Five Corners HS

Introduction

Five Corners High School is an elite, private high school located in a small town of the same name, within the nation of Charal, one of the Hundred Kingdoms of the Scavenger Lands. Run by the headmaster Crane Stalks Among the Reeds, it accepts only the best and brightest, and teaches a broad curriculum, consisting of a set of comprehensive core classes and, later, more advanced classes in any area one might wish to pursue. In order to enter, one must take its difficult qualification exams and pass; some, however (very often foreigners), receive invitations to attend. If one is lucky enough to receive such an invitation, but unable to pay the tuition, very often issues of tuition are waved under the rug. As a result of its reputation and the elite education one receives in there, there's high competition for spots each year, and the student body is often quite varied; one is as likely to find a young student from Gethamane as a student born and bred in Five Corners, or an outcaste Lookshy Dragon-Blooded next to a young patrician raised in the Realm. As long as you qualify, and you do not raise trouble, you're welcome—Anathema or no.

What is not known in public, however, is its actual purpose: a place to gather young Exalts, Solars, Lunars, and Dragon-Blooded alike, and train them to be ready for whatever may face them in the years ahead. Patroned in secret by the Gold Faction and the Seneschals of the Sun Kings alike, it is the third Cult of the Illuminated training camp, the founder of which held that the best way to dam the natural hubris of Solars was to remind them that they, too, lived in the world, and that cooperation and community were of great importance. Finding Lunars who agreed, the school was created as a place for Exalts and mortals alike to grow familiar with each other and accustomed to thinking of each other as part of their community and their responsibility. The Sidereals working with Five Corners HS keep a careful eye on the patterns of the stars and swoop down to collect the newly-Exalted before the Bronze Faction or the Wyld Hunt gets them; the lazy, bureaucratic mess of the Wyld Hunt these days means that they succeed more often than not, although sometimes the sister schools of Kether Rock or Sequestered Tabernacle will get there first.

The town of Five Corners, although aware that the high school around the corner is full of powerful beings, tends to tolerate them and keep them secret so long as they don't raise hell or rain down destruction; indeed, many of them are Cultists themselves, and the Cult's presence is somewhat less underground than it is in most other towns of similar size. Admittedly, some others are not Cultists /because/ of the school's presence — it can be difficult to believe the promised saviors of Creation are these striplings. The fact that the curriculum emphasizes working for and bettering the community hasn't hurt, however. The patron spirit of Five Corners, Sichala, is a supporter of the Gold Faction, especially as the presence of the school has swelled the size of the once-sleepy village. Charad's proximity to the tolerant and spirit-infested metropolis of Great Forks probably helps in this — the city is just a three-hour drive or cloud ride away from Five Corners. It's a popular vacation spot for the tight-on-budget, and many of the seniors (the first graduating class of Five Corners) are planning on attending the university there.

History

Coming eventually.

Campus

Layout

Part of the reason that Five Corners does not go to great effort to conceal the fact that they hold Anathema at their school is that the school is a very powerful Manse. It is actually invisible; one cannot see the campus until one actually steps inside the gates that mark the perimeter of the Manse, and one cannot blunder onto it unless one knows it is there. Attempts to locate anything inside it magically automatically fail unless their Essence is greater than 4, and even if it is, the difficulty is at twice the Manse's rating. All Exalted students are allowed to attune to the Manse.

Because of its secrecy, though, and the fact that the faculty would like to keep its students safe from Exalt-level hazards, anyone going out has to check out at the gate, take an ID tagged to them specifically, and check in similarly. There's no particular restrictions on when or how many times, though, although getting out during classes or after curfew might take a bit of extra work.

The campus itself is placed on a large hill, with five buildings linked by corridors and open-air halls, grouped in a vaguely hexagonal shape around a central plaza that holds a fountain and several tall trees. The main, central building holds the offices of the faculty and staff, the auditorium, the cafeteria, and the hall of worship, and stands five floors; a tower pierces the center of it, soaring up at least ten or twenty stories tall, topped by a many-rayed golden disc. No one's yet found a way into the tower, or at least none of the students have and said anything about it.

The other four buildings stand at three stories. The northeast wing holds many of the studios, and their associated classrooms for the humanities and arts. The southeast building has the gym, the pool, and P.E. training areas, including an impressive training room with shifting targets and programmable threats. Further to the east are the all-in-one track/football/soccer/sparring field and the small tennis courts. The southwest wing has the library, which takes up several floors, the library archives, and the computer labs. The northwest building contains the sciences and maths, and the magical summoning room, heavily-soundproofed and secured. To the west of the main campus is an open grassy field, with the parking lot a little to the south of that, where faculty and those students who have licenses and parking permits may park. Behind the entire school is a lake, which glows gold in the dark, though it looks perfectly clear during the day. Most water taken from it retains that property up to five days; a glass of it is bright enough to act as a night light, while a fishbowl-sized amount can probably be used to read by.

Outside of the central campus, there's largely grassy fields and forest; the school's land covers over 1000 acres, with the Manse (and thus the walled portion) spreading over the hills at the center. Wire fences surround the rest of the land; from the outside, the portion the Manse takes up just looks like a scrubby hill, abandoned as potentially unsafe to build on. A corner of the outside land is devoted to a large house, said to be the summer home of a wealthy eccentric; the rest of it is left to grow wild.

Being a Manse of such powerful properties, it has a number of quirks, although at first glance it appears quite peaceful — almost prosaic, really. For one, the buildings are old. Very old. The style of architecture, the fluid precision of line and flourishes of stonework, all speak of a style at least a thousand years old or more — yet despite that, the stones are smooth, unworn by time and weather, white and almost glassy-slick to the touch, and absolutely impervious to any kind of attack. No ivy dares touch its walls; what little there is is coaxed by trellises and other structures for the ivy to grow on. High arched windows with large sheets of glass feature in almost every single room; invariably, the top floor of every building features a skylight, usually above the largest room on that floor, or in the atrium, if there is one, all supported by intricate silver scroll-work. The doors, too, are glass, thin and frosted to prevent peeking in; they slide open as one approaches. The only thing is, no mechanism can be seen — there's no apparent sensor bar or light as with modern sliding-glass doors, no tracks for the door to move on, not even a sound of machinery and hardly any sound of moving glass as it does. Lights are pervading, automatic with the entry of a person into the room, and sourceless — as far as anyone can tell, it looks just like the room is in a clear day outside, but with no sun apparent. Tapping a plate set outside of every room allows one to keep the lights off when entering, however; tapping it twice allows one to set the lighting to full-moon level.

Then there is the way that it keeps itself clean. The walls are immaculate. So is the floor, and the desks, and all the equipment, and the drapes, and the furniture… any marks made simply vanish without fanfare, and without ever really being observed in the act of vanishing. Violent physical damage still has an effect (couches and desks have had to be replaced, and there was the time when the bleachers were destroyed, although the walls of the buildings themselves are never dented or even scratched), but dirt, debris, and litter are Not Allowed, apparently. Leaves in autumn fall just enough to be picturesque, but disappear before they pile up into a nuisance; snow falls, but vanishes before encrusting into grubby piles of ice or slush.

The gym is almost ridiculous. While it has the appearance of simply a normal gym with several basketball hoops spaced around its perimeter for playing, those in the more advanced P.E. classes mention times of special training, when the teachers activate some kind of mechanism. Then the hoops fold up and away, and the mechanical dummies and contraptions come out to play, with all sorts of whizzing blades and obstacles to make class more exciting. A few students have come out with twisted ankles and masses of bruises, though nothing more serious yet has happened.

The library is another point of concern. It seems to hold depths far larger than its dimensions would suggest; legends tell of students gone camping among the stacks for days, eventually running out of food and water and forced to survive on each other until even the last one starves. … slightly morbid legends. No one's (yet) found bones amongst the rows and rows of bookshelves. Still, it remains indisputable that sometimes one turns a corner and finds only more books where one could have sworn a window was, and the voices from the main library seem muffled and distant… but all who say such things have eventually emerged safely. Some are beginning to say that quality is creeping into the computer labs, too… And no one goes into the archives below the library alone, except for the librarian.

Beyond all that, there are whispers of hidden passages weaving throughout the school's corridors, and strange things happening if the wrong (or right) word or action is done in the wrong (or right) place. If such passages or functions do actually exist, though, the people who know are keeping it tight to themselves. One may, however, occasionally run across the odd student making strange gestures or babbling random words in a corner.

Overall, the campus is quite large, and it's surprisingly easy to lose one's way in it. It looks as though the place was originally built to hold thousands of students, perhaps more, rather than just the paltry two hundred or so that now occupy the place; as a result, sometimes it can feel like the students are just peas rattling around in a very large tin, and many of the classrooms are closed off and never used.

Dorm Life

By reason of its international students, Five Corners HS also offers dorms for student residence, although those who have houses in Five Corners may also live there. Floors are segregated by sex, but are otherwise relatively permissive. There are two dorms, flanking the main road that leads from the main campus and placed just inside the gates that mark the boundary of the Manse, one for the underclassmen, one for the upperclassmen. Both are five floors, each split into halves, with wide windows and a high, domed skylight in the central atrium that separates the halves; residents are housed according to class year, and move each year to the next class dorm. Floors are segregated by gender. (Those who shift gender, or claim none, are asked to just choose one and stick with it while they still live in dormitory housing.)

Each class dorm has a housemaster, one of the staff, who lives on the first floor and generally deals with whatever issues come up, while enforcing the rules and regulations. All dorm-residing students are required to be inside their respective dorms by 10, but there is no lights-out time or requirement to be in one's room; so long as one stays quiet and doesn't disturb the others, they don't care if you stay up all night watching TV in the lounge. Nightly rounds are made at 10 by the housemistress to ensure that everyone is where they're supposed to be. Visitors are allowed, but must sign in at the front desk, and no parties.

Room-wise, two people share a room (unless one forks over extra cash to get a single), and are connected to another room through a bathroom that they both share. Each double room comes equipped with two beds, two desks with chairs, two dressers, two closets or wardrobes, and a plain rug. The furniture can be arranged according to taste, and the very picky (and very wealthy) can substitute with their own furnishings. Outside, a plaque on the door itself offers the room number, and the occupants of the room are usually named on a small sign to the side of the door. All rooms open onto the main hallway, and there is a small shared lounge on each floor, aside from the central atrium. Each building also has a kitchen for the use of the residents on the first floor, but meals are generally served in the cafeteria on the campus proper: breakfast at 7, lunch at 12, dinner at 6. Attendance is not required, though staff tries to remain aware of people who constantly skip. The kitchens are mainly for occasional snacking or for special diets.

Full ethernet and wireless are offered throughout the campus, and there are several computer clusters in the southwest wing available for the students' use.

Like much of the rest of campus, the dorms are far larger than the current student population actually requires. As a result, many of the upper floors are unused, with most students consolidated on the first and second floors.

Rules

There are fairly typical age limits on driving and drinking; one can get their license at 16, buy porn (and vote in local elections) at 18, drink at 20, and so on—although that certainly hasn't stopped many people before. Official policy of the school is that no alcohol and dirty materials are allowed on campus, and any found will be confiscated.

Five Corners does not employ janitors or miscellaneous staff; the school keeps itself clean, but students are expected to keep things neat and tidy, both in the public areas and in their dorms and rooms. Those who don't tend to find the things they left lying around mysteriously vanishing.

Cheating and plagiarism are strictly forbidden — technically speaking. Realistically, no one checks, so long as you're not stupid about it — and as long as you don't start glowing during tests. Typically, if you end up enhancing your own abilities, that's not considered cheating; piggybacking off someone else's abilities, however, is. Anyone who gets caught violating that rule is sentenced to a week's worth of detention (lasting for an hour after school) and gets a mark on their record. More than three marks, and suspension results. More than five, and expulsion is the usual answer. Most of the time, people get smart enough to either not do it, or not get caught.

Fights are also not allowed in school.

Well, correction: fights are not allowed in school if they disrupt classes.

Otherwise, things are fair game — so long as things stop at first blood and take place between Exalts or between mortals. (Because really, an Exalt versus a mortal is much like kicking a puppy. Easy to do, and only satisfying if you're particularly mean.) If any one of these conditions are not met, the participants are given at the least detention, if not necessarily a mark; if the Exalt-mortal combat rule is broken, the Exalt suffers the same penalties as cheating off of others. If all the conditions are met, teachers are just as likely to stop by and unofficially grade the fight as they are to shake their heads. And yes, weapons are allowed to be carried around on campus and during class. Drawing them during class, however, is grounds for a single detention, perhaps more depending on the circumstances.

To exit the school, everyone has to check out at the gate, take an ID tagged to them, and return with the ID. If one has no ID, getting back in either requires one very smooth trick or the escort of a staff member. Beyond that, there's no especial restrictions on leaving campus, although the usual rules of classes and curfews apply. People have left during mealtimes, though, over weekends, and stayed out overnight with preapproval from their dorm master without difficulty.

Anima flares are unavoidable, but they discourage it above a high level (11+ motes peripheral). If something of the sort must be done, it's supposed to happen inside, where walls and ceilings and few windows would hide it from outside scrutiny. There's a reason the sorcery and training rooms are thick-walled structures.

Uniform

Five Corners requires a uniform during school hours, which consists of a black skirt or black slacks with two yellow stripes around the bottom, black closed-toed shoes, white or black socks, a white button-down shirt, a diagonally-striped tie in black, yellow, and white, and either a navy sweater or a black blazer for when it gets colder. The blazer should have two yellow bands around the cuffs and one running along the collar of the blazer. The exact cut and material of any of those is left up to the wearer, so long as they otherwise fit the requirements. For those who don't have the appropriate clothes, or don't want to bother modifying what they have, they offer the uniform in various sizes in the school store. They don't actually care whether girls wear skirts and boys wear slacks, or vice versa; gender-changing has been frequent enough that it's not worth the bother.

An example of a (sloppily-worn) female version of the uniform can be found here.

Daily Schedule

7:00 to 7:30 a.m.: Breakfast (they stop serving after 7:30, but anyone can remain)
8 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Classes
12 p.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Lunch
1 p.m. to 3 p.m.: Classes
3 p.m. to 6 p.m.: Free time; extracurriculars and extra courses happen in this timeframe.
6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.: Dinner
6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m: Free time; some of the more hardcore courses can take place during this time, too.
10:00 p.m. to Curfew

Obviously, things are a little more lax for those who don't live in the dormitories, and classes don't apply on the weekends.

Academics

Five Corners HS is a relatively small school, and has a student population of perhaps 200+ — a little more than fifty per year, made up of mixed Exalts and mortals.

Of course, there are some classes that are Exalt-only. Sorcery, for example, or those that teach the supernatural forms of martial arts. The teaching of such magical classes is aided by the fact that the high school is in fact a level 4 Manse. There is some effort made to keep classes mixed, however, so if it is not a class focused solely on a subject that requires greater Essence to even participate in, it will have both Exalts and mortals. Charms tend to be taught on a case-by-case basis, by those who are capable of teaching them.

Most of the teachers are Exalted of one stripe or another, or heroic mortals at the least. There are perhaps fifteen Dragon-Blooded, seven Solars (including the headmaster), five Lunars (all those who do not find civilization as onerous a thing as their peers, and feel that this kind of unity is the best way to tear down the Realm and shake up matters), four mortals acclaimed for their accomplishments, a Sidereal, a Dragon King, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Riverspeak is the language spoken in Five Corners, and the language of common teaching; however, some classes are conducted in other languages, and there are classes in the languages themselves, as well. Those classes that deal with the occult or sorcery tend to be taught in Old Realm, especially the more advanced ones, where often some concepts are difficult or impossible to express in Riverspeak.

The typical student takes 6 courses, which last a little less than an hour and meet five days a week. Those a little more ambitious can take another optional course. Essence-users are required to take at least 7, as they have another course that mortals don't. Well, it's not specifically a course, but more of a mentoring group that meets twice a week for an hour during the 3 - 6 p.m. slot; they tend to teach the finer points of Essence-wielding and basic Charm usage. Further Charm development is assigned to a teacher or an upperclassman with similar interests who acts as a mentor.

There is a core complement of classes for each year that everyone must take. Teachers generally have their own rooms, or share classrooms with other teachers of the same subjects, and students move between the classes.

Freshman Schedule

The teachers for the PCs are listed in parentheses; typically, for the core classes, there's another teacher who teaches the subject at the same time, so that 50+ students aren't crowded into one room.

Electives:

  • Programming
  • Military Strategy
  • Business/Economics
  • Statistics
  • Foreign language (offered: Skytongue, Forest-tongue, Flametongue, Seatongue, High Realm, Low Realm, Old Realm, Dragon King)
  • Band
  • Orchestra
  • Chorus
  • Drama
  • Art
  • Shop
  • Home Economics

They also place a much heavier emphasis on physical education than most high schools; there's only a few institutions that outdo them in that area, and those are generally military high schools. PE is a required course for all four years, encompassing both general fitness and martial instruction, and instructors are available for nearly every style or weapon. Military strategy and tactics, however, is optional.

Extracurriculars

There's a strong extracurricular presence in the school, despite its size; many of the students participate in at least one. Size varies from tiny interest groups to large, multi-officered clubs.

Some of the extracurriculars offered:

Teams, where applicable, are unsegregated, and generally require tryouts. For club roster and general reputation, see each club's page.

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