"OK now, I'll begin. The Baelan is the regional base of the Academy in the Triple Cities. The building we're standing in right now was completed in 1116, but the Academy's presence in Yaleth goes back hundred of years earlier. The original Baelan stood on Royal Hill. It lay a little to the south of what was then the palace and is now the Tukas Halls of Justice. It predates the Triple Cities, going back to the times when, as you know, Yaleth was the capital of the old Kingdom of Dorlaf, and Jalkin and Forgar were just tiny villages. The Baelan was built in the 500's and was one of the first regional centres the Academy set up outside Erenland. They later set up centres in the capitals of Elsey, Kratz and all the other kingdoms in the east."
"The old and new buildings show how the Academy's position has changed. Take a look at paintings of the first Baelan. It was a thumping great obelisk of a place, threatening as hell, perched right on the crest of the hill. They say it gleamed a cream-white during daytime and glowed all different colours during the night, which may well be true. Note also its proximity to the palace. Back in the old days the Academy had clout in these lands, make no mistake. The monarchies were weak, people were vulnerable and gullible. Churches might have offered alternative remedies but they've always had less immediate impact than magic. The government were always running to the Academy for advice, wizards even sat on Privy Councils and the like. The Academy also controlled us herbalists, and through the herbalists they could control the people. There also wasn't a major construction project which didn't rely on magic somewhere, mainly to hold the slabs of stone in place before they were secured. When they built the Triple Cities in the 1000's, that was with Academy help. Which I've always considered to be as neat a way of lighting your own pyre as you can find."
"After the eastern kingdoms were conquered by the Erish Empire, the status of the regional centres were preserved. The Academy was opposed to the Empire but couldn't do anything because of its ancient charters forbidding interference in politics. When the Empire collapsed and the old kingdoms merged to form the Confederacy of Christoté, the Academy naturally closed its centres elsewhere and concentrated on developing the Baelan in Yaleth. Unfortunately the old building had been half-destroyed in the liberation of Yaleth from the Erish and was never properly repaired. As you might know, the Baelan assisted in the construction of Jalkin and Forgar and the rebuilding of Yaleth to form the Triple Cities. When the work was completed we decided to follow their example and build an entirely new centre for ourselves - the building where we stand. We decided to make the new Baelan less dominating, if you like less an edifice and more an institution. There would be more space set aside for teaching and education, less devotion to sorcerous experiments and more emphasis on books and knowledge. We also tried to make the Baelan more reflective of the country we're in. As with the Cities itself, magic was used in the construction but local architects and masons also played crucial roles. All of the furniture and decoration you'll see is Christotan - paintings by Jalkin artists, lace from Sharsaw, tapestries from Eriscath, Chorley metalwork, Velb pottery and so on."
"The truth is, once the Cities was
built, Christoté began on the road to real wealth, power and arrogance. When that happened the Academy's power in
the country was finished. You can talk
about clashes of culture or a new national ethos or whatever. What it boils down to is that we didn't like
them, we didn't need them and they cost too much money. A bit like royalty. So Christoté stood up to the Academy and
they couldn't do anything about it. For
example, they said no more help in construction projects. We said "And...?" And we went and invented damn great cranes
to suspend the masonry blocks instead.
More expensive than waving a wand but savings were made elsewhere. The old Baelan got thousands of gold a year
from Kingdom of Dorlaf grants. The new
one gets nothing from the public purse.
The Baelan became poor and marginalised and you can see that at a
glance. If they had any sort of clout
left they'd have put the new building in Jalkin, close to Huwdone House. Instead they're not even in central Yaleth
any more, but tucked away in a south district where no-one goes. It might be bigger than before but it's a
hell of a nondescript place, you can't tell what it is from the outside. Bear that in mind as well. The Academy's grown no more humble in the
modern world but they've become a lot more secretive."
"Incidentally, the word 'Baelan' comes from the Jurick tongue they speak in Erenland. Logically enough, it means 'Secondary Base.'
"I can't remember what the name means. It's probably something not very exciting, and in Elvish or some daft tongue like that. Usually, if something's named in a foreign language it's because they couldn't think of anything original and're trying to hide the fact. Take Christoté - it just means 'Eastern Lands'. When the Confederacy was formed it was the only thing they could find which didn't offend anyone. They had to slip it into Elvish because it sounded so dull."
"The new site <of the Baelan> lay in the obscurity of Fallows, a neighbourhood just west of the River Brail which contained almost nothing of note, be it famous landmarks, main roads, docks, major industries, city gates or crippling social problems. All it had was the Baelan, and no-one seemed to be aware that it possessed that either. People only knew the base to be "somewhere in Yaleth" and left it at that. Kenner had fortunately been supplied with a street name. However, he had reached the town centre before realising that he had no idea where the street was either. Half a dozen Yalethites had to be asked before a knowledgeable one was found.
"When he finally arrived, the Baelan complex was far too large not to be conspicuous, but it was unmarked and seemed to skulk in a hollow in the ground. It was protected by an oval of tall, amber walls which bulged outwards at the top, presumably to prevent people from climbing in. The walls were unadorned but had a slightly unusual look, and when Kenner touched them they felt too smooth and cold to simply be stone. The one break in the walls came from a heavy, barred door. After a suspicious porter had reluctantly given him ingress Kenner could see that the outer walls ran almost up to the main building. Only a small courtyard at the front, a garden at the back and a narrow path around the sides were permitted to flourish in the gap.
"Kenner spent some time squinting at the front of the Baelan, and saw the rest of the outside whilst on Calli's guided tour. However much he stared, it still wasn't comprehensible. It looked like a building which was almost folding up on itself. Most of its walls sloped inwards as they climbed, overlapping one another in places. The overall shape was vaguely rectangular but it was a highly irregular one, with little points, curves and corners flourishing everywhere. There seemed to be no single roof either, with the walls ending at a dozen different levels and tiles and guttering appeared where they could. As with Huwdone House from Parliament Square, many grandiose buildings are designed to be viewed from a specific point. To truly visit the great Garran Church in Yaleth, for example, you should climb the flights of steps on the northern slopes of Royal Hill, passing under numerous arches and gateways to be finally confronted by the magnificent central basilica on the highest plateau. Bombastic and overbearing, possibly, but there was logic behind the planning. It was hard to imagine the best dimension, physical or mental, from which to appreciate the Baelan. The walls were mostly coloured beige but this was interspersed with parallel layers of a darker coloured stone. Intentional or not, the effect reminded Kenner of cliff faces. There were a few nods to more conventional architecture - carved roof eaves, for example, and an ostentatious portico with fluted columns and a decorated crest - but Kenner noticed a universal trend was being bucked. Someone had carelessly forgotten to give the Baelan any windows.
"The main entrance hall, at least, was similar to all grand entrance halls he had seen. Chandeliers hung from a high ceiling, lush ruby carpets and brilliant patchwork rugs covered the floors. The wall decorators eschewed murals, concentrating on long lines of elderly canvas paintings which depicted stern-faced men in grand wizardry robes. Calli pointed out one of Roel Maydark, the founder of the Academy of Magic, a hunched figure in ermine with an expression like a stoat sizing up its dinner. Small closed doors ran the length of the room, and at the far end a grand double staircase with marble handrails fashioned like entwined lengths of rope climbed upwards. One oddity was twin stacks of rough stone blocks, carved with inexplicable symbols, which stood on either side of the front doors. Calli explained that these were rune-locks which were activated each night, making the doors impossible to open and thus the Baelan impregnable. She added that it was a purely routine precautionary measure to guard against attack by rogue magicians. Kenner, noting the size and solidity of the doors, reflected the Baelan had also protected itself against physical assault, from an angry mob of locals for example. (Though rioters would have to bring street plans as well as torches if they were going to attack the Baelan). Another curious object was a large silver globe hanging in the air at the far end of the room with no discernible supporting rope or function. Calli simply described it as "Ulrich's ball" and she and her mysterious guest giggled. Kenner got the impression that a Society joke had been told, and a rude one at that.
(from A Shining Light)