On the Eastern Edge of the Bathtub stands a charming villa painted white with limescale, that is the main building of Tuberdam University. Right behind this main building, on the edge of the Edge, three sturdy bridges of polished metal jut out and attach directly into the Cabinet underneath the Washbasin, which houses the entire university hospital, many classrooms, and the library. Just looking at the structure of this temple to medicine, surgery, and forensics, you can learn a lot about the glorious and troubled history of this institution which, over the years, has grown ever larger, until it finally reached its present size.
Long ago, the only littlings who could study at Tuberdam were medical officers from the Porcelain Army, only during Oberon’s reign did the university finally have the funding it needed to open its doors to the civilians who wished to learn the most advanced branches of medicine. In the end, during the Household War the university hospital became a priceless resource for the armies dealing with Horde attacks. With additional help from a young Werner Reinhardt, the university also obtained basically unlimited funds which would later be used to enhance and finance research in the cutting-edge field of forensics, but also to bring more and more power to the Medical Corporation and extra funding to the electoral campaign that finally placed Reinhardt at the head of the Symposium.
Now, if you want to recognize alumni or students of this prestigious university, you just need to look for the gold and blue enamel ring representing a rounded cross, which is the university’s crest, the Faucet Handle. Many of them become great doctors, sought after by embassies and even foreign nations, but there are also many students here who attend other faculties, specializing in alchemy, cartography, economics, and especially in the cutting-edge science of forensics, the new academic cradle for the best detectives in the House.
You’ll often hear littlings talk about how gaining admittance to the university, especially to the better-known courses, is a near-impossible feat. As are many of the exams students must pass each semester if they wish to avoid expulsion.
Whether these rumors are true or not, it is not for me to say, but I should dutifully report here that the motto found on the walls, in the crests, and on the uniforms of the university is “Disce aut discede”, which can be translated as “learn or go away”. You can reach your own conclusions.