AlaronChildrenOfTheRealm/InitialSetting
The game is set in a reasonably prestigious Acdademy for young Dynasts, two hundred miles or so south from the Imperial City. The Academy is build upon the central Manse of the city, a Solar Aspected building from the first age. Although the Manse used to be incredibly powerful, no-one can tell exactly what properties it had, as the early propogandists of the realm attempted to hide the nature of the old building as much as possible. Some signs remain, however, as too much alteration would have risked an explosion.
As it is now, and as the players will know it, the Academy is a school known for security and strict regulation. There are large and thick walls on the perimeter of the property, and guards monitor and patrol the grounds. Parents who fear for the safety of their children, or who believe that they should be given no chances to skip out on lessons, send their children here. And, of course, parents who want to forget their children find it a convenient dumping ground.
The property encloses three main buildings, only two of which the players will regularly interact with: The Manse building proper, the Dormitory building, and the Slave and Servant quarters. The slave quarters and the dormitory lie on opposite sides of the path leading from the main gate to the front door of the main building. The slave building is of course hidden somewhat by rows of trees, and the dormitory is made to look elegant and old by deliberately placed vines and trees. However, undoubtably the most impressive is the Main building. Standing four stories high and built with a chinese look and feel, it is huge compared to the others and stands out in the squat city. It is clearly the only original construction, also. Faint evidence of other buildings having existed can be found in the grounds gardens, although they have been hidden.
The building is broken into five parts, which are used for different purposes by the school board:
The first section, the east wing, is a giant and high roofed dojo. The sun shines in through massive Adamantine Glass screens and illuminates every corner at dawn. As the sun rises, a globe suspended from the centre of the roof glows bright and sunny.
The second section, just west of the dojo but east of the main wing, is a large temple, two stories high, with rooms upstairs reserved almost exclusively for ecclesiastic purposes. As the sun hits its peak at noon, a sphere of glass in the temple glows bright and sunny.
The Main block comprises the entrance lobby and the main administrative areas. The school accountancy and secretarial staff work here, and the Dominie's office is in the centre of the block. The front doors open into a two-floor gala ballroom in which most ceremonies of importance are held. Suspended above the desk of the Dominie is a large glass globe, which glows during eclipses of the sun and the five days of calibration.
Just west is another middle-block. Here lies the dining hall and various classrooms. A conspicuously larger number of rooms are permanently off-limits here than in the rest of the building. The walls also seem thicker, and rooms feel more silent. The main chandelier of the dining hall is suspended from a giant glass globe, which glows during the night.
The library lies to the far west of the building, and takes up three stories. It houses a large and impressive collection of books, only the first floor of which are accessible to students. The fourth floor is half open-air and half reinforced and armoured. The floors of the upper two levels of the library open in the middle, and suspended by a long and gossamer-thin wire in the dead-centre of the room is a globe of black glass, which is illuminated by a thin shaft of sunlight at sundown and glows darkly in the middle, becoming clearer and more tranparent.
The only glass ball that is known to glow is that of the dining hall - the other areas of the school, by old tradition, are closed at the times mentioned.
