Concordant Academy of Command
Cadets! Welcome back to Gold Arrow Station! It is good to see so many familiar faces, and better yet, to witness your commitment to the Concordance. The next 12 weeks will be the most challenging of your lives. But on this anvil, you will be forged into the leaders that the Concordance for Survival needs!
I recognize some of you from when you were Pit-Meat. I'm shocked some of you survived long enough to make it here today! Years ago, they tried to send me through War College. I wasn't dumb enough to say yes! Now, when you're done, I'll have to salute you! Until then, you still answer to me!
The Concordant Academy of Command of the Concordance for Survival is a training program for veterans who have served in one of the branches of the Kirinal Defenders. They are required to complete the course to become an officer in any of the armies surrounding the Kirinal Pit.
The academy's purpose is clear: to instill in its cadets that the mission to contain the Kirinal Pit takes precedence over all worldly concerns or political conflicts. The survival of Erathia, and countless other worlds across the multiverse, depends on their ability to set aside personal ambition, national loyalties, and political squabbles.
Orientation Day
Every decision you make can affect the fate of entire planes of reality. As officers, you must rise above the chaos of battle and the distractions of diplomacy.
You must embrace one truth:
The Pit must be contained.
These 12 weeks at Gold Arrow Training Facility will turn you into true leaders. Or they will break you.
I will test your physical endurance. Instructor will measure your strategic thinking. Both of us will measure your mental toughness and capacity to lead.
I’ve been at the Station since I was fresh Pit Meat. My warband, the HHH, runs the checkpoint on the trains and skyships that come down the Gold Arrow River.
I’m in one of the so-called “Unity Squads” where they put in a soldier from each of the Cantons. I’ve been around long enough to know we’re just as likely to kill each other as we are to become a team.
Either way’s fine by me. Ain’t nothin can stand up to my chainguns!
In the Pit We Are Forged, For the Future We Stand.
Meet Upsilon Squad
Quote: "Save your pity for those who stand against me."
Voted: Most likely to succeed
Sgt. Gunuk the Warped
Artillerist, Winter's Horde
Quote: "It was either officer school or dishonorable discharge. Guess which one I chose?"
Voted: Most athletic
Skygirl Pepita Buenconsejo
Marine, Kirinal Garrison
Quote: I love the dead, that's why I make more of them.
Voted: Biggest prankster
Necrokid the Nightling
Apprentice, Magister's Command
Quote: This school is just a rung on the ladder to my birthright.
Voted: Best hair
Lady Lilith Jakel
Red Sorceress, Legions of Light
Quote: I feel sorry for the things that happened to Mealworm. That isn't me. I'm Reborn.
Voted: Most caring
Squire Mealworm Reborn
Silver Squire, Eldritch Army
Quote: If I want the best weapons, I have to go to this school.
Voted: Most ambitious
Cpl. La Maleros
Hammer, Hex Crystal Battalion
Quote: Of course, I wear heels, every inch counts honey!
Voted: Best dressed
Sir Guimar Steel
Paladin, Tridenser Host
Quote: I aim to do right by House Lapin and my Momma Bunny.
Voted: Best eyes
Lt. Little Moon
Jr. Owsla, Thayan Armada
Training Begins
The first thing we do is place you into squads mixed together for maximum success. Some will be "unity squads", made up of representatives of each of the Eight Cantons of the Kirinal Concordance Zone.
Squad placement isn't just important here at CAC. It's life or death.
If one member fails, the entire squad washes out of the Academy. Welcome to the Academy.
Squads are given a name according to an archaic alphabet: Alpha, Beta, etc.
The Upsilon "Unity" Squads are rumored to be made up of either the most promising or most dangerous cadets entering that class.
I'll tell you right now. It's not a rumor. It's true.
Sir Sammael
Training Instructor
I loved the obstacle courses, and the illusionary foes in the training room were awesome! But afterwards, they put us in history class: the Catastrophes, Concordant History, the Bad Shatters...
I nearly fell asleep. History? Please. That happened ages ago. It doesn't apply to me.
They stripped me of my magisterial garb, but I retain my Dark Banner and Bone Mask. That is my right. Wearing these mortal garments is a price I am willing to pay for the power I seek.
They begin our trials with a maze and obstacle course. I am not allowed to use my undead minions. They force me to exercise this physical form, this prison of flesh that I am trapped in. My wit and will handily solve the maze. My corporeal form is humbled by the course.
Building Bonds
To become an officer, I knew I would eventually have to mix with the hoi polloi.
Finishing school did not exactly prepare me for the reality of living with a talking rabbit, an axe-wielding turtle, and an orc in a wheelchair.
Nevertheless, a Jekel perseveres. I rub shoulders with the pirate girl and the awful little necromancer. As always, I put on a good show.
The next few weeks are spent on squad and patrol exercises. You will each be given command of your squad and will lead them through various exercises.
And this is where the fun stuff starts! You'll be learning how to call in artillery strikes from the skyships and the big guns! We have a Finder coming to teach you multiversal navigation!
You will be learning the rules of warfare across different planes from an expert in negotiation and the Blood War.
You get to cross-train each other in the methods and weaponry of your own military. I can't wait to see Necrokid try to pick up a bastard sword!
Hello and welcome to my little class on etiquette and interdimensional conflict! I am Titivilus, your friendly neighborhood Ambassador of Hell. I'd love to talk to you afterwards about your ambitions and whatever it is your little hearts desire!
Real Leadership
Congratulations cadets on making it to the halfway point of the Academy. In the upcoming weeks you will join the Kirinal Divers as they survey the day's Manifest
I know some of you don't leave your own Cantons that much. We're going to change that.
You will travel through the Kirinal Wastes to shoot at Wasteland Bats and visit the Anomalous Forest to hunt Shatter-Kith. You will walk the length of the Pit Wall and ride the entirety of the Inner and Outer Rings.
Tour of Lost Worlds
Greetings cadets, I am Concordant Beacon Finder Numan! I am here to complete your training on multiversal navigation.
We will travel by portal, through dimensional doorways, and down the branches of the Yggdrasill. Along the way, I'll be taking you on a "Tour of Lost Worlds".
We'll visit an assortment of realities that have suffered a variety of apocalypses. You will find out how those civilizations's failed firsthand. Learn the lessons so that our own will survive and thrive!
As a Tridenser Knight, I've served with plenty of soulforged, but I've never met one as sassy as Finder Numan! I started that tour as my normal flirty self, but I soon learned that the trip was all work and no play.
We ventured into realms swallowed by shadow. Worlds decimated by the Blood War. Survivors of a zombie apocalypse clung to us as their last hope.
The radiation of dead stars rained on our magical fields. For the first time, I really understood what we fight for.
The Final Challenge
You have entered the final weeks of CAC! We will be preparing you for your final exam.
Your squad will be stranded on a random plane in the multiverse. To pass, you must return to Gold Arrow Station by the end of the week.
If you don't return, we'll send a Finder to retrieve you. If you're still alive, you'll be permitted to repeat CAC in a year's time.
And yes, we've had Total Party Kills.
The Cracked Mirror
The artifact that sends the squads to a random plane is called the Cracked Mirror. It sits in the CAC headquarters protected by powerful abjurations. Some that look deeply into the mirror can see alternate lives that they could have lived.
I am a Tridenser Knight from another land.
I am an orc warrior, born with a broken body.
I am a tortoise soldier who escaped the mad emperor.
I am a rabbit from the Shattered Moon.
I am a priveledged noble born overwhelmed by duty.
I am a maimed necromancer who hides behind cruelty.
I am a goblin reborn.
The mirror shows me what I could have been.
I see worlds where I lived the life of my squadmates and they lived mine. I get it.
Commissioning Day
Cadets, you survived the trials. You have proven yourselves worthy to be Kirinal Defender officers, true maharlikans.
However, your real trials begin now. Each of you will be choosing which branch you will serve in. Choose wisely!
I've never seen a sorrier or luckier lot of ne'er-do-wells in all my years as a soldier.
I couldn't be prouder of each and every one of you!
Celebrate your Commissioning Day, you've earned it. Just don't get too cocky!
When the hangovers wear off, I'll see you on the Wall.
Tonight, you will receive your officer's jacket and cap. You may dine with your friends and family.
Once you've stuffed yourselves, head over to the Silver Gate District and tell them Sarge sent you. First round's on me!
Make sure you have some balut for me and if you wake up with some new tattoos and in the wrong bed, that just means you did it right!
Since my return, I've been searching for who I really am. Mealworm haunted my dreams. But maybe... my new life can begin now.
Love how this is coming along so far. I really enjoy that some of it is coming from the mouths of the Instructor of Recruits and Sgt. Kill Flayer themselves. The squad are comprised of some fun characters too.
Explore Etrea
Thank you for taking a look at the first draft! I've got my first round of edits/layout changes in there now and I'm continuing to work on it!
Take a look at my Institutions of Learning challenge article.
Learn about the World of Wizard's Peak and check out my award winning article about the Ghost Boy of Kirinal!