The Academy

[Raven]

Summary

In a futuristic society that covers most of the globe, everything is chosen for you by a group known only as the Council. Their rules, known as the Orders, state that at six years old, every child will be placed with the family who can best take care of them. If there are more children than families, the excess go to a school known only as the Academy. In reality, most of the children sent there have a higher likelyhood of having a gene that gives them extraordinary powers. About three fourths of the student body at the Academy ends up getting a power. The Academy is also where the Council gets most of the force for their army.

Like most dictatorships, there are rebels. In this case, a group known as The Order, in order to confuse people. They have recruited Academy children (in some cases, their own birth children) to try to bring the Academy down. Because if the Council has no army, the Council has no strength.

•Main Characters: Recruited Academy students
•Major Characters: Non-recruited Academy students.
•Minor (but still necessary) Characters: Other Order members, teachers, Council members.

Of course, that is just in my idea of the focus of the story, you can still have other sub-plots that focus on the more minor characters. :3

Details

This society is referred to as a group only as the Recognized World. It encompasses most of the earth, excluding India, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and all the small islands like Hawaii and Guam. Those excluded areas are known inside the Recognized World as the Outlands.

Most children choose their names from their jobs.

Most Academy characters should be at the Coming of Age ceremony for their year.

Most Order recruits would stick together.

The Orders

Note that not all of these you need to know about, but I'm putting them here anyway. If you have any ideas regarding other Orders or alterations to the Orders, pleaase let me know!

On Aging

• At birth, each child is given a number, this is their official name, and if they are called anything else it is a nickname.

• The September after they turn 6, each child is assigned to a new family that matches their personal skills. Any child not given to an eligible family will be sent to the Academy.

• After 8, each child begins learning things gender-specific. Mostly how to deal with puberty and the changes they will go through. They also learn about sex and children.

• At 12, each child is given a specialization which will be what they will study the most and eventually get a job in. They are given a major and a minor, according to what they are best at.

• At 15, each child is permitted to choose a proper name at their Coming of Age ceremony. From this point on, children are allowed to date with the permission of their parents. Children at the Academy are permitted to date other Academy students. There are no other restrictions on dating. They may date whichever gender they like, or not date at all, if they so choose.

• At 17, everyone is assigned a job in either their Major, or if there are enough jobs for their Major, they may be assigned a teaching job, a job in their Minor, or a job in the war.

• At 18, the real work begins. People must begin saving to start their own lives. Academy students must leave as soon as they finish school after they turn 18.

• At 21, people are permitted to test to have children. From this point on, people are allowed to marry. Before this age, everyone, male or female, is unable to have children. No matter what they do with other people.

• Once married, couples may elect to take in a six-year-old. No one is required to marry. They may marry whomever they like.

Birthing

• At 21, people are allowed to submit for testing in order to birth children.

• They are then paired up to reduce the chance of diseases, and to bring out intelligence and skill.

• At this point, they are given one month to try for an infant. Males are allowed to have multiple matches at a time, females are permitted one.

• If no infant is produced, the female may submit again immediately. The male may already have other matches.

• If an infant is produced, the female must wait the designated time after the infant is born, which is unique to each woman, before she can resubmit. Males may already have other matches, and may continue to match.

• Married couples may request to have children with one another. Most of the time, they are accepted.

• No one over the age of 39 may submit.

• Once the child turns 6, if the parents try to keep it, they are killed for insubordination.

Parenting

• Once married, a couple may submit to adopt a child. They are then paired with a child that they could best care for.

• It may take up to three years for a child to match a couple. There are hardly ever cases longer than that.

• From adoption to when the child turns 18, the parents must hire personal tutors or pay for group classes.

Classes

Note that you will only be taught the basics unless this is your major or minor.

Music - Learn to read and write music, and play various instruments.
Math - Learn everything from basic addition to complicated trigonometry and onward.
Science - Learn to experiment. Physics, biology, geology.
Language - Learn to read, write, and speak various languages, firstly Latin.
Dance - Learn how to safely exercise and various dances, including the waltz, tango, and foxtrot.
Visual Art - Learn to study, examine, critique, and make various visual art forms such as painting, sculpting, and drawing.
History - Learn the history of the Earth and the Recognized World.
Culture - Learn about various ancient cultures like Egyptians, Nazis, Romans, and so forth.
Observation - Learn how to make inferences and notice details.
Agriculture - Learn what crops are edible, the conditions they grow best in, and how to plant, raise, and harvest them.
Nature - Learn about wild plants and animals and how to care for and train them.
Health - Learn how to clean and care for wounds and illnesses.
Home Economics - Learn how to prepare and clean up after meals, raise families, and use money well.
War - Learn how to fight and defend yourself.
Theatre - Learn how to act and perform various theatrical stunts, like magic, acrobatics, and comedy.
Advisory - Study the Orders and/or the religion that character practices.

Character Sheets
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Personality:[/b]
[b]Position:[/b]
[b]Power:[/b]
[b]Major:[/b]
[b]Minor:[/b]
[b]Job:[/b]
[b]Other:[/b]

Characters

Academy Students

Symphony
Arrow
Vicky
Ace
Cristel/Ruby
Trick/Encore/Cue

Order

Council

Q & A
Q: Is the Order commonly known about in the Academy?
A: NO they are not!

Q: Do I keep adding things up there ^?
A: Yes, yes I do. Because I remember things that I was going to say, but forgot about.

[Raven]

Name: 4460 (Will be) Symphony
Age: 15
Personality: Quiet, shy
Position: Academy student Order recruit
Power: Air
Major: Music (Violin, piano, vocals)
Minor: Observation
Job: As yet unknown
Other: The daughter of an Order member

Name: 4444 (Will be) Arrow
Personality: Analytical, confident, flirty
Age: 15
Position: Lone rebel Academy student
Power: None
Major: War
Minor: Nature
Job: Archer
Other: Vicky's friend

Name: 1331 (Will be) Trick/Encore (calls himself 1313)/Cue (calls herself 3113)
Age: 13
Personality: Loud, rambunctious, outgoing, a joker devious, dark, lives for the act acrobat, flirty, happy
Position: Academy student Order recruit council supporter neutral
Power: Visual illusions
Major: Theatre
Minor: Music (vocals)
Job: Unknown
Other: Symphony's younger brother, has three personalities, Trick, Encore, and Cue. All three are straight, so it's rather odd when Cue is hitting on gay guys and one of the other personalities take over

[Doom]

Name: Vicky Redrick (called 4458 before ceremony)
Age: Fifteen
Position: Non-recruited
Power: Mind control; Hypnotism
Major: Nuclear Sciences
Minor: Geology
Job: None
Other: Favors the English language, attends the Academ. She dreams of someday exploring the Outlands, even if she has been taught they're very dangerous. Also, openly despises Ace, Arrow's stalker.
Personality: Likes to pretend to be air headed and idiotic. However, she secretly hides her goals of bringing down the council and freeing the world from their tyranny. Yet, even when she isn't acting, she has an obsession with dolls. Later, she finds out why. (That part is a secret!)

[Jay]

Name: [glow=red,2,300]Ace[/glow]
Age: 15
Personality: Secretive, aggressive, snappy.
Position: Non-recruited.
Power: Super strength. Nothing much, but, she can lift A LOT, and, punch through many things.
Major: War
Minor: Visual arts (though, she likes to keep that under wraps)
Job: Soilder, close range battle.
Other: She is somewhat obsessed with Arrow, and constantly stalks him, finding information on him. If it was out of a crush, it had gone past that up to obsession for Ace. Basiclly, her life is "Beat people up, draw a bit, and STALK ARROW." Also, she carries a fold-out sort of metal staff. It's effective for causing the ground to crack/shake, and, hitting people, using jabbing attacks.

[Gifted]

Name: 1339 (Will be Cristel)
3913 (Would've been Ruby)
Age: 13
Personality: Kind of anti-social, usually gives off a sullen and hostile first impression. Extremley loyal to her friends and nice under the surface. Very serious.
Social butterfly, it would not have taken her much effort to be popular. Gives off an extremley bubbly and happy first impression, and seems like the sort of person who doesn't take life seriously. Under the act, however, she's extremley sadistic and enjos the suffering of others. Sharp wit, if she needs to.
Position: Not in the Order, but simillar ideas and ideals.
Extreme council sympathiser
Power: She has a deamon that does not settle forms, though it prefers a wolf form. She also has water powers and can read minds
Same as above, except her daemon prefers butterfly form
Major: Advisory (was Science, but was transferreed after her sister got "killed")
Was War
Minor:Language
Was Science
Job: None
Other:Ruby and Cristel share a body. All italics are Ruby in this bio Ruby builds up the stregnth to attack Cristel and attempt to take over the body about once a week, usually on Friday evenings. Kind words and encouragement from a friend helps Cristel, but attacking only makes Ruby stronger.Cristels daemon is named Yazermen, Ruby's daemon is named Colsheen.

[Doom]

Two figures stood. One man. One woman. They looked happy. I was amazed by how glorious they looked. How they seemed to beckon me forward. I reached for them.....And felt only air to grasp at. With a shriek, Vicky woke and stared into the black room. She had seen her parents more vividly in this dream than any other for as long as she could remember. "They were there. I could feel their love...." Vicky stared at the floor as she sat awake, whispering to herself. She threw off the sheets and stepped down. Normally, a little pacing around in her room remedied her despair, but now more than ever she only wanted someone to talk to. A friend. A fellow classmate. Even a teacher. No, she couldn't tell any of the teachers about this. It meant she was giving them what they wanted. The closer she was to the enemy, the stronger they became. She stopped her pacing and looked cautiously at the door. After biting her lip, unable to make a decision, she gulped hard, then opened it quietly. She looked up the darkened halls, seeing no one, then looks the other way. No one on patrol. As silent as can be, she skittered down the hall, and came upon Cristel's room. She jiggled the handle, and found it to be unlocked. She entered, and found Cristel, asleep, as should be excepted. She touched Cristel gently, and shook her rather forcefully.

[Gifted]

Cristel felt herself being shook toughly awake. For one wild second she thought it was Ruby. Then she remembered Ruby had been gone for over a year and her twin sister wouldn't have wanted her awake anyway if she could help it.
Well, no, that wasn't accurate either. Ruby's body was dead, but she was far from gone.
She rubbed her dark green eyes and looked up at Vicky. "What do you want?" she said grumpily. She wasn't the nicest person normally, and being tired put her in even more of a bad mood.

[Doom]

"I..I jus-...wanted to talk." Vicky seemed very unsure of what she was saying, but tried to spit out what she meant in the fastest way possible. "I had a nightmare, and I.....needed someone to talk it over with." She released Cristel's shoulder and backed away, barely able to see Cristel in the dark. "Unless you're busy. I understand if you're too busy to talk..."

[Gifted]

"One usually doesn't want to talk when they're sleeping," Cristel said sullenly. She sighed. "What time is it anyway?"

[Doom]

Instinctively, Vicky glanced at her wrist, but forgot that her watch had been stolen, and she didn't sleep with it on anyway. "Oh, I would guess three, maybe four A.M. If you want to go back to sleep and turn your back on a friend in need, I guess you can." She tried to sound as convincingly desperate as possible, making a real effort to open up to Cristel.

[Gifted]

"Oh don't make me sound like such a bitch, you're an idiot for expecting me to care at 4 in the morning," Cristel muttered. "And besides, it's not like I don't have my own problems"
Problems Vicky would never know. Cristel knew she'd have to tell someone at some point, but Vicky?
She sighed and tried to sound like she cared "What's up?"

[Doom]

She sat cross legged on the floor and looked up at Cristel, then cleared her throat and began, "Well, I have recurring nightmares. I've had the same dream about the same thing for as long as I can remember. Usually, I can cope with it after about five minutes of calming myself down. But, I've never told anyone about it, because, well..." She paused and stared at her palm for a moment, then said, "I was brought here because I was thought to have powers. Something about unusually powerful memory and even potential mind control. If I have these powers, however, I don't want the people of the Academy to know about them. If I try to talk about the people I keep seeing with any adult here, they'll know my powers are there, at least to some extent. So, I decided to talk with someone who may just sympathize with me. I've seen you struggle with something before, so I figured I may as fell open up to you." She sighed, and looked at the ceiling, moaning, and then a quiet yawn. "I'm sorry to wake you, but I just need someone who understands my pain. The people in my dream were...well, my parents. I miss them so much, but I can only remember what they looked like. I don't remember if they were loving, or if they hated me.....I just don't know what to do. There's so much I couldn't possibly know about them, and so much I'm scared of that they could've helped me through." She grinned weakly at Cristel, even if it was too dark to clearly see her expression.

[Gifted]

Cristel was astonished, not by the whole parent thing, but that Vicky had noticed her struggles with Ruby at all. She'd done her best to hide it, played anti-social to drive people away, she'd thought she'd covered it up.
Maybe Vicky wouldn't be a bad choice after all.

Still...

"That's a dangerous thing to be saying around here, Vicky. Even if you knew I agreed with you on the topic of the teachers, has it ever occured to you they could have spies assigned specifically to catch people like you and me? It's dangerous to disagree withn the Council on anything." She sighed. "It's one of the reasons I'm such a jerk the vast majority of the time... I've got my own secrets I'm protecting that the teachers will probably want to exploit." She bit her lip. I tottally just threw myself under the bus. Moron, quit blabbing and get to the point. "However I do see your problem... I don't know, If you want to look for them you could start looking through Academy pictures... they may have pictures of the two of them as kids, though it's a stretch. Maybe try practicing with your power in secret. With something like hat, it could be amazing what you could pull off if you excersised it." Quit talking like Ruby, you sound like a teacher! "I for one, piss off the teachers every time I can get away with it, but if they're right about what you can do I'd say you could do it far more than I can. And the stronger your power the more likley you'll remember more about them. I dunno, it's what I would do,"

[Doom]

Vicky's face brightened, and she jumped up, thrilled that someone had actually said something comforting to her. "That's excellent advice. Thank you very much, Cristel." She turned to the door, and froze. Quietly, she whispered, "Secrets are signs of trust. I've never told another human being about these nightmares. If you have a secret to hide, there's no harm in giving to those you trust...." Vicky paused, as if to say something else, then shrugged and toddled back to her room. As she entered, she flipped on the light to her desk after quietly closing the door. She took out her box of clay dolls and rifled through them, careful not to disrupt the precise filing system they were in. She found the doll of Cristel. Rather than a doll with hair, like ones she usually made to show girls, she had carved a face on opposite sides of Cristel's head. She examined the frown on Cristel's face, then the menacing grin she had drawn on Ruby's face. She giggled, and took out her carving tool. She reshaped Cristel's frown into a an innocent grin. "I knew you weren't the evil one, friend." She shut off the light and gently placed the doll back in the box, and then went back to sleep without a word.

[Jay]

Ace awoke with a groan, biting her lip and lifting her head off of her pillow. "The hell's up at this time?" She put on a robe, and some slippers, glancing out of her door, just in time to see Vicky. "Knew it was that b**** " Ace muttered under her breath, her anger rising. With a glare, she ran to Vicky's door after it closed, banging on it, not wanting to break it, and trying to be gentle, so, she only put a dent in it.