While the idea of a magic school in Connlaoth does tickle me on one level; I'll have to vote nay on that one. It's far too doomed an endevour to have its own board. Plus, it would make Connlaoth the butt of a joke - the big, bumbling bad guy (not that Connlaoth is a 'good' country, per se, it's more darkish grey) that can't knock off a little group of people. If the magic school has to be in a dangerous environment, it can be in a volcano, straddling a fault line or on a floating island. Someplace where it's in danger based on forces of nature.
Actually, a floating island magic school would be pretty sweet. Y'know, as long as it floated around randomly so people wouldn't take control of it and use it to try and conquer the world. I have to admit that as soon as I read school of magic I was thinking about Vane, the floating magic city/school in Lunar Silver Star Story *coughs*
Hmmm.... it'd be a little difficult to play a reporter, methinks. You'd have to have that character butt into all sorts of threads trying to catch a scoop. What if the reporters were pseudonyms? Players could write their take on their own and other people's threads as a person in game. It could work something like the Letters forum, where the person would explain which paper it was taken from.
Actually, that would be an interesting question to pose for the nations of SotE. Do they HAVE newspapers? I can imagine Necromantia having the technology to print all sorts of stuff, but couldn't imagine remote places like Hyoite and Essryn devoting the sort of time to making paper, getting material etc. etc. etc. In that case, the 'news' could be hear-say people pick up in the market and taverns and what not.