Elemental Houses

"You must be sorted into **Elemental Houses**; Ignis, Aqua, Ventus, and Terra. While you're here, your house will be like your family," - Corrine dela Vega to the first-year students of Belvoire in *III: The Empress*.

## General Information

### Symbols

Flame, heart (Ignis)
Water drop, mind (Aqua)
Gust of wind, soul (Ventus)
Leaf, body (Terra)

### Elements

Fire (Ignis)
Water (Aqua)
Air (Ventus)
Earth (Terra)

### House Colors

Red & gold (Ignis)
Blue & silver (Aqua)
Purple & silver (Ventus)
Green & gold (Terra)

### House Heads

Idalia Keegan (Ignis)
Thaddeus Aquinas (Aqua)
Corrine dela Vega (Ventus)
Dunstan Granville (Terra)

### Cardinals

Unknown Ignis and Ventus cardinals
Indirah Alnazar (Aqua)
Lucio Damaris (Terra)

In The Arcana, The Belvoire Academia of the Arcane is divided into four **Elemental Houses**: **Ignis**, **Aqua**, **Ventus**, and **Terra**. Houses at Belvoire were both the living and learning communities for its students. Each year's group of students in the same house shares the same dormitory and many classes depending which year level they are. The houses compete throughout the school year, by earning and losing points for behavior, and the house with the most points wins at the end of each school year.

Each house also has its own **Volley Vortex** team that competes, and two competitions breed rivalries between the houses; the greatest of which is that between Ignis and Aqua.

## THE HOUSES

#### **Ignis**

The first house founded was **Ignis**, a house for all students born under the zodiac signs **Aries**, **Leo**, and **Sagittarius**- which helps explain the zodiacs' passionate nature and over-the-top enthusiasm. Representing the element **fire**, House Ignis has won a lot of challenges and games in varsity cups, and is known to be the very competitive one out of all three houses. Fire is a symbol of creation, energy, and vitality. According to Ancient Symbols, fire is considered to be the first element that was born when the universe was created. Students born under the fire sign are **active**, **competitive**, and **highly passionate**- on the flip side of that though, they can also be **impatient** and **quick-tempered**. Izaiah Alnazar is a known Ignis student. Professor Idalia Keegan is also a member of this house.

#### **Aqua**

Water rules **Cancer**, **Scorpio**, and **Pisces**, which can explain each of the highly intuitive nature and mysterious demeanor of these signs. **Water** is a symbol of emotion, dreams, healing, intuition, and the universal realm. According to Ancient Symbols, it also represents death and rebirth. Almost always trailing behind Ignis, House Aqua has been dubbed the little sister of the said house. They're known for doing things their own way and doesn't let anyone boss them. Students in House Aqua are **naturally perceptive** of their surroundings. On the opposite end of the spectrum, they can be **moody** and **hypersensitive**. Indirah Alnazar and Sapphire Chauvera are members of this house, with the latter being the house's secretary Cardinal. Professor Thaddeus Aquinas is the professor from House Aqua.

#### **Ventus**

Everyone from House Ventus are partiers and the friendliest of the bunch, which is why the students in this air represented house are **Geminis**, **Libras**, and **Aquarians**. With their energetic and eccentric personalities, they're known to have the most friends out of the houses. **Air** is a symbol of communication, intelligence, and versatility, so that explains their charming **social skills**. Students in this house prefer thinking **logically** rather than **emotionally**, and at the same time, they can be incredibly **indecisive** and **fickle** by nature. Because they thrive in social situations, they can honor that part of themselves by seeking meaningful connections with others. Known Ventus students would be Artemus Blackquill. Professor Corrine dela Vega is Ventus' professor.

#### **Terra**

Representing the **earth** element, Terra houses the students born under the signs **Capricorn**, **Taurus**, and **Virgo**- which explains the innate persistence and practicality that is central to these signs. They're considered as the smartest people in the academia, and their intelligence often clash with each other, making them fall on the fourth place. Earth is a symbol of abundance, stability, and solidity. Students here are **dependable** and **realistic**, though on the dark side, they can be **inflexible** and **stubborn**. They also have a tendency to get stuck in bad behaviors, but this could be fixed by engaging in different activities so they don't fall into laziness. Xylon Lozano and Lucio Damaris are members of House Terra, with Lucio being Terra's enforcer Cardinal. Professor Dunstan Granville also belongs in Terra.

## C**Λ**RDIN**Λ**LS

#### DESCRIPTION

A **Cardinal** at Belvoire is a student who had been given extra authority and responsibilities by Headmaster Mythos and the professors. Each house would have one Cardinal; a student in either third or fourth-year to be an **Aries** (Ignis), **Cancer** (Aqua), **Libra** (Ventus), and a **Capricorn** (Terra)- this being the reason that they're the *cardinal* zodiacs. They would then continue to be Cardinals until they graduate.

Cardinals are the Astraean parallel to Earth schools' student councils, with them voting various roles: vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and enforcer. Since he doesn't have a known birthdate, Kellan had been given the role as their leader, much like the student council president, by Mythos. As per Mythos in *Chapter* *III: The Empress*, Ignis' Cardinal is the vice president of the school, Indirah Alnazar from Aqua is the secretary, Ventus' is the treasurer, and the Cardinal of House Terra, Lucio Damaris, is the school enforcer.

#### ROLE

Cardinals were allowed to take house points away from houses, but they were not allowed to take points from other Cardinals. They could give detentions as a form of punishment. They patrol the whole Belvoire castle and attend meetings, and they also patrol hallways to ensure that other students were not breaking curfew. They also have other responsibilities as student leaders. They show the first-years the way to their dormitories on their first day of school at Belvoire, and supervise the decorating of the castle for Christmas (and presumably other events as well). They also watch the younger students when bad weather kept them indoors over break times.

They were given emblems of their respective houses just like everyone else, however, the background color for each pin of the emblem would be gold for the president (Kellan's is pure gold since he doesn't have a house), and silver for the Cardinals such as Indirah and Lucio.

#### KNOWN PRESIDENTS AND CARDINALS

##### Presidents

* Aerith (most likely)
* Kellan Xalvador (XXXX - present)

##### Cardinals

* Mythos- Ignis (unknown years)
* Thaddeus Aquinas- Aqua (unknown years)
* Corrine dela Vega- Ventus (unknown years)
* Dunstan Granville- Terra (unknown years)
* Unnamed Ignis Cardinal (Vice-President)
* Indirah Alnazar- Aqua (Secretary, XXXX - present)
* Unnamed Ventus Cardinal (Treasurer)
* Lucio Damaris- Terra (Enforcer, XXXX - present)

## TRIVI**Λ**S

* Cardinal signs are the four first zodiacs from each element; Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn. The second signs are the Fixed; Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius, and Taurus. Mutable signs are the third; Sagittarius, Pisces, Gemini, and Virgo.
* Just like in the *Harry Potter* franchise, Hogwarts have four houses; while Hogwarts students are sorted depending on their personalities, Belvoire students are sorted depending on which zodiac sign they were born under.
	+ Ignis is similar to Gryffindor (fire), Aqua to Slytherin (water), Ventus to Ravenclaw (air), and Terra is similar to Hufflepuff.