The road there leaves the shores of the Dagger Sea and winds along an artificial river flowing down from the mountains. The Way the road is called and it sweeps wide just before coming to the city gate. There travelers can see that the granite face of the mountain has been carved and shaped into the massive visage of the Glorious Woman. Her arms are stretched out before her and she seems to greet all who approach.
It would be wrong to grant this monumental carving to the Vyrum. Great artisans and architects were they, but the sculpture predates the 6th Age. Indeed, some say it had its origin before even the First. That would be the Age of Chaos when the elemental powers were tamed and the first of the celestial beings gave up their estate to join themselves to this world.
But it was certainly the Vyrum who turned the sacred place to a place of learning. In those bygone days, the Vyrum took humans from the uncivilized tribes of nandi and taught them. They taught them to read and write. They introduced them to art and music and poetry. They gave them gifts of sculpture and architecture. They gave them philosophy and religion. It was the Vyrum who first called them meni. But there was one Practice that the Vyrum were not prepared to share with the younger race.
The Practice of Llor, or what the Dwarves call majk, was forbidden to all but the great matriarchs of the Vyrum race. Ceding such power to others was widely prophesied to mean the end of their people. The Vyrum remembered that their civilization was built on the ashes of the Elven Empire, and that those Elves had squandered their right to rule all Erenth by unleashing Llor-created monsters on the world.
Still the highest Practice of the Vyrum was expressed in their three-fold philosophy... ciur, ciura, ciavala (wine, women and song.) In recognition of that, they sought to make the most talented of their meni servants into skilled Llorvala (or lore speakers) who could embody the highest order of their hendiatris.
Generations of meni were schooled at Heralapix before the Vyrum Empire was brought low. Then the rule of mankind rose on the ruins of the Vyrum. From the wilds the rest of the nandi came, settling into cities and taking what they could salvage from the civilization before them. They had the meni to teach them. Over centuries they grew, some of the descendants of the meni became nobles and kings among their barbaric cousins.
Since the Vyrum vanished from the face of Erenth, only scattered ruined monuments of their culture now remain, but there is none so enduring as the Heralapix. Seemingly untouched by the passage of time, stepping foot on the campus is like returning to a bygone age.
Even now, in the 7th Age, a student may only be admitted by the Practice of Legacy. That is, they possess the written recommendation of a previous graduate of the College. All true bardic practitioners, not the mere pretenders (minstrels, jesters, troubadours, mummers and other prostitutes) which set up shop in every tavern across the Four Lands of Erenth can boast an broken line of succession from the first of the Llorvala. And even the lowliest skald of Northrun can boast this pedigree.
Graduation is not granted to all who attend. For after a period of study (usually between one and four years) every Bard must compose a Opuscule and perform it to the satisfaction of the Professing Masters. Not a few of those works have been inspired by the beauty and wonder of their beloved Ald Ciula and the campus of Heralapix -- or perhaps by the sorrow of having to leave it.
If his Opuscule is favorably graded, the Bard leaves and is forbidden to return to the campus until he has made his Practice of Tenure in the world -- that is, "the Way is closed" to him. Not just closed to the graduate without Tenure, either. The Way is permanently and irrevocably closed to the many, many former students who either drop out of the Bard's College or find their Opuscule unfavorably graded.
For this reason, the sons and daughters of many lords have found admission to the Bard's College for a year, or more; and are considered Poetasters -- perhaps highly skilled and well-instructed, but not full Bards in any true Bard's estimation. Some families even consider the Bard's College a finishing school of the arts, and feel no shame that the "Way is closed." Neither they, nor their children had any real bardic aspirations in the first place. So winning the favor of an old cadre of singers, dancers, musicians and actors means no more to them than the approval of any commoner.
For the graduate, however, there is nothing more important than proving his Practice of Tenure is complete. After his sojourn in the world is up, the Bard may return to Heralapix and present his Magnum Opus. If it is favorably graded, he gains the approbation of his peers and the Professing alike. He may even be invited to join their ranks and live out his life in the idyllic city.
On the other hand, if his Magnum Opus is unfavorably graded, the Bard must return to the world and may only attempt to redeem himself in the students he manages to produce. He would hope to send them under the Practice of Legacy to the Bard's College.
