Difference between revisions of "Spiral Academy"

Latest revision as of 22:45, 6 April 2022

Layout

Located at the center of the Scarlet Empire, within the Grand Offices of the Thousand Scales in the Imperial Palace, the Spiral Academy is at once the smallest and the largest of the Realm’s Exalted Schools.

The Grand Offices of the Thousand Scales is a cramped and crowded place, the massive edifices of the major ministries hemmed in by high blocks of offices and the amenities to support the countless bureaucrats of the Thousand Scales. The Spiral Academy stands as one of the tallest of the buildings here (only the fifteen-storey Hall of Humble and Honest Assessors rising above it), its two 12-storey towers flanking the main street which cuts north from the Gate of Rehearsing Rites (leading into the Imperial Palace Gardens) to the Impregnable Office of the Imperial Treasury. A broad bridge crosses the street to link the upper floors of the towers, and the tower roofs support rooftop gardens according fine views of the District and the Palace beyond.

The towers are filled with dormitories, mess halls, quarters for teachers, classrooms, and libraries, the lower floors devoted to blocks of offices and exam halls used not only for Academy classes but to house student projects, student labour rented to outside enterprises, and for conducting the Thousand Scales’ Imperial Examinations and various tests for accounting and insurance licenses.

Curriculum

The Spiral Academy’s purpose is to train its students in the skills needed to join the bureaucracy of the Scarlet Empire or the cogs of its economic infrastructure. At the spiral, students must master matters of accounting, finance, statecraft, and calligraphy, as well as research, debate & rhetoric, and the other skills vital to the Realm’s administration and political life. While the texts used in instruction can vary widely, a few texts such as the One Hundred Fifty-Six Score and Five Maxims of Assiduous Concordance remain staples in the syllabus.

Faculty and Administration

The Spiral Academy is administered directly by the Right and Responsible Office of Official Education, a department of the Thousand Scales. The Minister of Education simultaneously serves as Domine of the Spiral, the current master of the school is thus Sesus Valtor.

Most of the school's faculty are dedicated teachers there, a prestigious post attracting the best of Patricians and unExalted Dynasts. It is not uncommon for officials of the Right and Responsible Office to be assigned classes or terms teaching as well, and officials from other departments in the Scales (particularly the Imperial Treasury) also often gain temporary appointments. The Academy is also not short on Exalted teachers, with accomplished alumni often invited as guest lecturers. Such seminars are invariably popular with students, admission often tied to scholastic success. Guest lecturuers include such notables as Ragara Heral of the House Ragara Council of Elders.

Student Life

“If my days there are any indication, there can be no aphrodisiac in Creation more potent than seething hatred mixed with endless paperwork.”
– Mnemon Bata, Scarlet Prefect (deceased RY768).

The Spiral Academy can house 250 students at one time, and is never empty. Like the Cloister of Wisdom it is not limited only to the Dragonblooded, with mortal students working alongside the Exalted with little regard for spiritual status. Likewise, while the bulk of students are patricians, there are many Dynasts who attend, and even some of more common class who are granted scholarships for particular brilliance, and class divisions are paid little attention within the school. The best quarters and the best classes are granted to those who achieve the best scores during frequent testing or who carry out the most successful projects, and while Exaltation empowers to great heights, gifted mortals can pull themselves above listless Dragonblooded in the hierarchy, clever commoners can outsmart entitled patricians. The students at the Spiral Academy are in constant competition, an atmosphere which forges them into shape for a future in the Imperial bureaucracy.

Students at the Spiral do not attend classes on a daily schedule: rather, students are assigned to projects and teams, a lecture opening the effort with a detailed description of what is to be carried out and the required result, students then left to direct their own learning and efforts to complete the project. During this time, instructors hold lectures open for any student to attend… this education is relevant and valuable, but every moment in class is a moment not spent on the project itself. Students must learn to control their own lives and make accurate judgments on what use of their time will advance them furthest. There is no time for friendships that do not promise a payoff, no room for favours not offered in exchange. Graduates of the Spiral will often say that the Cloister hardens souls, the Bells hardens bodies, and the Heptagram hardens stomachs, but the Spiral hardens minds, and a hardened mind is a more powerful weapon than any martial art, army, or sorcery.

As students advance in years, their projects become more complex and they gain more freedom to direct their course. The Spiral Academy uses its students as a profitable rented labour force to assist with paperwork for commercial interests or Thousand Scales ministries, and such assignments begin with the offer of double the requested manpower for no increase in price: two teams of students plan out how they will complete the task, and the employer then decides after seeing their work which will be kept on the payroll (on rare occasions, they might pay out for both, or decline and accept none) through to final completion.

Each year, students arrive in the first week of the Season of Air, and depart in the first week of Ascending Fire. Projects are typically assigned by season, with the first few years having a greater number of short one-month projects and the final year an expansive all-year project. The break at the end of the school year might remind students of going home from primary school, but the nature of the Spiral means it is a far different time… students are not permitted to depart the Imperial City (most Dynasts taking advantage of their House Palace wings should their origins be distant, while others stay with relatives or provide profits to City innkeeps). Students use their ‘break’ to study and prepare for projects in the coming year, and instructors will often assign individual ‘break projects’ to students in order to force them to shore up their weak points.

All projects are group projects, and the score achieved by one’s group defines one’s place amongst the successful or the failures, just as a Ministry or business rises and falls by the combined force of all its members not just one. However, on either side of that pass-fail divide, the Spiral ranks each student individually for their efforts, and the best individuals receive the greatest rewards for their success. Students face a balancing act, seeking to ensure that their group achieves success… but that their fellow group members are kept beneath them in the individual accounting.

Examinations and Judgments

At the end of each project, the project itself is judged, and exams are conducted to rate each student’s grasp of the general lessons. The most important of these are the Accounting Exam at the end of the third year, and the Final Examinations before graduation.

The Accounting Exam is undertaken separately from the regular testing and projects of the school, testing general knowledge of accounting, banking, and insurance assessment. A student who fails this examination must leave the school, and one who passes receives a diploma from the Spiral Academy certifying them as officially qualified to be an Accounts Clerk in the Realm Accounting Industry.

The Final Examinations take place in the second week of Ascending Fire, at the same time as the annual Counters Examination floods the City with would-be bureaucrats and financial agents. The Spiral students take the Counters Examination alongside all the other applicants, and should they pass they are granted certification as Counters in the Realm Accounting Industry… a requirement for graduation from the Spiral Academy.

Selected Alumni

Graduates of ?: Bal Keraz, Mnemon Bata, ?

Graduates of RY760: Peleps V'ndye, ?

Graduates of RY761: Mnemon Savar, Mnemon Sukano, Peleps Jemonta, Ragara Rasim, Tepet Nash, ?

Graduates of RY762: Mnemon Fufuara, Peleps Damanchina, Ragara Rahiro, Sesus Sera, ?

Graduates of RY763: Cynis Lerrarun, Peleps Staemos, Ragara Wook-Dathun, Tepet Rika, ?

Graduates RY764: Mnemon Drakon, Peleps Aontasia, ?

Graduates of RY765: V’neef Cejanis, V’neef Pepaa, ?

Graduates of RY766: Cynis Napaf, Ragara Cliff-Breaking-Fist, Ragara Face-of-Stone, ?

Graduates of RY767: Nellens Razorneedle, Ragara Hemlock, V'neef Samael, ?