Uesaga Institute

The Uesaga Institute, located in the Moonrabbit Hills in the east of Yarjaeryn, is a school of magic education founded by the mage Tallulah of Apis in the year 278PD.

The Institute is known for its selective admittance rates and for its status as one of the last remaining all-female magic school. Students at Uesaga range in age from 13 to 22, and dedicate anywhere between five and seven years to their undergraduate studies; postgraduate programs vary much more widely in their duration, though participants typically must be 20 years or older in order to enroll.

History
The Uesaga Institute was founded by Tallulah, a human mage who hailed from the Yarja town of Apis. Most schools of magic in Im-Tanyn and its neighboring continent, Syaphar, only accepted male students at the time of the Institute's foundation; if female students were admitted, it was at a rate of less than 50 students per term.

Tallulah, who had begun her training in magic under the witch who lived just outside Apis, sought to create an institution where the gift of magic could be passed more readily and widely onto talented young women. Uesaga began as a hedge school, where Tallulah and a small group of experienced mages coached local girls in the magical arts -- enchantment, conjuration, astronomy, potionmaking, among others.

While it was perfectly normal for people of all genders to practice magic, the news of an informal school headed by women and held outside of the premises of a proper campus caused something of a stir among academics. The then-headmaster of Marsodium College referred to the formation of this hedge school as "a display of flagrant disregard and disrespect for imaginable order in the world of magical education." (One of Tallulah's colleagues at the hedge school is said to have responded via familiar with a message that simply said: "Precisely, you simpleton.")

Despite the opposition from other administrators of magic schools, Tallulah went on to conduct business as usual at Uesaga, which had been named such by the year 285. By then, many of the girls trained in magic there had gone on to seek out professional opportunities. One such student was Zenhua Underblade, a dwarf who soon became the trusted advisor and apothecary of Lord Aakst of Danczhuun.