Temple school and Studies
Temple School and Studies
Organization
The year a hatchling turns 6, they are eligible to start schooling at the Warfang Temples. Their families send an application before the new year, and this is processed by the Temple's Masters who split the new children into groups, flights, of 10 to 15 hatchlings which are headed by a Master of Education, a Flight Master. This master will remain with their flight for all 18 years.
When grouping children into individual flights, clutch siblings are grouped together, and existing friend groups may be taken into account. There is a conscious effort to make each flight elementally diverse, and a loose effort to have an equal amount of males and females. No more than a third of the flight may be related, and thus cousins and other family may be divided.
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Over the years, this division has gone from economically mixed to a clear divide between low-middle class flights, upper-class flights, and clan flights, due to involvement from the latter two. Some flights consists solely of clan/rich-born dragons, whose flight masters are also clan dragons. Other flights have no clan dragons, and are taught by a clanless dragon.
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Due to clan conflicts and other perceived conflicts of interest, a flight master usually cannot be related to any of their students. Exceptions can be made if a student has unique challenges that a familiar Flight Master can help with, but favoritism can lead to a Flight Master losing their title.
History
For most of dragon history, formal education has not existed. Dragons were taught their family trade (if any) by relatives growing up, and they themselves would continue that trade and teach it to their children. This is true for dragons that lived in towns and engaged in economic trade, however, many if not most dragons simply built their own homes and hunted and foraged for food, never even touching a coin.
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Over the millennia as dragon numbers grew and grew, this natural way of living became more difficult as more land had to be purchased and taxed, and prey became scarcer. Dragons were forced into trade to earn coin for their taxed lands if they wanted to have a permanent home, others were pushed into dangerous lands.
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As towns turned into cities around the 2nd Millennium (Year 1000), economic differences slowly emerged. Some trades were more prestigious than others, and earned more coin. These richer families began to outsource teachings to dragons outside the family. Over the centuries, private tutoring became a trade of its own, and a prestigious one at that.
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Around the 3rd Millennium, the same time-frame as the introduction of the Clan system, private tutors were teaching children not only the family trade, but other subjects such as history, sciences, and magic. Most dragons remained uneducated, family- or self-taught in their trades, or just taught simple survival. To have an education was a sign of wealth. Educated dragons surrounded themselves with and hired other educated dragons. The class divide grew.
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With the growing civilization and the rising need for education, the Dragon Temples began an initiative; to make education affordable and widespread. The Temples hired private tutors to teach groups of children instead of only the children of a single family. This allowed the cost per child to lessen significantly, allowing middle-class families to educate their children as well.
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Many iterations of this system saw the light through the centuries, but eventually settled on a system similar to the present time; groups of ten to fifteen children, a flight, assigned permanently to a tutor, a Dragon Master of Education. Initially this one tutor taught all subjects for about ten years, and the students would continue specific teachings by private tutors at home.
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For a while, the students taught at the Temples were middle-class, as high-class families still hired private tutors - however, they felt scorned by this new system due to the cultural and spiritual significance of the Temples. It didn't sit right with them to have children lesser than their own be taught in such an important place. As such, most of the wealthy and the clans began to transition to having their children taught in the Temples, but this wasn't enough.
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The Council families (main four clans, at the time) and their wealthy allies gradually pushed changes into the system. Dragon Masters required more and more education, more experience. The full education cycle became years longer, with flights being taught subjects more and more by experts (other Dragon Masters) as they aged, leading to flight masters spending longer with each flight, and new Masters being on the Temple payroll. The yearly fee for a child's education doubled many times, pushing out the lower-middle class entirely.
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At present, education at the Temple Academies remains out of reach to those below center middle class, with many middle class children not completing the full education cycle, only some years as far as their family can afford.
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Yearly fees were slowly driven up and the academies found themselves used as an incentive; dragons serving in the military beyond required years could see their children educated for cheaper. Then, to further incentivize military service, soldiers with over 12 years total service who were killed in battle would have their children's education fees completely waived.
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Tuition Fees
Education at the Temples is not free, and certainly not cheap. Less than 10% of children receive any education at the Temples, and more than 5% struggle to pay the fees despite service benefits.
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The first five years costs a parent 5,000 coin every year for each child. Years 6 to 14 is 7,500 coin annually, and years 15 to 18 are 10,000 coin each year, to a total of 125,000 coin for the full cycle for a single child. The fee is 15% less for children whose parent is an active soldier/guard (beyond required 2 years service) (106,250 coin). If a child has two parents who fit this requirement, the fee is 25% less (93,750 coin). The fee is also 25% less for each parent that has died in service before their tenth year of voluntary service (93,750 or 62,500 coin). If a parent dies in service after a total 12 years in service, all their children have their schooling fees completely waived.
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It is not uncommon for families to only educate a single child if that's all they can afford. It is also not uncommon for families to try and educate their child themselves for the first 5-10 years and then apply to have their child start their education late. After the second year, this comes with a flat fee of 10,000 coin on top of the yearly fee, and the child also has to be tested to ensure they can keep up with their flightmates.
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Due to the extreme fees, a full education cycle remains a sign of high society, and the few children of those who survived wars long enough to earn a free education for their children. Other students tend to end their education prematurely, though even half of an academy education can take them far in the middle class.
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Curriculum
There are 10 studies taught at the temples;
Reading & writing, arts, element, flight, magic, battle, history, society, sciences, health.
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Reading & Writing
One of the first things hatchlings learn at the temple is to read and write. This is a skill they must have for their future studies. This subject ends after the first year.
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Arts
Art study is a subject taught from Year One to the end of Year Four, and is more for the enjoyment of young students. They're taught to paint, sculpt, sing, and dance.
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Element
Element study starts immediately as education begins. Flights are split by element and assigned to a Master of Fire/Ice/Electricity/Earth (honorary title not tied to element mastery, but rather the theoretical aspect) or sometimes a Guardian who teaches them about their element and helps them discover and control it.
These classes are a mix of grades, often Year Ones to Year Tens, and Year Elevens to Year Eighteens, give or take. The students spend a lot of time helping each other, usually older students assisting younger students.
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Students are taught the attributes and variants of all (non-dark) elements. Until they discover their own elements, they spend a lot of time watching older students practice theirs. Once discovered, they are trained to control their element. Mastery is often different for each dragon, so dragons may be further grouped based on mastery where the Discovered learn control, the Controlled learn manipulation, and Learners learn advanced manipulation and breath mastery. Most students do not reach Skilled, much less Experienced, so these high-achievers may be grouped together regardless of element.
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Element training sometimes have sparring between students of the same element mastery, but mostly practice is done with targets and enchanted dummies.
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Water dragons and wind dragons are grouped together due to their smaller numbers.
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Flight
Flight study starts at Year Three, when children's wings are large enough to at minimum allow gliding. They are taught how to maintain their balance in the air, read and take advantage of wind currents, takeoff and landing, how to optimize their flight and conserve energy. By Year Ten, most students will have mastered flying. At this point, Flight study revolves more around getting even better at flying - flying fast, taking sharp turns, flying through small, magic hoops, etc. Much of this is combined into seasonal cross-flight competitions which many students look forward to.
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Magic
Magic study, unlike Element study, starts by Year Six when most students have discovered their element and are thus capable of other magic. Like Element study, students will be divided and grouped based on their mastery, where those without magic mastery learn to cast their first spell, those with Basic mastery practice perfecting the easiest spells, and Starters learn to cast all easy spells. If any students are Intermediate, they may be taught harder magics.
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There's no sparring in Magic study, when offensive/defensive magics are taught, targets are used.
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Magic study is taught by Masters of Magic.
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Battle
Battle study revolves around teaching the student to use their natural weapons (teeth, claws, horns, tails, element, etc.) to defend themselves or others. This study does not begin before Year Five, and even then it's mainly theoretical and observing older students in spars. By Year Seven, students have supervised spars more frequently. These spars may be only between students of a single flight, or between students of two or more parallel flights (flights of the same age).
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In student-on-student spars, students should never aim to draw blood, but are not punished if this happens, only if they deliberately disregard the rule. Students may yield at any time, and are not obligated to participate in student-on-student spars, but will receive bad marks if they refuse to train using dummies and targets.
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Battle study is taught by Dragon Masters of Battle, not Flight Masters, but Flight Masters are often the only ones present in spar sessions.
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History
Students learn about history through the whole education cycle. History before Warfang, history of Warfang post-Unification, history of the Zephyr Kingdom and the Ocean Domain, and in the last few years of the education cycle, they learn the history of dark dragons. Much of the history covers the many wars that have taken place over the millennia, including ones still ongoing.
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Society
Students learn early on about the society they live in. They learn about their leaders, laws, their customs, traditions, taboos, trades, they learn about high society and how to behave around dragons of notoriety, they learn about the Ancestors, and so on.
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Sciences
Students learn about sciences early on, in a heavily simplified manner. As they age, they learn more about the complexities of each sub-study to prepare any for possible further study once their time at the school finishes. The study of the sciences is separated into multiple sub-studies; nature (biology), creatures, dragons, earth(geology), stars, numbers (mathematics), and technology.
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Health
Students are taught foraging and hunting, about what's safe and healthy to eat and how to prepare kills and food. They are also taught about medicinal herbs and roots and how to use them, as well as the known types of injuries and illnesses and what can be done to treat them. Magic healing is taught in Magic study.
*The Student sigil will be changed in a future update.
All Dragon Masters are scholars, but not all scholars are Dragon Masters. A Dragon Master is recognized by the Warfang Council as a top expert, and awarded their title as well as the authority that comes with it. To become a scholar, one must apprentice under senior scholars or Dragon Masters, and this is expensive. Some or much of these fees can be paid by the Warfang Council for dragons who serve an extended period of time in the Army or Guard, or if their choice of study is in demand. Becoming a Dragon Master is typically acquired through a one-on-one apprenticeship under an existing Dragon Master, who will forward a recommendation to the Warfang Council. However, it's not uncommon for any scholar to be recommended, if they're viewed by other scholars as a leading expert.
While Dragon Masters are often teachers at temples, teaching is optional. Many Dragon Masters are dedicated to their studies and only take a few, if any, apprentices. Some do an equal amount of studying/research and teaching. Others mostly teach. Becoming a Master of Education is popular—this specialty is uniquely intended for temple teachers. These Masters learn a little bit of everything, then condense and simplify it for children.
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Due to Flight Masters being so involved in children's lives, frequently to the point of being more present than their parents, Flight Masters often see their flights as their own children, and children see them as family. It's not uncommon for some students to introduce themselves as the children of their Flight Masters if, for whatever reason, they don't want or can't use their parents' names (such as 'Hayze, son of Master Therris'. The inclusion of 'Master' signifies the lack of a blood relation.)
When a Master's flight graduates, they start the process over with a new flight, though some may choose to take a year break or more.
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Becoming a Dragon Master of Education is competitive, and often only those who have had a complete or near-complete education of their own are chosen as apprentices by the Temples. These apprentices will spend many years aiding Flight Masters with their flights while at the same time studying to pass an assessment to determine if they're ready for their own flight. If they are under 50 they may be deemed too young to receive the responsibility of their own flight, and as such may spend a much longer time as an apprentice/assistant. Once they pass their assessment, the Temple Headmaster will send an application to the Warfang Council to have the apprentice recognized as a Dragon Master of Education, which the Council almost always approves.
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Headmasters
Each of the three Temples has a Headmaster—this is a senior Master of Education that has been appointed as the lead Master of their school. All the Flight Masters and Masters at their temples answers to their Headmaster. The Headmaster has no flights of their own, instead they are in charge of ensuring the students are protected and receive quality education. The Headmaster employs and manages (and fires, if needed) the Temple's Masters and slots new students into their flights, as well as overlooking finances, special events, and many other things.
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New Headmasters are chosen when the old retires or dies. By this point the leaving Headmaster will have a suggestion of current Dragon Masters that can succeed them, and it's up to the Council to select the successor.