The Academy series is a monthly run "open" roleplaying session accessible to every member of the Dark Brotherhood for the purpose of socializing and playtesting their characters. It is set in the Shadow Academy on the continent of Uskil, Arx and follows the daily lives of the people who visit the Academy.
Brief Background
Ever since the settlement of Arx, by decree of Grandmaster Pravus, the Clans were entrusted with the care and training of new members. As such, the Academy altered its purpose and now connects remotely to the Clan Strongholds to disseminate digital lectures and administer exams remotely. As such, the Academy has gotten quieter and more scarcely occupied. Generally, Equites and Elders are known to visit the campus while researching specific subjects or to access specific artifacts, though some Journeymen will be allowed to make the voyage to Arx to visit the academy to deliver information, utilize the facilities, do personal research, and the like. Generally, Novitiates are only seen in groups as they visit the Museum or touring Arx itself.
The Shadow Academy is located on Uskil and therefore in a tropical rainforest continent. The Academy itself lies in a large swampy region. So hot and wet at day, cold and wet at night.
Setting
- ""For the purposes of these Roleplaying Sessions, the following description of the Shadow Academy Campus is accurate.""
- ―By Ood Bnar
The Campus is located inside an inhospitable swamp/rainforest/mangrove (comparable to Dagobah) on the continent of Uskil on Arx. The five spires of the Shadow Academy stick out from the canopy but otherwise there is little to indicate there being anything there. The only ways in or out of the Shadow Academy are via shuttle (from one of the landing pads connecting to the Central Spire), through the swamp (but you're days, maybe even weeks away from civilisation), and a secret tunnel with magnetic train that supposedly connects the campus to the Dark Ascent (presumably so the Headmasters have no excuse to not attend Council meetings in person).
The Shadow Academy Campus consists of a Central Spire and four Tetrahedrons. It also has a massive subterranean complex connected to it.
For the purpose of these sessions, everyone will have a small apartment in one of the tetrahedrons, near a small specified reference library in the topic they're here to work on. You can access that library, the other specialized ones, visit other scholars, go below ground to the museum to tour the collection or request access to handle specific items (with curator present) or go to the grand library to access the non digital collections. Or if you have an Inquisitor, go to the archives to access member info and so on (basically what you'd find in an archive + what you can find about a member on their site dossier)
Above Ground
The Central administrative Spire
This massive tower serves as the Campus' backbone. Most of the tower serves to connect the 4 satellite campuses with each other through walkways.
It also contains dozens of extruding landing pads in order to handle the incoming and outgoing shuttles. Halfway down the tower is a small hangar to house the Academy’s modest fleet of shuttles. At the heart of the spire, surrounded by turbolifts that connect the Academy to the subterranean complex below, a thick highly reinforced shaft of cables is located. This serves to connect the underground mainframes with the communications hub at the top of the central spire, just above the Headmaster's offices. Through this system, highly encrypted information is sent out to the Brotherhood and its Clans. The hub also receives information from the Aurora Collegium that gets sent down to the subterranean segments for processing.
The Four Tetrahedrons
Also above ground are the four Satellite campuses, shaped like massive tetrahedrons (also nicknamed as such with their cardinal direction added (north tetrahedron, etc)), angled so their points are aimed at the central spire. These buildings are connected to the Central Spire via large transparisteel-encased walkways on every 5th floor. The walkways also hide thick data and power cables.
The tetrahedrons each contain a wide variety of rooms, among which you'll find: small apartments for visiting scholars, common rooms, mess halls, study rooms, laboratories, ritual chambers, workrooms, small specialized libraries, and much more. Each of these campuses is built to function autonomously if needed. Through a network of turbolifts and stairways, it is possible to navigate between the floors of the tetrahedrons, but the easiest way is to use the central turbolifts in the central spire, get within 5 floors of your destination and walk across a walkway, then take the smaller internal transport systems to get to where you're going.
Each tetrahedrons is capped with a large, multilevel vivarium. These are a tropical rainforest, a regular forest, a grassy meadow and the final one contains an underwater habitat. These habitats are fully enclosed, contain smaller lifeforms from several worlds that can thrive in said habitat. Each habitat is fully sealed off from the outside or the rest of the academy and can only be accessed by airlocks. The vivariums are multilevel, cover the top 5 floors of their tetrahedron and are designed to allow the academy to house rare or endangered live animals safely as well as allow visitors to study them in their natural environments.
The Subterranean Complex
Below the Central Spire, accessible via its turbolifts, you will find a massive underground complex, housing the true treasures of the Shadow Academy.
The Central Archives
The Central Archives, containing declassified administrative documents, historical treaties, physical member dossiers and much more. Most of this information is also constantly broadcast to the Clans so the entire membership has access to this information.
The Great Library
The Great library contains research volumes, periodicals, and course materials. Large swathes of these are already available in digital form, though some are still only extant in physical form (due to the fragility of the item or simply because it has not yet been digitized. The digital collection is made available to the Clans remotely. Copies of the collection are spread throughout the tetrahedrons, organized by subject into the specialized smaller reference libraries.
Visiting members can also request specific subjects in advance and the library staff will ensure copies are made available at the specialized library nearest to their sleeping quarters.
The Shadow Museum
Decades of research, purchasing stuff at auctions, looting, crusading, murder, theft, and now an actual organization dedicated to the gathering of historical knowledge (the Aurora Collegium) has left the Brotherhood with a vast collection of artifacts, art, and historical items. These are displayed in the Shadow Museum. The Museum is available to any member and contains side rooms where members can interact with items from the collection or even request access to artifacts not on display but in storage.
The Aurora Collegium Intake Center
Just about all of the Aurora Collegium facilities on Arx are automated, this to keep the actual scholars, researchers, and historians of the ACS unaware of the true nature of their parent organization. The Intake Center is the only exception, however it is staffed by personnel from the Shadow Museum.
This facility is set up to restore and process incoming artifacts gathered by the expeditions undertaken by the Aurora Collegium and its scholars.
The SA Mainframe
A massive, highly secured, mainframe containing the Academy's digital records. This facility is constantly being linked to by members across the Brotherhood who are remotely accessing lectures, taking exams and accessing the digital collections. Additionally, a segment of this datacenter is being used solely by the Aurora Collegium to temporarily store incoming data from the Collegium as it awaits verification, cross referencing and storage into the Archives. From there, it can then be used by scholars writing research papers, scholarly works and the like which are then stored in the Library.
The Depths
The Dark Terminus
Rumor has it that every major landmass with a large Brotherhood institution on it is connected to the Dark Ascent in such a way to allow easy, secure travel to the Iron Throne and its agents, members of the Council and their agents, as well as the members of the Star Chamber, and select individuals.
Deep below the central spire there supposedly sits a station of this network, connecting the Dark Ascent to the Academy.
The Complex
Somewhere below the central spire, accessible only with permission from a member of the Dark Council or Star Chamber, and with approval from the Headmaster, lies the highly secured Vault Complex. This complex consists of several highly dangerous facilities.
The Alchemical Suite
This location was originally created following the Horizon Plague incident. It consists of several research laboratories where the most trusted Alchemists, Arcanists and Ritualists work tirelessly to increase the knowledge of the Iron Throne.
The Master Archives
The Master Archives allow visiting researchers with authorisation to request restricted, priceless or forbidden works or artifacts declared to be too dangerous for the general membership, be brought up and studied under the careful observation by the Academy Archivists.
The Secure Vaults
These vaults contain forbidden lore and knowledge inscribed in scrolls, tomes and even on tablets. These items are kept in constant darkness, the cold of the earth seeping through the walls, aiding in preserving these - usually - apocryphal works. The knowledge kept within has been declared too dangerous for anyone to know, unless granted permission by the Dark Council.
The Holocron Vaults
The Holocron vaults are located far from each other, supposedly for security, or because the Dark Side Holocrons don't interact well with the Light Side Holocrons and have to be kept away from each other to prevent them from damaging each other.
The Grandmaster’s Vault
Supposedly, deep below the entire complex, directly below the Headmaster's offices, lies the Grandmaster's vault. This vault contains archival information restricted to the ruler of the brotherhood, and other information secured and jealously stored away by past Grandmasters.
Sessions
| SESSION LOG
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Chapter I
Participants:
Thane "Atra" Skotos
Eleceos Araave
Aru Law
Atyiru Caesura Entar Arconae
Teebu Nyrrire
Zuza Lottson
TuQ'uan Varick di Plagia
Karran Val'teo
Kadrol Hauen
Doon Sulvir
Titius Osseus
Zosi'val'ria
Bril Teg Arga
Session Transcript |
Summary
As Ood Bnar arrives at the Shadow Academy Campus on Arx to perform maintenance on the artifacts in the Holocron Vaults, we follow the lives of those who are also visiting the Academy. Some are there to do in the Great Library, others have come to consult the Central Archives. Many are present to visit the Shadow Museum and its vast collection of artifacts gathered by, amongst others, the Aurora Collegium. Yet others are simply there to tour the facilities or introduce new members to this Brotherhood Institution. And finally, the Justicar is there to get a free lunch, since if he gets one too often at the Dark Ascent, his bosses may start charging him for his food…
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Chapter II
Participants:
Darth Renatus
Darth Aeternus
Eleceos Araave
Cassandra Oriana Tyris
Zentru'la
Archian
Zuza Lottson
Eiko
Juda Graves
Creon
Nora Olen di Plagia
Karran Val'teo
Malfearak Asvraal
Doon Sulvir
Titius Osseus
Zosi'val'ria
Bril Teg Arga
Session Transcript |
Summary
A potentially new holocron has been found by the Aurora Collegium's archaeologists. It is being rushed to the Shadow Academy Campus to be inspected, repaired, and secured by the resident Holocron maintainer, Ood Bnar. On this backdrop, we follow the lives of those who reside within the Halls of the Academy. Some are there to do in the Great Library, others have come to consult the Central Archives. Many are present to visit the Shadow Museum and its vast collection of artifacts gathered by, amongst others, the Aurora Collegium. Yet others are simply there to tour the facilities or introduce new members to this Brotherhood Institution. They all have a purpose for being here, at the Academy on Arx.
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Chapter III
Co-DM:
Marick Tyris Arconae
Participants:
Darth Renatus
Korvis Manda'vod
Zuza Lottson
Archian
Nora Olen di Plagia
Adem Bol'era
Zosi'val'ria
Bril Teg Arga
Asani
Sagitta
Rylem Westrev
Session Transcript |
Summary
Having performed basic repairs to the artifact, Ood Bnar has confirmed it to be a holocron. Now the complicated task of unlocking it and verifying the contents has begun. In order to not agitate the other holocrons in the collection, the Neti has commandeered a side chamber of the Shadow Museum where he will attempt to communicate with the crystaline device. All the while, life in the Academy continues on. Some are there to do in the Great Library, others have come to consult the Central Archives. Many are present to visit the Shadow Museum and its vast collection of artifacts gathered by, amongst others, the Aurora Collegium. Yet others are simply there to tour the facilities or introduce new members to this Brotherhood Institution. They all have a purpose for being here, at the Academy on Arx.
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