The Relentless Advancement of the Veiled Academy
Knowledge yet limited only by thine own cowardice
Through an onslaught of academia, our foundational knowledge shall reach depths untold. Take a deep breath now; we're all in over our heads.Corridors weave and twist through the dark urban core of the City of Night and Shade as this Academy hides itself in plain sight. Like some not-quite-symbiotic parasite, it worms its way into every nook and cranny the city provides, sprouting laboratories and classrooms like grotesque architectural growths of geometric mass and ornamentation. This institution is behind every locked door and every abandoned hallway; it's liminal space that cannot be ignored, yet goes without notice. If rumours are to be believed, the very limits of humanity are being eroded within this school's maze-like layout. Brilliant students are being academically sacrificed in the pursuit of untold knowledge... in mind, body, and soul. Of course that's just the reputation that this school commands -- one of extreme mystery and the utmost academic talent. It's known as the premier academy for medicine, engineering, and math; graduates from the Veiled Academy, the gifted and the ambitious, go on to shape the world.
He's not actually called 'The Bastard' you know. Though he's certainly earned that "nickname". I honestly think he likes it.Patronsclicktaphere for bonus info
An Architecture of Secrecy
It's hard to properly perceive the black-stone and obsidian-brick campus as it sprawls through the umbral core of the historic City of Night and Shade. This is entirely due to the natural environment the City finds itself in; perpetual darkness, shadowed by the massive cliff-face known as the Great Embrace, and full of old abandoned buildings for the Academy to swell within.The Veiled Campus
Great halls, office complexes, labs, and lecture halls make up large portions of the Veiled Academy's labyrinthine campus. It's vaguely broken up into three separate faculties of Math, Medicine, and Engineering, with auxiliary spaces for things like Academic court, Legion Offices, or the student-frequented and ever-changing Penumbral Hall.
Campus Libraries
Two libraries exist on campus; a main, and secondary library. While the main library is huge and actively used, the secondary is harder to find, much smaller, and mainly comprised of strange and very specific biologic research documentation.
University Hospital
One of the few public-facing buildings within the Academy, used to treat the injuries and teach students, while aiding general populace living around the school. A premier location for surgery, it has its fair share of Shimmer Worm-enhanced surgeons on staff.
Engineering Building
"The Dread Halls" as students like to say; home to the most grueling classes on all of Cathedris. It actually spans 3 different buildings connected through underground passages, each with a myriad of dark and windowless classrooms.
Main Hall
The core of the Veiled Academy. This ancient black-stone church to the forge god Codod has countless hallways and "escape shafts" leading out to almost every other faculty within the academy. It has the single greatest occupancy limit of the entire academy.
None but the Upper Faculty know the true extent of the campus. Like a vast web of devious mycelium, the Academy reaches into the depths of the City in order to feed and connect the growing rooms above. Support space, auxiliary rooms, and kilometers of cold-storage all find themselves worked into the inorganic organism of this school.
Almost every single day at the Veiled Academy, there's another rumour; a new closet discovered that leads into a mysterious passage, a strange room that feels like it was the place of something terrible, or the sudden lack of a door that they always swore was right there.
Edited image by Stormbril, original by Darran Shen
The Dedicated Academics
Ah but you are a fortunate one, aren't you? Now that the Academy has re-opened applications... I'm sure you'll be of great use within these hallowed halls. Do be sure and register, lest you miss this... opportunity.The Veiled Academy has a very specific subset of qualities it looks for in prospective students, with the most important factor being ambition. Of course raw intelligence, academic merit, and aptitude matter as well; yet any combination of those without sufficient ambition will result in a student that simply cannot survive the unique environment of the Veiled Academy. On top of this, the Academy only rarely ever opens up applications -- it waits, sometimes over 5 years, until the admissions department feels there is a critical mass of ambitious and intelligent young adults within Cathedris to invite to apply.
The Price of Ambition
Once admitted, new students subjected to most difficult 4 (or more) years of their life. The Academy is set up in such a way as to push students to their absolute limit; separating the academic stock into two groups: those who have the drive to struggle on, and those who don't. The second group in this situation usually ends up dropping out. Usually. There are no prerequisites at the Veiled Academy; you can take any class you like, so long as you pass the minimum requirements of your specific program. This means if a class fits into your schedule, you can take it -- with the only limit being time. As a result, class sizes are huge, as there's never a wait list and the class never closes. This includes lab time as well; if you truly wanted to run those experiments, then you'd have showed up earlier to claim a free lab table. A strong competitive spirit in all things goes a long way at the Academy. For those that can handle it, this institution gives them more than anyone could ever ask for. Should your star shine truly bright, you might even catch the attention of the Faculty of Upper Research and gain yourself a private mentorship or research assistantship role. With them, nothing is off limits; gods, monsters, humans, all may be found under their knife of academic research.
Edited image by Stormbril, original by Darran Shen
The Faculty of Upper Research
Six permanent members make up core of the Faculty of Upper Research; every single one of them wields enormous power over the Academy, guiding it, twisting it, pushing it towards their vision of the future. They each lead their own personally directed research project, while also acting as lead instructors within other faculties.
Admissions
Head of: The Admissions Department
Frustrated students say Anita has been with the Academy since it first opened; while those are just angry rumours, Anita has spent her the majority of her life at the institution. She ensures that only the perfect, on time, and properly notarized applications even get close to the admissions counsel inbox -- in many ways, she is the admissions.
Frustrated students say Anita has been with the Academy since it first opened; while those are just angry rumours, Anita has spent her the majority of her life at the institution. She ensures that only the perfect, on time, and properly notarized applications even get close to the admissions counsel inbox -- in many ways, she is the admissions.
I swear, she's the one good person here. She's the only one that keeps people out of this place.
The Aloof
Head of: Linguistics, Literary studies, Historical Research
Frank genuinely does not perceive the world the same way as the rest of us. In his early 20's he entered The Comprilith... when he exited 10 years later, he emerged an entirely different man. It takes upwards of 30 seconds to elicit any sort of response from him, and when he responds, it's always with a strange and uncomfortable insight into the current situation.
Frank genuinely does not perceive the world the same way as the rest of us. In his early 20's he entered The Comprilith... when he exited 10 years later, he emerged an entirely different man. It takes upwards of 30 seconds to elicit any sort of response from him, and when he responds, it's always with a strange and uncomfortable insight into the current situation.
Oh, he doesn't give a Rendling's ass if any of us live or die.
The Arrogant
Head of: Mathematics and Engineering
Exceptionally unsympathetic and incredibly demanding. Hetherford teaches not because he enjoys it, but because he thinks true greatness is born out of overwhelming strife. He's been known to push students so hard that they go into shock; often sending them straight to Dr. Cline, the Medicinal Head at the Academy.
Exceptionally unsympathetic and incredibly demanding. Hetherford teaches not because he enjoys it, but because he thinks true greatness is born out of overwhelming strife. He's been known to push students so hard that they go into shock; often sending them straight to Dr. Cline, the Medicinal Head at the Academy.
I don't always see the same students coming out of the hospital as I see Hetherford send in. I think some have gone missing.
The Bastard
Head of: Medicine and Science
Cline is known most by how uncomfortable he makes those around him feel; he has a light and jovial nature about him that hides something twisted and rotten. His abhorrently large and toothy grin flashes too easily, and lets loose words that are agonizingly tender, sending disquieting chills up the spine of anyone nearby. He likes to comfort upset or overwhelmed students, telling them, "It's okay. There's no better lesson than utter failure", while grinning his too-wide smile.
Cline is known most by how uncomfortable he makes those around him feel; he has a light and jovial nature about him that hides something twisted and rotten. His abhorrently large and toothy grin flashes too easily, and lets loose words that are agonizingly tender, sending disquieting chills up the spine of anyone nearby. He likes to comfort upset or overwhelmed students, telling them, "It's okay. There's no better lesson than utter failure", while grinning his too-wide smile.
He's hiding more than anyone truly understands.
Caretaker
Head of: Unknown
Jennison hosts no lectures, nor leads any (publicly known) research. They know much, but not like their colleagues; somehow, Jennison's knowledge of events feels insidious. Dangerous. They're sometimes known as the Caretaker, for the way they always seem to be everywhere, silently guiding the Academy.
Jennison hosts no lectures, nor leads any (publicly known) research. They know much, but not like their colleagues; somehow, Jennison's knowledge of events feels insidious. Dangerous. They're sometimes known as the Caretaker, for the way they always seem to be everywhere, silently guiding the Academy.
The Dean is a figurehead. We all know who's in charge.
The Sleaze
Head of: Political Research, Legion Liason
Military to the core and yet seems to enjoy keeping one foot in academics. Alice is always trying to advance her own career and take credit for other people's work; unfortunately, she's devilishly clever and generally succeeds at this. She maintains the patronage between the Legion and the Veiled Academy, ensuring tuition is free for all students, and that the Legion gets first shot at hiring new graduates.
Military to the core and yet seems to enjoy keeping one foot in academics. Alice is always trying to advance her own career and take credit for other people's work; unfortunately, she's devilishly clever and generally succeeds at this. She maintains the patronage between the Legion and the Veiled Academy, ensuring tuition is free for all students, and that the Legion gets first shot at hiring new graduates.
Never, ever let her see your work first.
Like six sides of a damn cursed die. Every one of them is poison. Best start building a tolerance.
Connections in the Dark
There's something wrong here. Worse than the unsustainable workload. The strange off-limits storage rooms, the rate at which students "drop out", and whatever the hell is going on with the Bastard. Plus, the Legion doesn't just give money away for free. They're getting something out of this. I can feel it.Horrific experimentation goes on in the Veiled Academy; in rooms darker than the sunless city sprawled above, in the deepest corners of abandoned tunnel networks. Strange and powerful benefactors for many years have been funneling money into the institution, ensuring that morals are slowly eroded in the name of unrestrained scientific advancement. Most egregious of all is the human experimentation going on under the voracious grin of Dr. Cline Beechwood; for his secret research project has him wading knee-deep through an ocean of human blood. These accusations have never been directly proven, only whispered about in the most private corners of the Penumbral Hall; yet the student's rumours have a core of terrible truth to them. Cline, Hetherford, possibly the whole rotten lot of them, have indeed been working together to kick-start a project aimed at shifting the course of human development forever. Together they wield the blasphemous knife of "Veiled Academia". It was with their combined influence that the worlds first study into Ichor was conducted. It was with their merciless pens that directives on monstrous and groundbreaking human-ichor experimentation were sent out. And finally, it was with their joyless smiles that the worlds first steps towards Catalurgy were ever taken -- though, not before a mountain of bodies began to pile up. It's a good thing the Veiled Academy maintains so much cold-storage.
That wasn't a "Rendling-event" lockdown. I don't care what the Legion says. Rendlings don't scream with human voices.
Well that was rather unexpected and very nicely written bud - well done
World Anvil Founder & Chief Grease Monkey
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“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” - Aesop
Thank you Dimi! <3 First time writing a long-form article since I think like... SummerCamp 2023, haha. Whoops!