The Academie de L’Espoir, elsewise known as Prince Francois’ University for Young Girls, is one of two major preparatory academies located in the Western European nation of Saone. Despite being in a relatively small nation it is regarded as one of the finest centers of learning for young women in the entire world. Established by the youngest son of the then King of Saone, Francois Baudelaire, in 1627, L’Espoir began as a simple institution to distract Prince Francois following the realization that he was never going to be his father's successor. His commitment to L’Espoir was only reinforced by his wife, Sylvia, who saw it as an opportunity to leave a legacy of their own without the daunting responsibility of a monarch hanging over their shoulders. By the end of Francois and Sylvia’s lifetime they would see the building blocks of the academy slowly be put into motion.

In the present day, L’Espoir prides itself on its past and present achievements. Recently (in 1912), the school has been opened up to the common folk, should they be able to afford the costs or give sufficient cause for the administration to host their children. This has caused minor controversy as L’Espoir has often prided itself on only allowing the finest and best youths to apply to their institution, though the Headmaster of the Academy assures that any concerns have been taken into consideration. Still, L’Espoir cannot protect such students against the affluent influence in the student body as long as no physical harm comes to their person. Some general things to note about the school’s current incarnation and administrative focus is the following:

• The university offers secondary education to women ages twelve to twenty-two. That is ten years available to the student body.

• Outside of general education and courtesy courses the university offers students the ability to master a talent of their choosing. Student communes often create cliques to focus study. Some talents of note that are available include art, dueling, music theory, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, literature & grammar, and moral philosophy.

• The Headmaster is elected directly by the Count of Coccinelle, and the staff of the school tend to be made up of the finest minds in the world. Guards are typically former Saoneian military, though in the past the parents of affluent students have also coerced the academy into accepting their personal retinues to serve amongst the school’s vanguard.

• The university’s gates is fifteen minutes from the Coccinelle train station and thirty minutes from the local village, Coccinelle-et-Premier.

Princess Nadalena Kofenstein

15

4ᵀᴴ

Espenovan Commonwealth

Nadalena is on the short end of height equivalent to her ethnic background and gender at five foot even. Her skin is light, possibly paler than others due to the mountainous environment of Espenova and her preference for indoor tutelage but she has been one to go outside so it isn’t simply a complexion born of a recluse. She has irises born of burgundy and her long blue-black hair gives her the impression of a girl of trueborn espenovan descent. In addition to her physical appearance she tends to gravitate towards practicality in her dress thus wears simple yet still elegant gowns of dark colors such as ebony, charcoal, burgundy, mahogany, midnight blue, and ash. These are generally accent by simple silver accessories (sometimes with jewelry enhanced with sapphires or emeralds) such as tiaras, bracelets, lockets, amulets, and rings.

Nadalena Kofenstein was born in Ružovec, the largest city in the western demense of the Espenovan Commonwealth as the eldest child of an aging monarch.

Nadalena was always a quiet child with few friends and companions; she didn’t care to interact much and instead preferred reading books of various scholars ranging from subject to subject; generally espenovan in origin. These generally gave her a perspective of her cultural and historical heritage that she found fascinating, especially those that were beliefs written about the warring kingdoms era where espenovan were not only at the throats of those in the south, but their brothers and sisters with petty kingdoms plotting to discredit, manipulate, control, and conquer their kinsmen because they felt they could not be trusted; a paranoia that seems to have been injected in the espenovan since their creation. But young Nadalena didn’t see it as delusional cowardice but rather overzealous cautiousness; a trait initiated out of precaution and earnest protection. She found it interesting how by the time the realm survived the warring kingdoms era there were only five espenovan great houses that succeeded: House Kofenstein, House Raksa, House Klasek, House Sárbon, and House Myrtrov; with her house being the most powerful of them all.

Her father’s tutelage about how the world would come to exist framed a lot of her theological and political views as well as made her understand that she had to know people to predict them. If she needed to be a master of shadows and murmurs to do so, she would become such. Still, courtesies and manners were not something Nadalena wasn’t educated upon; after all, she was still as much as a princess as she was an espenovan. But beneath all the smiles and fragrances there was an untrusting scowl underneath it all in truth. The words “trust no one, not even your friends” would become concrete upon her mind; especially after experiencing an attempted seizing of power by her father’s own brother when she was ten years old. This would give her the comprehension that humanity was factually changing and it was not simply cynical theories and that anybody could succumb to greed. She watched her uncle’s execution with her own eyes as her father drove his sword into his chest.

Classical Painting
Classical Piano
European Literature
Language

tbd

Maya Enilsdottir

16

4ᵀᴴ

Monarchy of Telemarin
_{A nation well known for it's iron production and logging industry, protected by vast mountainranges and deep forests. A nation also known for poverty amongst the common people, debt and loansharks controlling large parts of the cities.}

Maya is a perfect specimen of a fragile-looking, porcelain-like person. Her body hardly breaks five feet four in size, and her limbs thin and weak. Being born and raised in a cold landscape with barely any sun breaking through the dense forests has left her with a pale, almost white, skin. And result of this is that she hides from the sun, simply because her skin is extremely prone to sunburns. Aside from this, the feature that helps build on this porcelain-like feature of her is her white, snow-like hair, seemingly so fragile just touching it will cause it to break apart or melt in your palms. Her face seems to be in a constant lack of expression, no happiness or sadness or any other emotion. As if it is completely stiff, as if she's a doll. Her deep, ocean-blue eyes is said to send shivers down the backs of any unfortunate to meet her gaze, the empty, cold harsh stare both beautiful and terrifying like that of a frozen tundra. However there definitely is signs of vanity in her, given that she seems to take care of her looks. Attempting to animate her face somewhat, she tends to use makeup of slightly more living colours despite not always making it perfect.

Born to Enil Mengsson, the famous loanshark residing in the city of Skeihn, Maya's youth was one of both wealth and happiness. Maya knew little strife, little dissatisfaction as every day was a new experience. Be it a trip to the southern nations of Europa with her father, be it gifts from the common people seeking her father's affection or be it a new dish on her table. Growing up in a world where everyone considered her an equal even to the royal family, Maya's smile offered the plagued souls around her a moment of relief from their pain.

Well, that is until the revelation of what her father was. Maya was never a dumb child, but she was naive, truly naive. In her very early teens she began to understand exactly what type of work her father was doing, and the knowledge that she's living the good life and just riding whatever wave her father offered.. by sending others to the cauldrons and mines. She grew colder to her father, to her friends and to herself, she seemed to fall into a depression. And confronted with this, she figured that if she's going to accept living in luxury, she should have the title, the knowledge and the diploma stating her position. And thus, she convinced her father to send her to the Academy.

Economy
Philosophy
Classical Literature

Maya's frozen glare is well renowned around the entire school at this point, often dubbed the princess of ice given both her heritage in the cold landscape in the North, as well as the aforementioned gaze, it has been a title she's accepted. Despite her cold exterior and harsh words however, she's still one to take care of her friends. Indeed, her cold exterior is in strict opposition to her nervous mind.

Her right eye has a golden brand similar to a teardrop, barely visible unless you actually look into them