Ornel
From Jolkein
Ornel, is a small yet important town in kingdom of SMAUG founded by a scholar who left the ROYAL ACADEMY FOR LEARNING to pursue his dreams. The town was founded some time in 2110, when several scholars and teachers from the ROYAL ACADEMY left and established a college known as the ORNEL UNIVERSITY. This group left the academy, when the school board imposed very strict rule towards the non noble students and could no longer swallow the favoritism of the board towards the nobles and the inequality imposed to them. The group then left the capital and began to exchange their knowledge which each other in public lectures and thus starting the ORNEL UNIVERSITY. During the early stages of the towns history, the university lectures only occurred at night for fear of persecution, because during that time the only school allowed to operate was the ROYAL ACADEMY. The next few years saw the gradual increase of student population, the students leave and study in the several living structures in the village. From these buildings the professors taught their students by visiting them at night to give their lectures and seminars. By 2125, a group of professors left to go to the UNIVERSITY OF BRIGONIA in order to ask permission if they would confer the degrees of the students in their school. The UNIVERSITY OF BRIGONIA board of governors granted their request and thus they began conferring degrees to students in 2127. Since then the UNIVERSITY OF BRIGONIA and the ORNEL UNIVERSITY has had a strong link with each other. In 2150, the SMAUGIN government found out the existence of the college and orders its immediate closure. The colleges in Ornel were closed for the next 25 years, but by 2175 the colleges were granted royal charter to continue their academic programs and for the colleges were given university status, meaning they are now allowed to grand degrees by themself. Eventhough the colleges became a university they did not broke their tie with the UNIVERSITY OF BRIGONIA and even began to exchange students and also began a friendly athletic competition every five years which is still practiced today. The ORNEL UNIVERSITY is ranked as the second best performing college in the country after the ROYAL ACADEMY OF LEARNING. The university has an estimated 840 enrolled undergraduate and post graduate students.
[edit] Ornel University Colleges
The ORNEL UNIVERSITY currently has five constituent college namely; the University College, the Ardwúrf College, the Sant Raind School of Trade and Arts, the Arturk Von Graier College, and the Sardocq College. All of these colleges are situated in the town of ORNEL. The Sant Raind School of Trade and Arts is the newest college to incorporate to the university, Sant Raind's only offers courses which deals with liberal arts and trade disciplines. The only other college to specialised in a particular discipline is the Von Graier College which offers primarily law studies. The ORNEL UNIVERSITY and its colleges offers a very diverse academic programs to choose from. Each academic year in the university is divided into two semesters and between each semester there are long breaks from which the students take time to be away from their studies. The town of ORNEL is home not only to the university but also to the COLLEGE OF GORALð, another Higher Educational Institution, the college of GORALð was founded by a former peasant who earned his freedom after escaping to the capital. It specializes in agronomy and botany studies and is ranked the third best school in SMAUG. The village folks are mostly traders who sell books and other materials or are working in the two colleges in the area.
