The Exchange - Hamlaser/The-Spine-of-the-World GitHub Wiki

The Exchange is an academic association established in concord with D'ni during the golden age of the Astral Court. After clay folk brokered their peace with the dragons, the Spinal Underdark felt threatened by the divine power of their geographical neighbors, and put forward a set of legal documents and philosophical pleas for the leaders of the Astral Court to review. With the remaining scholars of Grandine, knights and gods alike agreed to establish universities in the Underdark for the training of dragon riders and warrior mages. In exchange, the Spinal Underdark offered the first formalized courses in previously dynastic trade crafts. Over time, the Exchange broadened it curricula to include a broad swathe of tactile, visual and martial arts.

After the betrayal of Impart Tell and the mass flooding wrought upon the land by his vengeful daughters, the Exchange was one of the primary unifying forces in the region, implementing a syndicate-based governance structure, and training the population in the skills they would they would need to rebuild. These syndicates eventually formed accords, and became less decentralized. To this day, the Exchange and its resulting satellite organizations are responsible for the bulk of the state services that citizens of the Spine and the Spinal Underdark enjoy. The modern Exchange does not train dragon riders any longer, although their library in Khaemery likely maintains the most accurate documentation of the time in which they did, as it is one of the only original Exchange buildings still standing.

The Exchange borrows a great deal of its organizational methodology from the eidolic academy cities of the Underdark, though is notably less strict in its approval policy. Exchange universities see a frequent influx of Underdark students rejected from a more prestigious academy, and for this reason are still one of the stronger binding ties between the surface and the Underdark.