"What is the University? It is what you may call a castle manned by learning and scholarship. Or a vicious and permanent dog-fight between Benthic College and Summerset College."[1]
The University is London's primary institution of period-appropiate pseudoscience ahem, knowledge and innovation, formerly known as King's and University College. The University is divided into two colleges, Benthic and Summerset, which have a notoriously fierce rivalry.[2]
"What's Summerset College like? A place of indolent privilege. Minor nobles rub shoulders with the black-gowned children of clergy, parliamentarians and lawyers in its peaceful quadrangles."[3]
Summerset is the more well-bred side of the University, typically comprised of the children of higher society, clergy, lawyers, and officials.[2] It does not allow the soulless in.[4][5]
The Provost of Summerset is, ironically, affiliated with devils, enough so that there have been rumors about how he's actually a devil who files down his horns and teeth.[6]
In the Sunless Skies timeline, following the exodus to the stars, Summerset has established a base camp within Traitor's Wood in the Reach. Unfortunately, their expedition seems to be for naught.[7]
The motto of Summerset College is "Superbe et sophistice."[8]
Benthic
The Principal of Benthic.
"What's it like at Benthic College? Eager young radicals throng the halls. Students flaunt their tolerance and diversity; friendships with devils are highly prized. Revolutionaries infest the eaves. The soul trade thrives."[3]
Benthic, the lower-bred college, is more inclusive; it allows the soulless, devils, revolutionaries, and children of poor families to enter.[2] Its more tolerant researchers may also exchange items of value with those who've been formally banned from the university[9], and Benthic actively rewards students for being prosecuted by the Ministry of Public Decency.[10]
The motto of Benthic college is "Omnes adsint, quamvis dementi, quamvis nefasti."[11]
Cricket
"Fallen London's two colleges, Benthic and Summerset, enjoy a healthy rivalry. They play team sports with each other. They play pranks on each other. On certain days of the year, they play trumpets and French horns at each other." (Like the Oxford-Cambridge boat race. But with trumpets.)[3]
Benthic and Summerset frequently face off in cricket, with Benthic's team known as the Benthic XI and Summerset's as the Summerset Gentlemen. The Brass Embassy also fields a team—the Brass Embassy Ladies—composed of devilesses in striking pink uniforms.[12] While they often play against Benthic, the Summerset Gentlemen steadfastly refuse to compete with them.[13] Summerset once maintained a cricket field out in Watchmaker's Hill, but it has since been repurposed as an airfield.[14]
These matches attract both faculty and students from the University,[15] offering dusty academics a rare chance to network, and to engage in a bit of spirited sports betting.[16] Since the Fall, cricket has undergone certain... adjustments, with rules that differ from the traditional Surface game.[17][18][19][20][21]
The highlight of the season is the annual Tournament of Toasts, the most prestigious sporting event in all of London.[22] Officiated by Mr Wines, the tournament was, in fact, conceived by the Masters of the Bazaar themselves as a grand spectacle of entertainment.[23]
Known Departments
Class is in session. Art from FL.
The Department of Additive Surgery (probably involves organ grafting)[24]
The Department of Advanced Theology (the study of complex religions?)[25]
The Department of Antiquarian Esquivalience (the study of avoiding age-old responsibilities)[26][27]
The Department of Chiropterochronometry (the study of using bats' flight patterns to measure time[28][3] and encode messages [29])
The Department of Contemporary Cryptotheology (may be related to the rites of the Crooked-Cross)[30]
The Department of Criminal Rehabilitation & Eradication[31]
The Department of Cryptopalaeontology (the study of cryptic fossils)[32][33]
The Department of Cryptophilology (the study of cryptic languages)[34][35]
The Department of Epigraphical Mathematics (the study of trigonometry[38], perhaps?[39])
The Department of Esoteric Cryptozoology (the study of specialized cryptic animals)[40][3]
The Department of Exotic Herpetology (the study of exotic amphibians)[41]
The Department of Extrapolatory Cartographic Zoology (the study of mapping animals?)[42][43]
The Department of Infernal Estates (the study of Hell's properties)[44]
The Department of Infernal Rarefactions (the study of Hell's substances)[45][46]
The Department of Infernal Relations (the study of Hell's politics)[47]
The Department of Muscular Amplification (the study of muscle gain)[48]
The Department of Neocartography (the study of new maps, because maps are weird down here)[49]
The Department of Palaeomycology (the study of extinct fungal lifeforms, very important down here)[50][3]
The Department of Paradoxic Optics (the study of the Neathbow)[51]
The Department of Phrenology & Applied Cranial Exploration (the study of brain segments, a notorious pseudoscience; usually involves very blunt objects)[52]
The Department of Semi-Semiotics (the study of half-symbols?)[53]
↑Match day, Fallen London"The day of the cricket match has arrived! Leather cracks off willow! Tea and sandwiches! The Brass Embassy Ladies await the Benthic XI, splendid in their cricketing pinks."
↑Cricket at Benthic, Fallen London"Benthic College takes its cricket seriously. The First XI play teams from across London. It's just a pity that the old enemy, the Summerset Gentlemen, pulled out of the competition when the Brass Embassy started fielding a team."
↑Inspect the new Station IX, Fallen London"Water, water everywhere, and not a drop troubles Station IX.II. The wooden platforms have been secured with steel rods that plunge into the murky waters that cover the former Summerset cricket field."
↑A serious business, Fallen London"[…] The Principal nods at you graciously from the dignitaries' stand. Matters are proceeding swimmingly. You enter into a series of wagers with the phrenologists regarding maiden overs and the shape of a bowler's head. Always easy marks, phrenologists."
↑Demonstrate your cricketing knowledge, Fallen London"Law 52: Infernal teams shall be shod so as not to scorch the pitch" "Law 58: A ball lost to bat swarms shall be regarded as a boundary, and scored as four runs"
↑Cricket, Anyone?, Fallen London"Law 39: In a match with two innings per side, each side shall take their innings alternately, except in the cases provided for in Law 45 (The Indignant Wicket), Law 77.1 (Forfeiture), and Law 77.2 (Forfeiture via Honey Consumption)."
↑Cricket, Anyone?, Fallen London"Law 13.13: An innings is closed once all batsmen are dismissed, or once half the batsmen are dead. In the event that any dead batsmen come around again before an innings is closed, they must remain classified as deceased until the next innings."
↑Cricket, Anyone?, Fallen London"Law 12.9.43: A match is concluded if, without a conclusion having been reached under 12.9.42, the players leave the field under adverse conditions including: glimfall, excessive lacre, revolutionary interference, weasels, or an insufficient wine supply."
↑Cricket, Anyone?, Fallen London"On London's social calendar, this is the sporting event. Not least because there's always enough wine to drown a whale. With a saboteur involved, it ought to be even more memorable. You're going to get to the bottom of the mystery, and probably a few bottles along the way."
↑Cricket, Anyone?, Fallen London"Benthic and Summerset host it as an annual competition. Between themselves. After enough years have passed, I suppose that they'll finally know who's better. In the meantime," she says, stirring her tea, "this year's match should be quite an event. Mr Wines will officiate, as usual. The Masters of the Bazaar originally proposed the tournament as a diversion. Too much studying at the University. Not enough drinking. Everyone needs a revel, but especially academics."
↑Cricket, Anyone?, Fallen London""Bats!" [...] what we can learn by studying bats!" [...] Did you know they're sympathetic to a certain frequency? [...] what else you can encode into their flight patterns. [...] like the Hamburg Alphabet. [...] chiroptera can write it across time."
↑The Deadly Dapperlings, Fallen London""They introduce themselves as graduates the Department of Muscular Amplification, and claim to have formulated a mint that grants you impressive strength. One of them [...] lifts the weight with ease – as if the metal casing were [...] full of feathers.""
