The Valdutauni Academy for Infrastructure

"Valdutani Brains and Valdutani Strength serve as the brace of our beloved Pact."

The emblazoned words stood out on the brass backdrop of the buildings main archway. The archway itself was wide enough to fit a cargo-liner through. It had to be, as the top part of the archway supported the heavy load of multiple Meissner Trains streaming through like bolts of metal-lightning.

"Thousands of tons of freight and people pass above us every hour, but we don't even feel it, even standing right below it." My sponsor, Rajchea, mused, the Parisan running a hair through his lightly greying mane.

We walked beneath the archway, above us, the converged rail network diverged back outward to their destinations. I watched with wonder as one train carrying the universal shipping containers breezed through several switches at full speed. It looked impossible, and without the Antigravity buffering that drove it, it would have been.

"Not very often that a Human proves himself worthy to teach here— but based on our previous interviews, I think you'll fit in well."

"I hope so," I began. "I have to admit, the virtual tours do not do this place justice." It took years of work backed by decades of passion-fueled research just to get here and even still I found myself in awe.

I strolled beside Rajchea and gawked at the craftsman ship of the bridges. Every tie and guidance rail was polished and to a perfect shine. I couldn't even see a single crack or mark of stress.

"Save your eyes, Connor'r," Rajchea always pronounced my name with a rolled 'r,' "You'll be working on those very lines soon enough."

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The Structure Behind Society

Valdutani Brains and Valdutani Strength

Serve as the Brace of our Beloved Pact

_{- Academy Motto}

The Academy for Instructure is an educational institution dedicated to the improvement and maintenance of infrastructure. First founded to maintain the railroads that brought Valuser'rh and Valdutan together, it now serves as the hub of knowledge for education both practical and theoretical on topics from electric grids to Corralum engineering.

To Teach is a Priviledge

Those who are accepted to teach for the Academy typically have multiple decades if not centuries worth of experience in their field.

There is no ability to 'apply' to teach, candidates are selected, and their work inspected. They are then offered a temporary residency at the Academy where they will shadow a sponsor for years until approval to teach on their own.

In this time of residency, prospective professors are students themselves albiet for a different schooling. They are apprentices of the craft of education, llearning how to pass on their knowledge and further their field.

To finally be granted full time tenure as an professor is a high honor one that is typically reserved for the most experienced or Monoliths.

There is no doubt you are an expert at your craft.

Being an expert is the first step.

Learning to foster the next generation of experts is the next.

— Professor Rajchea

To Learn is an Honor

Being accepted as a student in the Academy requires multiple rounds of applications and interviews. The first step involves submitting a proposal for improvement or in-depth analysis of their chosen major.

As proposals are selected, they will then go through a process of development which culminates in a presentation to the Professors of Academy.

Based on the results of the presentation, and after debate on the part of the Professors, a new class is selected.

The first year of education for students involves in-field work on their selected subject.

Ah yes, I remember your paper on the improvements of the railline between Aempis and Valdutan.

In order to give you the insight you need to finish your plan, we will be assigning you to help maintain that very line.

Pack your bags, you set out tomorrow.

— Rajchea

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Directors

Director Jahar'ral Tor Dar'ru

Director and Serving Dean of Meissner Engine Technology

Three Decades of Service

Jahar'ral graduated from the Institute with a mastery of Meissner engine maintenance, he went on to revolutionize the Meissner Engine space by inventing a series of improvements to engines that improved life and efficency.

Director Rolo Tor KenAmuhn

Director and serving Dean of Railway Infrastucture and Railway Operations

Nine Decades of Service

Director Jalr'ret Tor Er'rlyn

Director and serving Dean of Corralum Engineering

Five Decades of Service

Director Maray Tor Valuher'ra

Director and serving Dean of Emergency Management

Two Decades of Service

Schools

With the unique challenges Jhoutai presents us, we must hold ourselves to the best and brightest to maintain our comprehensive rail system.

Without them, our infrastructure would be crushed under the Corralum.

— Professor Steelhand

The Rail Academy

The first of the schools established and opened, the Rail Academy serves to train new experts in maintaining Meissner Trains and the tracks and infrastructure around them.

The School's founding came about from the first ValuSelu Pact between the nations of Valuser'rh and Valdutan. A Provision of that Pact involved the construction of the first railways between the two nations capitals.

On the Valdutani end, built above and around the massive terminal railyard, the Academy rises above rails spidering out from the center.

In these buildings, Research and Development students experiment on the latest engines; Machinist students learn to repair them; and Engineer apprentices practice working through the yard.

Lecture Halls overlook the railyard, used for demonstration by a pair of teachers teaching students how the yard operates.

Below, in the service yard, dozens of students watch a monolith take the power bank off of an engine like they were unplugging a light.

The Academy is a constant thrum of activity both Sophontic and Machine.

I find it remarkable that there has only been two injuries in the past year.

Example Curriculum

Railway Infrastructure Focus

Practical Education on the maintainence of the railways themselves and the infrastructure that supports them.

Involves Lectures, Fieldwork, and a term served at a rail outpost.

Meissner Engine Focus

Maintaining Meissner Trains, the cargo cars, and the engines within them.

Involves Lectures, Hands-On Work, and academy railyard apprenticeship.

Railway Operations Focus

Management of the complex automation that runs the trains. This involves directing traffic, routing, and ensuring safety.

Involves Lectures, emergency drills, and apprenticeship work within a traffic control station.

Railway Management Focus

An advanced course reserved for those who have passed the previous courses. Railway Management involves expanding railway networks and managing projects either privately or underneath the Pact.

Involves a long series of lectures, project courses, and applied experience programs. Passing typically means enlistement in colonization or expansion projects.

Background generated via MidJourney

The pair of professors walked in front, single file with the band of a dozen students following diligently behinds.

Both the young and old students had plenty of landscape to look at, walking several hundred feet above the Corralum surface. On their left, an infinite sea of green foilage and corralum formations. On their right, a meter way, Meissner trains zipped by at blinding speeds. Some students gripped at the railing, succumbing to the feeling of simultanious agoraphobia and claustrophobia.

Thankfully, the trains were quiet as the wind, a modern engineering feat in itself. The professors voice was easily audible over the ambient noise.

"This wall had to be created over two long decades. This was one of the Academy's first major projects. Decades of sculpting the corralum, building foundation, plotting the next layer, rinse and repeat until we find ourselves here." The Professor paused and wheeled about to face the students. A harsh breeze drifted through the massive wall-like structure, ruffling fur and jackets alike.

"Even today, the corralum within this structure grows with ou runyielding guidance."

The Land Management Campus

Established a century after the Rail Academy, the Land Management Campus came about as a co-operative project between the Sheljt and the Parsian. The Land Management Campus is dedicated the fields of Corrallum study, Geology, and Civil Engineering.

The Campus hosts dozens of lecture halls, laboratories, clean rooms, fabrication facilities, and an underground acreage developed into a controllable ecology.

This underground reserver is used for training, researching, and fund generation through a natural museum program. It also serves as a proving ground for small-scale versions of larger projects such as corralum dams and tide generators.

Example Curriculum

Corralum Engineering

The Science and Technology behind the formation and Sophontic influence of Corralum. This science is critical to establishing cities, laying down infrastructure, and maintaining connetions between cities.

Without Corralum Engineering cities would be grown over in the matter of months.

Power Infrastructure

Training in the many power generation methods of modern society, everything from deep tide generators, solar farms, and fusion generation. Students will learn how to maintain, and create new infrastructure projects First in the classroom, then in the field.

Utility Infrastructure

Transit, Waste and Water, Heating and Cooling. To join this field, you must already be a master of your craft. An expert electrician that worked for the Jhoutigari, a decades seasoned plumber with ambition, etc.

Through lecture, example, and in-field experience, students who enter this curriculum are learning the next scale of their field.

Emergency Management

Going through the Emergency Management field is not an easy task. Entering this field involves an entirely seperate process of vetting that students call "Hard Boot." Reserved for the most dedicated and stalwart intellectuals, Emergency Management specialization is an extremely lucrative and envious position, which involves handling the hundrends of crisises that occur on Jhoutai every year.

This course involves being able to plan defenses, make tough calls, and minimize the costs of incidents. Those who enter are expected to serve on crisises, making their education particularly dangerous.

Background generated via MidJourney