Orzhov Admission Exam

Orzhov is a small kingdom by many standards, especially by their neighbors Gwilith and Drakenvald. Between the three kingdoms, Orzhov is known to have the largest volume of alumni between them. Even the mage college of Gwilith within Praerba pales in comparison for both its funding, and membership within the college, even though their college pre-dates Orzhov by hundreds of years.
Those who are willing to learn within the college of Orzhov cannot simply walk through their doors. Atrum Caedes, the capital of Orzhov alone holds many secretive libraries of forbidden knowledge collected by both the leaders of the kingdom, and their students who are paid handsomly for their time. Because of the dangers of this forbidden knowledge, it is crucial that those who wish to learn go through the process of the admission exam.

History

When Orzhov was first founded by Espeaux Shadowdirk and Violet Shadowdirk one of their primary concerns was the amount of knowledge that they would obtain and those who would steal their secrets of knowledge from throughout the world, especially rival colleges. Even while breaking first ground on their first buildings within the kingdom

They decided that it was a priority that not only would those who try and enter the college be skilled in the ways of magic or knowledge, but also that they would have a mindset to learn, and a mindset to cooperate. At the beginning, Espeaux herself oversaw the introduction of new members from all cities in a written exam, during which Espeaux's powers of deduction, and mind reading spells, allowed her to prevent anyone from entering the college who would be harmful, though in the first year there was little to no problems with any applicants.

When the college was fully constructed in 607 was when the receptionist role came into play, allowing Espeaux more time to rule the country alongside her wife. Through decades of refinement, the test has come about by numerous teachers providing feedback, and testing different ideas on the entry exam, until it reached the end result that orzhov still uses to this day.

Execution

The exam takes place over three different 'tests'. The first test that a student encounters is the moment they enter the doors of a college admission office anywhere within Orzhov. The students give their information to a receptionist, who notates their information and instructs them to sit in a waiting area with other potential students, and a bookshelf with various tomes of knowledge. It is the receptionist that determines when a student moves on to the next test, using powers of observation, magical detection, mind reading, or any other method of their choosing that they decide upon to allow a student to move forward.

The receptionist also make notes about what the student does during their down time waiting admission, to give more information to teachers on the later tests. The other potential students that they sit with are sometimes already active college students, pretending to apply to the college, doing so to help weed out new members by cutting in line, or being called for the next phase of testing around the prospective student, to help the receptionist review their response to different actions. Anything from the way the prospective student speaks, or carry themselves, to how far they get in a book they read while waiting is notated by the receptionist, and sometimes, they are even sent home without moving forward to determine if the prospective student feels like waiting is a waste of their time.

The second test is the written exam. A class of prospective students is given a studiously difficult written test. Each student is given a paper to write down their answers on, a study booklet with the information needed to pass the test, and a questionaire to match the study booklet. Each booklet is only accurate to one questionaire, and there is no trading of papers or resources between students. If they are caught cheating, they are immediately disqualified from entering the college. In actuality, the booklets do not contain the information for their own questionaire, but instead a different prospective students questionaire. It is up to the students themselves on how they interact with the rest of the class, for the 1 hour it takes to finish the written exam. Sometimes, the written exam has no real part in the admission process.

The final test, should they "pass" the written exam, is a practical exam, where the prospective students will show their capabilities in the arcane, alchemical, or lexiconical academia. Teachers will ask them questions from all three to gague their knowledge and capabilities, and provide a final answer on if the student joins the college or not. In addition, they ask questions regarding motivations for joining the college, under the gaze of one of the teachers having a mind reading spell with the student to ensure a lack of falsehoods within their motivations.

Upon passing the three stages of the exam, a student is given a set of robes, blue but customized to their taste, and a mark that notates their access to the guild. This mark can be visible or invisible at the new students discretion. The mark itself also can be altered by the teachers of Orzhov, allowing them access to restricted information, or even the capability of flight within Atrum Caedes itself. It is this mark that allows them general access to Atrum Caedes and its resources.

For some of the less wealthy students, they may also recive their first spell or notebook upon completing the exam.

Observance

The magical exam always takes place every weekday between dawn and noon each day within Atrum Caedes. With breaks for holidays, and other religious observances.