Blackcliff Academy

**Blackcliff Military Academ**y is the Martial Empire's foremost elite military academy. It is located in the city of Serra, and is responsible for the training of Masks.

## Description

Blackcliff Academy is the cruel, torturous training grounds for future Masks. Blackcliff was established by the Augurs about three hundred years ago, and is known to be an impenetrable fortress. No one is to enter Blackcliff unless authorized, nor shall they leave.

The academy is located on Serra's eastern cliffs overlooking a desert and the city. It is a jumble of buildings enclosed by a black granite wall. It was initially built as a school to prepare and identify the future Emperor. It is under the command of the Commandant. Three thousand students are in attendance at any one time, and are selected for admission by the Augurs. Each generation of students only has one female recruit, no one knows why this is. The students learn everything from imperial ideology to the art of war to actual combat. Upon graduation, students are placed into service for the Empire. Students train at Blackcliff for fourteen years. Blackcliff is loved by loyal subjects of the Empire, hated by the Resistance, and hated by Elias Veturius. The academy is a symbol of the Empire's evil and power.

Many recruits die, especially during the wilderness survival stage of training. It is an incredibly harsh military academy where recruits are put through years upon years of intense physical and mental training with the sole purpose of turning them into ruthless killing machines.

The teachers are called Centurions. The school's most essential lessons are: obey, conform, and keep your mouth shut. The students are forced to cheer when their fellow students are punished.

## Blackcliff Students

### Yearlings

Yearlings are the lowest level and ranking at Blackcliff. They are newest and least trained of the students. Yearlings arrive at Blackcliff at six-years-old, and remain Yearlings for four years, until they are eleven. Yearlings are forbidden from addressing or looking at upperclassmen. Upon arriving at the school, students are given a tattoo on the back of their neck of Blackcliff's symbol, a four-sided black diamond with curved sides.

### Fivers

Fivers are the next level up, and are named as such because of the staggering amount of them that die in their fifth year at the academy. Elias recounts the beginning of his time as a Fiver involving the Centurions throwing them "out of Blackcliff and into the wilds of the Empire without clothes, food, or weaponry, to survive as best as they can for four years." It is only after a Fiver returns to Blackcliff after completing and surviving their four years in the wilds that they receive their Mask.

### Cadets

Cadets are the next level up after Fivers. The remaining students spend four years training as Cadets.

### Skulls

After completing their training as Cadets, students spend two years as Skulls.

### Senior Skulls

The final year of training is known as the Senior Skulls. Upon completion, students graduate as official Masks, and are placed into service for the Empire. Elias, Helene, Marcus, and Zak are Senior Skulls, poised to graduate, at the beginning of *An Ember In The Ashes*.

## References

1. ↑ https://anemberintheashesbook.com/world/
2. ↑ http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-an-ember-in-the-ashes/settings.html#gsc.tab=0
3. ↑ *An Ember In The Ashes*: page 27