Fantasy Organizations or Training Academies that are not “the only game in town”
We all know the beloved classic fantasy training/heroic/knighthood organizations. The Jedi temple/academy from Star Wars. Hogwarts and related wizarding schools from Harry Potter. The Knights Radiant from Stormlight Archive. Hero Schools from My Hero Academia. The Dragon Riders from Eragon/Inheritance.
But they all have one thing in common: they’re the only game in town. There is basically a single pathway to using magic knowledge or powers in that universe while being considered “good”, and anyone not in that main pipeline is at best considered an untrained anomaly or rogue, and at worst a villain or part of a competing villainous organization. They are also frequently either arms of an official major government or at least have a very close and exclusive relationship with the government.
For this trope I’m instead thinking about organizations that are considered reasonable, respectable, non-villainous paths to fantasy knowledge or heroics, but without being the unquestioned “only good guys.” Ideally (but not a strict requirement for the trope) this wouldn’t be too harshly constrained by the “type” of person you are, that a variety of different people could choose to participate.
My actual examples:
1.) The Green Lantern Corps (DC Comics and Cinema). This one is borderline and I could see justification for excluding it on the basis that the organization chooses its members very carefully, but since their criteria is their fairly vague “willpower” I opted to include it. They exist in a world with many kinds of super powers and magic, but they are largely considered a venerable and helpful organization, using the power of their rings to perform a variety of fantastical acts in the service of protecting others.
2.) Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj, MCU: like the lantern corps they are part of a universe with many kinds of super powers and pro social organizations, and they are one. They have their own specific knowledge and training, the visuals and specifics of their magic is different from anything else in their universe, many kinds of people can join, they are not part of any major government, and they exist to protect their realm.
3.) Cobalt Soul, D&D/Critical Role. An organization of warrior monks dedicated to gathering and preserving knowledge (with a particular emphasis on magical knowledge), with a major combat wing, they are largely independent from world governments yet still well regarded in the community. D&D is particularly well known for having a LOT of different powered organizations and orders wandering around so I particularly like this example.
4.) Speaker Magicians, Castlevania. Much like the cobalt soul they are a knowledge gathering order, though theirs is an oral not written tradition. They also focus on charity and helping the destitute. A subset of the speakers specialize in magical knowledge and can wield it in combat. Public opinions on the speakers are mixed and vary over time, but they are not universally regarded badly, just misunderstood by some. They are highly regarded in some circles.
Honorable mentions that come close:
1.) X-Men/Xavier’s Academy. I dunno, this one is really close, but I guess for me it’s so firmly tied to the binary “either you’re born with the X gene or you’re not” qualifier that it kind of fell outside what I was looking for. I wouldn’t blame anyone for including it though, it has all the other hallmarks. Exists in a world with a lot of different ways to have and use powers.
2.) Witchers. I really wanted to include this one because the world of the Witcher is deep and has a lot of countries, organizations, and lore. It’s just the sort of world that would have the kind of thing I’m looking for, but within the context of the universe witchers are almost universally looked down upon, feared, reviled by a lot of the normal folk, and only used reluctantly by desperate rich people and royalty. Again, very close since the actual principles of the organization (fighting monsters) are pro-social. But it barely misses my personal cutoff because the majority of the people in their world seem to hate them (unfairly).