IsleOfJade/Grounds
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Two Rivers School of Enlightenment and Martial Arts – Grounds
The grounds of the Two Rivers School of Enlightenment and Martial Arts are modest but attractive. The entire walled compound can be understood best as three distinct areas and a main entrance. Between and among these features the grounds are well maintained in the form of a very natural looking garden. Highly manicured trees and other greenery contrast pleasantly with stone paths and rocky outcroppings, serving as the dominant features on this hillside learning community on the banks of the River Xi. This serene setting is, as Master Li says, the perfect place to focus one’s mind and spirit for proper training in the martial arts.
Entrance and Main Path
A pair of large, rounded, heavy wooden double doors marks the main entrance from the village to this walled compound. This gate is always guarded by a student of low rank as part of their duties. From the gate a narrow stone path navigates its way down a short, rocky cliff face before reaching the Bamboo Bridge.
Meditative Shrine
A very small pagoda containing a meditative shrine is set on the main path, off to the side of the Entrance, and guests to the School are asked to clear their minds here before progressing further into the School proper. This Shrine is also where aspiring students spend their time when they are not doing petty chores or conditioning work, hoping to gain the focus necessary for Master Li to admit them to the School. The stone floor of the pagoda is set with three symbols representing each of Master Li’s Three Ways.
Bamboo Bridge and Western Main Path
The Bamboo Bridge lies along the Main Path and crosses a small but swift natural spring that winds its way down from its source on the Hill and eventually enters the River Xi. The Bridge itself connects the School Entrance and the village proper to the main areas of the School on the spring’s other side. It is a favorite informal sparing location, as the bridge is not wide and lacks railings of any kind. Students often practice balance on the bridge as they attempt to knock each other into the spring while remaining standing themselves. Just past the Bamboo Bridge, as one moves away from the entrance, the main path splits in three directions. The straight path leads to the main compound. The left path moves down toward the River Bank and the dormitories. The right path travels up a Hill to the Tomb of the Old Master and the sealed entrance to the Anathema Cave.
The Main Compound
This area is the heart of the Two Rivers School. It is the site of the Sparring Ring, the Dojo, Master Li’s Quarters, and the Library, as well as several other important buildings. Students work and train hard here, and some are always to be found in this area.
The Main Compound is defined by a series of four buildings, situated in a semi-circle and facing inward toward a large Sparring Ring. These buildings are relatively simple, and in form are basically heavy wooden platforms with large, curved roofs floating over the base. The platforms extend toward the Sparring Ring beyond the roofs and vertical walls, creating a circular wooden walkway in front of the Ring reachable by short stairs directly in front of each building’s sliding screen entrance. Along this walkway are various scroll stands displaying large spiritual and inspirational messages written in beautiful High Tongue calligraphy.
Sparring Ring
The Sparring Ring is the focal point of the Main Compound. The circular field is marked by a red wooden railing running around its perimeter, which is broken at each of the four cardinal directions to allow access to the ring itself. Years of constant and intense fighting has compacted the earthen floor, and little of the original grass remains.
At any given time of day there is almost always sparring occurring here, except at night when students are expected to be sleeping. Most sparring is informal, with two or more combatants fighting until first landed strike or first fall. But this is also the site where formal challenges for rank on the Way of the Closed Fist are fought. During these events the wooden walkway in front of the Main Compound’s buildings and the railing around the ring itself are almost always full of excited and curious students eager to witness the match.
Dojo
The Dojo is the largest building in the Main Compound.
Training dummies, wooden floor, racks of wooden practice weapons.
More to come.
Master Li’s Quarters
Master Li’s Quarters are simple but elegant. They overlook the Sparring Ring so he can watch the progress of his students as they practice. Essentially two rooms, they consist of his private bedchamber that is off limits to all students and a receiving room where Master Li likes to meet with students one-on-one or in small groups. These meetings are usually informal, and both students and Master sit directly on the cushioned floor. This is also where Master Li practices his hobby, astronomy, and charts showing the movements of the heavenly bodies are not uncommonly spread out on the floor here.
Instructor’s Quarters
This building houses both Smiling Mountain and Twentieth Leopard. It mirrors Master Li’s Quarters in most respects from the exterior. Inside there are two rooms off a shared hall.
Library
The small Library is the most intricate and sound structure in the compound. Decorated with images of dragons and heavenly gods in meditative poses, and made of heavier materials than other buildings, it contains Master Li’s prized collection of martial arts and philosophical scrolls. On these scrolls are the forms and secret techniques of more than three dozen powerful martial arts styles, detailed anatomies of the human body, charts detailing the movement of essence through the body and heavenly bodies through the sky, the wisdom and philosophies of some of the most important thinkers of the last millennium, and many other more esoteric works. This building is always guarded by an advanced student during the day, and tightly (some would say magically) locked during the night. Only those with Master Li’s express permission are permitted entry, and sneaking in is grounds for expulsion from the school.
River Bank
The River Bank is home to all the students training at the Two Rivers School. The main practice fields are here, along with the dormitories and an open Mess Hall. Other than the hours of darkness during which all students are expected to rest quietly in their beds, it is the most active and bustling area in the entire compound and it is never empty.
The grounds here are simpler than in any other locale in the School. Unlike the garden atmosphere of the rest of the grounds, the River Bank is plain and bare. Contrary to its name, it does not give access directly to the River Xi. Like the rest of the grounds it is walled off from the outside by a 10 foot wall. The River, then, lies on the other side of the wall. However, students can get water from the natural spring that flows from the Hill, marking the eastern side of the Practice Fields as it makes its way under the wall to the River proper.
Practice Field
The practice field is a large, mostly flat turf of beaten down grass that runs between the dormitories and the River Xi. It is the daily site of early morning calisthenics, which every student participates in—from the lowest aspirant to the most experienced master apprentice. It is also where most students practice their katas and work on other basic skills. Kata competitions for rank on the Way of the Meditative Hands are often held here as well.
Male and Female Dormitories
Long, rectangular buildings mark the north and western edges of the practice field. These are the dormitories, where all students live and sleep when they are not training. These humble buildings are little more than a roof resting on thin walls to keep the worst of the weather away. There aren’t even doors in the entrance ways (of which there are two in each building) or shutters on the small windows.
Inside, these Spartan quarters provide just enough room for each student to stretch out on a mat and to keep a small, locked chest with their personal items. Anything too large to keep in the chest must sit exposed for anyone to fiddle with, and this happens with some regularity to all but the highest ranking students (who have the muscle to back up demands that others keep their hands off their possessions). When not sleeping students are expected to roll up their mats and place them beside their chests along the wall to allow for more space. There is little in the way of one’s own space and nothing in the way of privacy.
Mess Hall
The octagonal Mess Hall is located between the two dormitory buildings. It is a simple structure of supports and pitched roof, with no walls at all. At its center is a cooking area, with several massive pots and a significant cooking. Everything is heated by several large fires which are usually burning during the day. Smoke escapes through openings in the roof’s high, central area. Rice and vegetables are the stock on which most meals are prepared, with small amounts of meat added to dinner meals. The School’s cook, Henpecked Hou, is in charge of securing and preparing all the students’ meals, although the lower ranking students assist in these tasks and regularly run errands into the village for supplies and other items on his behalf.
The Hill
The top of the Hill is without doubt the most peaceful and serene location among the school grounds. There really isn’t a lot of reason for students to be here, except perhaps to meditate, and so there are rarely more than one or two milling about at any given time of day. The garden atmosphere of the School is more beautiful here than anywhere else, and its enhanced by the musical trickling of a natural spring that sprouts up near the entrance to the Anathema Cave as if by magic.
Tomb of the Old Master
The Tomb of the Old Master is simply a stone marker partially buried in the rocky hillside. It is carved simply and, like many graves and tombs on the Isle, depicts a coiled and wise looking water Dragon. Presumably his body is buried beneath or beyond the marker, although none of the students have been unethical enough to try and find out. Furthermore, none of the students currently at the School were around long enough to have studied under the venerable founder of the Two River’s School, and although some venerate him and his grave as is proper, few are interested enough in him to bother the grave for more than simple paying of respect.
Wading Pool and Wishing Well
Three quarters of the way up the Hill is a natural spring that bubbles out of a small rock wall. The waters spill down into a deep, natural well, and which overflows into a wide but shallow pool. Finally, a small creek spills out from there and flows down the hill where it eventually travels under the Bamboo Bridge and down to the River Xi.
The students call this area the Wading Pool and the Wishing Well. The trees and shrubs are perfectly manicured here, and for those who can feel it the Essence flows just a little better. Secluded from the main training areas, it is used as an area of quiet contemplation, meditation and relaxation. And every once in a while a water fight or other tomfoolery breaks out.
The Elemental is known to hang out here as well, when she isn't training or away from the school at her Grotto.
The Anathema’s Cave
The Anathema’s Cave is not this objects proper name. In fact it is a name given to this feature by the students, who know so little about this place that anything they say is pure conjecture and hearsay. What the students can see of the so called “cave” is but a round door near the summit of the Hill. The door stands out in stark contrast to the serene setting of the school and the otherwise simple architecture that dominates the grounds. First and foremost, it’s made of solid Orichalum, intricately carved in exquisite detail depicting the terrible Tyrant King of the Jade Isle at its center and his beautiful but wicked queen offset to his right. Around the perimeter of the door are markings and writing in Old Tongue that, to anyone with knowledge of the sorcerous arts, are clearly arranged so as to form a seal of some kind. No one is sure if the seal keeps outsiders out or insiders in, as the seal has never been broken and the door never been open as long as anyone can remember.
Although the door lies near the summit of the Hill, prevailing rumor among the students has it that it is simply the beginning of a large cave system that might extend underneath the entirety of the School grounds and perhaps even the village.
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