The Discordian Castle: A History

Chapter 2

The Beginning

Since the removal of forums from the HiH site, staff had noticed that student engagement and camaraderie were not the same. You could start groups and clubs and post them on your profile, but there is no sure way to get the information out to others and expand your group. It was difficult to talk to other students in a group from a course you were taking or to converse with students in other Houses without joining a dozen or more groups and clubs. Even then, involvement was down. 

In an attempt to get students and staff together, Headmistress Oshiro and Professor Kwan decided to expand to other social media platforms. Here is Professor Kwan with how the decision of the Discord channel came to be:

“I created the server as a way for students to feel a sense of community with each other. I’ve heard tales from veteran students and professors about the liveliness of HiH’s old forums before they were removed. Everyone knew about each other, so to speak. The current iteration of HiH doesn’t have a practical space for students to converse with each other. There are hundreds of groups and dorms on the site, but the majority become inactive due to a lack of awareness of the group, and not to mention that it is incredibly difficult to advertise the creation of groups. Discord can offer every social aspect that HiH can’t.” 

Technically, HiH has a Facebook page, a Twitter/X account, and a Tumblr page. But none of these social pages has continuous support, nor a space for students to actively discuss course topics. And thus was born an idea for a Discord server. 

Here is what Headmistress Oshiro had to say:

“As for the Discord, this was an effort that was approved by the entire staff. I think we all wanted a place for the students to communicate and connect with each other, especially since the removal of the forums and feeds from site. When Professor Kwan had the idea to open the Discord server, the whole staff was on board. This was a way for us to provide and foster a community for the site once again.” 

Professor Kwan, with the help of Professor Salvatrix and others, knew from the start how the Discord would play out. But with limited moderating experiences, she spent five months researching server settings and acceptable bots to help us in the journey of the Castle. When the server was up to acceptable standards for the Headmistress and Professors, they accepted some PAs inside to prepare them for the next step. After about 5 weeks, the entire team set up the server for its official opening to interested students.

When the Discord was officially opened on September 1st, 2024, it started as a Magical Study Group with its sister counterpart on HiH, too. Students signing up for MSG on Discord meant they could join the classroom discussions to help them stay inspired and complete assignments. It also provided a schedule for each class to be completed, though this by no means was meant to be a hard deadline for those who couldn’t study on a regular basis. Still, students could enter chats about classroom topics and ask questions to their Professors or PA teams to gain extracurricular information. While the server was slow going for the next 3 months, it showed promising opportunities. The server had a fantastic basis of functionality, a positive environment, and plenty of activity between Professors and students to make the leap worthwhile. At this time, Professor Kwan knew the next big step was ready. 

Grand Re-Opening

In mid-December, Headmistress Oshiro locked the Portkey from new students so Professor Kwan could prepare. With the MSG as a soft launch for the server, its success showed that the server could be opened to all students within HiH, regardless of the Magical Study Groups. The staff was worried about an influx of students that current staff might not be able to attend to. So they started an application process to appoint more server moderators to assist the staff and share moderating responsibilities.

On January 24, 2025, Professor Kwan announced two new moderators, called Prefects, for their elevated student responsibilities to keep other students within conduct of the server. These Prefects were Andromeda Cyreus and me, Jean V. Ollivander (sorry for the self-plug, but this is history!)

The next day, Headmistress Oshiro reopened the Portkey for all students to join in classroom discussions. Those students could still use the MSG studying schedules provided if they felt the desire to do so. In a related decision to the opening of the server (and soft cancellation of the MSGs), the sister Magical Study Groups on the HiH site were removed due to low interest or involvement, but those few students still sticking around were able to join the server. At the beginning of both MSGs, it was announced that a student could only join one at the time, especially for students under the age of 16 who should only apply for the HiH MSGs instead of the Discord MSG.

The grand re-opening of the Discord server was met with success! In about a month of opening, the server saw almost 150 new students join! And new Professors could join the server to engage with their students in their new classroom and encourage them to continue their education in magic. The atmosphere between HiH and the Discord server was completely different. 

In late February, the term “Discordian Castle” was coined by the new Care of Magical Creatures Professor, Professor Montclam. This term was met with unanimous love from students and professors. And so the server was unofficially renamed the Discordian Castle.

“I thought it was important to distinguish between the HiH website and the HiH Discord, for things like house points. And why not have a little fun with it while we are at it? So I just started using the word “Discordian” for everything discord-related, and apparently, it’s stuck.”

March 21, 2025, the Discordian Castle grew to include a library section. Now, students can tune in to the Triwizard Tunes to listen while studying in the Library Study Room. For more information, you can read Chapter Four under the Library section.