The Academy of Kalzasi
"Keela will instruct the master like a wooden-clapper bell to awaken everyone to the Way." — Analects 3.24.
The Academy has been around in some form or fashion since the founding of the city-state. The temples housed scholars and later, more secularly inclined scholars developed needs of their own, including the education of Kalzasi's growing citizenry. While there is a main campus in the Commons to the northeast of the city, there are satellite buildings in various places to be closer to various things; to wit, there is a building on a private dock on the shores of Lake Udori for various experiments that require nearness to a body of water. The symbol of the Academy, a stylized bell and the Zatrian chrysanthemum, are clearly visible on any building belonging to it.
The campus itself is not delineated with walls, but the Academy buildings begin to dominate, and all the other buildings clearly support them: student housing, restaurants, shops. Some social settings there have become more fashionable with the elite than one might suspect, especially when free-thinking is in vogue.
There are several large lecture halls and arena theaters for the most popular classes as well as events that draw many citizens for their own erudition, but, by and large, most instruction happens in smaller buildings and rooms. There are tracks available for those seeking some preordained educational goals, but there are also arrangements by which students enter into a sort of academic apprenticeship with august scholars who teach by the elenctic method, which has led to a diversity of thought within the Academy as various scholars develop coteries of students to advance and evolve their schools of thought.
The Academy prides itself on not existing in a vacuum. It partners with many other organizations within the city as well as sister organizations in other cities. For example, while physicians are mostly trained as apprentices at the Tranquil Gardens, those same student physicians take classes at the Academy and many physicians conduct their studies and trials at the Academy, which has more facilities than does the hospital.
The majority of instruction occurs in Common, though both Vallenor and Ecitharese are used as academic lingua francas.
Some important Academy buildings include:
The Archives: Like much of the Academy, the Archives developed organically as needs arose. Eventually, scholars and academicians saw the value of a centralized depository of written knowledge. It is a sprawl of buildings and one of the few places in the Academy with extra security as there are one-of-a-kind treasures housed within. Some buildings outside the Archives house small libraries, but if something can't be found anywhere else, this is the place. Special collections and ephemera can be found here. While all citizens have nominal access, there are procedures and protocols for many items such as the secret chronicles and private journals of the Shokazes of Kalzasi.
The Lavistaeon: While the Academy doesn't teach the application of magic, this building hosts those whose inquiries into magic are academic in nature. Named after Okrhan hero Lavistae of the Painted Veil, it is one of the older buildings. Scholars discuss the philosophy of magic, as well as study how natural magic affects the world. This building and what happens within receive more attention from the Briathos Regent than any other.
The Nadieon: Named after Nadia of the Blades, this building houses a gymnasium and training facilities. Its Orkhan benefactors have always encouraged strength of body along with strength of mind. Close as the Academy is to relatively safe walking trails into the Astralar Mountains, these facilities allow for students and scholars to exercise their bodies and learn skills to defend themselves as they may someday travel to distant lands in order to conduct their research.
The Pyrecaeon: Moreso than with magic, the Academy does instruct in the practice of art as well as its academic study. Named after Pyrec of Songs, this building houses the artists and those who study music theory, ethnomusicology, and other, related fields. Through this building, the Academy has ties to the Golden Peacock Theater and other arts organizations within the city.
Marcia Kikero
Coming from a long line of Academy scholars dating back to the beginning of Kalzasi, Marcia Kikero has an impressive pedigree within academia and the city. She studied rhetoric under the master Molo Dalabanda, became a young master scholar herself, teaching until her connections and talent for logistics, organization, and management made her an obvious choice for Academician. The vote of the Regents was nearly unanimous and her continued popularity allows her to enact policies for the Academy that are seen as less political and more practical.
Skills: Rhetoric, Research, Logistics, Politics, Leadership, Two-Handed Axes
Languages: Common, Synnekar, Ecitharese, Vallenor
Regents of the Academy
While the Academician oversees the day-to-day administration of the Academy, there exists a Board of Regents who advise and have some powers of oversight as well as a role in the investiture of each new academician. There are traditionally fifteen seats—seven for the heads of each Great House or their proxy, one for the leader of the Temple of the Fallen Skies or a proxy, and the rest made up of prominent citizens, most of whom were educated at the Academy itself.
Politics has been known to sneak into the boardroom, but it is considered in poor form. More often than not, the Academy is a place where such differences are at least nominally set aside for the good of Kalzasi and its people.
Politics has been known to sneak into the boardroom, but it is considered in poor form. More often than not, the Academy is a place where such differences are at least nominally set aside for the good of Kalzasi and its people.