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Temple University

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Temple University (known simply as TU) is an elite university located in Valeria, formerly the administrative capital city of The Holy Ralgon Empire. One of the oldest in the Imperial Federation, the university is regarded as one of the most prestigious in the country.

The university was originally founded in 425 AN in what is now the city of Valeria by Draconic missionaries, as a religious institute for higher learning. Itself attached to the Holy Temple of Drag'os in the same city (and originally in the same building), the institution was founded to train high-ranking religious personnel in both theology and in statecraft (a skill badly needed at the time by such people). Over the next 700 years, it slowly came to include adherents from the city's aristocracy until the resulting Temple Academy trained mostly non-clergy, in increasingly secular fields. By 1000 AN, the Temple Academy had long outgrown its original building and had a large, dedicated campus not far from the Temple.

In 1046, the Temple realized they could no longer keep up with the demands of teaching on their own. Thus, they detached its educational arm and organized what they originally dubbed "The Four Academic Institutes of the Holy Draconic Temple" to allow faculty outside the clergy to teach at the institute. The name, however, was long-winded, and ink was expensive at the time. Thus, the name "Temple University" was used in almost all official correspondence instead, with the wax seal still bearing the institute's actual name. This institution served as the basis for the much larger Temple University System that arose beginning a century later in the 1150's. The university simplified its official name in 1298 to its unofficial form (Temple University) when the Draconic Church lost direct control of the university to the city government.

In 1368, under pressure from the Ralgon king, the Holy Draconic Church also handed physical ownership of their remaining non-theological schools and universities to the national government, in exchange for a hefty endowment and properties elsewhere in the country. These were likewise placed under the umbrella of Temple University, which changed their names according to location or persons influencing their development.

The modern Temple University preserves is original 1046 name, and also serves as the flagship institution of the eponymous system (as a homage to its foundations with the Church). Thanks to a heavily increased endowment after the national government purchased the University, it has rapidly grown from an already-elite status to a world-class university in its own right.