Radham Academy

Where everything begins

Once an old collection of buildings with strategic plant growth taken to an extreme.

Entering Radham Academy, the road divides, with a loop moving around to the emergency entrance for the Hedge. The main road continues straight beneath a massive arch with a gate with heavy, massive steel doors, paneled with wood. If things came down to it, the Academy doubled as a fortress.

The symbol is a full-face helmet in profile framed by red leaves and ribbons. Almost but not quite a badge of office.

## Geography/Description

The departments are split up into different buildings and sections. Colloquial terms for the different locations reference to parts of the human body, in respect to the area of focus and locations.

### The Tower - *Head*

Hayle's department. Located opposite end of the Academy campus from the Hedge. Focused on research and development regarding the brain, but had defaulted to handling a lot of information storage, memory banks, and files.

### Academy Headquarters (Claret Hall) - *Heart*

The center of campus, where everything flows from withing Radham Academy. Eating area for students, key administration facilities, and key elements of the campus and core classes.

### The Rows - *Ribs*

Dormitories. Past The Rows are other main buildings.

### The Hedge - *Skin*

Immediate care, contact with the city outside, first line of healing and prevention. The wall that encircles Radham Academy. Most of the wall wasn’t large or tall, but it rose in places, and the corner of the Academy closest to Radham had a hospital built into it. Students bought their turns at The Hedge getting training and locals bought care.

### Labs, Recessed - *The Bowels* (The Dungeons, The Tunnels, The Pit)

Underground. Some of the most dangerous experiments at Radham Academy. If something goes wrong, it goes into lock-down, trapping everything and everyone inside.

## References

1. ↑ The Academy loomed above it all, those same elements taken to an extreme. It had been an old collection of buildings once. A rush to grow and meet surging demand had led to a lot of the same haphazard growth.

It all had an odor. There were smells that became second nature, and there were smells that were ingrained in the psyche as bad smells. Ones that spoke of death, of long sickness, and of violence. Rendered fat, decay, and blood. Each were heavy on the air.

Ironic, that things so overgrown and reeking of decay were the parts of the city charged with progress.

You’d think the rain would wash away the smell.- Taking Root 1.1
2. ↑ We entered the Academy. The road divided, with a loop moving around to the emergency entrance for the Hedge, and the main road continuing straight beneath a massive arch. I noted that double guard had been stationed between the emergency entrance and the archway. The men in uniform gave us wary glances, but Hayle, still trailing well behind our group, gave them a wave, and they let us through.

The way in was a gate with heavy doors. They were paneled with wood, but I knew from past experience and observation that the wood covered heavy steel. They were heavy, they were massive, and the idea was that they would stand up to a bomb blast if need be. If things came down to it, the Academy doubled as a fortress.

Pity about the town, but the Academy was built to stand tall through virtually any scenario. - Cat out of the Bag 2.2
3. ↑ Their bookbags had flaps over the top to keep the rain out, and the buckles that kept the flaps in place each had the university’s symbol on it, a full-face helmet in profile framed by red leaves and ribbons.

Almost but not quite a badge of office. - Taking Root 1.3
4. ↑ The arch, much like the smiles, winks and nods, seemed to be for my benefit rather than her own. Little touches that made me feel more nervous around her, rather than less.

“…Mnemonic trick to figure out how things are laid out,” Lil said.

“Trick?” Mary asked Lil.

“It’s a body. Each department has a focus. The Tower is the head. Record keeping. The Rise is the shoulders, or the collarbone, the neck, supporting structures, storage, think backpack. Then you have the Academy headquarters. Center of everything, Claret Hall-”

“The heart,” Mary said.

“The rows,” Lil suggested, trailing off to give Mary the chance of offering an answer.

Mary shook her head.

“Ribs. Dormitories. I think of it as rows, ribs, bars, cage, zoo, students. That’s how I put it together in my head, drawing the connection. I started doing it from the beginning, but even though I know, I still sort of think that way. I make the connection like that,” Lil said.
[...]
“What do you think the Hedge is?” I asked.

Mary started a little at the sound of my voice. “Hedge? Exterior wall… skin?”

I shrugged and nodded. “Immediate care, contact with the city outside, first line of healing and prevention.”

“Does that help?” Lil asked. - Taking Root 1.12
5. ↑ The Tower, Mr. Hayle’s department opposite end of the Academy campus from the Hedge where I’d been, was largely focused on research and development regarding the brain. Widely viewed as a dead end, the department had defaulted to handling a lot of information storage, memory banks, and files.

If Jamie had been there… I spoke my thoughts aloud, “Jamie went to the Tower because… you guys were thinking about mind control? Something to do with the brain?”

“We were thinking it could be some neurological manipulation,” Jamie said. - Taking Root 1.4
6. ↑ “Helen was looking into hormones and drugs at Claret Hall.”

Claret Hall being the center of campus, where students gathered and ate, where key administration facilities were available, and where some of the key elements of the campus and core classes were taught. If all aspects of Radham flowed from the Academy, then all aspects of the Academy flowed from Claret Hall. - Taking Root 1.4
7. ↑ I was at ‘the Hedge’, the colloquial term for the wall that encircled the Academy. A great deal of the wall wasn’t large or tall at all, but it rose in places, and the corner of the Academy closest to Radham had a hospital built into it. Through the hospital, students bought their turns at getting training and locals bought care. The view was of the wall itself, the Academy on one side, Radham on the other. - Taking Root 1.3
8. ↑ ‘Here’ happened to be a hole in the ground. It was a nice hole in the ground, with a roof over it and a short wall to keep the rain out. Lights punctuated a spiral stairway. An easy-to-miss plaque on a nearby wall indicated to those who were looking that this was the entrance to the Bowels.

Still, there were very few people who had cause to enter the Bowels without already knowing where and what it was. Guests didn’t tend to, unless they were from Academies other than Radham’s, and even regular students didn’t have much cause to go beneath.

Some students passed us, giving us weird looks, looking like they might say something, before they spotted Hayle following up the rear.

They hurried on, disappearing down the stairs, each with a hand on the rails. The descent was a nervous one, with stairs taken quickly, heads down and eyes fixed on points further down the stairs.

Lillian was holding the strap of her satchel with both hands. “About once every two weeks, they have to lock a whole section down. Something’s escaped, something went missing, a container broke, a chain broke. Send Gorger in, then seal it off. Drop stone blocks that whole teams of stitched have to winch back up, maybe flood the section, maybe ignite the air, and give it some time to be sure.”

“Whatever it is,” Hayle said, “If it’s here in the recessed labs, it’s likely better to be safe than sorry.”

“Whatever Dog, Catcher, Gorger and all the rest are hunting, it came from the Bowels, didn’t it?” Gordon asked.

“It did,” Hayle said. “The students that carried out the release are still down there.”

“Makes sense,” Lillian said, in a small voice. “I don’t think even the students that work down there like being down there.”

It gets even better. With Gorger out and about, they don’t have anyone to clean up. If something happens, and they don’t flood or burn the section, they’ll just wait it out. Leave the section blocked off until everything inside has starved to death. Including us. - Cat out of the Bag 2.2