Tada gan iarracht.

� motto of the Collegio


Founded in -144LL�well before Regnan unification�the powerful institution now known as the Collegio actually began as an accident. The founders of those disparate and largely unrelated schools and salons which gradually merged to form the Collegio never intended for that to be the end result, and many even started out in competition�or actually arose as a device thereof.

Regna has a long history of encouraging scholarship and the arts, which behavior became a keystone of its success as it pulled ahead of other nations, scientifically. Paintings and tapestries dating back over a thousand years depict the queens of Lombard attending concerts, sitting for portraits, and looking on as commissioned sculptures or frescoes are in progress. The actual works of art that have survived from the time before unification are as varied as the philosophical and political treatises of the pre-federal era, indicating that Regnans were deeply invested not only in subsidizing the labors of the mind and soul, but also in supporting the diversity of ideas from many great sources and thinkers.

The practice of patronage was institutionalized, over time, transforming into a sort of unspoken policy for Regna. Each successive queen made it her business to leave a legacy of civics and humanities ever greater than her forebears'. The foundation for the Collegio, itself, was laid by Anastasia IV Regina di Corio in -310LL, when she ordered a great public works project to landscape a small, uninhabitable islet adjacent to Lombard. This dot of land metamorphosed, under the influence of great architects and an enormous amount of money, into a floating garden: An arboretum meant to showcase beautiful trees and flowers from around the world, received as ceremonial gifts from other world leaders of the time. The construction also included the beginnings of what has grown to become the famous Lombardi Sea Wall�the artificial barrier that protects Regna's capital waters from the worst ravages of the ocean wind and weather, creating the placid womb of Lombard Harbor.

When the arboretum was finished, Anastasia IV petitioned her counterparts in the neighboring realms to participate in a showcasing of multinational art and science. Master painters, composers, sculptors, writers, playwrights, chefs, engineers, and spellwrights were invited to craft and display innovative and subversive works, and all events were opened to the public. This "world's faire" generated enormous success and profit, as well as interest in the many disciplines demonstrated. Potential geniuses from throughout the region saw that Regna was willing to go to great lengths to enshrine the arts and sciences as worthy of pursuit, and soon the gradual migration of academia toward Lombard became noticeable.

The influx into Regna of inventors, creators, and the magically gifted is a memorable point of Anastasia IV's reign. During her twilight years, she publicly recognized the need for stable scholastic and humanitarian spaces, and penned the now-famous Concessione Reale dal Collegio, bequeathing a land grant to the public domain which included the original islet near Lombard. A sizable sum was donated for the construction of a conservatory there, where citizens could pay a nominal fee to study with great minds of the age. This Forum dal Savrano laid the groundwork for the modern Collegio, and was the first "public school" in Regnan history.

Later queens added more to the islet, leaving their own marks in the form of concert and debate halls, theaters, numerous libraries, and�eventually�arcane laboratories. The consolidation of the region's eight most prestigious magical organizations into the Gilda Magia in -223LL was overshadowed only by its relocation to the Isola di Fora in -186LL, which transition was crucial to the approaching centralization of the many institutions on the island. In fact, it was during planning for the Gilda Magia's new joint college that an important loophole was discovered in the Concessione Reale dal Collegio, wherein the document's wording allowed for the creative legal reinterpretation that the island�and everything on it�was technically sovereign from Regna.

While the Twinned Throne could easily have quashed such suggestions in the courts, then-queen Victoriana II Regina di Corio opted for the more liberal approach and granted the little island its independence. This was the penultimate turning point for the local scholarly and artistic community, because the informal tradition of welcoming all to partake of the affected institutions made the leap into Regnan law: By order of the crown, places of learning became sacrosanct as any church or cathedral, off-limits to all military incursions and protected from outside interference by all governments, consortia, faiths, and other special interest groups. While the Isola di Fora had customarily been left to its own devices up to that point, in any case, it was now official that those in search of free thought and learning could indeed find sanctuary there.

Although the new protectorate theoretically owed nothing to Regna, necessity dictated the two continue to work together, to their mutual benefit: Barring massive reconstruction efforts, the island was only large enough to contain the dormitories and classroom buildings already present, or at least it did not have sufficient space to reasonably self-support. Food, textiles, and other goods were donated by the people of Lombard to keep the place running, and in return attendance was made free for citizens of Regna. When the many factions finally established a lasting public identity and consciousness in -144LL, becoming Isola di Collegio, this pledge of admission was extended to the peoples of Greendale, who had already surrendered themselves to Regnan vassalage by that date.

Despite its independence from Regna, the Collegio was also a major element in the queendom's rise to power. Regna was the first and primary beneficiary of every new thought, machine, spell, or technology that filtered out of the university island, the quantity and quality of which only expanded over the decades as talent drifted from neighboring demesnes to the Collegio. By the time Livia Drusilla I Regina di Corio ascended the Twinned Throne in -19LL, the economies of Greendale and Arcadia were no longer sustainable without Regnan intervention, thanks to the prevalence of far superior Regnan ships, industry, manufacturing, and magic. Thus, in a very real way, it can be said that the eventual payoff of the ancient queens' patronage of and love for the arts and sciences�the modern Collegio�is indirectly responsible for the formation of the Federation, itself.

Since the unification, the Collegio has received consistent support from all the region's city-states, guaranteeing ever greater accomplishments and loftier goals. The edification of Federal spellwrights has led to the demystification of magical practices in all civilized areas, though the most rural of communities (particularly in Arcadia) still remain somewhat superstitious of those who wield power beyond simple hedge-wizardry or midwifery. Likewise, the pet project of Geltrude I Regina di Corio�grandmother to the current queen�was the establishment of the fora minora program: Federally-funded schools, managed by the Collegio, built in every major city to ensure that all citizens of the Federation could receive a critical education in mathematics, literature, science, philosophy, history, and the arts. These "little Collegia" have had a dramatic impact on the awareness and attitude of the newest generation of Regnans, demonstrating immense success in teaching the average person to think for themselves and to value progress and humanism.