The Royal Mage Academy is an important location in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Appearances[]
Details[]
The Mage Academy is founded by King Hythlodaeus V and is open to everyone who is willing to study magic without using an Igniter regardless of race. It is located inside the Principality of Montario. The ice dragon Sogne the Icebound and its corresponding divine relic, the Frost Sceptre, was once kept here and were targets for research.
However, right before a Saint's Day festival held shortly prior to the king's death, Sanctifex Forden took advantage of his depression over losing his son (which he orchestrated the assassination of) and manipulated him into shutting it down so he could monopolize magic through Igniters and further his grip on the country, under the premise that the academy has crossed into committing sedition through unauthorized attempts to tame a dragon and researching other "profane forces" in the mountains. As the king's mind was too weak to resist the treachery, he authorized Forden to suppress the Mage Academy. The Crown Theocracy then mobilized the State Army and the Monk Army to shut the academy down, kill any students and faculty who resist and destroy the artifacts within. However, the church's men did not dispose of the artifacts properly and accidentally unleashed Sogne the Icebound, who killed many of them, including Monk Captain Gideaux's predecessor, when they tried to destroy its container. The church's operations were further hampered when Saintess Rella intervened and used the Frost Sceptre to buy the students and faculty time to escape towards Altabury Heights by slowing down the Monk Army, allowing the Academy's magical knowledge to be passed in-secret under its nose. The number of causalities of this incident is equal to those of a small-scale war, implied to be mostly consisted of Monk Army and State Army soldiers killed by Sogne the Icebound's rampage. The Crown Theocracy then covered this incident up and claimed that it was a "war." For some time afterwards, the place where it once was is now a snow and ice-covered ruin.
The interior of Akademeia is based on the now-defunct Mage Academy. In particular, it resembles the king's favorite study room.
When confronting Rella, the true culprit of the prince's curse, she draws them to the now ice-covered ruins of the Mage Academy to start their battle. After her act of being a cold villainess was exposed by Junah, Rella summons Sogne the Icebound to battle the party in order to gauge their strength. Once the party defeats the dragon, she exposes Forden's crimes to the public and commits suicide by freezing herself in ice, freeing the prince of his curse and quickly rendering the Sanctist church politically impotent.
When the protagonist became king, he ordered the Mage Academy to be reopened and had Junah appointed to be its headmaster. While rebuilding the academy, the kingdom excavated a cat resembling Plateau, More's cat. It has followed Junah ever since.
List of students and faculty[]
- Hythlodaeus V -- founder
- Juani Cygnus -- new headmaster
- Julian Ruta Castiglione -- the youngest person to ever gain a position in the academy
- The elderly entomophile in Port Brilehaven
- Hector's new owner