Pearls of the North – Oxenfurt

Journal entry
Oxenfurt - a gem snuggling into the bosom of the Pontar to the east of Novigrad. A cradle erected upon Redanian soil, nurturing the greatest minds not only of that kingdom, but of all the North. To walk its hallowed Academy's halls is to embark on a journey through learning, from the finests points of Philosophy to the grandest strokes of Art, with stops made to admire Architecture and dissect Medicine along the way.

Peer to either side, and you will spy fellow travelers in your pilgrimage of learning - the students. They throng Oxenfurt's streets, lending it an indelible imprint of youth that can be felt the moment you pass through its gates. Dormitories stand cheek by jowl, booksellers hawk used tomes on every corner, and under every tree fresh faces debate poetry with passion.

Yet youth is not all slate and compass, and the young here shirk none of its other typical pastimes. Raucous and merry are the city streets, both by day and, even more so, by night. Through the city councilors have forbidden the sale of alcohol after dusk, no one seems eager to enforce this with stricture - and wisely so, for any loss of sleep is more than made up for by gains: profits to fatten its inkeepers' pockets, and the late-night crooning of troubadours to enrich its soul.

As for architecture, of particular note are the recently renovated elven aqueducts used to clean the city sewers. They stand as witness to the city's innovative spirit - you will not find their like in all the civilized world. Yet dominating the town's architectural visage like a glistening crown is the complex of buildings that comprises the Oxenfurt Academy. Few today remember that these edifices, constructed by the elves, predate the city itself - it is the institution that named the city, not vice-versa.

Today Oxenfurt Academy enjoys a reputation matched only by the Imperial Academy of Nilfgaard. Of greatest renown - the departments of Alchemy, Natural History, Minstrelsy and Poetry, Medicine and Herbology, Engineering and, last but certainly not least, Philosophy.