Welcome, and congratulations on being accepted into the class of 1453 at Estermere Military Academy. For the past 326 years, Estermere has been the leading training ground for the soldiers and officers in the continent of Lorholt. Each year we take around 500 hopeful students and turn them into perfect weapons capable of bringing victory on the battlefield.
For those candidates who show a higher level of battlefield intellect, we also run a dedicated officers academy accepting upto 50 students per year. Due to the prestigious reputation of the academy and limited spaces, competition for these places is high. Those accepted onto the course should revel in the honour that they have been chosen to partake in this amazing programme such as yourself.
- Excerpt from Estermere Acceptance Letter.
Founded in the year 1126 by Lord Rothello, Estermere was originally both a school of war and faith. This was perfectly normal at the time given the crusades that were going on during this particularly poignant time in history. After 1131 when the crusades finally ended, it was decided that the faith part of the academy should be dropped so that there was more focus on more military academia. Since that time, the academy has slowly expanded, accepting more students each year and increasing the amount of training and services it offers.
Estermere is located deep inside the mountain range of Lockemont. The academy owns the mountain range and technically does not come under any sovereign control, giving the academy a neutral status between the many nation states of Lorholt. The academy features a fully functioning fortress equipped with all the amenities a normal academy would provide. There really is no safer place to study in all of Lorholt!
Of course maintaining a prestigious academy such as this is an expensive undertaking. The research and development budget alone rivals that of small nations. In order to keep the academy in the black the academy operates a mercenary division. The division uses both students and graduate soldiers in its ranks as we feel it helps build up good battlefield experience.
Each year the school accepts roughly 50 students to enroll in its officer training program. The students on the program are taught the more finer points of warfare instead of just how to swing a sword, fire musket or use a spell. Students are tutored on many subjects, from history, battlefield tactics, advanced weapon training and much more.
The officers course runs for 3 years aptly named the Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced years. There is no official starting age for the programme but there is a minimum age of 16 and a maximum age of 20. Those who are over the age of twenty have other chances to gain their officer credentials
Officer course students live in a separate area of the academy instead of the barracks like the rest of the academy students. They also get their own rooms as compared to sharing dorm space. There are currently 4 methods to get into the academy:
Noble Birth
The academy reserves a portion of the available seats each year to those of noble birth. Normally the sons and daughters of Loholts nation state rulers attend. However other influential nobles can also send their own children, provided they have permission from the realms ruler.
Buying In
For those families that have more money than sense, It is possible to have your son or daughter attend the academy if you are willing to make a sizeable ‘donation’ to the academy running costs. Nobles who aren’t high enough the establishment to get in through noble birth, tend to do this. Wealthy merchants and politicians tend to send their children this way to help increase their families status.
Scholarship
Happen to be really clever? Are you willing to arrange your own travel to the academy to take a test? Then perhaps you can qualify for one of the few scholarships that Estermere Academy offers. Every year there is always at least one fool who has more money and sense and believes that donating money to a school to help poor kids makes them a good person. Scholarship students however tend to be the brightest in the class, and the most hardworking. They just have two fatal flaws: being born poor and being unable to read well.
Promoted Officers
Similarly to scholarship students, Students in the standard academy soldier programme that show enough promise or heroism in the odd case can be offered a promotion to the officers programme. The academy fronts the bill for the education, so it expects the graduee to stay on after graduating to help recoup those costs.
The world of Estermere Academy is a unique one. It blends together magic, fantasy and a slice of modern. The age of gunpowder in coming in and fashion is now a thing. The clothes people wear, are for all intents and purposes similar to our own modern wear. Just rather than being made by large machines, they are all made by hand… slowly. Books exist, and so does the printing press but literacy amongst the general population is not high.
Lorholt is full of magical creatures and monsters as well as your regular cut and dry humans. Goblins are Orcs are the main problems, but the more remote parts of Lorholt contain some rather special surprises. There are not other races though, so no elves or dwarves etc. just good old humans.
Geographically the continent of Lorholt has around 20 nation states, none of them particularly large. The landscape is mainly temperate, however the climate does get colder in the north and snow is more prevalent. The south can get slightly tropical in parts, but only in small patches, away from the coast. There are no canon nations as of yet, so feel free to come up with your names etc.
Thank you for taking time to read this far. I hope to have you onboard soon enough. However as with most RPs, there are a few rules I need to go over.
- Information in this post is liable to change at any time. I might add, or revise information as people join or I get one of those moments of ‘inspiration’. If I do make changes I will endeavour to let you all know.
- Writers must be able to show some level of competency. The writing requirements are two paragraphs per post, more is optional. Players must be able to demonstrate that they are able to commit to an RP. If players are new to the site, they simply need to demonstrate a high quality character sheet. This may sound harsh, but too many RPs have died because people were not willing to commit.
- Post frequency is Fortnightly. If everyone posts, then of course we can start earlier. I operate on a three strike system. On the third missed post, you are out of the RP. Of course if your first missed post and your last missed post are wildly apart from one another, then I will allow you to stay. Kicking people out is a last resort. I want us all to have fun.
- The above rule does not apply if you communicate with me and let me know you are struggling. It could be hectic life, lack of muse. I care not for the reason, just the fact you have communicated. If you communicate it means I can help you in whatever way I can. Afterall, I want to see this RP blossom.
- It goes without saying that whatever I say is final. I am not a dictatorial and am always willing to discuss things, but if I have to put my foot down I will. The same is true to any Co-GMs assuming anyone is interested.
COMING SOON TM - Feel free to reserve Face claims or colours etc. Faceclaims have to be real people. I.E No anime.Selena Gomez is mine though. So back off!
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