Fenn University is a stand-in for the soulless Ivy League
Fenn University mirrors the Ivy League rot: Prestige over truth, and power over merit. In Cursed Mage, that illusion finally starts to crack.
For centuries, Ivy League institutions like Harvard stood as towering symbols of academic rigor, cultural prestige, and intellectual excellence. But today? They’re punching bags and punchlines.
That shift didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t happen without cause.
In Cursed Mage, I built Fenn University as a fictional mirror of these elite institutions. On the surface, it’s a prestigious school with gleaming architecture, world-class professors, and a student body destined for positions of influence. But dig a little deeper, and cracks begin to show.
Here’s why respect for institutions like Harvard, and their fictional counterparts like Fenn, is evaporating fast.
They abandoned meritocracy
The myth of merit died a quiet death in elite admissions. Legacy preferences, backdoor donations, and ideological filtering have replaced a true contest of minds.
Schools that once claimed to represent the best and brightest now gatekeep based on who your parents are, what boxes you check, and whether your opinions conform.
In Cursed Mage, Fenn’s own elite play this game behind closed doors. What matters isn’t who’s most capable, but who’s most useful.
They let power corrupt their mission
Elite schools rake in billions while pretending to champion the underdog. They platform celebrities and politicians, sell naming rights to foreign regimes, and cover up scandals to preserve their image. Prestige matters more than principle.
At Fenn, influence and illusion go hand in hand. The pursuit of knowledge often comes second to reputation management, and some faculty have more secrets than textbooks. But at least one has secrets that’ll help Kaija.
They created a pipeline to power, not purpose
The Ivy League manufactures rulers. And many of those rulers leave chaos in their wake, like broken financial systems, endless wars, and dysfunctional bureaucracies.
When institutions train elites to manage decline instead of building something better, respect turns into resentment.
Some of Fenn’s alumni run the world. But should they?
They charge a fortune for a hollow product
With tuition costs spiraling near six-figure territory, many students emerge with crushing debt and no clear value to show for it. Elite diplomas are often more about signaling status than skills, and people are waking up to the scam.
In Cursed Mage, Fenn’s a facade. One that promises enlightenment but often delivers indoctrination, bureaucracy, and well-dressed decay. Just ask Kaija’s roommate, Satu.
The internet is exposing the lie
Why pay a quarter million dollars when you can learn from better thinkers on YouTube, Substack, or through indie authors? The web is decentralizing knowledge, and with it, the gatekeeping power of Ivy League institutions.
Fenn may dominate the old world. But in the shadows, something freer and far more dangerous is rising.
The decline of trust in the Ivy League isn’t about envy
It’s betrayal. Institutions once revered for excellence now feel hollow, political, and rigged. The same is true for Fenn in Cursed Mage.
The disillusionment that haunts our world bleeds into my fiction because fiction, when it’s honest, tells the truth louder than reality ever could.
If you’ve ever looked at the academic elite and thought, “This isn’t education, this is theater,” then maybe it’s time to enter a world where the cracks are exposed… and the consequences are real.
That’s exactly what Kaija will discover in Cursed Mage. Order the work directly, and enjoy a nice discount. Get Cursed Mage Today.
