Sovereigns Academy

Founded in the days after The Great Grudge War, Sovereigns Academy (SA) is one of the premiere institutes of learning geared towards training the next generation of heroes and adventurers to go out into the world and find and solve problems. Many graduates of SA go on to join AEGIS to act as support staff to The Defender's of the Realm, take to adventuring professionally, or try their hand at The Trial of Proofing and try and join The Defender's themselves.
The school was founded and chartered by King Francis Pyremount of Ignii as the first step of creating an international community of adventures to better facilitate solving future crisis situations, alongside the support of King Arthur Pendragon of Avalon, King Rex Etruscus of Etruscia, King Regis Remtraught of Westfall( signed on to the charter prior to his death in the Mana Bomb), lending to the school becoming known often as The King's School. All other major heads of state within The League would sign on to the charter as well giving it the benefit of being the school favored by the highest recognized legal body on the planet, lending it great prestige.
The school's campus is built into what was once King Dain XIII's personal airship during The Great Grudge War, the dreadnought skyship Durin's Vengeance, though there have been many additions built onto the school sponsored by heads of state or organizations since the school's founding. Some of these additions include: The Fang Wing of Draconic Studies, The Decimatio School of Monster Hunting, The Freewind School of Swordcraft, The Cragmaw Institute for Study of Cultural Fighting Techniques (founded by Ser Raithwall Cragmaw), The Roland Institute of Applied Architecture, and many others.

Structure

The Didactic Dyad

Headmaster/Headmistress:

The chief executive of Sovereigns Academy, head of all hiring and policy decisions (with input from the deputy headmaster/deputy headmistress, along with input from the Council of Masters), and often serves as the greatest ambassador of the school by holding recruitment festivals at lesser institutes graduations. Also leads academy research projects dictating who gets funding, and for what, alongside leading their own research projects usually into training techniques and new curriculum to ensure that SA turns out the best and brightest.

Deputy Headmaster/Headmistress:

The direct aid to the Headmaster/Headmistress in all of their affairs as well as the major overseer of discipline for students when the oversight of the Headmaster/Headmistress is not needed. Additionally, is the chief overseer of student organizations and regularly holds festivals or tournaments for students to show off their skills to the delight of prospective employers and the world at large.

Council of Masters

A group of skilled masters of particular skills that serve as the head of each House of Learning. Many of them also have rank within The Sovereign Host, or offer their services to The League of Sovereigns, AEGIS, or The Defender's directly.

• Master of Artifice:

Serves as the head of house for The Iron Lords. Teaches most courses on artifice or crafting (assuming they have that relevant skill, when unable they oversee the hiring of staff that can fill that need). Additionally, the Master of Artifice acts as the go to smith for The League of Sovereigns, often working on commission on behalf of The Sovereign Host.

• Master of Barbarism:

Serves as the head of The Gorey Reavers and often leads groups of students out of the school to hunt monsters alongside The Shrouded Slayers and seeks to ensure that students at SA are well prepared for survival outside of traditional civilization.

• Master of Art:

Serves as the head of The Evanescent Harpers, and is emboldened by a League mandate to help stimulate the creation of intentional art projects to foster international community. Often leads students at SA in traveling performances and art exhibitions as part of The Sovereign Cirque.

• Master of Faith:

Serves as the head of the Concordant Covenant, and additionally serves as the Pontifiex Maximus an Etruscian title recognized by other members of The League of Sovereigns as the ultimate clerical authority on Semita. He adjudicates conflicts between sects of faiths and instills in his students the ideology of clerical cultural relativism, meaning that in all contexts aside from wars all faiths should be treated as equal and be given as much respect as possible by members of other faiths. The positions of Pontifiex Maximus has ensured that for most of Semita's history there have been very few religiously motivated wars.

• Master of Growth:

Serves as the head of The Verdant Grove, and alongside the Master of Barbarism ensures that students have a healthy respect, if not fear, for the natural world that exists beyond the trappings of civilization. Often the Master of Growth leads expeditions to allow students to experience the wildlife of Semita in it's natural habitat and engage dangerous beasts in combat, to better prepare them for the less civilized enemies that await any adventurer on their path. The Master of Growth often serves as an ambassador of Yandrisill the World Tree on the political stage, making her will known, and sometimes being a direct emissary of her judgment on those who have committed crimes against nature, though this part of the office is seldom used.

• Master of Weapons:

Serves as the head of The Steel Wave ensuring that all students are given proper training in any and all weapons they desire to know the ways of to prepare for their lives as adventures. As well the Master of Weapons also serves as the Master Chief for The Sovereign Host and leads it into battle when the League deems it necessary, due to this obligation the Master of Weapons often has a deputy named to act in his absence, often this deputy is the highest ranked student in The Steel Wave, or a alumnus of The Steel Wave the current Master of Weapons respects enough to call in.

• Master of Oaths:

Serves as the head of The Radiant Will, and acts as a spiritual counselor to their students ensuring that they are properly prepared to commit to an oath and all that it demands of them. Often, the Master of Oaths is also a high judge from Westfall, meaning that they can also school students on the nature of law magic, and is occasionally called out into the world to serve justice onto oathbreakers or other criminals. The Master of Oaths often does this by bringing a team of their students to serve as deputies on the manhunt and help facilitate justice.

• Master of Monasteries:

Serves as the head of The Grey Watchers, often a former member of The Order of Living Wisdom, a monastic order affiliated with the maintenance of The Calendar of Ages, Semita's most reputable history. The Master of Monasteries also cultivates an understanding of most major monastic orders to ensure that their students are primed to go and take advanced studies with whatever order they prefer after graduation, assuming they do not adopt The Sovereign Style taught at The Order of The Sovereign Word, a monastic order based out of SA headed by the Master of Monasteries.

• Master of Hunts:

Serves as the head of The Shrouded Slayers, and is a head of house that seldom teaches from a typical classroom at SA. Very often the Master of Hunts teaches their students, on the hunt all around Semita, taking The Shrouded Slayers, and other students, on grand safaris to test their metal against the greatest beasts the world as to offer.

• Master of Shadows:

Serves as the head of The Gilded Glove, the Master of Shadows typically teaches their students by giving them nearly impossible tasks to undertake. Should the student fail they will learn from the failure, but should they succeed they will have honed great skills. In the eyes the Master of Shadows either outcome is a success. The Master of Shadows also allows students at SA to learn about the unsavory elements hiding in the shadows of Semita society.

• Master of Bloodlines:

Serves as the head of The Prismatic Heirs, the Master of Bloodlines serves as the leading authority in genealogy on Semita. Often spending much of their time researching the bloodlines of Semita and creating training regiments to best serve members of that bloodline being trained. This tactic has lead to the Master of Bloodlines often being regarded as the most differentiated instructor at SA leading to deep long term relationships with their students.

• Master of Pacts:

Serves as the head of The Scheming Petitioners and a leading authority on the proper conduct of creating pacts with being for power. He acts as a legal representative for all students and staff at SA, and ensures that any pacts made by SA students are made knowingly and with as little unknown factors as possible. Additionally, they serve as an advisor to The League of Sovereigns on entities out in the world that can be warlock patrons, and the threat they pose to Semita and it's interests.

• Master of Tomes:

Serves as the head of The Morose Think Tank not directly instructing any but the most skilled echelon of students, instead organizing the affiliated schools of magic into colleges at the academy, hand picking instructors to ensure that students get as nuanced an understanding of their magical focus as possible. When teaching individual pupils The Master of Tomes often leads the student through the process of ascending the layers of the Arcanum to understand the interconnected nature of all magic, hoping to instill in them an appreciation for all magic, not the prejudicial focus on one facet of magic that has lead to so many great schisms among wizards and other magical practitioners.

Houses of Learning

The way in which students are organized to study together as a group of like minded ambitious would be adventures, often competing with other students to prove who better represents their skills and abilities.

• 1. The Iron Lords
• Colors: Red and Gold
• Skill Affiliation: Artificers
2. The Gorey Reavers
• Colors: Black and Red
• Skill Affiliation: Barbarians
3. The Evanescent Harpers
• Colors: Blue and White
• Skill Affiliation: Bards
4. The Concordant Covenant
• Colors: White and Gold
• Skills: Cleric
5. The Verdant Grove
• Colors: Brown and Green
• Skill Affiliation: Druid
6. The Steel Wave
• Colors: Grey and Blue
• Skills: Fighter
7. The Radiant Will
• Colors: White and Red
• Skills: Paladin
8. The Grey Watchers
• Colors: Grey
• Skills: Monks
9. The Shrouded Slayers
• Colors: Grey and Red
• Skills: Ranger
10. The Gilded Glove
• Colors: Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Copper
• Skills: Rogue
11. The Prismatic Heirs
• Colors: The Rainbow
• Skills: Sorcerers
12. The Scheming Petitioners
• Colors: Green and White
• Skills: Warlock
13. The Morose Think Tank
• Colors: Purple and Red
• Skills: Wizard

School Curriculum

Students at Sovereigns Academy (SA) apply to enter the school with an array of Houses of Learning in mind. These students have already experienced at least four years of preparatory training at lower institutions (such as Avalon's Knight School of Grail Chivalry, or Etruscia's Kingsmen Academy) where they have received introductory training in the basic skills of their associated adventuring focus. After their arrival at SA students are sorted into their associated House of Learning and begin an eight year academic journey through their House of Learning along with ancillary courses that seek to give the students a holistic skill set to allow them to be successful in whatever adventuring field that seek to enter after graduation. Students enter SA between the ages of 11-13, and graduate between the ages of 19-21 depending on their performance in lower institutions and their matriculation rate through programs at SA. SA's graduation rate is around 68%, the 32% who fail out often finding jobs in adventuring guilds with lower entrance standards than AEGIS sponsored agencies. With this in mind however SA graduates often find themselves making much more financially than their non graduate counter parts; and are guaranteed (and heavily recommended to accept) a job in AEGIS for at least four years after graduation at which point they are denoted to be a free agent and allowed to go their own way, many going on to serve as staff at SA.

Public Agenda

The cultivation of crops of students trained in the art and skills necessary to be successful adventures and heroes to solve major issues in the world as they develop. Sponsored by members of the League of Sovereigns, the school is also sponsored by AEGIS and acts as the academic arm of The Defender's of the Realm.

Assets

The Sovereign Host

Sovereigns Academy exists as the academic arm of The Sovereign Host a pan-national military force that is often used for peacekeeping purposes on behalf of The League of Sovereigns or the will of the Hegemon of Semita. The membership of The Council of Masters mentioned above are all ranking members of The Host, traditionally ranked as generals allowed to lead troops in the event of a crisis, with the exception of The Master of Weapons, who is in the event of The Host being called up the chief ranking officer of The Host when the Hegemon them self is not present to give orders.
While the student body and staff of Sovereigns Academy are considered members of The Host the membership of the academe's ROTC and Militia Training school have seldom been called up, with the exception of The War for Time when Sovereigns Academy became the center of Semita's defense front. During The War for Time SA's military composition was known to be the following:

• Master of Weapons, Masterchief Susetsu Cragmaw
• Headmaster Lorenzo Cragmaw
• Deputy Headmaster Magni Ironfist VIII (third born son of King Dain XIV)
• An estimated 6016 current students capable of fighting alongside staff and the Council of Masters
• An estimated 125,844 alumni who answered the call of Headmaster Lorenzo to muster up as part of The Sovereign Host (roughly 80% of the schools graduates)

Durin's Vengeance

Something often forgotten about Sovereigns Academy was that a few years before it's first students graced its halls the school was the flagship of The Grand Alliance of Freedom during The Great Grudge War, the flagship of Dain XIII, named after Durin Ironfist the martyr for dwarven freedom during the Ironfist Rebellion over three thousand years before in the year 21170. Even after Durin's Vengeance was decommissioned as a standing military vessel it did maintain some of its armaments in the form of the following

• Twelve heavy cannons (with an estimated powder cache of at least eight thousand shots maintained by The Steel Wave's membership)
• 8 "life boats" in the form of small scale airships designed to ferry 200 people at a time to the surface or to other airships
• A standing garrison of 800 dwarven soldiers as dictated by the school's charter donated by the standing army of Eisenberhof's milita.
• A gift force of at least 25 soldiers acting as guards from each member state of The League of Sovereigns creating a standing milita of between three thousand and four thousand men depending on how large a contingent individual nations send.

Food Stores and Supplies

The school maintains enough reserves of supplies for the school to work for at least six months at a time without supplies sent from the surface or other means, modeling itself after the halfling imperial capital of Arcadia that held out against enemy forces for nearly a year towards the end of The Great Grudge War without any meaningful supply lines left returning to the city.

History

Founded December 31st 24929 officially chartered at midnight, as to be the opening act of the new year in 24930 allowing the new year to start with what Francis Pyremount claimed to be "a new ember of hope in a dim world".
Over the course of 34930 Francis Pyremount would divide his time between handling affairs in Ignii, overseeing the formation of other adventuring schools to funnel graduates into The Sovereign Academy, and though not known at the time he was overseeing preparations for his abdication from the Ignii throne in favor of his son Veselli Pyremount, the current High Draconic Priest of the Church of the Eternal Fire. Once Veselli agreed to abdicate his theological title and adopt his singular title as Crown Prince, Francis officially abdicated being king of Ignii so that he could devote the remainder of his life to cultivating the budding school into the pinnacle of adventuring education.
Sovereigns Academy would serve as a major focal point for the development of the next generation of heroes in Semita often being host to guest lectures by members of The Defenders and a neutral ground to negotiate during major crisis situations. The main crisis that Headmaster Pyremount oversaw during his tenure was The Draconic Renaissance a pair of crisis: the first being The Dracon Isles Revolution against Etruscan Imperial governance, alongside the Draconic Emergence when the Calamity Dragons appeared and devastated much of Semita up until the reignition of The Dragon Nexus and balance being restored to nature and the intervention of Yandrisill on behalf of life on Semita, sending the Calamity Dragons back into their suspended animation in the mantle of the planet.
Headmaster Pyremount coordinated SA's efforts to help defend major cities against draconic attack during the Draconic Emergence, and also hosted peace talks between Dragonborn and Etruscan emissaries for the duration of the crisis; but a great regret in his life was not being able to negotiate a solution to mitigate the Dragon Isles having to fight a war for their independence in the first place.
Francis Pyremont would serve as headmaster of Sovereigns Academy until his death, never officially retiring from civil service. After the death of Francis Pyremount on Aprilus 23rd 24959 The Council of Masters executed his last will and testament and went to The League of Sovereigns for recommendations on a new headmaster while Queen Mother Gwen Pyremount acted as provisional headmaster during the time of transition. Within the week the League agreed that the new headmaster of Sovereigns Academy would be Lorenzo Cragmaw, eldest son of Susetsu Cragmaw, chief of Clan Cragmaw and former Master of Barbarism.
Headmaster Lorenzo Cragmaw would serve well into the second major crisis Sovereigns Academy had seen: The War for Time, coordinating with AEGIS and The Defender's to use the Academy as a major mobile staging point for counter offensives against The Fisher King after the fall of The Bastion.

We Are The Shield for All Realms

Founding Date

10/31/24929 HA I

Type

Educational, School/Academy

Alternative Names

"The Academy of Hard Knocks", The King's Academy, The Home of Heroes, SA

Training Level

Trained

Veterancy Level

Trained

Demonym

Sovereign Students. or Sovereign Staff

Leader

Headmaster of Sovereigns Academy

Power Structure

Autonomous area

Parent Organization

AEGIS