Delora College is the sixth founded college of the University of Aldergate.
Delorans get it done. Whatever "it" may be, chances are a Deloran is doing it. They may be accused of not being the life of the party, but not by anyone familiar with the major players in any modern representative democracy.
Notable alumni include James (né Jane) Ambrose, the VC VC, 49th Vice-Chancellor of the University.
History[]
As the Office of Invitations increasingly expanded its network of agents beyond Western Europe, the University faced an urgent need to expand beyond the original defensive perimeter of the First Five. The founding scholars of Delora embraced the twofold symbolism, establishing the new college as an "outsider" (the first college without an Anglo-Norman majority) and dedicating it to the "peaceful arts." This latter may also have been careful politics; Henry III had openly condemned Aldergate's steadfast refusal to lend either financial or political support to his efforts to reconquer his father's lost territories in France, and the University's pugnacious response nearly resulted in an armed standoff.
If Delora's rejection of all things warlike was indeed an attempt to appease Hank 3, it was little more than a token one. In its first few decades the college made use of the O of I's Lionheart-era networks to recruit heavily from the Levant, and Aldergatian influence was strongly suspected of fomenting the rebellions in Gascony that prevented the King from pursuing a planned crusade. Later, Delora joined Chamber College in openly defying the 1253 Statute of Jewry; if not for Henry's alliance with (and reliance on) Aldergate's own Fidiricu, things might have turned nasty.
The most enduring effect of the college's commitment to peacefulness may have been entirely accidental. In submitting its blazon of arms to the University Herald, Delora selected a lozenge rather than a shield for its escutcheon, a form generally reserved to female nobility. After some argument over whether a college could be female, the blazon was accepted. There is no indication, however, that it was ever the intention of the founding scholars for Delora to be a female-majority college - this did come to be the case, however, and continues so to this day. One reason for this may be the influential Gwendolen Society, founded and quartered in Delora, which is the University's oldest (nominally) gender-restricted organization.
Architecture[]
Delora is one of the quadless colleges - it's all one big building, and quite a building. It was designed to be a virtual twin to Le Batard's White Tower (pictured), and has also been painted at various times throughout its history - generally Aldergate vermilion.