St. Icarus University

About St. Icarus University:

Location:
Hidden somewhere in the Scottish Highlands, nestled between crag-covered cliffs and eternally gray skies. It does not appear on conventional maps. The forest around it is dense and disorienting, often shifting with the seasons... and the sins committed within.Founded:
Unknown. Official documents say 1421, but references to its halls appear in letters and texts from centuries earlier—always spoken of in hushed tones. Some say the university itself moves, settling only where the veil is thinnest.Structure & Architecture:
Gothic and sprawling. Endless archways. Candlelit halls. Stone gargoyles carved with uncanny accuracy. Lecture halls lined with stained glass depictions not of saints—but of scholars in agony, blindfolded angels, and gods with mouths sewn shut.
There are wings no one is allowed into. Towers that appear only in storms. A bell that tolls at midnight even when no one hears it being rung.Atmosphere:
Unsettling calm. Even the students don’t speak too loudly. Eyes in portraits follow you. Certain hallways always feel a few degrees colder. You’ll forget what you came for when you enter the library—especially the west wing. Some say it contains books that write back.Student Body:
A mix of privileged intellectuals, scholarship recipients, and strange transfers from unnamed institutions. All of them seem to share one thing in common: they don’t belong anywhere else. They are often beautiful, haunted, and brilliant in ways that scare normal people.Rules (Unspoken):
Never ask a professor about their past.
Never open a locked door.
The chapel is always open—but no one goes there after midnight.
If you hear your name whispered from behind a bookshelf, walk away.
If your professor asks you to stay after hours... say yes, or no. Either answer changes your life.
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Motto:
"Per Luxuriam et Sapientiam Incendimur."
"Through Desire and Wisdom, We Burn."

Student Societies:

1. The Bone Lantern SocietyDomain: Anatomy Hall | Abandoned Morgue beneath the Medical Wing
Members: Students of medicine, philosophy, necrotheology, and trauma studies
Symbols: A flickering lantern carved from ivory, often worn as a pendantDescription:
The Bone Lantern Society gathers at night to dissect more than just cadavers. They hold ritualistic discussions on death as transformation, the philosophy of decomposition, and what a body remembers after death. Some say they possess ancient bones not meant for study—bones that hum when the right questions are asked. Others suspect they’ve reanimated more than frogs.Initiation rumor: You must spend an hour locked in the cold chamber… alone… with a whispering skull.2. The Veil CollectiveDomain: The Observatory Tower | Hidden below the Astronomy Wing
Members: Those with dreams too vivid, psychics, linguists, and students who study “unsanctioned” texts
Symbols: A blindfolded owl or spiral ink drawn behind the earDescription:
No one speaks aloud in the Veil Collective. They communicate through dreams, coded letters, or ritual trance. Obsessed with unlocking the language of forgotten gods, they seek communion with whatever lies beyond the stars. It’s said they meet in total darkness, and that members forget their names during meetings—only to find new ones whispered into their minds by the dark.Initiation rumor: You must translate a dream written in an extinct language, or lose a night of sleep to the entity that teaches you.3. The Fifth EyeDomain: Lower Library Archives | Hidden behind a shelf that doesn’t move unless bled on
Members: Historians, political theorists, illusionists, secret-keepers
Symbols: An eye drawn on parchment, burned at the edgesDescription:
Dedicated to information, manipulation, and control, The Fifth Eye records everything. Every affair. Every scandal. Every hidden passage. Their archives are coded in personal diaries, stolen correspondences, and illustrations of faculty in compromising positions. They know who wants who. They know who's broken. And they know how to break more.Initiation rumor: You must provide a secret that, if revealed, would ruin you—or someone else. They’ll write it in ink only they can read.4. The Thorns of ErosDomain: The Old Greenhouse | Overgrown and locked at all hours
Members: Poets, artists, students of sexual theology and hedonistic philosophy
Symbols: A pressed rose in a leather-bound book, petals always blackDescription:
They study desire like others study war—strategically, obsessively. The Thorns host illicit salons, write erotic confessions, and believe that to love is to suffer, and to suffer is to create. Many suspect this group caused the infamous “Crimson Spring” where half the literature department disappeared into a months-long orgy and emerged traumatized—but brilliant.Initiation rumor: You must write a confession to someone you've never touched—but always wanted. Then, read it aloud… to a room where they might be listening.5. The Lazarus ChapelDomain: The Sealed Crypt beneath the university chapel
Members: Ex-seminarians, exorcism scholars, heretical theology majors
Symbols: A red string tied around the wrist, hidden beneath clothingDescription:
They don’t worship. They prepare. The Lazarus Chapel believes something is coming—something divine or unholy or both. They perform mock-rituals based on corrupted scripture, reenact forbidden exorcisms, and claim to have witnessed faculty performing rites that shouldn’t exist. Their leader is always masked. Some say it’s a student. Others believe it’s a faculty member.Initiation rumor: You must spend the night inside the confessional. But you’re not alone. And the thing inside... doesn’t want forgiveness.

Curriculum:

Courses Offered:
St. Icarus only accepts “gifted” minds—those touched by brilliance, obsession, or madness. Fields of study include:Classical Literature (Ashcroft)
Theology and Forbidden Doctrine (Devereux)
Esoteric History
Psychology of Desire
Philosophy of Death
Language of the Divine
Comparative Sin Studies
Occult Rhetoric (unofficial, often whispered about)

Faculty:

Staff:
Geniuses. Lunatics. Heretics. Priests. Fallen saints. The faculty is composed of those who either escaped somewhere worse… or were banished from something better. No one teaches at St. Icarus without bleeding for the right.