Hailton Hellfire falls into the role of an instructor easily and quickly, and a slight smile on her face tells Ylene that it must be a place of comfort for her, "Well, first separate out the guild that is the mages collective from the academy, for they are two different things.   The Mages collective is a guild of spell users who wish to register and share information, resources, and knowledge.  Membership fees are paid annually, and they require a commission on jobs that they send to their members.  The collective has no restrictions on divine nor arcane, and likewise does not require that wizards, warlocks, priests, druids or whatever else join.  People are free to join and take advantage of the guild if they wish, or ignore it.  But guild members, those who do pay dues to the mages collective tend to stick together and shun non members when possible."<br/><br/>She held out a hand and then flipped it over, "On the other hand, the academy is run BY members of the guild, but is not the totality of the guild.  It is run as a way for those of arcane skill to come together, study, and learn.  While we do not shun divine casting in any way, it isn't the optimal place for priests to come to learn.  The academy is a school that teaches arcane and researches arcane magic.  Our divine casting brethren are welcome, as long as they are dues paying members of course, but they don't gain as much from our library as they might from a visit to their local temples."<br/><br/>She shrugged, "I imagine it's much the same with the temples and churches however.  I wouldn't get much from a prolonged religious study of divine texts, but I doubt that there's a priest in the city that wouldn't sit down with me and talk about their god or goddess if I asked them to."<br/><br/>Finally, sighing she answered, "As for spontaneous acquisition of divine power?"  She shrugged her shoulders again, "I mean, I've heard that divine power is like... a calling?  That people sometimes hear a call to become a priest or whatever.  I don't know, I don't think about it overly much.  I don't know if the Academy has such a view of things like that, but I guess I've never thought about it.  I always just assumed that clerics and paladins worked at their skills and magic, same as everyone else."<br/><br/>Rounding a corner the pair saw the building that housed a multi faith temple to goodly gods, including Shoni.  While it wasn't as wild and hardcore as some of Shoni's dedicated temples back in the faded lands, it did have it's own rooms that were well soundproofed for smaller private services.  The head priest, Father Keydan Mishskor, was a middle aged man of good health and a rather appealing form, and rumor was he practiced several monk techniques that had him only sleeping a few hours a day.   Which meant he was often able to be found in the main temple.