#askathenaeum

[loominggaia]

What kinds of guilds are there

I imagine there are guilds for just about anything you can think of. Some would be sponsored by governments, corporations, or private entitites.

You have your typical ones like Artist's Guild, Mages Guild, Fighters Guild, and so on.

But there are more specific ones too, like guilds for chefs, vampire hunters, carpenters, miners, slave dealers, basically any profession can have a guild. Joining these guilds may have their pros and cons, much like unions.

The World Athenaeum sponsors many large guilds, such as the Great Minds of Gaia (top scientists) and The Guild of Art (master artists).

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Lore Masterpost

Read the Series

[loominggaia]

is there any known celestial that takes an interest in vampires the same way The Wolf takes in the souls of werewolves?

Short answer: There almost definitely is, but it hasn't been observed/named by the World Athenaeum yet.

Long answer: It's believed that there are thousands, millions, possibly even billions of celestials in the cosmos. Not all of them take interest in Gaia and Her people, but a large number of them do, and each celestial is as unique as any person. Each one has its own personality and interests.

Just given their sheer numbers, I think there has to be at least one with a special fixation on vampires. Just because the World Athenaum hasn't met this celestial yet doesn't mean it's not out there!

Also, just because the World Athenaeum hasn't made contact with this celestial doesn't mean no one has. It's possible that some divine out there is communing with a vampire-obsessed celestial regularly and the Athenaeum just doesn't know about it. Their researchers can't be everywhere at once--in fact, the Athenaeum knows far less than it doesn't know!

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Lore Masterpost

[loominggaia]

You say in an old post that the World Athenaeum was originally gonna be located in Yerim-nor or Zareen but passed them over in favor of Matuzu? While I can see why the first two where optimal what made them ultimately not pick them?

In truth, many different locations were considered. Yerim-Mor Capital and Zareen Capital were just the top contenders because of their high wealth, accommodating cultures, and relative stability.

The Divine of Hate is what ultimately knocked Yerim-Mor out of the race. If it weren't for his constant bullshit and terrorist cults infesting that region, then this kingdom likely would have been chosen over Matuzu. But it was decided that this location was just too risky.

Zareen was considered because of its cultural impact on the world and impressive technological capabilities. In the end, that region was deemed too unstable due to its frequent nymph attacks, the war with the Aquarian Alliance + tension with Damijana and Mogdir, and worsening pollution issues.

So, the council settled on Matuzu Kingdom. It wasn't perfect, but it was the best option at the time and probably remains so today. The addition of the World Athenaeum has only boosted the kingdom's wealth, securing its place as the wealthiest of the Greats.

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Lore Masterpost

[loominggaia]

How would one go about joining the world athaneum (hoever that shit is spelled lmao)... i think this is a broad question because theoretically a big organization like that should have lots of branches, but what would be the broad strokes in terms of qualifications?

You're right in that it has a lot of branches! Like a tree, the World Athenaeum is the trunk while it's college, sports arena, library, convention hall, museum, and main research facilities are the biggest branches. Tapering off these branches are smaller ones like disease research, cosmic research, arcane college, archeology division, etc. The list goes on and on, there is no subject that the World Athenaeum doesn't have its hands in.

How you get involved with the Athenaeum depends mostly on your connections. Are you a rich, well-connected noble? Then it won't be hard for you to get accepted into the main college. Are you a random peasant? Good freaking luck.

But even if you aren't rich or famous, there is still a chance you can get involved with the Athenaeum's smaller, twiggier branches. You will need to really apply yourself though, meaning good grades and relevant certifications to prove you're worth their time. If you manage to get in, you can potentially work your way up to larger branches and get closer to the trunk.

The people closest to the trunk are the world's best and brightest, so the competition is fierce. These are Looming Gaia's top minds, most powerful mages, finest athletes, and otherwise super exceptional individuals.

Most of the Athenaeum's branches accept volunteers. A lot of people volunteer to get their foot in the door, hoping someone higher up will notice them and hire them officially. This rarely happens, but it's possible. Volunteer work is diverse, but never glamorous. It's basically the dumb jobs that no one with a degree wants to do.

As for what qualifications you need, that depends on what branch you're aiming for. Want to join the celestial studies branch? Submit an application, take some tests, and show that you actually know enough about celestials to join the Athenaeum's research team. Remember that you're competing with the world's best, so 99% of applicants get rejected.

The Athenaeum invests a lot into its employees. Good pay, free room and board, and grants out the wazoo for whatever project you're working on. That means it's very discriminating when it comes to who they choose to invest in. If you're a lazy POS, forget it. Even their employees have to do regular performance reviews where their superiors examine their work and what they've accomplished, then decide if that employee stays or gets the boot. If you can't convince them that your work is important enough or your performance isn't satisfactory enough, they'll drop you like a rock. The further you are from the trunk, the bigger your chance of getting dropped.

I want to mention that graduating from the World Athenaeum's college doesn't necessarily mean you're smart. Rich, royal, or famous people in attendance makes the Athenaeum look good, so it lowers the requirements for them as much as it needs to. The common people have to work a lot harder to get accepted.

For example, Lukas and Jelani aren't exceptionally intelligent and they both attended college there. But they're both Matuzan nobles, so their names look good on the roster and add more prestige to the school's reputation. In return, their attendance at this prestigious school makes them look good. In these cases it's win-win for both parties.

...And a loss for the common people, who have to deal with all these stupid rich fucks running around with degrees they didn't earn fairly. But that's how it goes in the world of business, and the Athenaeum is a business at its core.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

[loominggaia]

how did the terms fae gaian and commoner come to be?

Good question. Throughout history, different cultures have had different names for these classes, and some of these names are still in use today. The terms "fae", "gaian", and "commoner" are just the ones that the World Athenaeum decided to use.

"Fae" was pulled from a language called Elvish, which was widely spoken among elves in the Arcadian Forest. The word meant "magical" in that language.

"Commoner" was pulled from the Blue Valley region. In the language spoken by ancient proto-Evangelites, it means "mundane"--aka: not magical.

The term "gaian" has a more in-depth history originating in the Midland Jungle, where modern-day Matuzu Capital City now lies. In olden times, there were many conflicts between the local peoples as each species grappled for supremacy in the new budding kingdom. The local fauns, centaurs, satyrs, and minotaurs formed a political/religious faction called "Guild of the Gaians". They called themselves "gaians", reasoning that their animal-like features meant that they were part beast, and beasts are inherently part of Gaia.

This guild believed that they were not created by Gaia, but were part of her all along, and that's why they were superior to other species and more deserving of special privileges. This group grew huge at one point, but eventually petered out as time passed and sensibilities changed. Once in a while you'll still get some modern-day weirdos who adopt this ancient ideology and try to revive it.

The Guild saw a resurgence after the mass exodus of gaians from Matuzu Kingdom, which led to the birth of Etios Nation. Today, the Guild only exists in small, scattered groups, the vast majority of which are in Etios Nation. This ideology isn't tolerated very well elsewhere. They're seen as prejudiced wackos in Matuzu Kingdom, for example.

Nevertheless, they did manage to spread the term "gaian" around like wildfire in their heyday and it really caught on throughout the Midlands. At some point the Athenaeum picked it up and decided to make that the term for "semi-magical peoples" in Universa, since so many cultures were already familiar with the word.

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Lore Masterpost

[loominggaia]

What are magical schools like in Gaia? Are they like Hogwarts with floating staircases, talking paintings, and hidden chambers twitch deadly secrets? Or are they like normal schools, dry and academic with the some magic lessons on the side? What kind of famous magical schools are their in Gaia?

It depends on the school! Magic schools are talked about a lot in the series, but they haven't been explored very much outside of "The Shadow Sector".

Unlike "mundane school" (normal school), magic schools in the Great Kingdoms are generally not mandatory and they are not free to attend. In fact they tend to be quite expensive, but it also depends on what kind of magic you're studying. Some types of magic require a lot more years of study to master than others.

In "The Shadow Sector", Jeimos attended a magic school in Damijana called The Damijani Arcanum. This is the largest and most prestigious magic school in the empire. Jeimos studied teleportation there for around 20 years(!) and unfortunately dropped out right before graduation. But we got to see two sides of this schooling: the classroom and the casting field. This is how most magical colleges operate.

Students spend most of their time in the classroom, hitting the books and learning about sigils, the history of magic, etc. This is the boring bookwork portion of magic, but it is fundamental for every mage to know. After passing enough tests, they will graduate to the casting field. This is simply a large, open area where the students cast their spells. It might be outdoors or indoors, just depends on the college. This is the "hands-on" portion of learning. Students will alternate between the classroom and casting field regularly to demonstrate what they learned.

As far as aesthetics, magic schools in some Great Kingdoms are more "tame" than others. The ones in Matuzu and Folkvar Kingdoms, for example, are almost indistinguishable from a normal school. But in places like the Seelie/Unseelie Courts and Mogdir Kingdom, these schools can be pretty wacky because they're tailored more towards fae and higher-tier mages. As in, some areas are only accessible via teleportation/levitation. Or the walls talk. Or portions of the structure are floating. Things like that.

As for famous schools, there is the Damijani Arcanum which I mentioned above. Despite Damijana's sketchy reputation, the Arcanum is known for cranking out highly skilled and disciplined mages. But the most famous magical college in the world is, of course, the World Athenaeum. The Athenaeum is many things rolled into one: a museum, a mundane college, a library, a research facility...and among those things is a very prestigious school called The World Athenaeum Arcane College (it's a mouthful...)

Linde studied floemancy at this college, and her frightening ice powers are a testament to its reputation.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

[loominggaia]

Has their ever been a Demon Core type incident in Gaia? Researchers or some other group playing a game of “Fuck About and Find Out!” With an obscenely dangerous artifact and caused a disaster? (Referencing the nuclear bomb core that killed most of the scientist who ever worked with it, via accident and gross disregard for safety procedures).

Well, there was the time when the World Athenaeum injected thousands of monkeys with lab-created diseases. One day the monkeys broke loose from their laboratory and started a huge epidemic in Matuzu Kingdom. This epidemic led to a war between a Matuzan village and a colony of spriggans, which led to both the village and the colony's demise. The diseases themselves have killed hundreds and the epidemic is still in its infancy...

So yeah, the Athenaeum really dropped the ball on that.

There was also the time the Divine of Love's husband found a strange mask...which led to a whole landslide of shit over the next several thousand years, but most recently, the potential collapse of Yerim-Mor Kingdom.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

[loominggaia]

regarding universa: since it was constructed by the WA for everyone to use, how did they go about actually spreading it to the people? mass lessons, magic (telepathy??), etc? and how long did it take for the language to solidify as *the* common tongue?

Good question! They did this a few different ways.

First, the World Athenaeum sent representatives to all of the Great Kingdoms to make a deal: you start teaching Universa as regular curriculum in schools and we will help fund those schools. Naturally, the kingdoms were eager to accept the deal for that sweet $$$.

Then, the Athenaeum sent "missionaries" all over the world to teach Universa to independent tribes. They were pretty aggressive in their approach, and there are many controversial accounts of abuse on the Athenaeum's part. But enough $$$ keeps people quiet.

It took a few centuries, but eventually they got most of the globe speaking Universa, either as a first, second, or at least tertiary language. Nymphs were invaluable in this process since they can naturally understand any spoken language, so many nymphs volunteered for this effort, believing it would bring more peace between peoples. After all, it was a great war which caused Gaia's continent to split in the first place.

While uniting the world under one language didn't exactly bring peace, it did bring many new opportunities to peoples who wouldn't have had them otherwise. It helped to connect the peoples of Looming Gaia both socially and economically.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

[loominggaia]

How are the security measures of the World Athenaeum ? Do they have spare pocket dimensions just in case ? More or least militarized than Area 51 ?

Well, in the story Knowledge and Power, the Divine of Hate and his minions were able to breach one wing of the Athenaeum and kidnap a bunch of minervae. This is...not a good look for the Athenaeum.

However, that was a pretty extreme and unexpected event. In general, security is very tight around this place.

In the story Lycanthrope's Laboratory, Athenaeum security is so strict that they won't even let a Matuzan noble through the gate without permission from a director. Under normal circumstances, a Matuzan noble should pull rank over everyone, but the Athenaeum director gets a special exception from the High Ruler of Matuzu Kingdom. That's a pretty big deal.

In Ratbone Throne, Destiny explains that the Athenaeum can't hire the same mercenaries to work for them twice because they're afraid those mercenaries will use the first visit to scope the place out, then future visits to rob it or cause trouble.

Based on those little tidbits, we can assume their security protocols are pretty hardcore.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost