Hall: The 'plant' building; most classes relating thus are held here or in the Grove.
Lancaster Hall: Most of the tech studies are held here in Lancaster Hall, including many Gadgeteering and Engineering courses, and the computer lab in this hall is the best on campus.
LeBow Hall: Specifically geared towards melee combat, with several major padded rooms.
Belville Hall: Four lecture halls and dozens of classrooms, used by multiple colleges.
Missing Hall: The alchemy/chemistry building. Named because of its occasional tendency to utterly explode. Made almost entirely from concrete, with a tile roof and signs of charring.
Percival Hall: Nicknamed the Hall of Knights, this is also where most courses in etiquette and legal discourse are maintained. It has gothic architecture, but is made of whitish-grey stone, and depicts knights on dragonback fighting various evils in its stained-glass windows.
Bloodbath Hall: Also known as the Hall of Villianous Studies, due to it being the location of most of the Villian Science courses. Looks much like a small gothic castle or cathedral; has stained glass windows that depict people being tortured. These windows seem to move and change now and then... Supposedly, built and contributed by worshippers of Gareth.
Phoenix Hall: A secondary location for Psionics and Villian Science courses, decorated with small dung beetle sculptures for no discernible reason.
Usurper Hall: Most Political Science classes are held in this three story palatial building, which comes complete with its own war room and poisons chamber. Plenty of curves and angles, reflective clear surfaces, gold trim everywhere, and polished cherry doors with golden handles.
Which Hall: A white brick building that internally bears more than a passing resemblance to the chaos of an Escher painting, and is home to most Nexican Studies and Dimensional Studies courses. The stairs to the entrance door are frequently upside-down, for starters, and gravity bends and flows around it.
Blake Hall: Another prime location for Political Science debates and courses.
Pendragon Hall: Fictional Studies courses are almost exclusively held in this building, which maintains a large collection of fictions from Arcydea, Earth, and various other cultures.
Santino Hall: A Humanities building that mostly teaches history and philosophy, and is very popular amongst vampire students.
Wilbur Hall: This building is heavily soundproofed, as most of the courses offered here involve music and other productions.
Trueheart Hall: The home of Leupak Studies, with the best secured and sterilized laboratory facilities on campus. Trueheart Hall looks like a bunker-laboratory with very tight containment systems -- security checkpoint, airlock-style door system, and all.
Bracken Hall: Focused mostly on Mystical Arts classes, Bracken Hall offers large open rooms and is generally less confined than Alexander Hall.
Hall Hall: This hall of higher learning seems devoted to Mystical Arts too... mostly pun and conversational magic, debate, and public speaking courses.
Garrett Hall: This eccentric hall seems to host a variety of graduate courses. Zen surrealism seems to be a common theme.
On-Campus Businesses
The Academy Store: A three-story building, the Academy Store sells souvenirs, basic supplies, textbooks, and other oddities needed for classes. Most goods here are marked up by about 20%; food is marked up about 100%; and 'clearance' items are marked down 25 to 75%. The first level of the store is devoted to souvenirs and basic supplies; the second level to textbooks (buying or selling; Merchant and Fast-Talk are very useful when selling); and the third level to 'special equipment', from lockpicks to rocket launchers. Working at the Academy Store is a reasonably good part-time job; unfortunately, positions are seldom open for long.
McGrieson's: The local franchise of this popular fast-food restaurant is established firmly within campus grounds, and offers a diverse selection of greasy sandwiches and sides. They specialize in making burgers (and similar sandwiches) from a wide variety of meats (including some sentient ones). Although they import their product from their main office in Khialan, rumors persist that they'll buy corpses without asking too many questions (aside from 'it wasn't poison, right?') of the sellers. Popular amongst leupaks and Nexicans, and generally none-too-clean.
Allied Homewreckers Insurance Company: The Allied Homewreckers Insurance Company offers insurance on damn near anything, for the right price. AHIC's local branch is responsible for the Academy Health Insurance Policy (which makes sure sensible paying students keep on being sensible and paying, by fixing them up no matter what may have befallen them.) Premiums generally start at around 20s per week, plus part of the expenses of treatment. AHIC also provides Property Insurance (costs about 1% of the value of the item it's protecting per week; guaranteed to repair or replace the object while payments are being made), and various other insurance policies tailored to meet the needs of their clientele.
Vendomatic Machines: Vendomatic Machines are located around the campus. They accept local currency and Passcards, and vend whatever the location demands; most of them vend food and drink, but some - like those near the College of Personal Preparedness - vend very interesting things indeed. Average cost is about double normal price, but this is generally considered worth it.
Kraig's Body Shop: This small shop supplies piercings, tattoos, and other body modifications to interested students for reasonable fees. Ain't college fun?
Bean Brewery: The local coffee house, drink stop, snack hut, and caffeination research facility. Looks much like a very large thatched hut with a metal smokestack, and very easily smelled. Open at all hours.
EioTekno: Techno toys for CTI geeks. All chrome and glass, with neon 'sale' signs.
Arcian Pizza: The pizza place where a pizza with everything is impossible, but a pizza with cement and ice cream is not. Pretty ordinary pizza building; has a picture of a long-haired guy holding up a pizza covered in vortexes as a logo. Serves practically ANYTHING on pizza, though it's generally baked unless the customer specifies otherwise; toppings cost full normal price. Delivers practically anywhere.
Taco Hut: The best in tacos and similar culinary treats.
Golden Lotus: Oriental food, here, to go, or delivered to your dorm. Restaurant open 12 hours a day; delivery service at all hours. Looks like an Oriental shrine, with nearly unnoticeable glass windows, and a big golden lotus blossom on the roof. Hires elves, who dress in frilly outfits and wear lotus blossoms in their hair.
The Bar Shop: Sells nutrient, food, and 'other' bars for the student on the go!The Bar Shop appears to be a normal store with a front plate-glass window, that sells 1 inch thick, 2 inch wide, 12 inch long bars of various materials, from chocolate to protein to lead.
Revision Hair and Nails: Provides everything from razorclaws and mohawks to manicures and crewcuts. Looks like a modern hair salon, with neon signing and all. Hires students from the College of Social Engineering who are dealing with fashion.
Academy Cafeteria: The 'official' foodstuffs facility on campus, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (Quality varies highly with price, but is usually better than the food supplied in dormitory cafeterias.)
On-Campus Organizations
United Students Bureau: The civilized form of student activity, prone to debates and speeches and angry letters.
Student Activism Committee: Constantly looking for new causes to support, the SAC uses any (sanctioned) means to get its way, from rallies to claimjumping. However, they spend most of their time fighting with the Student Liberation Committee.
Student Liberation Committee: The Student Liberation Committee focuses mostly on Academy-related problems, and much less likely to ask for permission before shooting. Considers the SAC a problem. Generally solves anything it sees as a problem with the application of violence.
Freedom of Expression Movement: Mostly an excuse to have free love and freedom from clothing, as far as anyone can tell, yet never wanting for members. Often approached for modeling assignments.
Academic Orders: There are a number of clubs around Academy grounds as well, but the Orders have their own buildings. Membership in an Order is generally considered an advantage.
Order of the Rose Petals - Women only; caters to hedonism and personal appearance. Its building is unmarked, but covered in red, pink, and white roses.
Order of the Mad Scientist - Mixed gender; a popular favorite of CTI and CAC students.
Order of the Wise-Psis - Mixed gender; heavy partiers, must have psi talent to enter.
Order of the Drunken Wizard - Male only; also heavy partiers, must have mage talent to enter. Building looks like a stone tower; a sign of a beer mug with a 'wizard hat' hangs out front.
Order of the Twisted Valkyries - Female only; punk-rock and general badasses.
Order of the Scalebacks - Male only; punkish 'independents' who wear scale-pattern leather. Resides in a mostly ordinary large house.
Order of the Silk Slipper - Mixed gender; focuses on sneaky deeds and dirty tricks.
Order of the Wanderball - Mixed gender; members of the Legarro Academy Wanderball Squad.
LAMAA Wool: This Academy newsletter, published roughly weekly, prints a wide variety of Academy-related stories, and sells its papers for 1s apiece. (Most of its actual income comes from convincing students to pay them not to publish their more interesting exploits...) Being a reporter, editor, or printer for the LAMAA Wool is a job, if a low-paying one, and counts as credit for journalism degrees. The LAMAA Wool is a two-story whitewashed cinderblock building with a small front desk area, offices upstairs, and printing presses in the basement.
Other Locations
The Academy Grove: This peaceful grove is concealed by a shell of various plants, though two large, twining archways provide general access to the inside of the 'shell'. Aside from being the site of many intermediate to advanced plant-related courses, it is also the 'ancestral homeland' of carniferns, as well as home to a wide variety of other nonviolent plant species. The Gardenelves make their home in the trees here, and the chair of landscaping's office is also located here.
The Great Tree: At the center of the Academy Grove is a single large tree, whose branches are intertwined throughout the grove's protective shell. The tree radiates great plant magic; however, the only immediately apparent effect is that the tree seems to recover from any form of mild graffiti or carving inflicted on it. (This also tends to annoy the Gardenelves and carniferns that live in the area...)
The Academy Gardens: Sheltered by the grove, a series of natural gardens are allowed to grow. Some of these are carefully warded to prevent interference from students, others are specifically set up to allow such interference for practice purposes, and still others are empty gardens meant for student use. One area of the gardens is specifically dedicated as a carnifern seedling garden.
Patriarch Plaza: An open-air plaza with several food carts, benches, and an amphitheater space, this area is often used for performances, duels, and other public activities.
Circle Square: A circular area in the middle of campus that is often used for rendezvouses.