X37Adventures

Broulard School of Magic is a wizarding school in the middle of America, located on a floating island in the Missouri River.  It serves students from all over North America, especially those near the Missouri River. The Missouri River is located within the United States and flows through seven states that are currently known as: Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri.  

Location

• Sits on the floating island, ile Brouillard (French for "fog island"), in the Missouri River. Non-magic folk don't even notice the island or the inhabitants because it is magically concealed in a bank of fog/mist. It is often obvserved as a giant looming shape by non-magical people on foggy mornings.

• Only accessible by boat 

  • Any type of boat may be guided to ile Brouillard (The Muse is not picky about the vessel, just the people within it), but official passage to the school is provided by a fabulous steamboat. It won out in popularity with the school’s watercraft staff because of size, speed & ability to maneuver into the school’s private port easily.  

  • Each transportation vessel is guided by The Muse of the Missouri River to the island. She is able to sense every soul on board (including animals & animagi) & decides if a boat will be granted passage. After a request for passage is made by everyone on board, The Muse sends clear signals indicating if the boat should “turn back now.” If she does not grant a boat passage, they may simply not find the island. If they decide to ignore her warnings and attempt to find the island, tragedy may befall them and/or the vessel.​

History

• Founded in 1721, in a collaboration of native peoples and Wizarding trying to escape persecution in the east. YES!!!! The Five Founders of the School were a diverse group, A French Canadian (Acadian) witch Claire Marie Del Fontaine, an Elderly Dutch wizard Petr Smyth, a native wizard Wo-Pen Proudstaff the last of his Indigenous tribe, a Scottish witch Laoghaire MacPherson, and Persian Astronomer Mehiri Hassanabad. All had different ideas of what a magic school ought to be. 

• The Five founders agreed to 4 houses as a way of honoring Hogwarts. Houses named for magical native fish & wildlife. 

  • House Cave Bear

    • House animal: Giant bears - seen on the Missouri state seal and state flag     

    • House colors: Orange & Black 

    • House personality: Wisdom and nobility, morally upright. Many in this house feel that they should not bother people who have done nothing wrong. Many noble scholars have come from this house.

  • House Fire Bison

    • House animal: Bison with a singal horn in the middle of the head, whose fur produces fire - it breaks up the river ice every springtime. 

    • ​House colors: Red & Blue. 

    • House personality: Passion & Perseverance - Known for their passion & ability to persevere under pressure. Many in this house are known for their ability to "break the ice" & diffuse tense situations. 

  • House Moonfin

    • House animal: The fish are only known to swim around Ile Brouillard, believed to be the source of the magic that keeps the island afloat. They can be seen swimming around the Muse of the Missouri fountain in downtown Kansas City, MO.  

    • House colors: Silver & Purple. 

    • House personality: The Loyal Leaders - Known for being leaders in many ways, including the people behind the people in power, power without recognition. Loyal to the very end. 

  • House Bluff Dragon 

    • House animal: The Bluff Dragon is a winged creature with green scales, horns, and a long tail that lives in the rocky crags above the Missouri & Mississippi Rivers. ​Several have taken up residence in the bluffs of ile Brouillard throughout the years. 

    • House colors: Green & Gold. 

    • House personality: Known for outgoing nature, forthrightness.

• Because ile Brouillard floats, it rarely stays in the same location for long. 

  • Rumors say that it stayed in one general area for a long stretch of time at a "tight bend in the river." This detail might suggest that location was near the current town of Brunswick, MO. Which would give credence to other rumors that the French establishment, Fort Oleans, was built nearby as non-magical folk became aware of the school in its early days. 

  • General thinking, based on alumni reports and estimations, usually places the island floating somewhere between the confluence of the Kaw River & the Osage River.

  • One report states that the weather on Student Arrival Day was strikingly similar to the weather that was reported by NOAA near what is now known as the Kansas/Nebraska state line. After many years of humans trying to identify a reliable way to track the location of the island, studies were halted in attempting to correlate scientific weather reports with reports from the island. The last team that pursued this study, disappeared and were found days later, disoriented in their research boat, desperately trying to row their way either in or out of the mist concealing the island.​ The researchers and rescuers all reported that once after they entered the mist barrier, they found no way to exit it. After another half day of struggling, their boats began taking on water. After they threw all of their gear and research overboard, suddenly the mist parted and the current of the river floated them straight back to the port at Millu.  

Guardian

The Muse of the Missouri River

• She is considered the source of all knowledge & history embodied in the Missouri River for centuries.

• She was first recruited by the school's founding witches & wizards to protect them and their students from being washed downstream when navigating their beloved river. The Muse quickly also took on the role of guardian concealing and protecting the island and its inhabitants.

• In her human form, she is usually seen walking the shores of ile Brouillard island. Occasionally humans have seen her take human form along the river bank at any number of places along her 2,540 miles. 

• “Over time, numerous dams, dikes and levees were built along the river for flood control and today, 35% of the river is impounded.” The Missouri National Recreational River, a 100 mile National Park that runs along the Nebraska-South Dakota border.”  --[https://www.legendsofamerica.com/mo-missouririver/] Thus, The Muse has been trying to convince her beloved island school to move on up river to what is “now the only significant stretch of free-flowing river today.

• In 1963, the city of Kansas City, MO commissioned sculptor Wheeler Williams to create a massive sculpture of The Muse & her favorite fish, the Moonfin. Most muggles believe the story that “Williams had originally intended to use fish native to the river spilling from the net. However, he found catfish too ugly and carp unworkable. The nine fish netted by the muse are a hybrid using a carp body and bluefish head.” --https://www.kcfountains.com/single-post/2016/07/07/Muse-of-Missouri However, the magical truth is that the Moonfin actually do exist. They feed off of the underside of the floating island & only live in the general area of the island. Williams was able to gain access to the Moonfin because he attended Broulard and lived for a time in the island's town, Millu. 

• Out of the approximately 400 steamboats that reportedly sunk on the Missouri River in the 1800s, 79 documented cases, were due to The Muse denying passage to the island & the crew or passengers not heeding her warnings. There may be more shipwrecks that were not willing (or fatally unable) to confess not listening to The Muse's warnings.​

Reputation

Broulard is know for excelling in all water-based magic, astronomy, magizoology, wandmaking, and forestry/herbology. 

Recruitment

• [Information forthcoming]

Subjects

• water-based magic

• astronomy

• magizoology

• wandmaking

• forestry/herbology

Known students

• [Information forthcoming]

Etymology and pronunciation

• [Information forthcoming]

Pastimes and Recreation

Jotlanch - A full contact aerial relay race, is the main extra curricular sport of Broulard. It has a long history on the island. It was adapted from a flying game that Founder Petr Smyth played on flying oars as a young boy.

Appearances

• Legacy of Broulard Zine Series

Notes and references