Blackcliff Academy

View of Blackcliff from the Cliff Path

Blackcliff Academy's Location (Grenzstadt)

Blackcliff Academy is one of the foremost military academies in the Empire. It is located in the city of Grenzstadt and is responsible for the training of the Nightstalker Regiment. It is known to be an impenetrable fortress, the keystone of Grenzstadt's vast defensive network. No one is to enter Blackcliff unless authorized, nor shall they leave.

## Description

Blackcliff is the cruel, torturous training grounds for future Nightstalkers. Established in 1718 IC, ten years following the initial recording of the Nightstalker Regiment on the Averheim roll of honor, the school trains soldiers specializing in asymmetrical warfare and deep penetration scouting missions.

The Academy is located at the easternmost point of Grenzstadt, guarding the legendary Black Fire Pass. The fortress is jumble of buildings enclosed by a black granite wall; a network of catacombs extend under it to facilitate the secret transport of supplies in the event of an extended siege.

Three thousand students are in attendance at any one time and are selected for admission by shamans and seers from across the Empire by the divine mandate of the Emperor. Each generation of students, consisting of five hundred children the age of six, only has one or two female recruits; no one knows why this is. The training is brutal - fewer than a fifty survive all fourteen years of training. During their tenure, 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 as light infantrymen under the Nightstalker Regiment.

## Blackcliff Students

### Yearlings

Yearlings are the lowest ranked students 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. They are forbidden from addressing or looking at upperclassmen. Upon arriving at the school, students are given a brand on their shoulder of Blackcliff's symbol, a four-sided black diamond with curved sides.

### Fiver

Fivers are the next rank of students and are named as such because of the staggering amount of them that die during their fifth year at the academy. Valmir Schwarzhauer recounts the beginning of his time as a Fiver as involving the Centurions throwing them "out of Blackcliff and into the wilds of the Empire, or somewhere beyond the borders for the truly unfortunate, without clothes, food, or weaponry, to survive as best as we 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 can progress to becoming Cadets. Those who do not return within six months after the end of their four years are considered deceased; a phylactery that triggers a remote magical poison in the bloodstream of the wayward students ensures the categorization is correct.

### Cadet

Cadets are the next rank of students after Fivers. Upon their return as a Fiver, the students have the brand they received as a Yearling removed by a Jade Wizard. The remaining students then spend four years training as Cadets.

### Skull

After completing their training as Cadets, students spend two years as Skulls. Those in their final year of training are known as Senior Skulls. Upon completion, students graduate as Nightstalkers and are placed into service with the regiment for a minimum of five years. Once the five years of service end, the magical poison is removed from the blood of the soldiers and they are free to retire from active duty to reserve service if they so wish.