Sinegard Academy

Sinegard Academy is a prestigious military academy and one of the leading academies in Nikan.

General Information
Sinegard Academy is located in Sinegard, the capital of Nikan, built into the Wudang Mountain's side. It was founded by the Red Emperor. It is nationally famous and the school's likeness is painted on wall scrolls throughout the Nikara Empire.

Description
The Academy's campus is built into the mountainside of the Wudang range. It was built on the grounds of an old monastery, the temples and praying grounds converted into classroom after the Red Emperor united and founded the Nikara Empire.

There are seven tiers, each with a complex of pagodas, buildings, and training grounds. A winding stone pathway cuts into the mountain, leading up the tiers. A shrine topped with a stone dragon—the symbol of the Red Emperor—is on the highest tier, with a waterfall beside it. A brook cuts down the mountainside and separates the campus into two.

New students reside on the lowest tier, while masters' quarters are higher up. The campus holds a library and a mess hall. The main hall or assembly hall is on the third tier and is a converted temple.

First year martial arts training is held in the second-tier courtyard.

The Lore Master's garden, where Rin trains and meets her teacher, is on the fifth tier. Plants and mushrooms used for various drugs are planted there.

The Fighting Rings
In the basement of the main training hall contains two circular pits dug deep into the ground, each at least three meters in diameter and two meters deep. They are ringed with waist-high metal bars to keep audience from falling in, with rope ladders for fighters to climb down. The matches are technically about the demonstration of new techniques by apprentices; accordingly, Masters must consent for their apprentices to participate. However, they mostly become a fight club, with a reigning champion. When Rin began at the Academy, this was Altan Trengsin. Upon Altan's graduation, Yin Nezha took over.

Admission
"We do not train soldiers here. We train generals. We train the people who hold the future of the Empire in their hands."

- Master Jima Lain, Chapter 2, The Poppy War

Admission into the Sinegard Academy is highly selective, and only students who gain Keju scores at the top of their respective provinces are eligible. Most students who get into the Academy are from rich families or offspring of Province Warlords. It is implied to be funded by the imperial government, as tuition at the Academy is free. Students who get into the academy move there for the five year duration of their education.

The admission rates of female students are appallingly low; it is mentioned that the admission of three female students in Rin's year is considered a record high in the Academy. Each first year class is fifty students in total.

Drugs are strictly banned at the Academy, and drug use or possession is grounds for expulsion.

Sinegard Academy gives students a four-day vacation at the end of the starting term, for the Summer Festival. Most students go home for the break, but are allowed to stay back at the Academy if they choose.

Courses
"Five men and one woman, all wearing dark brown robes, followed her inside. They formed a row behind her at the front of the room and stood with hands folded into their sleeves. [...] The masters were a solemn crowd, each more imposing than the last. None of them smiled. Each wore a belt of a different color—red, blue, purple, green, and orange."

- Chapter 2, The Poppy War

Training at Sinegard Academy covers seven courses. Students are trained in all the subjects (except Lore) in their first year, at the end of which they face an assessment. These final assessments are known as The Trials.


 * Combat is taught by Master Jun. It is favored by students who want to assume command positions in the Nikara Imperial Militia.
 * Yin Nezha and Sring Venka pledge Combat. Combat apprentices wear a red armband.


 * Strategy is taught by Master Irjah. It is favored by students who want to assume command positions in the Nikara Imperial Militia. It is particularly suitable for those who want to join Rat Province's Army Intelligence. It is considered the most difficult course.
 * Chen Kitay and Altan Trengsin pledge Strategy. Strategy apprentices wear a green armband.


 * History is taught by Master Yim.


 * Weaponry is taught by Master Sonnen, the youngest Master.


 * Linguistics is taught by the grand master of the Academy and commander of the Sinegardian Reserve Forces, Master Jima. Jima Lain only chooses apprentices who have noble bloodlines and are destined to become court diplomats.


 * Medicine is taught by Master Enro. Master Enro is the only other female teacher at the Academy. This field is only pursued by students who want to become military physicians. Students who do not want to study Medicine are exempted from this exam during the Trials.
 * Niang pledges Medicine. Medicine apprentices wear an orange armband.


 * Lore is taught by Jiang Ziya. He rarely takes on apprentices and never turns up to teach classes. He generally does not teach first years unless a student catches his interest.

Fang Runin is the only student to pledge Lore in several years. Since it has been so long since a student pledges Lore, the assigned armband colour is forgotten. Rin wears a white armband.

Course Schedule
Classes begin half an hour after first bell, which is at sunrise. Breakfast is only served within that half hour. Morning classes consist of Combat, Medicine, History and Strategy. Second bell is at noontime, signaling lunch. Lore, Linguistics and Weaponry is after lunch.

In the second year, morning classes are dedicated to non-pledged masters. Strategy, Linguistics, Combat and Weaponry is taught by the same masters; History with Master Yim is replaced with Foreign Relations. Apprentices who did not pledge Medicine still have to study a mandatory emergency triage class with Enro. The latter half of the day is left for apprentices to study with their pledged Masters.

The Trials
The end-of-year Trials are final examinations at the end of the first year. They are administered and observed by the entire faculty. Depending on the student's performance, they receive bids from the masters who want to take them on as apprentices. Students who do not receive bids are asked to leave. The first-year retention rate is usually eighty percent; for example, in Rin's year, only 35 students out of 50 received bids. Altan Trengsin is the only student to receive seven bids. Bids from Master Jun and Master Irjah are highly coveted as they are ideal for future command positions.

The Trials are made up of an oral examination for each course, except for Medicine for those not intending to pledge Medicine and Lore for obvious reasons, and a Combat Tournament.

For the oral exams, the students are quizzed in front of a panel of all seven masters. They take turns interrogating the student and one mistake ends the session for that subject. The more questions answered, the longer the student can go and demonstrate their knowledge.

The Tournament is a two-day competition that is conducted in the fighting rings. The first years duel using the same rules that apprentices use for their matches. They compete in three preliminary rounds determined by random draws, based on win-loss ratios, eight advance to elimination rounds. These eight are placed in a randomized bracket and fight one another until the final round. Reaching the eliminations is not a guarantee of a sponsor, nor is losing early a guarantee of expulsion. But the advancement allows students to showcase their abilities and winning the Tournament is a guarantee for bids.

Known Students

 * Raban is a last-year Strategy apprentice whom Rin befriends in her first year. He dies during the Mugenese invasion of Sinegard.
 * Jeeha is a Combat apprentice.
 * Kureel is a Combat apprentice who rooms at Rin's dorm. She joins the Third Division (under Jun Loran) after graduating at the end of Rin's first year. She placed first in her year's Tournament.
 * Arda is a Medicine apprentice who rooms at Rin's dorm. She joins the Eighth Division as a junior officer after graduating at the end of Rin's first year.
 * Bo Kobin is a Combat apprentice.
 * Tobi is a Combat apprentice that gives Rin her tour when she first arrives at the Academy. He is considered Jun's favourite, of his year, and was Altan Trengsin's rival in their first year. He came second in his end-of-year Trial Tournament, defeated by Altan. He uses the inherited family art of Tiger Claws as his signature technique.