Legend of Ransera

Posted: **Wed Sep 08, 2021 7:42 am**

Zaichaer Academy of Ballet & Pfenning Theater

A massive stone construction located in the West End of Zaichaer, the Zaichaer Academy of Ballet and Pfenning Theater is impossible to miss. The theater itself seats 2,200 people, and the entire building consists of four stories at its highest point, with countless instruction rooms and rehearsal spaces as well as facilities for set and costume creation.

While the Greater Institute of Zaichaer's College of the Arts also holds classes in dance, the Zaichaer Ballet Academy specializes in it. A seemingly ancient institution, the academy itself is known throughout Karnor as a leading school of choreography. The academy features an intensive eight year program that starts at the age of 8. Children enrolled in this program receive formal schooling in history, music, math, and literacy, as well as ballet instruction. It also features classes for adults in other dance forms and classes for younger children. Operating in tandem with the Pfenning Theater, many graduates of the intensive program go on to join the Pfenning Ballet and perform locally. Notably, and historically, it accepts applicants and auditions of all races.

Though the school, theater, and ballet company all manage to have their origins in pre-Sundering Zaichaer, it was only about fifty years ago that they changed leadership. Purchased for a great sum of money by the Johannson family, there came little interruption in the public functionality and operations for years after, and the change of hands largely faded from the public eye. Eventually, renovations were made to the imposing building that formed the school, and foreign performances again began showing in the Pfenning Theater where it had held only Zaichaeri acts since the Sundering.

Secretly, the operations of the theater, school, and even the ballet company are used as one mundane front for the Railrunners' smuggling operations. This fact is known to only a few even in the Johannson family, who facilitated the transition in the first place. Some of the renovations rendered parts of of the theater accessible only to those who possess the Cardinal Rune of Traversion, and the building serves as a space where business mundane and magical is able to intersect. The Railrunners at the Pfenning Theater specialize in getting people, especially mages, in and out of Zaichaer. However, as it is still a legitimate business run in the city, magic use is strictly forbidden from any sort of performance, and any actions which may cause untoward attention to the theater results in swift action taken by the Railrunners.

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Leonore Johannson

An imposing older woman with delicate features and white hair, Leonore was prima ballerina of the Pfenning Ballet for years before she retired and took on a role akin to headmistress at the ballet academy. None could doubt her skill or work ethic, even if it was her family that owned the theater. She is strict and harsh, but also fair and straightforward, and it is by her that some of the hardest classes taken by the older students are taught. She also oversees auditions into the company itself. Leonore is one of the few members of the Johannson family that is aware of the Coven's grasp on the theater, though she does not possess a Rune herself.

Moritz Johannson

Moritz is younger than his sister Leonore, though he shares her fine features. He is considered the one in charge of the Pfenning Theater and the Pfenning Ballet. Where she handles the academy, he takes care of the rest of the official, legal business. While he is gregarious and friendly, he talks too much, and great pains are taken that he is not aware of the underground nature of many of the theater's dealings. His closest advisor, accountant, and friend, Samuel Valentin, takes the role of making sure that what Fianci Heron wishes is what happens.

Samuel Valentin

A childhood friend of Moritz, Samuel is known as the accountant for the theater, and he is the one that many meet when doing business. Rumored to be related to Fianci Heron by some measure of blood or marriage by those in the know, he has made no indication of how he became to be so trusted by the elderly woman. Samuel is friendly, but smarter than Moritz, and much of his effort beyond accounting is spent both reigning in the man's ideas and convincing him of others.

Fianci Heron

Ancient matriarch of the Heron family, and the true head of operations at Pfenning Theater, Fianci is a busy woman. Her fingers reach into every aspect of the theater, but most do not interact with her directly. A Railrunner born into a family affiliated with the Coven, she has been in the business of smuggling for longer than the theater has been owned by the Johannsons. Within this realm her word is law, and to directly disobey carries grave consequences. Fianci is clever enough to avoid placing her children and grandchildren in unearned positions, and most of her agents do not carry the Heron name at all.

Legend of Ransera

[Location] Zaichaer Academy of Ballet & Pfenning Theater

[Location] Zaichaer Academy of Ballet & Pfenning Theater

Leonore Johannson

Moritz Johannson

Samuel Valentin

Fianci Heron