Sigil Prep (3.5e Campaign Setting)/Cultures

Life at Sigil Prep

Sigil Prep is one of the top ranked schools of its kind in all the known planes. It is known not only for its academic standards, but also for the quality of student life. There are a number of activities, clubs, and student centers to engage the young mind.

Admissions

Admission is not restricted by race, gender, or alignment. The school requires an entrance exam, and a nominal tuition which must be paid in gold, gemstones, or personal check up front. Student Aid is available, as are a number of scholarships.

Time and Schedules

School runs for nine months out of the year (leaving the summer months open for students of most planes). Summer classes are offered. Classes run around the clock, so students can set their schedules any way they want, taking all their classes in blocks, or spreading them out across the day. Most students choose to take one or two days off each week, though the school offers classes on every day.

Most students take a five year program, though gifted students have finished in under four, while some take a few extra years to finish. There are also graduate programs for the especially gifted, though many choose to take their graduate classes at our sister school, Union Conservatory.

The school allows for the holy days of each student's religion, and allows for excused absences on those days.

Lay of the Land

Sigil Preparatory Academy lies within the City of Sigil, floating high above the Central Spire of the Outlands. The city itself is inside a massive ring, completely self-contained. Looking up, you can see the other side of the ring far above. It's awe-inspiring at first, until you realize your next period class is somewhere up there. The campus itself is in the seldom mentioned (by the rest of the city) ward called Sigil East (East of where is uncertain). Students often enjoy outings into town, though the campus itself has much to offer.

The Sigil Prep campus is huge and complex. Rumor suggests it was designed by Slaadi, and built by entirely other Slaadi, and even that does not explain the difficulty in getting around the place. See the Campus Directory for more details.

Student Life (by Maddie Webber, Drow Rogue/Cleric and student body representative)

You've probably heard that Sigil Prep is a party school. Yeah, the school's gonna give you the old line, blah-blah-blah dances, blah-blah-blah spring carnival, blah-blah-blah mage fairs. The real action is in the dorms. My dorm, your dorm, Professor Raistlin's place, the basement of the Otiluke Building. There's a party somewhere every night. Alcohol is strictly forbidden on campus, but really, are the gonna expel everybody? No way.

Probably our claim to fame is our football team for whom, ahem, I am head cheerleader. Division champs twenty-five of the past thirty years. We also have top ranked track and swimming teams, but we're competitive in all Division A sports, as well as having a nearly comprehensive intramural sport program. Do athletes get special treatment? Hell, yeah.

Let's not forget the numerous clubs. Get involved in as much as possible, people. Clubs build character. I can't begin to tell you how valuable my experience with Students for Lolth has been. They not only help you socialize, but there's the prestige later on. I am virtually guaranteed to arise to high priestess when I go back to Menzoberranzan, and not just because I've already laid the groundwork for the assassination of the current high priestess. No, it's because of the clout I've garnered from my years at Sigil Prep.

Your room

Students below Junior are required to live in the dorm. Most students above that level live on campus as well. Each room is equipped with two beds, two desks, two chests of drawers, and two chairs, specially chosen to be as uncomfortable as possible. Among the features of your dorm is a bulb of light, which, upon speaking a command word, will illuminate the room as if with a Daylight spell. A second command word will discontinue the effect.

Also in each room is an Aesthetic Climate (or AC) enchantment. When a command word is spoken, the AC will lower the room's temperature by one degree per minute, until a second command is spoken. Another word will work in reverse, raising the temperature at an equal rate. If the room is uninhabited for over an hour, the AC instantly returns to ambient temperature.

While you are free to decorate your room as you see fit, extensive changes such as painting and Stronghold Enchantments require approval from the Housing Department. Please see Mr. Roper in sub-basement J of the Admissions Building.

Division A Sports

Sigil Prep is a Division A school, meaning it participates in the highest level of InterCosmology sporting events. Although we play all Division A sports, we are, of course, most notable for Gridiron ("American", whatever that means) Football.

Division A uses all the standard mundane rules, plus the following modifications. Athletes play in Size Rating divisions, with the Medium-Sized division being the most prominent. (Our Large team is competitive as well. We do not play in Huge or larger teams, and Small plays exhibition games only). Players can use magic items, but only those that buff or otherwise effect only the player using them, and only in a continuous manner (no use activated or charged items). This includes, but is not limited to: +1 or higher pads and helmets, shoes of springing and striding, belts of strength, etc. Further, players may use Magic only during huddles or time outs, or prior to game play. Likewise, magic may only be used to affect the player or his teammates, not opposing players, or referees.

Cheerleaders may use magic from the sidelines throughout the game, but only to: 1) buff or otherwise affect their own players, or 2) to dispell or counter effects by opposing cheerleaders or players. They may not utilize Magic that would affect the other team in any way (other than dispelling effects).

There may be no interference, Magical or otherwise, from Coaches, benched team members, fans, or concession workers.

For these purposes, Magic includes any spells, spell-like abilities, psionics, infusions, soulmelds, mysteries, visages, utterances, non-continuous supernatural abilities, or other magical effects.