Academy Abscondi

The Academy Absconditi is the school that Strategia teenagers are sent to, in order to learn various scheming techniques that will be applicable to the broader Strategia world. *Absconditi* is Latin for hidden or secret, indicating the school's covert nature. Their motto is *Historia Est Magistra Vitae*, meaning "History is the teacher of life." There is no electricity.

**Academy Absconditi** was started by the Council of Families to train young Strategia.

Although the school is supposed to be seperate from Family politics and such, whatever happens in the academy is usually a scaled down version of what is happening outside (in the Strategia world.

Academy Absconditi is a school where young Strategia learn skills they cannot learn anywhere else. Its location is very well hidden. Students are drugged going in and out of the school. Cell phones are broken: there is no internet so they can't be tracked and the school is lit via torches. There is some kind of netting over the school that keeps the off of physical radars.

There are no non-Strategia allowed in the building.

After the first two years, some students are sent home.

Typically, you start at age 15. Some students can be admitted late but it seems to take a lot of money (the older the student the more expensive). It should be impossible to be admitted if you miss your first two year, which are important for basic courses, but November was allow in for a reason none of the students knew until the end of the first book.

## History

The Council of Families designed the Academy Absconditi in order to educate the best children in the Families. It is one of the few things that all of the Families agreed upon doing, because they all wanted knew that a formal education in the ways of the Strategia would be ultimately beneficial, so they don't fall prey to the same mistakes as those throughout history.

The exact date of the school's founding is unknown, as information pertaining to Strategia isn't written down for the sake of secrecy. However, its creation was estimated to be fifteen hundred years ago, thus about the year 500 CE. It was formed about a thousand years after the creation of the first three families. It was in its current location since 1013. The location, is unknown, although it is surrounded by forest. It is disguised from all sides to prevent discovery.

## Curriculum

Students are divided into two levels: Elemental and Advanced. They spend two years in each. They occupy the elemental years when 15 and 16, and the advanced level when 17 and 18. They don't share any classes with each other, and those in elemental classes have lighter coursework to give them more time to practice.

Some courses are:

* Poisons
* Accents
* Cultural Norms
* Psychological Warfare
* Deception
* Knife Throwing
* Archery
* History

In addition to classes, professors may also assign midnight challenges to test their skills.

## Staff

Note: all names given are pseudonyms, as faculty don't use their real names to protect their identity. Instead, they use names representative of the position they hold or the course they teach. All teachers are Strategia.

* Blackwood (Headmaster)
* Dr. Connor (Student assessment officer)
* Professor Flechier (Archery)
* Professor Messer (Knife throwing)
* Professor Liu (Psychological warfare)
* Professor Kartal (History)
* Professor Basurto (Tree climbing)
* Professor Gupta (Deception)
* Professor Odd (Fencing)
* Professor Hisakawa (Poisons)

## Students

* November (left for quest in *Hunting November*)

* Ash (left for quest in *Hunting November*)
* Layla (left for quest in *Hunting November*)
* Aarya (left for quest in *Hunting November*)
* Ines (left for quest in *Hunting November*)
* Matteo (left for quest in *Hunting November*)
* Nyx
* Brendan (left for quest in *Hunting November*)
* Charles
* Stephano
* Felix

**Formerly**

* Headmaster Blackwood
* Matilde
* Christopher Shawe
* Zareen

A/N-the Specialists are just who has proved to be good. Obviously all the students are amazingly freakishly talented at all of these things.

## Classes

### Archery

Taught by Professor Flecheir

Flecheir means arrow maker in French

On November's tour, she speaks when they pass this class. The professor gets angry and Layla hits a bullseye to calm her/make it up to her. (yeah I don't really get it)

**Specialists**

* Ash
* Layla

### Knives

Taught by Professor Messer

Messer means knife in German

November shows Brendan and Charles up on her first class. After the boys(who seems to be favorites) throw and miss their last shots, Messer notices her expression and tells her to make the same shots. She knocks their knives off the targets the first two times, then makes a big show of switching to her dominant side and hitting the X of the last shot. Messer then has her throw a knife at a target with Ines standing in front. She is emotionally manipulated into doing it (at first she wouldn't but then then teacher asks Brendan to) and misses.

**Specialists**

* November
* Aarya

### Psychological warfare

Taught by Professor Liu

Liu was the surname for the emperors during the Han dynasty.

Liu(刘) means *destroy or kill*.

also called mind games

November accidentally won the race to the table challenge (make a noise in one place, strike in another) when running away from Brendan. If it wasn't for that, Professor Liu would've known she fooled the whole class.

### Deception

Taught by Professor Gupta

Gupta mean secret (i think it's Sanskrit)

During a game of two truths and a lie, (which is probably a regularly played game) November is the only one to spot Ash's lie using what she knows about him.

**Specialists**

* Ash

### Climbing

Taught by Professor Basurto

Matteo almost pulls November out of the canopy

**Specialists**

* November

### Fencing

Taught by Professor Odd

He does indeed look odd, but Odd is Old Norse for the sharp end of a weapon.

Dr. Connor tells Nyx to kill November. She somehow gets her hands on a sharpened blade (it went through security because Connor was security) and spars with November.

**Specialists**

* Nyx
* November

### History

Taught by Professor Kartal

Kartal means eagle, which seems to be fitting

## Rules and Discipline

There are three main rules which are non-negotiable and apply to faculty and students:

1. No communicating about life outside the Academy
2. No leaving campus
3. Eye for an Eye punishment system

Other rules mentioned

* Guards may not talk to students
* Students are not admitted midyear (Exception made for November)