It is hard, k >.>

So How many of you are ready for your first A.M.R.O exam. =p

I am thinking being stranded in a jungle within A.M.R.O Island, no escape and the only way out is to survive a month. >=D Oh and no weapons provided and no alchemy allowed. Oh and the jungle is filled with wild beasts. Oh and A.M.R.O has also deployed rogue Asylums within the jungle to kill the students. So slay or be slay en. -Gasp for breathe-

MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

..how do you plan to make them not use Alchemy? Maeve has no problems cheating. 'Oh, this intricate bone spear? I had time on my hands.'

Well what fun would it be without the more senior Asylums around ... and we are almost complete. @Ink Blood sorry to keep you waiting for our collab. We got this!

No worries, @Ryver et Rhine.

@xodus Doesn't that sorta defeat the point of training? My impression was that a lot of emphasis was placed on using alchemy. Now you throw the idea of a no-alchemy exam. Asylums don't need wild-survival, they need fighting survival. Their missions are generally locate and neutralize, or recon. It doesn't seem to fit.

Also using rogues seems risky, as what if the rogues flee? Why would they keep rogues alive? It's easier to take them out than capture them usually, I would imagine.

Still the general idea is fun, but I'd think something like this would come earlier on in training than the final year. It'd be at least as early as midway, maybe earlier. Additionally, we have people at different levels of training here, from final year to those with several more years to go, to vets, so throwing them all out there wouldn't make much sense either.

As to how they will prevent students from using alchemy, a collar around their necks that blows up if the surge of alchemy is detected at any level? Thus effectively making cheating suicide.

As to why?

Most students of A.M.R.O by now would have a firm grasp over the essentials of alchemy (this is the final year after all). In this time the finer aspects are focused on.

Why no Alchemy?

When do we push our selves beyond what is humanly possible? In times of desperation, when we are backed against a wall and ingenuity is what matters.

Alchemy is a bane, A.M.R.O knows that and it cannot allow its Asylums to revel in it. You must be able to control it, to pacify it and the only way to learn that is if you can prove to be able to live through an impossible scenario without the use of alchemy. For Asylums every day is survival, against alchemists and insanity.

The objective is to teach them the most necessary ideology which is they are not alchemists. They must prove themselves better, rise to deny the impossible, rise above desolation and not be bent if alchemy is taken away. Else you are disposable.

The rogues A.M.R.O will utilize in this area will be in the jungle, in essence there is no escape, not to mention these rogues won't be strong enough to pose a threat. They are merely pawns to achieve the process of building the perfect soldier. Also A.M.R.O is alchemy management and restraint. For them any practitioner of alchemy outside of Asylums are rogues, however they only silence the ones that are a nuisance.

This is actually something that will come in the final year, as it is here one of the most important concept is drilled into your heads which is your own mortality, your dependence on alchemy and the other stuff I mentioned.

Various skill level is irrelevant as everyone is in the same class, yes some are younger some older but they are all in the same class. Like I described this is not an ordinary system, younger folk can be bumped into a higher class (the only difference they won't graduate instead they will repeat or get higher combat training). There are also older people who joined late. As for the instructors, some of them will be sent to keep an eye on the students and guide them in certain areas. Albeit they won't interfere. If someone is going to die, they will die.

@xodus Except they're /not/ in the same class, because classes should go by skill level generally (past the first few years, I'd think), otherwise you're not teaching effectively. Also the min age for graduating is 18. Elliot isn't that old yet, and Cam is /definitely/ not that old. Besides, a last-year test should be only for those actually /in/ their last year. If it's their last year, and they've spent several years there, and not using alchemy all the time and their mortality is such a big deal, they should be taught this much sooner, perhaps even alongside how to use their alchemy in the first place. If not, and AMRO /does/ teach it, it seems to me that they're setting the students up for failure. Important concepts are taught ASAP, generally, not last-minute. If it is taught sooner, then the test would come sooner, though perhaps without the rogue alchemists, and maybe with a basic weapon. Also not even giving a basic weapon in this situation seems rather stupid unless you've taught them hard-core survival techniques, especially with large predators and rogues.

Basically, you've been giving one impression of AMRO, though admittedly not the clearest one, and now you're reversing it considerably. I've been asking "why don't they emphasize not using alchemy for everything", and "why don't they encourage using common sense and mundane approaches". There was absolutely no indication that many teachers did.

Upon a second reading, I see the following:

When do we push our selves beyond what is humanly possible? In times of desperation, when we are backed against a wall and ingenuity is what matters.

Alchemy is a bane, A.M.R.O knows that and it cannot allow its Asylums to revel in it. You must be able to control it, to pacify it and the only way to learn that is if you can prove to be able to live through an impossible scenario without the use of alchemy. For Asylums every day is survival, against alchemists and insanity.

The objective is to teach them the most necessary ideology which is they are not alchemists. They must prove themselves better, rise to deny the impossible, rise above desolation and not be bent if alchemy is taken away. Else you are disposable.

Not breaking when alchemy is taken away should be taught early, especially if it's important and even moreso if there's an all-or-nothing test.

This isn't the sort of impossible situation they will be faced with. Yes, you need to surpass your limits, and be clever, and find better ways. ...I'm having trouble framing what I mean. Basically, either you're putting the students in a situation you expect most of them to fail at, to see how they do, but without a safety net, in which case I'd think the survival/graduation rate for AMRO is pretty low. Which I suppose could be a thing, but this would be known, and I don't think my characters would be okay with this. Even Sparks would go against a system that kills more than half the people because you have an unfair test. Or they've been appropriately trained, and this is a test of their skills, in which case most should survive and it's not a stress test at all, really. Or you put a safety net in place -- like the Kobayashi Maru in Star Trek, it's a no-win scenario, but the goal is to see how a person reacts when faced with the worst. But it's a simulation in that universe, and nobody dies.

Am I making any sense? @Ryver et Rhine, can you give me a hand if I'm not?

As to how they will prevent students from using alchemy, a collar around their necks that blows up if the surge of alchemy is detected at any level? Thus effectively making cheating suicide.

THAT'S SO COLD.

As far as age is concerned. Like I said some young students are bumped up to a higher class. Now even if Cam is younger he can study along side the graduation class. The only difference is he will not graduate with his peers, instead he will continue to train.

Students are taught alchemy's consequences early on. However this exam is considered to be one of A.M.R.O's most dangerous. You cannot place completely incapable infants in such a situation. In the final year at least the students have survival skills, hand to hand combat skills, deductive skills. By now they will be skilled in their fields of hunter, sniffer and silencer. What you need to understand is by now our students are proficient soldiers.

Also as cruel as it is, this test is designed for failure and the mortality rate is high. There is no safety net. The students are thrown to the wolves as such the weak are destroyed and the strong preserver. This is the law of A.M.R.O, they will keep the best of the best and they don't care what opinion you have, if you have one you will be staring at a bullet.

What I can tell you is, graduation will be scarring and not many will have the luxury of graduating.

Welcome to A.M.R.O, the necessary evil.

@xodus Well alright. I've talked a bit to @Ryver et Rhine, and come up with a possible solution to the problems. Sparks has kept quiet, but he's gathered at least a small network of like-minded people, with nebulous plans to protest once they have graduated.

As for skill level, any that are actually going to graduate this year probably should have taken the test at least once in the past. That way you have justification for why younger students are taking it, including some that are not actually going to graduate yet -- you may end up taking it more than once, and in fact probably will.

Sounds good.

. . .

Well, this whole shebang conjuncts with how Ethan and Ilana view AMRO, so I'm happy that turned out well.

I should probably post and wrap up their little mini-chapter, as well as modify when it happened and just leave it vague. This jungle exam sounds like it'll take days...

@Rumplestiltskin *bounces on* MORE ETHAN AND ILANA? YESPLEASE.

-Cricket chirp-

<.< >.>

Lol we better not kill any innocent bugs. I hope the collab finishes by Sunday. I need to get started with my part. ~.~

@Ryver et Rhine NVM I found it. >.<

Bet Maeve will enjoy some private tutoring. :p

Shhh

So how is everyone's posts coming along. =p

@xodus Don't ask. This week sucks.