Morgrave University owns most of the buildings in Upper Menthis Plateau, even ones not used for University purposes. The University itself fills Dalannan Tower, which is crowned by the enormous dome of Lareth Hall. Five slender spires ring Dalannan Tower, representing and named after the Five Nations, and they house most of Morgrave’s students. The university library is located just below Lareth Hall, and the Commons—atop Breland Spire—is a popular gathering spot for students and faculty alike.
The Bridge: The long, arcing, covered bridge that connects Breland Spire (and the Commons) to Dalannan Tower serves as a center of student life at Morgrave. Shops line one side of the bridge, including bookstores, paper makers, clothing and equipment vendors catering to students, and related businesses. Notices, such as announcements of campus events, job opportunities, items for sale, rooms for rent, and the like, cover the opposite wall of the bridge.
The Commons: Pleasantly situated atop Breland Spire, the Commons is a large open-air plaza with a commanding view of the neighboring towers and lower reaches of the city. Every morning, vendors wheel their carts up to the Commons and offer a mouth-watering variety of food from a dozen different cuisines, from Karrnathi sausage to Talentan kebabs. The offerings are hardly haute cuisine, but they are authentic and generally delicious.
Dezina Museum of Antiquities: Home to the finest collection of artifacts from Xen’drik in Khorvaire, Morgrave University’s Dezina Museum fills many of the mid-levels of Dalannan Tower. Its collection would be even more impressive were it not for the strong tendency the University has to sell valuable artifacts rather than put them on display, not to mention the steady stream of items routinely stolen from the museum. More interesting (at least to some) than the museum’s displayed collection are its vaults, vast rooms below the publicly accessible areas of the museum that contain unopened crates of treasures waiting to be cataloged, shelves of artifacts deemed uninteresting, and a few secret rooms holding items too important or dangerous to put on public display.
Great Hall of Aureon: The grand temple to the god of knowledge at Morgrave University, the Great Hall of Aureon is an architectural marvel as well as a sacred site often visited by pilgrims. Scholars, scientists and artificers, and any others who seek knowledge have made a practice of spending the night in the Great Hall. They believe that inspiration will visit them while they sleep on the marble floor of the majestic temple. Some of Breland’s greatest minds through the ages have claimed that their greatest breakthroughs came after a night in the temple. Merrix d’Cannith (the grandfather of the current head of House Cannith in Sharn) attributed the invention of living constructs (the first warforged) to stay in the Great Hall of Aureon.
The Great Hall also provides a place to find experts in all fields. The temple staff represents the broad spectrum of scientific study, and if they do not know the answer to a question they can almost certainly find someone who does. The ordained clergy of the Great Hall include experts, wizards, loremasters, and bards, as well as clerics, and position in the hierarchy of the temple has nothing to do with character class or field of expertise.
Hadrill Gardens: Aundair Spire is crowned by the magnificent Hadrill Gardens, an extraordinary display of exotic plants, flowers, and even plant creatures from around the world. Access to the more dangerous plants is restricted to students in the botany department who have permission from a faculty member. There are nine greenhouses (including one devoted to orchids from Xen’drik and Q’barra) and a large open-air garden that is a popular site for romantic walks and meditation among both students and staff.
Lareth Hall: Named after the founder of Morgrave University, Lareth Hall holds the University’s administrative and faculty offices. This large domed structure at the center of the campus, situated at the top of Dalannan Tower, contains the office of president Larrian ir’Morgrave (N male human aristocrat 2/expert 5), along with the bursar’s and registrar’s offices, and—in a large chamber at the top of the dome—the abode of Flamewind, a gynosphinx.
Morgrave University Library: Centrally located on the University campus near the top of Dalannan Tower (just below the dome of Lareth Hall), the Morgrave University Library has the most extensive collection of books in all of Breland. It pales in comparison to the great library at Korranberg, but a significant number of Zilargo expatriates live in Den’iyas and work to make the Morgrave Library the best resource it can be.
History is clearly a specialty of the University, and those using the Morgrave Library for research into the history of Sharn or Xen’drik gain a +6 circumstance bonus on their Knowledge (history) checks. The Library offers a +4 circumstance bonus on Knowledge (history) checks related to other areas and on Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (dungeoneering), and Knowledge (geography) checks.
For all other Knowledge checks, the Library provides a +2 circumstance bonus.
Those without formal ties to Morgrave University must pay a fee of 1 gp per day to conduct research at the Library. Students, alumni, and those working for Morgrave can use the Library for free.
Shava House: Shava House, a small academic community on the campus of Morgrave University, was originally a housing unit for professors with no families. It has developed into more of an intentional community: the residents share meals heavily laden with academic discourse, and generally share an interest in the history of Xen’drik. An unassuming member of this commune is Dala Arand —a friendly scholar active in planning expeditions to Xen’drik, while also secretly serving as a spy for the Order of the Emerald Claw.
Valdain Museum of Natural History: Underfunded and unappreciated at a university so focused on ancient ruins and relics, the Valdain Museum is nevertheless a fascinating collection of carefully stuffed and mounted animals from across Khorvaire and beyond. The exhibits go far beyond mundane animals to include a wide variety of magical beasts, from blink dogs and displacer beasts to a great bulette, and an enormous dragon skeleton hangs from the ceiling above the museum entrance. The Valdain Museum is located near the top of Karrnath Spire.
Morgrave Lore
Papers can be obtained for a discreet fee from unscrupulous characters. Private lessons are available for those with the gold.
Old Servant of university; Zeisman, will talk at length about anything he knows. A doddering 90 year old man, with a perpetual dustcloud following him as the result of a half remembered cleaning spell.
Knowledge (Local) DC 25: There is a Secret doorway behind the loose paneling in the office of the Third High Chair of Arcane Studies. Leads into Sharn's most elegant Brothel.
University Council
Robbinn, a thin drooping man with a long egg-yellow mustache, thin nervous fingers.
Mattelouchous; stout and stuck up.
Canthus Melodiamat; The Languages Master. Black greasy hair, seems to have a permanent grimace sketched onto his face.
High Reeve Oramandus Dechamps; Bald with a beard of reds, browns, golds and grays.
Faculty;
The faculty of Morgrave University follow a loose hierchy, with each increasing promotion bringing greater priviliges, status, freedom and of course salary and recognition.
| Rank | Description | Salary/Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| President | Currently held by Larrian ir'Morgrave | TBD |
| Vice President | Chairs University Council meetings | TBD |
| University Council Member | This is in addition to holding a teaching position at Morgrave, they weigh in on major decisions regarding the schools operation at the Morgrave University Council. Usually have the title of Dean. | TBD |
| Department Head | Head of a specific department/Major, Title is Either a Dean if a member of the council, or Director | TBD |
| Department Chair | A specialized professor in a department/major, usually presides over a Minor Degree. Given title of Professor. Required to teach classes in the Major | Offered a condo at Shava House |
| Lecturer | Given an elective, or multiple electives, to teach. May be assigned to a Major or Minor after having some experience at the school. | TBD, paid by lecture |
| Research/Teaching Assistant | Usually a Grad student in their final year of study. Their performance is graded and then affects their job placement upon graduation. | No salary, Professors may pay them out of pocket however. |
| Name | Position | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Larrian ir’Morgrave | President of University | (N male human aristocrat 2/expert 5) |
| Director Professor "Dash" Dannigan | Head of Archaeology | Reknowned changeling explorer. |
| Professor McLaunagh | Head of Khorvairen Archaelogy | Picked up a Xen'driki disease when exploring, is a great mentor with tremendous patience, although he has a condescending demeanor at first which puts most off. |
| Director Sendor Reddick | Head of Biology | Professor Reddick is a taxidermist as well as a noted scholar in the field of animal biology. As curator of the Valdain Museum of Natural History, Reddick pays handsomely for well-preserved specimens of unusual creatures, though he prefers to stuff them himself. Some whisper that he dabbles in necromancy. |
| Professor Kona Erran | Head of Botany | Professor Erran is the head of the botany department and master of the Hadrill Gardens. A druid and a former adventurer, she is known to have ties with the Greensinger sect and—like that sect as a whole—she is regarded as a figure of mystery. |
| Dean Telfyr Brackett | Head of History Department | A learned and well travelled wizard. Overseas the Morgrave University Library and has a seat on the Morgrave University Council. |
| Professor Danid Vieran | Head of Dhakaani History | One of the world’s leading experts on the ancient Dhakaani Empire, and particularly the shining city of Ja’shaarat (which now lies buried beneath the deepest levels of Sharn), Professor Vieran is a bitter man. Though he views his work as profoundly significant to the modern city, and it is easily accessible even to the common populace, his research is constantly overshadowed by the more flashy and popular work being done in Xen’drik. His popularity among the students of the university certainly suffers because he is a terrible lecturer and generally a bore. |
| Professor Zophik | Head of Ancient History | Widely regarded as mad, Professor Zophik (she no longer uses her first name) has earned the right to some eccentricity. Her field is the Age of Demons, and she has supposedly traveled to ancient Ashtakala and survived, though not unscarred. |
| Ghash Duurkat | Lecturer | Though he has not yet been awarded a professorship (he carries the title of Lecturer), Ghash Duurkat is something of a popular sensation at Morgrave. A hobgoblin who wears traditional battle armor to every class, Duurkat is a boistrous lecturer, but behind the theatrics is a solid knowledge of Dhakaani history that rivals that of Professor Vieran. It is possible that more rumors spread around the university every year concerning the exploits of Ghash Duurkat than about any other member of the Morgrave community. |
| Alain Gourthan | Lecturer | Professor Gourthan has yet to make any dramatic discoveries, and that fact seems to grate on his nerves. His academic knowledge is superior to that of many of his colleagues, and he is known as an excellent lecturer, but his lack of significant field experience has held him back. Word is circulating that he plans a truly ambitious expedition to the far south of Xen’drik, which will almost certainly either make or break his career. |
| Flamewind | No position | Not technically a member of the university faculty, the gynosphinx called Flamewind is certainly one of the most interesting characters on the campus. She accompanied a recent expedition back from Xen’drik, and has taken up residence at the top of Lareth Hall’s great dome. She frequently summons adventurers to her chamber and sends them on cryptic missions, and she is said to have oracular powers. She is also known to have studied the draconic Prophecy. |
Degrees offered
Morgrave degrees require that you take a Major and a Minor is two different areas. For example you can Major in Practical Arcane Magic and Minor in Khorvairen History, or you can Major in Korvairen History with a minor in Artifice. Minor degrees are not as in-depth as a major, usually giving the student a working knowledge of the subject, enough to get by, but not enough to practice, teach or be considered an expert in the subject. A major is generally 3 years of dedicated study, and a minor is an additional year.
Students can take more than one major or minor and are able to take as many electives as they think they can handle. You can take more than one major or minor studying both concurrently, but most cannot handle the extra courseload of a double major. Exceptional students can potentially accomplish a double major with several minors in just four or five years.
Degree Majors Only
| Degree | Description | Suggested Minors |
|---|---|---|
| Archaeology | ||
| Medicine | ||
| Practical Arcane Magic | A study of the traditional Hermetic wizardry seen across Khorvaire. Students graduate with a mastery of 1st level spells, exceptional students may even achieve the 2nd level spells before graduation. Grad students have the option of specializing in one of the 8 magic schools in their 3rd year of study. | Artifice, History, Arcana, Dungeoneering, Planar Studies, Biology |
Degrees which can be Majors or Minors
| Degree | As a Major | As a Minor | Suggested Minors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artifice | |||
| Biology | |||
| History | An examination of the known history of Eberron. | ||
| Political Science | A study of the various governments of Khorvaire, as well as xeno-politics. Graduates with a Poli-Sci major are given an internship in an embassy, government office or even royal court. It is not uncommon for students to include | An overview of Governments of Khorvaire and their Interactions | Theology, History, Geography |
| Theology | |||
| A study of the gods of Khorvaire | History, Planar Studies, Languages |
Minor Degrees
| Botany |
| Business |
| Engineering |
| Geography |
| Languages |
| Military History/Tactics |
| Natural Science |
| Planar Studies |
| Psionics |
| Theoretical Arcana |
Elective Courses
Some majors require that you have several electives either before taking them or in addendum to them in order to be accredited. The student's educational advisor will assist them in that matter.
