You are part of the Academy Laureate, the title given to students raised to experience the world for the first time. At the age of ten, you were told the truth.
You were found, chosen, or lost. How the academy discovered you at five is up to you. How you lived and learned there is yours to build. And why you would leave now is yours as well: a need for freedom, loyalty to your headmaster, or something a little darker.
This is built to be immersive. The more you give, the more you will receive.
You don't invent your character from nothing. You inherit them, shaped by an academy, a mentor, and a childhood that ended earlier than it should have.
How were you told you ended up at the academy? And do you believe it?
Something about you attracted attention, how did you stand out so young?
To be named Academy Laureate is an honor. What does five year old you remember about how you were given to the academy? Did your family strike a deal? Were they well paid? Were you an orphan?
This is meant to connect you to that five year old whose whole life changed in a day. Every child starts at their local academy at five, but few are named Laureate, and no five year old is equipped to understand the difference. Your academic life is given every advantage, and every advantage has a cost.
You were raised inside your academy's walls from that day forward. As a recent graduate of your chosen academy, your character gains a single feat tied to the stat that fits your discovery story.
What did you let others see of you? What did you hide? And what was hidden from you, still waiting to be found?
Your character may have studied under more than one academy, but only one academy feat can be selected.
All of this and more becomes the nurture, and it shapes how your character is built in session zero.
This is when we bring it all together. We take the path I have set before you, and as a group we decide where it leads. A time for questions, a time to make decisions about the world, all so your character can really come to life.
Did you have a rival at another academy, and are they sitting at this table today? A best friend who transferred and was never heard from again? Someone who made your life miserable? Bringing those threads to session zero opens doors for how this group grows. Are you strangers, or is there history here already?
Nothing is free, and nothing is assumed, not even trust. This game has a character trust component that affects how much you share and how much you learn from other players.
Curriculum is the same everywhere — any student can learn anything at any school. What differs is culture, shaped by the region's royal steward and the Grand Headmaster who runs it. Your academy grants one feat as a perk (pick whichever of the six fits your build).
Hover for a hint, click (or tap) any academy for the full profile.
Dawn to dusk, structured to the hour. Mornings in the archive, afternoons in practice, evenings spent writing what was learned before it fades. Meals eaten in near-silence.
Precision is currency. Being sloppy stings worse than any punishment. This is the school for a character who needs to know things thoroughly, who finds comfort in order when the world outside feels chaotic and unearned.
Eldrin's own quiet discipline sets the tone. He rarely raises his voice, rarely needs to. Students learn that patience finds what haste misses.
Days built around shared table and shared silence in equal measure. Morning circles to check in, afternoons paired one-on-one, evenings spent actually listening to someone else's day.
Empathy trained like a skill, not indulged as a sentiment. Vulnerability counts as evidence of strength here, not weakness. This is the school for a character who leads with their heart and wants that to be a weapon instead of a liability.
Elara's warmth is real, but it doesn't let anyone hide. Students learn that being fully seen is sometimes harder than any drill.
Early rising, hands busy by first light. Meals eaten fast, standing if needed. Evenings go to maintenance and repair, not rest.
Function over flourish. Nobody cares how something looks if it doesn't work. This is the school for a character who trusts what they can build and test with their own hands over what anyone tells them to believe.
Durin doesn't waste words on feelings, only on work. "That'll hold" is the only compliment anyone actually wants from him.
Structured underneath, loose on the surface. Mornings for warmups, long open afternoons for creation, evenings spent performing for each other, not just practicing alone.
Feeling counts as data here, not distraction. This is the school for a character who processes the world through expression and wants that instinct sharpened instead of suppressed.
Sylen swings between brilliance and melancholy openly. Students learn to trust what moves them before they can explain why.
Unpredictable by design. Mornings might be theory, afternoons might go wrong, evenings go to rebuilding whatever broke.
Failure isn't punished here, stagnation is. This is the school for a character who isn't satisfied with "that's how it's always been."
T'rina pushes students past comfort on purpose. Students learn that respect here gets earned by disagreeing well, not by staying quiet.
Built around gathering, not the bell. Mornings for practice, afternoons in the grove's own gardens and streams, evenings around the fire where the real teaching hides inside what looks like entertainment.
Charm is trained here like any other discipline. This is the school for a character who wants people to underestimate them right up until it matters.
Wrenna laughs easily and means it, which is exactly why people forget how sharp she is until it's too late.