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Set out about a modest campus overlooking the town of Blackstone in the New River Valley, the university at first glance looks very much like any other small liberal-arts college, in an ordinary college town. Its buildings are mostly brick in the gothic-revival style typical of academe. Many are even covered in ivy. While certainly picturesque, the green quads of the campus hardly seem extraordinary. For years, the college served to conceal the county's ruling freehold, however, behind the easily dismissable guise of an unusually active Theater Department, led by the charismatic, eccentric Professor Rose Mondie. Known to kithain as the former Countess Rosamund of House Fiona, Professor Mondie subsisted on the creativity of the students she inspired. Her position grew precarious, however, as with time and tenure, more duties within the University administration -- many of them rather dreary and Banal -- required her attention. The loss of funding to Blackstone's summer-stock Shakespeare program threated a major source of Glamour from the countess' Dreamers, and at last the countess decided the time had come to settle her title upon her son and heir, wrap up her affairs, and seek a place in the Dreaming where fading and forgetting could be long postponed. Banality also threatens in the relatively high concentration of Autumn People who attend Blackstone to acquire purely functional degrees, and faculty who teach from a rationalist, unimaginative perspective, seeking a feeling of security by labelling, classifying and de-mystifying the world around them. Fortunately, few of these choose to pursue a degree in Theater. Law Enforcement is a popular major for some, but there is a noticeable drop-out rate amongst those who schedule a class in forensic science. The reason for this is Blackstone University's other resident kithain professor, visiting lecturer Doctor Oswald Spuklisch, a sluagh who is a recognized authority on the identification and forensic study of human remains. Dr. Spuklisch derives a cold pleasure from confronting the short-sighted or unimaginitive with the horror of their own mortality. In spite of his obviously Unseelie nature, he earned the countess' respect, if not her unguarded approval, for his ability to rid the campus of some very banal souls indeed. While awaiting a baron or baroness with more firm ties to the theater department, the freehold of Caer Ondomorna lies in his custodianship. By far the largest number of kithain to be found at Blackstone are students, wilder fae still intent upon making their mark upon the world. In college life, they find freedom from direct parental authority and control while still being sheltered from many of the more tedious requirements of adult life. Few kithain who enroll here remain in the area after graduation however, and so the fae population remains fairly stable, but sees many new faces over the course of any four years. Their favored haunt -- patronized as well by kithain and like-minded mortals, is the unpretentious bar and grill in town called the Kettle, managed by the countess' troll thane and bard, Lorloch Sytrisdattir. From the Alumni Garden, a quiet and usually empty corner of campus between the library and the theater building, a rath opens into the Rose Garden at Caer Ondomorna, a small homestead founded by Countess Rosamund when she had first come to the area in fulfillment of a Fior demanded by the late Count Vathek as a test of her right to baronage. A discreet search is being conducted for kithain with academic credentials willing to relocate to the region and assume responsibility for the care of the freehold. |
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Blackstone campus is not supported by its own chatroom. Scenes set here should be played in the Rowan-Oak Chat instead. Keep this page's URL handy for setting the scene. Open the rath in the Alumni Garden and enter the Rose Garden at Caer Ondomorna. Stop in at the Kettle for a drink, a bite to eat or to relax with friends. |
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