Royal Baron Academy

The **Royal Baron Academy** is one of the schools in Ace Und Panzer. Considered as a major school within its introduction during the debut as a candidate of the second bracket of the 63rd National High School Sensha-Dō Tournament. The school is a staple of the amicable relationship between the United Kingdom and Japan.

## Overview

The Royal Baron Academy is a British-themed school situated in the Shibuya Ward in Tokyo. A prestigious school that is well-respected in Japan, albeit to its elite status, the school is open to the consensus, even the less unfortunate ones are able to educate themselves in this Academy. Originally the school was conceived as an international school for the British in Japan, but thanks to the advances in their relationship, the school would expand itself on the seas, becoming a full fledged Japanese High School while remaining faithful to its origin and culture.

Contrary to popular belief, the Academy itself is actually a Co-Ed school. The source of this misconception stems from its name, *"Royal Baron"*, the namesake of the school actually came from its sponsors that named the school themselves and the organization's name is the "Secret Order of the Royal Barons and Freebaroness". Formally the school is named the **Society of the Royal Baron and Baroness Academy**.

## Background

The Society of the Royal Baron and Baroness Academy is one of the many instrumental tools in solidifying the British relationship with Japan. Like its fellow British-themed schools in Japan, the St. Gloriana Girls' College in Yokohama City, and the Lord Cromwell's High School in Nagasaki City, the school's origin came from the interest of British foreigners, and though the system of the three are different from one another with distinct culture and background, they all have the same will to provide the Japanese with the foremost experiences and courses typically seen in the British Isles.

### History

Even before the school was established in the Shibuya Ward, the school's sponsor, the *Secret* *Order of the Freebarons and Freebaroness* was already operating in Japan. This secret Order begun to have interest in the country when the members of the Chōshū Five joined their association, the Chōshū Five were members of Japan who travelled to England in 1863 to study at the University College London, these five members would later rose to prominent positions in Japanese political and civil life.

It wasn't until decades later where the Order would arrived in Japan in order to help Itō Hirobumi, the first Prime Minister of Japan and member of the secret Order, to build the country from the ground up through the Meiji Era. Members including Inoue Monta, Yamao Yōzō, Endō Kinsuke, and Nomura Yakichi would also contribute to the building of the country, following the western model, with some becoming a monumental tool for the developing country such as the establishment of the, Ministry of Public Works in 1870, the Asiatic Society of Japan in 1872, the Imperial College of Engineering in 1877, the Kisha Seizo in 1896, and the Japan–British Society in 1908.

It wasn't until the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of 1894 that eradicated the unequal treaties in Japan that the secret Order would publicized themselves as helpers of modern Japan.

#### Draft of the Academy

When Tokugorō Nakahashi, Cabinet Minister of Education in the Hara Cabinet took office in 1918, his emphasis in improving the higher education system in Japan was his advocacy. And though the relationship between Japan and the United Kingdom was deteriorating, he still contacted the members of the Freebarons stationed in Tokyo in order to get their advices in creating schools yet again, in which these members were already an expert of ever since they helped the Ministry of Education starting at Mori Arinori's appointment in 1885.

Plans were drafted by Nakahashi with the help of the Order. They constituted the creation of five more medical schools, 29 schools of pharmacy, and creating additional imperial universities. And while the plans were successful, they couldn't solidify the idea of a School that teach the students the British-style education, this was due to the straining relationship between the two countries and thus if the ties are severed, then the school would shut down or worse, might destroyed it.

And so Nakahashi kept the draft of this plan in the hands of the secret Order situated in Tokyo, specifically Shibuya.

#### Withdrawal of the Freebarons

When war was in the horizon and the Imperial Japan is getting more and more aggressive to its surrounding neighbors, the Freebarons that was stationed in Japan was forced to leave the country, but plans of leaving the country were already there when Japan decided to invade China in 1937, though the opening of the Pacific theaters in 1940 would be their last straw in the country. Getting all their important papers and plans, they left the country the next month.

Though suicidal as they were labelled as a Threat to the Empire, they nonetheless took the bullet and left Tokyo through smuggling themselves in a cargo ship that is going to mainland China, there they took a plane and went to Burma where they were greeted with British forces in the area. The members of the Order in Japan would soon reached Britain after a juggle of a journey, a long journey but eventually they reached the country in 1942.

They remained in the country and were even amalgamated with the main Order in London, it wasn't until the occupation of Japan that the order would reappear in Japan again, this another attempt to supplant Japan with their influence is spearheaded by Jan Adams, one of the members of the Order from Japan in 1940.

#### Jan Adams in Post-War Japan

When Jan Adams reentered Tokyo in 1951, he and the other members of the Order sought out and helped the country through improving the country under the behalf of the British Embassy. Trying to reignite the cordial relationship of the country, he helped a number of British businessmen to establish the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan, and through this non-profit independent organization, the Order used this as a spring to fund their many projects in the country.

One of the projects that the Jan Adams initiated is the **Project Miura Anjin**. With the help of the Japan–British Society, and funds from both the British Chamber of Commerce and the Order's headquarters in London, the project started when a contract was established between the Red Seal Company and Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering.

#### Project Miura Anjin

Project Miura Anjin was a project that was drafted by Nakahashi himself, though this was modernized by Eikichi Kamata in 1922 since he's an advocator of Education on the Seas, and Jan Adams executed their plans in 1970. The idea was to create an institution in the Miura Peninsula that would be the beacon of Japanese education following the Western Model, and with Kamata's addition of making the institution from land-based to Maritime-based, and turning the school from a University level to a Highschool. While the project has some doubts whether or not it can be established, it nonetheless was carried out successfully by Jan Adams.

The first part of the plan is to commission the school-ship that will be used as the platform of the project, and thus the contract was sealed between the Japanese Red Seal Company in Kanagawa and the Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering in England. With the blueprints and materials provided by the British, and the facilities owned by Japanese in Kanagawa, they constructed a School-Carrier based from the designs of the HMS Victorious. Their second part of the plan is the school itself, and this is where the Order from London would start to pour their funds in the project as a result of their goal to spread a globalized society that develops cross-disciplinary talents.

#### Establishment of the School

With School-Carrier completed in July 16, 1978 and ensured its safety through multiple sea trials. The Academy known as the **Society of the Royal Baron and Baroness Academy** was opened in October 14, 1979 near the Miura Peninsula, completing the Project with fruitful results. The opening itself was headed by Jan Adams, the first Principal of the School and its founder. The School itself follows an emphasis towards a British-style education, in which this model was used as a basis for many Schools to use in the following decades, including the St. Gloriana Girls' College in Yokohama City, The British School in Tokyo, and the Lord Cromwell's High School in Nagasaki City,

#### **Present Time**

With Kamata's firm view towards in creating a highly adapted society that foster students' independence and autonomy, the School remained consistent in their role as a small floating artificial island. The School seen a lot of events and even voyages outside Japan throughout the remainder of the 20th century. The school also formed some partnerships with schools inside and even outside of the country, especially both the St. Gloriana and Lord Cromwell's through miniature exchange programs and trading efforts, form an amicable bond between the three schools.

Recently the school was invited as one of the candidates of the 63rd National High School Sensha-Dō Tournament in the second bracket, and their team that will represent the tournament will be conducted by a famous Fellow of the Baronetcy of the Freebarons, nicknamed simply as the School's Overall Commander, "Monty".

### Location

The Academy itself, though opened near the shorelines of Miura City, is actually situated in the Shibuya Ward, Tokyo Prefecture. They just considered the place as a De Jure as said on the papers of the school's establishment. Meanwhile their Port of Operation is in the Port of Tokyo.

### School-Ship

The School-Ship is based on the designs of its ship's namesake, the Aircraft Carrier HMS Victorious (R38). The contract for the commission of the School-Carrier was given to Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, Ltd (VSEL), and the Red Seal Company, the latter was responsible for constructing the ship while the former provided them with the necessary materials, equipment, and the blueprint of the construction. The School-Ship was constructed in the Miura Peninsula, the region where the Red Seal Company's Shipyards are located, specifically the vessel was constructed in the Military Naval base of Yokosuka Naval Base.

## Culture

Not only the Order emphasized the availability of the courses in the Academy to ensure that they only teach competences to the consensus, but they also emphasized in creating an environment appropriate to the students and inhabitants on Victorious. With the funds being provided in a constant stream by the multiple entities and organization towards the building of the School-Ship, not only they managed to spend their budget worthwhile, but due to the talented members that helped its construction, the ending result created the perfect miniature of London itself, the model of their surface deck.

### Architecture

Their surface deck is affectionately called **Albion**. It has 32 boroughs and one centralized complex called simply as Londinium, making their surface deck an almost identical to Greater London and its structure. Though the difference of the two apart from its size is that the boroughs is divided by 4 sections that occupies on each corner of the surface deck. These 4 sections are: St. George (Bottom Right Section), Dewi Sant (Bottom Left Section), Pádraig (Top Left Section), and Cill Rìmhinn (Top Right Section).

Each section has their own distinct architectural style with their own iconic landmarks that imitated their reference. And thus when one arrives at the other section, they'll instantly know that they're in the other side because of this feature. And so the main style they follow is Revivalism, reviving the iconic and stereotypes seen in both London and the many places across the British Isles, creating this unique environment that can only been seen on their Victorious.

##### Borough's Underground

The iconic Borough Underground not only offered services to its students, but this railway network also extends itself to almost all the decks in Victorious, bringing goods from one sector to another and sometimes transporting valuable goods such as the Ordnances of Royal Baron, ranging from *Softarmed Guns* to *Sportified Vehicles*.

#### Dormitory

Students of the Academy are offered and encouraged to stay in their Georgian-styled Terraced Houses. Built in a configuration that is known as a "two-up two down" layout, this layout meant that the building would always be a 2-storey building with the bedrooms situated above the ground floor. Bedrooms are divided by gender and year, and each bedroom can consists of 6 students. Depending on the amount of bedrooms, the most typical amount that a dormitory house can hold is 12 students at minimum. This type of dormitory can be seen in great numbers across the boroughs, all in walking distance to their nearest train stations.

And if students aren't fond in staying these sort of houses, preferring to stay near the campus, then they can stay at the **23 Hall of Residences**. These 23 buildings across Londinium offers accommodation to students who wanted to stay near the campus, typically these students are the first-years. Each Hall of Residence can provide 200 students in its 5-storey layout, with each room accommodating 4 students with the basic necessity such as a study table, kitchen, and a bathroom.

(To further see the common appearance of their dormitory, check this image out.)

### Uniform

The uniforms of Academy currently exists in 6 categories, ranging from the school uniform towards the full dress for formal gatherings to the special uniform that the Student Parliament are required to wear during certain occasions. With the normal school uniform primarily uses 5 colors: Royal Blue, Dark Blue, Red, Black, and White. Meanwhile the uniforms of the many Recrelympic teams in Royal Baron are all unique and are distinct from one another.

But for a basic introduction, in terms of their school uniforms, the boys wear a Royal Blue blazer with White t-shirt underneath, accompanied by a Red necktie, and Dark Blue trousers with White socks and Black shoes. Girls meanwhile wear the same Royal Blue blazer, White t-shirt, and Red necktie, but their Dark Blue trousers are replaced with knee-length Skirts and White stockings, similar to that in the designs that the students of St. Gloriana wear. And in order to distinct the years of the students, the buttons on the blazers can indicate their school-year at a simple glance. These 6 Pearls are categorized by color that entailed its school year to the student wearing it: Brass buttons are for the first-year students, Silver buttons are for the second-year students, and Gold buttons for the third-year students.

Members of the "Student Order of the Freebarons and Freebaroness" meanwhile are entitled to wear their medal ribbon of gray and gold right above the breast pocket of their blazer. The medal ribbon represents their entitlement of being members of the prestigious society.

All members of the Freebarons are often the Commanders and Vice-Commanders of the Royal Baron's Recrelympic Teams. An example of this is the aforementioned Yuichi, he's a second-year student that attained the degree of Fellow of the Baronetcy, the second degree out of the three, and it is under the Master Baron, the leader of the Freebarons.

### Student Order of the Freebarons and Freebaroness

When the school was established, they also incorporate the introduction of the Order of the Freebarons and Baroness, as a direct adjacent and sometimes being the supreme authority above the Student Parliament. This society of elite students are known for their exceptional talent in many fields, from academics to achievements. And thus with a high standard within the society itself, the requirements for one to join is appropriate to its status, this Baronhood is often regarded as one of the hardest things to achieve. In the Freebarons, they are divided into three major degrees—entered Loyalist, Fellow of the Baronetcy, and Master Baron/Baroness.

The Freebarons or Freebaroness would often start partnerships on behalf of the School and the consensus. Often going to other schools and talked negotiations on close doors, though one commonly sight the Student Order is seen negotiating of is with the St. Gloriana's Prestigious Tea Garden, and since this is already a common fact as provided that one of the Fellow of the Baronetcy of the Freebarons is already an honorary Guest to the aforementioned Prestigious Garden.

All members of the Freebarons are often the Commanders and Vice-Commanders of the Royal Baron's Recrelympic Teams. An example of this is Yuichi, he's a second-year student that attained the degree of Fellow of the Baronetcy, the second degree out of the three, and it is under the Master Baron, the leader of the Freebarons.

And due to their talents seen, it wouldn't be a surprised that these members would hold higher positions in the many clubs, associations, and posts in Victorious. An example of this are the Recrelympic Clubs, like Yuichi "Monty" Yamamoto, who became Field Marshal of their Sensha-Dō, which coincidentally hold the degree of the **Fellow of the Baronetcy**.

### The MI6

> *"The Secret Information Service - Royal Baron's Intelligence Service - also known as the MI6. Our Spies work secretly around Japan to ensure the safety of Royal Baron's classified information as well to make them prosperous in times of Recrelympic matches." - SIS.rb.jp*
>
>

The **Secret Information Service** (SIS), commonly known as MI6, is the Recrelympics Intelligence Service of the Royal Baron, tasked to operate covert over-vessel collection and analysis via a myriad of means in support of the RB's dominance in Recrelympic Matches. Formerly the Service was called the **Security and Surveillance Bureau** (SSB), tasked mainly for Public Monitoring within their School-Carrier until the Safety Services, also known as the MI5, took their place as RB's official Public Monitoring Club along their School Security forces, the Borough Police.

### The MI5

> *"MI5's objective is to keep the school and carrier safe. For more than many years we worked to protect our fellow students and inhabitants from danger whether it be from terrorism, acts of public disorder, and/or fake news and information." - MI5.rb.jp*
>
>

The **Safety Security**, mostly known by its nickname, the MI5, is Royal Baron's domestic surveillance and counter-intelligence service, they also act as the Public Monitors in the school. It is the domestic equivalent of the MI6, and a partner of Royal Baron's Security Forces, the Borough Police.

Members of the MI5 are peacekeepers and public monitors that advocates peace throughout Albion through many means to instill discipline to their fellow schoolmates. They are often recognized by their black peaked caps for the boys, and black bowler heads for the girls during their patrolling duties.

And numbers from MI6 and MI5 are based from their building's number within the campus club complex. Both MI6 and MI5 are part of the Department of Minister's Intelligence (DMI), the Logistical Surveillance and Analysis Gathering Club of the School. The MI6 means Minister's Intelligence: Building 6, while MI5 means Minister's Intelligence: Building 5.

## Recrelympics

The Academy is famously known for its Recrelympics team. Its members are well known throughout Japan as the best of the best, their inventory are more or less similar to the schools in the UK in terms of their Recrelympic capabilities. And since the school often makes its dock in the UK, they get their frequent chances for a stable flow of receiving goods and supplies from British Industries there.

Their principal Recrelympics Team is called the "Baronetcy Army", this army is composed of the armored "Royal Black Sensha-dō Regiment", the infantry "Kelly Green Rifles", the pilots of the "Sandy Spinach Flyers", and the seafaring "Baron's Navy Blue".

### Infantry-Craft

The Infantry-Craft of Royal Baron Academy is called the Kelly Green Rifles, nicknamed the "Grasshoppers" due to their distinct green battledresses that is reminiscence of the uniforms that the members of the 95th Rifle Brigade used.

Parallel to this is the Royal Commandos, RB's own special forces in Infantry-Craft. This unit is prominently known for their use of the Denison smock, the 2nd pattern in particular, as well as the iconic red berets. Commandos are well known for their guerilla and shock tactics, mostly the members of this unit were given the freedom to customized their uniforms, and picked their load-up as some were seen wearing kilts, and some are carrying bows, claymore, and even a bagpipe and umbrella in matches.

### Panzerkraft

The Royal Black Sensha-dō Regiment (RSR) is RB's only armored Panzerkraft's team, specifically this team is made for Sensha-dō matches, as members of this armored club is mostly comprises of a "50/50 and 60/40" configuration in tanks, the basic requirement for amalgamating both gender in Sensha-dō matches in Japan.

Members of the RSR are all mandated to wear black overalls that accompanied with matching color beret and belt. The Tank Commanders of this regiment are all required to also use walking sticks that are made from ash plant for ceremonies and battlefield uses.

### Aerial-Aces

The Sandy Spinach Flyers is RB's main Aeronautical club in the Academy. Primarily uses WW2 era aircrafts, their air fleet is ranked third among all the 16 Co-ed schools in Japan that participated during the 63rd National Tournament, only behind Red Square and Yankee High.

Pilots wear their blue/khaki battle dress jackets and trousers. They are also required to wear their inflatable vests with a parachute on its back as compulsory to safety regulations from the ACJ (Aces' Board of Japan). Though not mandatory, they can wear their Irvin Flying Jackets that were made specifically for them to use, though their flying helmets and their leather gloves are always in used.

### Aquatic-Warfare

The Baron's Navy Blue is one of the few major Nautical clubs that both the General Courses and the Nautical Courses can offer to its students. They're mainly assigned to duties that relates with Ship-to-Ship Logistical Supply, and of course, their first mission, simulated naval skirmishes.

Sailors wear their cotton navy blue battle dresses, complete with a cap. But they're also allowed to wear their Nautical's Sailor Suits, provided if they're students of the Nautical Courses that is.

## Known Members

The list below are all the known members that affiliated themselves with the Academy.

### Yuichi Yamamoto

A 3rd year student and current Field Marshal of RB's RSR. Yuichi is a member of the Freebarons and attained the degree of Fellow of the Baronetcy, and an honorary member of St. Gloriana's Tea Garden. Yuichi also known by moniker/Panzer Ace nickname, "Montgomery" or "Monty" for short.

### Mary Watson

A 2nd year student and right-hand man of Yuichi. She's a fellow Puzzler member of the Puzzling Club and a bearer of the degree of the Fellow of the Baronetcy. She is seen to command her Cromwell callsign "Amelia".

## Trivia

* Even their motto, the RSR also copied it. They also have their (country) theme songs as well, and these are:
	1. *My Boy Willie*
	2. *RTR (Royal Tank Regiment) Slow March*