Another one that just started to look worse and worse the more I tried to fix it, so this is how it ended up.

In which gizzard is dragonfire stored?

Is cockatrice petrification reversible?

How do skeletons walk without tendons?

Why are halflings so annoying?

These are many of the mysteries pondered daily within the halls of the Schola Arcanthra, the imperial college of arcanthropology committed to the study of non-human cultures, and the anatomy and ecology of magical beasts. Humanity sits precariously far down on the food chain, and it is only through an understanding of the natural world that the toothy horrors of the wilderness are kept outside city walls.

The spells employed by Arcanthran wizards are eclectic, since much of their magic is a direct mimicry of supernatural creatures. They may breath fire when threatened, or extrude manticore-venom coated bone spikes. Others augment themselves with permanent grafts or inject themselves with dragonblood or troll choler, granting advanced abilities in exchange for a gradual erosion of their humanity. They are often mistaken for druids.

A great many monster hunters are counted among their ranks. Others hold to the philosophy that the surest way to kill a monster is to ensure that it is never born. To this end, the wizards study the breeding cycles and mating habits of monsters enthusiastically, seeking ways of disrupting them, often by inserting themselves into (or in less dignified cases, being inserted into) proceedings. Their field manuals contain vivid annotations of courtship dances and reproductive rituals.

The strategy of hijacking the reproduction of lesser races was first systematised by the elf Morivar Highspire, who joined the Schola after elven territories were enveloped within Imperial borders. He has proven so uncannily experienced at it that some have come to suspect elves may have been conducting a similar program on humans for centuries.

The Schola operates out of the Museum of Arcanthropology, which boasts a broad menagerie of living specimens for study, as well as cultural treasures stolen from across the known world. Within the collection are the alchemically preserved hides of a great many races. These are loaned out for researchers to wear, allowing them to remain undetected while they get up close and personal.