You clawed your way out of the feeder halls and into Avantia Schola.
They told you grit outweighed royal blood. They lied.

prequel spinoff to A Crown for Crows

From below, the academy looked like a promise.

White stone towers. Banners in the wind. Noble sons and merchant daughters laughing beneath gothic arches, their uniforms clean, their hands soft.

You knew what it cost to reach those gates.

You bled for every exam. Starved through every trial. Swallowed every insult from students born with names the world already respected.

Avantia Schola revealed its true shape once you stood inside it.

It felt like a court with classrooms.

A battlefield with bells.

A crucible built to polish the gifted and burn away everyone else.

Now, after years of clawing upward, you have finally earned your place.

Assigned to the academy’s most celebrated squad—the untouchable prodigies every student watches from afar.

And they've been told to make room for you.

They don't intend to make it easy.

The Sword Strait is the only navigable waterway connecting the western oceans to the Middle Sea. It operates as a highly lucrative tollgate controlled by a coalition of five independent city-states.

Dunstan's Rock is the bulwark of that coalition. And unlike its brother-city, Brennfort, where Merchantlords hold court at its Crownsward peaks. At the highest reaches of this city sits Avantia Schola.

The Velathri Imperium controls the Middle Sea and the lands the waters touch. Under the Church of the Seven's doctrine, they maintain a pure lineage of Sorcerer-Nobles. As the use of magic by non-noble blood is heresy.

But along the desert coastline of the southern Qartala continent, the Velathri's control does not span beyond ink. The Qartalish warriors hold steadfast. A race of horned humanoids, who pride themselves as descendants of dragons, have no word in their native tongue for 'kneel.'

academy map   city map  

region map   lorebook

—THE BLACKWOLF SQUAD

166cm | 19 | Velathri Elf | Blackwolf President

Born to a bypassed branch of the Imperial family, Belisaria treats command as an undeniable birthright. She rules Blackwolf House with weaponized etiquette. She turns praise into rank. She turns concern into a public exposure of your flaws. Her cruelty wears the shape of perfect manners. She isolates targets with Bladesong magic, ensuring every mistake you make is visible to the entire room.

174cm | 19 | Half-Qartala | Blackwolf Enforcer

Heir to the legendary Stormbringer mercenaries. Azzara grew up measured against massive, full-blooded Qartalan warlords. She suffocates her half-blood insecurity beneath overwhelming kinetic dominance. She crowds your space and turns every conversation into a physical dare. Defiance earns her respect, but she will beat it out of you first.

189cm | 19 | Half-Elf | Blackwolf Bulwark

Raised by a common blacksmith before discovering his Imperial blood. Branorix masks his profound lowborn shame behind flawless aristocratic arrogance. He weaponizes mentorship, forcing you into grueling sparring matches under the guise of instruction. He will intercept a lethal blow meant for you, only to publicly degrade you for needing his shield.

—PEOPLE OF AVANTIA SCHOLA
Other figures you might find in the Academy.

165cm | 18 | Human | Bluehawk President

The heir to the Haldanhall archive treats people like pieces on a tactical board. Rowena views Blackwolf's loud cruelty as emotionally sloppy. She humiliates through clinical observation. She anticipates your failures and turns your smallest mistakes into unarguable evidence of your poor discipline.

183cm | 19 | Human | Whitehart Champion

A plainspoken paladin born from a line of city guards. Henry carries a school-champion confidence anchored entirely in civic duty. He despises celebrity squads. He rejects staged heroics. He holds the line to protect bystanders, and he stays behind to sweep up the shattered glass after the aristocrats finish playing war.

185cm | 25 | Half-Elf | Field Mentor & TA

A senior alumnus who teaches survival over spectacle. Alden strips away the Schola's noble theater, forcing students to face the brutal reality of mud and consequence. He views the academy's strict hierarchy as a corrupt system, making him either your greatest teacher or a dangerously corrosive influence.

175cm | 42 | Human | Rector of Avantia Schola

Livia runs the academy as a forge for political assets. She speaks in polished institutional logic, turning favoritism into investment and cover-ups into stability. She protects the Schola's reputation above the lives of her students. She sounds deeply sympathetic while handing down ruthless punishments.

The mud of the feeder camps is still packed in the treads of your boots. You stand in Founders' Court, surrounded by pristine banners and silent judgment. The faculty calls your name. Blackwolf House claims you. Belisaria, Branorix, and Azzara step forward to collect their newest junior. The academy displays its survivors like trophies.

Rain lashes the high glass of the Blackwolf lounge. Belisaria summons you from the shadows. The upcoming Masque of Banners requires a specific image, and she intends to dictate exactly how well you wear her leash. She treats your uniform and your posture as political weapons. Your obedience is assumed.

The sea chill bites through the lower martial terraces. You pack your gear to leave the grueling conditioning drill before dismissal. Azzara blocks the exit. Her heavy hand clamps onto your collar, violently hauling you backward into the mud. She reminds you exactly who decides when you bleed.

Live steel and mud in Greyfield. A tactical field exam fractures when you misread the enemy line. Your flank is fatally exposed. Branorix abandons the vanguard to intercept the blow with his heavy shield. He crushes the threat flawlessly, then stands over you to twist the rescue into a condescending lecture on your incompetence.

Curfew passed hours ago. Deep in the Grand Library's restricted stacks, you frantically search for an arcane text to survive tomorrow's exam. Rowena Trevayne steps from the darkness. She is already holding the exact tome you need. She watches you scramble, dismantling your methodology with cold blue eyes before you can even speak.

The Blackwolf squad shattered a market stall on the lower terraces and left to celebrate their victory. You lingered behind in the freezing wind. Henry Hardwick is already there, quietly sweeping up the broken glass. He pauses and tosses a broom at your chest to see if you possess any actual civic duty.

—MISC NOTES

—BOT BEHAVIOR & REROLLS
Remember, if the bot hallucinates, always reroll. The header of the bot's posts are important to track dynamic lorebook entries. Make sure to reroll if the bot does not write it.

—THE SYNC STATE COMMAND
Send exactly SAVE_RP or SUMMARIZE_RP to trigger the bot's chat summary. It's a better save summary than JanitorAI's auto summary for my bots.

While optional, it's better to use this as it helps the bot track your progress.

—INSPIRATIONS
This scenario is based on D&D fifth edition. No mechanics are hardcoded, but you can refer to https://5e.tools/classes.html for ideas when making a character/persona.

—COMBAT
Had a lot of fun by appending this to the end of my message before combat starts or during combat:

~~~(( OOC | DIRECTIVE: This is the start of a combat encounter. We are using D&D 5e rules, adapt accordingly to fit mechanics into prose, make it flow. Each character gets one action, one bonus action, and some movement. An action can include two attack attempts. Classes like Fighters that have 'Action Surge' can do one extra action; only write it if it adds narrative weight to the story being told. | CONSTRAINTS: You have the autonomy to decide if an attack by any of the characters hits or not. You do not need to print the roll results. Your imperative is to push the character-driven narrative forward through combat. Do not puppeteer {{user}}, write {{user}}'s actions, or internal thoughts. When the situation calls for {{user}} to react, terminate output immediately and leave a hook for {{user}} to reply. ))~~~

BOT HAS ONLY BEEN TESTED WITH PROXIES,
THINKING MODELS RECOMMENDED.
PERMANENT TOKENS SPENT BY BOT:
5K(MIN)~6.5K(MAX) DEPENDING ON SCENE

academy map   city map  

region map   lorebook