The Marneons School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was the greatest magical school of them all in its heyday. Marneons had a Hogwartsian feel to it, a similar campus and curriculum. It occupied a gothic castle on the outskirts of Liverpool. Caesar Marneons, a young half-fairy wizard, founded the school in the middle of the 20th century with four fellow half-breeds as a place that accepted students of all sorts — in a time when Hogwarts rarely allowed students of ‘dangerous’ ancestry. Half a century on, the student body of Marneons was broadly international and a melting pot of races. There were students with demonic lineage, tiger blood, psychic powers — and part-Veelas, part-mermaids, part-nymphs, and part-satyrs to name but a few.

Students traveled to Marneons from Platform Four and Three-Quarters at King’s Cross Station. Once arrived, they were sorted into one of four houses by a mind-reading sorting ring that fit any finger:

the just into Corrigon, house of the Gargoyle the shrewd into Hawkeye, house of the Phoenix the bold into Margeroi, house of the Unicorn the ambitious into Spirren, house of the Dragon

The school uniform comprised purple robes with a “Japanese neckline”. (Also in the Japanese style, student applications had a field for “blood type” as it related to personality such as AB, O, etc.)

The matronly headmistress Agatha Turane oversaw a small faculty that included professor of spellcraft Aiko Kim (from Japan), joint Herbology profs the Thorne twins (indistinguishable from one another), and Divination professor Jade Raori (young and spunky student favorite). Students were advised to avoid the gaze of Potions professor Bane Leviathan if they valued their house points. It also paid to beware of the headmistress’s dancing suits of armor which grabbed students and forced them to dance through the corridors with them. Each suit of armor knew a different sort of dance, such as the cha-cha, waltz, or disco style.

Tunnels in the dungeons connected Marneons to the Subrile, a subterranean wizarding town underneath Liverpool. Points of interest included a joke shop, a pet shop, and a renowned pub, the Black Dragon Inn.

As was the case with many of these schools, the primary focus of student life at Marneons was on relationships and the soapy melodrama that resulted from them. After three teen pregnancies in a short span, there was a moratorium on any more and the headmistress started coming down hard on PDA.

Marneons began on September 3, 2000 and was gone by 2006. As the first all-original magical school role-play, it inspired most that followed.

Zvezda Academy of Magic was a magical school on the banks of the river Volga in Russia. It was founded by powerful wizard Alexei Lebedev. Lebedev disappeared without a trace when he pursued a flock of swans deep into the Black Forest outside the school grounds. He had filled Zvezda Castle with ornate carvings of swans, his peculiar obsession.

Four animal spirits roamed the halls of Zvezda, representing the four houses which bore their names. When a student first arrived, they were put before the four spirits. One spirit would step forward and claim the student as their own.

Rashana the eagle, ever serious, chose the intelligent. Kharan the bear, who was clumsy & playful, chose the loyal. Sharak the wolf with the calculating eyes chose the ambitious. Allyra the tigress, gentle mother, chose the brave.

The castle was maintained by an army of little old men called Domovoi who lived in the attics. The Domovoi never cleaned up a mess unless they liked the person who made it. Their little old wives cooked the school meals. The nearby Black Forest was fiercely protected by the Leshi, an eternal being. A cavalcade of other strange creatures inhabited the Black Forest and the Volga.

A magical village isolated from the outside world, Teremok, lay at the Black Forest’s edge. It had a sinister reputation.

On the first day of the 2002–2003 school year, a group of students were lured into the Black Forest and attacked by a swarm of bugs called the Shaubarak. The Shaubarak was once a dark wizard from Teremok village named Gyllenstein who disappeared around 1769. Gyllenstein discovered a kind of immortality by transforming into a monstrous bug queen. Headmistress Irina Azimova and the eagle spirit Rashana went missing a few days after the attack when they went to investigate in the Black Forest. The school was locked down, students and faculty prepared for battle, and the Shaubarak broke through but was defeated in a bloody final confrontation.

The Nefer Kem Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry was an Egyptian school of magic. It was located at the Pyramids of Giza, Cairo.

At the start of every school year, a great camel train ambled across Egypt picking up students from their homes. International students were collected from The Jewelled Scarab at the Old Cairo Market, and from there it was a short journey to the Pyramid of Menkaure at Giza — the gateway to Nefer Kem.

The school was divided into many palaces. Each palace housed one of the Treasures of Nefer Kem, ancient artifacts which cursed anyone who dared possess them. It was a regular occurrence that a curious student or a thief had to be rescued from burning boils, insanity, or rampaging armies of the dead. This did not deter everyone, however. The schemes of treasure hunters were ceaseless at Nefer Kem.

Four of the palaces housed the students. Sorting was determined by wearing a golden bangle which flashed the colors of the corresponding palace. These palaces were:

The Palace of Horus, for the noble students, champions of the glistening sword. The Palace of Isis, for the gentle ones, champions of the beautiful crown. The Palace of Ma’at, for the wise, champions of the wondrous sceptre. The Palace of Set, for the students of chaos, champions of the glittering orb.

School uniforms were blue robes with gold underclothes. Girls were required to cover their hair. For boys, turbans were optional. Students had to be modestly attired at all times (no sunbathing).

The coursework differed greatly from other magic schools. Students were taught Ancient Egyptian history, hieroglyphs, flying lessons on magic carpets, and “Jungle Magic”. A unique extracurricular sport was Arian Display (that is, aerial equestrian display): a series of airborne tasks composed of pegasus dressage, hippogriff assault course, and phoenix steeple chase.

Many friendly mummies wandered the corridors of Nefer Kem. Sphinxes, less friendly, guarded the palaces. Head sphinx Qu’koieb was guardian of Headmistress Nabooru Maa-Jinatu’s office; dangerous Hebeny guarded the forbidden corridor in the Palace of Anubis (where evil mummies had been imprisoned for 3000 years).

The Weinglass Academy of Magic was a small school on an island off the southwestern coast of Ireland. The school was reached by ferry. It was close to Dunquin, County Kerry, on the mainland. Weinglass was not as well-known as another Irish school, Domus Memoriarum, which was located on Owey Island in the northwest.

In the late 1400s, a scandal erupted when the leader of magical Ireland, Eamonn Weinglass, killed his daughter Gwyndolyn Miread as she tried to escape from a loveless arranged marriage. Her would-be rescuers, four magical Gael rebels, were also killed. Outrage turned to wider rebellion and Eamonn Weinglass was finally deposed in 1545, around the time of the Muggle Tudor conquest.

It was later discovered that the four martyred rebels had left behind instructions for establishing a magical school in Ireland. Weinglass Castle was restored from ruins and became the site of the Weinglass Academy of Magic, closely following the rebels’ charter.

Weinglass had a mostly human student body. Few if any half-breeds were allowed to attend. The island grounds were composed of the main manor-castle, several outbuildings, and dangerous locales such as a haunted graveyard. The ghostly singing voice of Gwynne Weinglass was heard every All Hallows’ Eve, the anniversary of her death.

Students were sorted into an appropriate house by touching a crystal ball. The ball filled with an element corresponding to the house they belonged.

Fire represented Edana (troublemakers) Earth represented Quinlan (athletes) Water represented Caedmon (intellectuals) Air represented Moirah (artists)

Headmistress Augusta C. Carroll was also the P.E. teacher.

The Furiae Correctional Facility was an international prison for magical youth. It was located on an inaccessible island near Asia Minor. Rather than progress from year to year until graduation like in a normal school, the inmates at Furiae achieved “Levels” according to merit and good behavior. If an inmate failed to achieve the 7th Level by age of majority, they were shipped off to Azkaban.

Upon arrival by portkey, an inmate’s wand was confiscated and magically deactivated. Salvia the Sorting Oracle arose from her coma and spoke with the voice of the Furies, assigning the inmate to:

Alecto if they were a seasoned criminal Megaera if they were a schemer Tisiphone if they were explosive and temperamental

The inmate was then provided a tatty gray set of robes. Their remaining effects were incinerated. If they desired a new familiar, evil genies were available.

The shared dormitory was dripping-wet and furnished with mats for sleeping. Prison guards doubled as professors, mandated by the Ministry of Magic. The curriculum included such classes as Group Therapy, Djinn Mastery, and a class where inmates were transfigured into animals.

Furiae was founded on ancient grounds where the Furies once punished prideful demigods. In 1967 it received an international wizarding charter and became formally known as the Furiae Correctional Facility. The island itself was covered in a mazelike tangle of trees called the Wasteland. There was a graveyard with open graves as well as poison-cloud poppy fields. Interlopers and escapees were devoured by an enormous serpent that wound the facility’s walls.

Furiae’s modern history saw a succession of bloody wardens beginning with Keres Virago, the 32nd warden. The final warden, Sicila O’Dair, re-established Furiae on a werewolf-infested Atlantic isle after the original facility was destroyed in 2010 by “natural” disaster. O’Dair became warden by assassinating her predecessor. In all likelihood the original Furiae was destroyed by a Doom Hex, which all wardens could unleash if the security of Furiae was compromised.

The Tallygarunga Academy of Magic was located in the rural bushlands of Victoria, Australia. The school had once been a mere Muggle sheep farm. Tallygarunga’s main building (the Gawler Building) was a weatherboard construction with a tin roof, converted from an old farmhouse. The other buildings were similarly rustic.

The school began when a witch was born to the Simmons family, the Muggles who owned the property. Australia of the early 1900s lacked affordable public magical education, so the family engaged a tutor for young Eleanor. Other young witches and wizards in the area came to be tutored, and in a few years the sheep had gone and it was a wizarding school entirely.

Students were placed in the house that most aligned with their personality.

Sturt was for determined and studious students, like the platypus. Flinders was for caring and considerate students, like the possum. Spencer was for hyperactive and sharp-witted students, like the kingfisher. Bourke was for physical hard workers, like the kangaroo.

The nearby town of Narragyambie had a population of about 175,000. The local pub was called the Drunken Roo. Other stores in the shopping centre were Zoom’s Brooms and Hoots & Whispers (the pet store). Magical storefront sat right next to Muggle.

The social separation of wizard and Muggle was less stark in Australia than Britain. Narragyambie was a mixed community. Students at Tallygarunga wore Muggle khaki clothes such as polos and shorts. Terms followed the Australian style, with a six-week summer break around Christmas and the school year starting January 27th. Tallygarunga had strong ties to Melbourne, home to Victoria Magical University (VMU) and the Australian Federal Ministry of Magic.

A Muggle hermit Bill Mackey who lived in a shack nearby was a frequent nuisance to the school.

There were also Fogg and Rarn’s Italian School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scattergood School for the Magical Arts in Colorado, Bellemer Académie des Sorcières et Magiciens, Aeternus Sapientia University, and dozens more.