The Scholomance, Where the Devil teaches magic Options

I first heard of the Scholomance playing World of Warcraft, soon after I read Bram Stokers Dracula and found out that it was supposedly a real place, or at least a myth. Intrigued, I did a little research. Unfortunately I didn't come up with much information of substance, but I'll state it here in hopes that other posters will be able to provide additional information and we can have a discussion.

In Dracula the first mention of the Scholomance appears in Ch. 18 by Dr. Van Helsing, "They learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains
over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due." It is mentioned again by Dr. Van Helsing in Ch. 23 "was in life a most wonderful man... He dared even to attend the Scholomance..."

Apparently Stoker first read of the Scholomance in an essay entitled "Transylvanian Superstitions" by Emily Gerard (1). I have found an excerpt of this essay giving a description on wikipedia, it is as follows: As I am on the subject of thunderstorms, I may as well here mention the Scholomance, or school supposed to exist somewhere in the heart of the mountains, and where all the secrets of nature, the language of animals, and all imaginable magic spells and charms are taught by the devil in person. Only ten scholars are admitted at a time, and when the course of learning has expired and nine of them are released to return to their homes, the tenth scholar is detained by the devil as payment, and mounted upon an Ismeju (dragon) he becomes henceforward the devil's aide-de-camp, and assists him in 'making the weather,' that is, in preparing thunderbolts. A small lake, immeasurably deep, lying high up among the mountains south of Hermanstadt [sic], is supposed to be the cauldron where is brewed the thunder, and in fair weather the dragon sleeps beneath the waters (2).

No one seems to be quite sure where the Scholomance was located, save that it was deep in the mountains by a lake, which Stoker calls Lake Hermanstadt, but seeing that Stoker never visited Translyvania I'm sure he just pulled this lake out of thin air for the location of the Scholomance.

The legend does seem to exist though if you take other peoples words at face value, Elizabeth Miller (1) says, "When I was in Romania, I asked some folklorists about this legend and they said it does exist."

Another wikipedia article I came across (3) deals with the magicians of the Scholomance, called Solomonari. The Solomonari are figures in Romanian folklore, a caste of wizards. "The origin of the Solomonari myth is often linked to the ancient Dacian priests. The Solomonari were believed to have learned the powers of Sholomance (which is also their German name). The Sholomance is a wide variety of magic from controlling the weather and summoning dragons to resurrecting the dead and use of telekinetic power. There is also reference in some lore that the Solomonar had many divisions or guilds which seemed to run almost as a technocracy similar to the Knights Templar." And "The Solomonari are not supernatural creatures but rather humans who have learned special abilities. It is said that the children which will became Solomonari are born with signs or marks. Later, the legend says, these children go into forests or in caves, which are usually marked with inscriptions. There they learn the art of magic from the devil "Uniilă". It is believed that the Solomonari the power to summon a balaur (a dragon in Romanian beliefs) which they can ride. Also, they supposedly have the ability to control weather, they can bring rain and storms. In early history, the Solomonari were considered rather benevolent, but as Christianity began to supplement earlier beliefs, the Solomonari became associated with the negative Christian view of witchcraft" (3)

This is pretty much all the information I could find without searching out and buying books. Take it how you will. If there really was a magical school taught by the Devil himself I can only help but wonder if it still exists, and where. Has anyone have additional information to add, or ideas?

- Baron Von Weiss


References:
1)http://www.arcane-archive.org/religion/satanism/help-scholomance-1.php
2)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholomance
3)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomonari
4) www.worldofwarcraft.com (IMG:style_emoticons/default/13.gif)

That does look like a place where the Devil would set up shop, good find. Do you know anything about the Scholomance?