Difference between revisions of "Academy for Cultivation of Youthful Talents"

Revision as of 12:17, 9 September 2012

The Academy for the Cultivation of Youthful Talents, which students and alumni sometimes refer to by the derogatory nickname 'the baby farm', is located in the heart of the Dynastic quarter in the Imperial City, and has a proud history dating back many centuries.

For almost all of this long history, the Academy has been a highly exclusive institution, attended only by children of the most prominent families who resided in the City itself. Over the years, as less-prominent families gained admission, it came to be the favoured primary school of City Dynasts in general, and remained exclusive to City residents. It was said that attending the Academy allowed children to make political connections that would serve them later in life when they and their classmates grew to become the City's Dynastic leaders. Because of this, a number of families from outside the City sought to break down the school's barrier and have their children admitted into its halls. They finally succeeded in RY752 (unbeknownst to most, because the schoolmaster at the time had fallen out of favour with the Empress, and took advantage of hefty bribes from outsider parents to finance a comfortable retirement in Thorns). The Academy was torn by the decision: many alumni told their children to avoid being tainted by the 'outsiders'. However, after much difficulty (and the Exaltation of the first outsider students alone within their Form) the school and its students came to accept the change.

ADMINISTRATION

Headmaster: Sanajo Maret, an elderly mortal of patrician blood and a retired bureaucrat from the Thousand Scales.

THE SCHOOL YEAR

The school year at the Academy begins in the month of Resplendent Air and lasts until the end of Ascending Fire. Students are able to spend the time in between at home with their parents, and parents sometimes arrange for them to learn horse-riding at this time as the Academy does not offer courses in it. Final exams occur in Ascending Fire, preceded by the most intense period of studies through the Wood season, determining admittance and priority in class selection for the coming year. The Earth season is often the peak of physical activity, as it is when students organize teams for the five-team ball game Warudi and compete in the Academy tournament, the winning team rewarded in Ascending Wood by being taken on an escorted trip to Vatamu.

On the last day of the week, families are allowed to take students off the grounds for the afternoon, provided the students have completed the week’s schoolwork or a sufficient bribe is paid into the correct pocket.

DRESS

The Academy has a uniform, but it does not seek to cover up wealth and social station: teachers wear an open jimbaori of grey silk marked with the school mon over their regular clothes, while students wear a closed mandarin vest of the same colour and material over their clothes, held shut by knots of yellow thread.

LAYOUT

The Academy is located in the Dynastic districts of the Imperial City, on a street lined with the coloured roofs and verdant gardens of Dynastic villas. A thick wall of rough stone, topped with iron spikes, rises to some twenty feet, but is not thick and lacks battlements... it would never stand against a concerted assault, but if armies ever marched amongst the Exalted residences here, surviving a siege would hardly be an option anyhow. Two gates penetrate the wall: the Main Gate (1), above which are found the servants’ quarters, and the Parents’ Gate (2) at the rear where parents could arrive unnoticed by their children to consult with teachers.

The student dormitory (7) is a building of stone, with marble panels along the outside, its interior walls lined with panels of polished oak. It consists of two wings and a central tower. In each wing, the lower floor is given over to double bunks with a shared washbasin, for the 1st- and 2nd-Form students. The upper floors of the wings have single beds and individual desks & chairs with washbasins and a shared water closet with bath.

The central tower has four floors: the lower floor contains corridors connecting to the wings as well as kitchens, a communal bath and water closet, and the dining room where large tables seating ten are used for eating and studying. The middle floor contains several 2-bed rooms with every 2 rooms sharing a bath and water closet, for use by the 5th-Forms, while the 6th-Forms receive private rooms and facilities on the upper floor, which also had windows large enough to take in a view of the City over the Academy wall. The topmost floor contains a rooftop garden open to the breeze, with study desks for the 6th-forms to practice free of younger students disturbing them.

Detached from the main dormitory stand two smaller dormitory buildings. The first is the Cell of Immaculate Contemplation (8), a small stone building containing statues of the five Immaculate Dragons. It is sometimes used for prayer, but is also used to store newly-Exalted students until they can control their flaring animas... it can be locked from the outside. The second is the Hall of Devoted Apology (9), a leaky longhouse containing six beds to which students might be condemned as punishment. Both of these detached buildings are located in a small walled section nicknamed ‘little Toribeno’ by many students.

The headmaster’s quarters and the administrative offices are located in a stone building with a domed roof (3). Attached to one side are the offices and quarters of the teachers (4), also connected to the blocky building containing the classrooms (5). The teachers also have access to a private garden (11), where sometimes gifted students might receive individual lessons.

The Academy Library (6) was once a smaller building of stone, filled with cramped and twisting pathways between shelves of books and scrolls, with several small tables for study and playing Gateway. The difficulty of navigating the library was long a problem, until in RY763 alumni Peleps Staemos sponsored the rebuilding and expansion of the library using fine marble, allowing its shelves to create open, spacious corridors which do not hide the Gateway boards or deceive with maze-like twists. The Immaculate texts are displayed prominently on podiums near the entrance. The Library includes copies of all the texts used in the curriculum as well as tomes from the pens of alumni.

The Academy grounds also includes a practice yard (10) for swordplay and archery, and a garden for wandering lessons outside should the instructor feel in the mood for it. As fitting for the children of the Dynasty, the garden features four distinct areas: the Western pond (12), the Southern sand garden (13), the Central rock garden (14) with a shallow cave in its largest boulder, and the Eastern woods (15). The element of Air does not have a garden per se, being represented by the light glinting through the glass dome of the headmaster’s quarters and the wind setting chimes singing at the entry to that building.

SCHOOLBOOKS

The Immaculate Texts: Religious texts which most students had memorized before entering primary school, the texts were nevertheless studied and practiced during religious classes.

Dewdrops in the Deep (by Cynis Merric): Taught as the finest example of superior modern verse.

Poems by Rawar (of Arjuf): Taught as an example of transitional poetry between Shogunate and modern styles, containing crude beginnings of allegory. Critiqued for being overly-simplistic.

Autumn Meditations (by Du Fu): Taught as an example of Shogunate poetry. Critiqued for lacking any subtlety of meaning or complexity of language.

Imperial Proclamation (by the Scarlet Empress): Short text memorized by all students as the first lesson of their classes on Imperial institutions.

The One Hundred Fifty-Six Score and Five Maxims of Assiduous Concordance (by Mela, Immaculate of Air): Advanced political manual, excerpts from which are used at the Academy’s more advanced classes on political institutions.

The Immaculate Brush (by ?): Manual on Old Realm calligraphy, used in advanced classes on writing and brushwork.

Five Dragons Fight as One (by Mela, Immaculate of Air): Martial arts manual containing basic principles taught to Academy students, though the school does not teach the maneuvers themselves.

Wonders of the Lost Age (by ?): Historical manual on artifacts, meant for Dynastic children and patricians. Students who moved on to the Heptagram will be familiar with the annotated version.

Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier (by Mela, Pasiap, or Hesiesh): Text used to teach the basics of tactics and strategy.

Canon of Sextes Jylis (by Sextes Jylis): Text used to teach the basics of biology.

The Heroic Stand of General Ctaru: a history of the Battle of Coiled Dragons (By Cathak Meata Yagu): Text used in military history at the Academy, describing a climactic battle between forces of the 23rd Legion under General Cathak Ctaru and the hordes of the Anathema Jochim. The text describes the glorious personal victories of Ctaru and her officers in great detail.

CURRENT STUDENTS

Cathak Rumhel

Cathak Virra

Cynis Akamane

Cynis Gokana

Ledaal Usabako

Mnemon Dax

Mnemon Gishana

Mnemon Mishuu

Peleps Staman

Sesus Aralasha

Sesus Chadnor

Sesus Kashen

Tepet Alris

V'neef Petros (dropped out)

SELECTED ALUMNI

Cathak Carasa: 752-class. House of Bells graduate. Winglord, 23rd Imperial Legion. Deceased RY767, protecting her unit from destruction at the hands of a foul Anathema.

Cathak Meata: RY666-class. House of Bells graduate. Strategoi, 2nd Imperial Legion.

Cathak Meata Iyari: 717-class. House of Bells graduate. Dragonlord, 2nd Imperial Legion

Cathak Meata Yagu: 736-class. Resident Historian of the Library of All Heroic Deeds (Citadel of Purifying Flame). A copy of his published history text, The Heroic Stand of General Ctaru, is part of the Academy curriculum.

Cathak Nestet: 748-class. Governor of Ostle (Scarlet Prefecture)

Cathak Okubo: 752-class. Deceased RY768. Murderer of Mnemon Kora.

Cynis Dumon: 723-class. Honoured Caretaker of Dragons & Instructor of Strategy and Cuisine, Academy for Cultivation of Youthful Talents.

Cynis Hibare: 754-class. Talonlord, 4th Imperial Legion.

Cynis Hinoke: 754-class.

Cynis Shen: 577-class.

Cynis Tiir: 754-class. Overseer, Rose Troupe of the Bevy of Effacious and Facile Blossoms. A copy of his published poetry compilation, Ten-Thousand Tra-Las, is present in the Academy library.

Ledaal Shinjo: 753-class. Renowned playwright. A copy of his published play, Haruko, is present in the Academy library.

Mnemon Dnares: 714-class. Former Instructor of Decorum, and Headmaster (RY753-56), Academy for Cultivation of Youthful Talents. Chief Overseer, Mines of Enriching Descent RY756-57). Deceased RY757, mine collapse.

Mnemon Drakon: 752-class.

Mnemon Icheka: 754-class. Cloister of Wisdom graduate.

Mnemon Kora: 758-class. Deceased RY768 in unfortunate circumstances.

Mnemon Miasa: 754-class. Cloister of Wisdom graduate.

Mnemon Palima: 753-class.

Mnemon Savar: 749-class. Spiral Academy graduate.

Mnemon Vesko: 752-class.

Peleps Genn: 754-class. Kubernetes, Imperial Navy Water Fleet.

Peleps Maheka: 751-class.

Peleps Staemos: 751-class. Spiral Academy graduate. Successful businessman and advisor to the Peleps Deliberative caucus.

Ragara Isamaetra: 752-class. Master jeweller.

Ragara Thannak-Tyros: 753-class. Heptagram graduate.

Sesus Bulgo: 753-class. Tax Assessor (badge of the mandarin duck), Thousand Scales.

Sesus Gonadai: 695-class. Headmaster, Academy for Cultivation of Youthful Talents RY739 to RY753. Deceased RY764, natural causes.

Sesus Septimus: 753-class. House of Bells graduate. Winglord, 4th Imperial Legion. Hero of the Realm.

Tepet Sorae: 753-class. House of Bells graduate.

Tepet Tilis Tepetus: 753-class. Scalelord, 9th Imperial Legion. Deceased RY764, Battle of Futile Blood in the War with the Bull

V’neef Cejanis: 753-class. Spiral Academy graduate. Successful businesswoman and advisor to the V'neef Deliberative caucus.

V’neef Mahara Juyi: 753-class. Humble and Upright Collector of Taxes and Tribute, Bushan department, Thousand Scales.