Vaerel Institute

Vaerel's asylum for mentally ill (also knows as Vaerel Institute, Vaerel's, or The Höllenloch (The Hellhole)) is a notoriously known prison, hospital, and laboratory.

History
Established in year 736 of the Third age by doctor Stephan Vaerel, originally as a place to treat mental patients with focus on magically gifted people.

Vaerel himself was magically gifted and a sworn follower of the teaching of Giesser. After reaching the rank of captain and leading strictly magical cadres for several years, Vaerel eventually joined Hieronymus Palcke, leading capacity of the Studies of Magic. Being part of various researches, Vaerel concluded there is a strong need for dedicated institution that would gather knowledge and transform it into a weapon to be used against all enemies of the Empire.

Using his parents' money, Stephan Vaerel bought the land in the central area of the Steppenlanden region. Soon after he started building the institute, the construction works took 6 years to finish.

Originally there were two main buildings and five additional, smaller structures. But with passing years and increasing knowledge of the personnel, the area experienced rapid development and several new buildings were raised, including the main dome.

Controversy
It is rumoured that institution is also place where the most cruel and unhuman experiments take place. Ever since the Inquisition took over, a tales started to spread about various trials on humans and other creatures. A few witnesses claimed there is whole another complex underneath, approximately three-times as big as buildings on the surface.