The Collegia
The Collegia are the nine schools of arcane magic in the Thayvian tradition. The division of all arcane magic into the nine schools dates back to before Dalereckoning, though the current nine schools were not in their final form until the 9th century DR. Most arcane magical traditions in Faerun follow the Collegiate system.
History
Organization
Within Thay, the Collegia are organizations united in the common cause of furthering magical knowledge among Thayans. The schools are nominally independent of one another, but share many resources. All major cities in Thay have a Collegiate campus, on which there are one or more permanent structures for each collegium, as well as several common buildings. Smaller cities have a campus wherein the schools often share buildings. The collegia are not restricted to erecting structures on shared campuses; there are hundreds of independent schools throughout Thay, notably the Eregoz School of Necromancy in Thaymount, famously headmastered by Szass Tam.
Each branch of the each collegium is overseen by a Headmaster. The relative power of a Headmaster varies with the size and importance of his branch, and the overall influence of his school in relation to the others. Nominally, each campus has a Headmaster Regent which oversees all headmasters; however, being of no school, this position holds no power outside the branch, and is ultimately less important than that of Headmaster.
The overall structure of the Collegia is as follows:
- The Collegia are ruled by The Council of Zulkirs.
- Each Zulkir is served by a Council of Headmasters, comprised of all Headmasters of all branches of his or her collegium.
- Each Headmaster is served by a Council of Curriculum Masters, comprised of the foremost masters of each Curriculum of the collegium's study.
- Each Headmaster is also served by a General Council of Tenured Professors, a committee formed of the oldest and most respected professors of the school, independent of curriculum. Many of these committee members are also Curriculum Masters.
- Each Curriculum Master chairs a council of tenured professors of the curriculum.
- A tenured professor has the power and responsibility to enlist nontenured professors in academic pursuits. For more on tenure in the Collegia, refer to this article.