Nawadzi School for Forgotten Folk

The Nawadzi School for Forgotten Folk is a magically concealed university for young Folk coming into their inheritance, founded in 1850 and sited in Nawadzi Valley in the Eastern Sierras. It is the oldest university in the western half of North America: older than UC Berkeley (1868), older than Stanford (1885), older than any institution on the continent west of the Wildcat Schools. Neither Berkeley nor Stanford is aware of this, and neither ever will be.

The campaign begins here.

Founding (1850)

Folk immigrants arriving on the Pacific coast through the 1840s sought a place to build an academy far from both Spanish colonial surveillance to the south and the growing American presence on the coast. A small founding circle found their way to Nawadzi Valley through the Owens Valley Paiute families already living and traveling through the region, and were granted leave to build there in a relationship of reciprocity and mutual defense.

Construction of the first buildings (what are now the Great Hall and the original eastern dormitory) began in the summer of 1850. The first class of twelve students entered in the autumn of 1852.

The 1862-63 War and the Stewarding Families

In 1862 and 1863, settler militias and US Army detachments waged a campaign of violence against the Owens Valley Paiute, culminating in the forced march of survivors to Fort Tejon in July 1863. During these months, the school’s wards were thrown open to Paiute families seeking refuge, and the Underpath smuggled as many more out through the goblin tunnels as the goblins could move.

Many families, having lost homes, fields, and relatives, chose to remain in the valley after the war ended. Their descendants have lived on campus continuously ever since, and are today known as the Stewards of Nawadzi. By 1990, the Stewards have held key operational and leadership roles at the school for five generations. The current Head Steward sits on the school’s governing council alongside the Rector and the Dean of Lineages.

(This page will grow as you write it. The Paiute side of campus life and leadership is for you, not me.)

Structure

The campus is arranged around the Great Hall at the valley’s center, with academic buildings radiating outward and residential buildings set among the trees. The Forest River (a fast snowmelt creek) forms the southern boundary, ward-anchored at multiple points along its course.

Key buildings and spaces:

Great Hall: dining, ceremony, major announcements
Forest River: southern ward boundary, used heavily for outdoor instruction in warmer months
(more stubs to come)

The Veil (Wards)

The school is protected by layered wards maintained jointly by the faculty and the Stewards:

Concealment. The valley is unfindable by map, camera, satellite, or aircraft. The boulder-gate is the primary ground portal.
Anti-Teleportation. No magical transit is possible within valley bounds. See The Anti-Teleportation Ward.
Snow Dampening. Walkways and the central campus grounds are warded to reduce snowfall to a manageable depth.

Winter Operations

The school operates year-round. From late November through April or May, the Big Pine Pass trail is buried, and the only route in or out is the goblin-run Underpath. Student travel during this period is restricted, expensive, and subject to Steward escort. Winter term is often considered the school’s richest, with fewer interruptions and a natural closeness born of isolation.

Governance

The Rector. (TBD) Chief academic officer, elected by faculty.
The Head Steward. (TBD) Land-keeper and ward-anchor of the valley. Seat held by the senior steward family matriarch or patriarch.
The Dean of Lineages. (TBD) Oversees student admissions, lineage accords, and student welfare.