• Starlight Academy

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For questions about the setting.

What's the school schedule like?

Starlight Academy runs year round, using the following schedule:

September 1st: New school year begins, Term 1
September 25th - October 8th: Start of Term Break
November 19th: First quarter ends
December 11th - January 3rd: Winter Break
February 18th: Second quarter ends, end of first term
March 12th-25th: March Break
May 20th: Third quarter ends
May 21st-31st: Spring Break
August 18th: Fourth quarter ends, end of second term, school year ends
August 19th-31st: Summer Break

ALT: When is summer break? When does the school year start?

What is provided to students?

Living on Campus

Students who arrive on the island without any parents, legal guardians, or who are otherwise unable to live by themselves will be assumed to live in the dorms barring any unusual circumstances. For students under the age of 18, they will be assigned a dorm parent. Dorm parents are members of the academy staff whose job is to keep an eye on the students and make sure their needs are being met. More information on the dorm parents can be found here. For legal purposes, the Academy itself and the dorm parent are considered an underaged student's legal guardian.

The Dorms

The dorms are coed, meaning all genders can be found within the same building. Students are only separated by age. Primary school students, secondary school students and college students will be grouped together. Remedial students are placed with those of a similar emotional age. Most dorm rooms contain two bedrooms with a shared living space, meaning most students will be sharing with one roommate, however configurations for up to six students in one dorm exist.

Students that are grouped together under one dorm parent will generally be grouped together, taking up a wing of a dorm. This wing will most commonly have a shared living space, containing basic furniture, a small kitchen, and any personalized effects the dorm parent may choose to include. The dorms themselves already contain furniture, a private bathroom, and a fridge for the high school and up students.

There are also private dorm rooms, for students who wish to live alone, that are available on request. However, these are only given out for students with specific requirements and are generally allowed on a case by case basis.

What does the Academy provide

Until their education is complete, students are able to live in the dorms for free. The Academy will provide uniforms, toiletries and food from the cafeteria for free while they reside here. Students also have access to non-magical medical care and free counselling whenever it is needed.

In order to accommodate students academically, they will be provided with all necessary books and stationery, as well as a basic laptop and flip phone to stay up to date. This phone can be replaced by a smartphone, should the student foot some of the bill.

The academy will also provide students with a small allowance every week. Note that this is a small allowance, students might be able to use it to purchase some food in the city, but it won't be paying for the latest video games unless they've been saving for a while. This money is stored on the student's ID card, which can function as a credit card when making purchases.

The academy has also made arrangements with multiple businesses within Manta Carlos to provide students with in-store credit, so that they may purchase a few items like clothes or other basic amenities.

Why is the forbidden forest "forbidden?"

Entry to the forest is not illegal, but is against the rules for academy students. The forest gets its name from the ENTRY IS FORBIDDEN signs around the forest. This portion of the forest has a high amount of dangerous creatures located within, and trails into and out of the forest come and go seemingly at random.

Where are the islands located?

The Manta Carlos Islands are located in the mid northwestern hemisphere, in the pacific ocean. They are not located near any other islands, which (along with magic) allows its location to remain mostly a secret.

What time does the new school year start?

The school year starts in September, but school runs year around. The school is very drop-in friendly, because there are always new people coming in at odd times. It's not unusual at all for a new student to come into classes at any point in the year.

You can find the full schedule here.

ALT: Do we get summer break?

What language is everyone speaking?

The common tongue of the Manta Carlos Islands is English, which is spoken by the majority of the residents, although it is not the first language of the majority. The school's classrooms are enchanted with a mutual intelligibility charm, allowing everyone to speak and be understood clearly. Language classes have the option of using a modified version of the charm, which can be disabled as necessary.

However, this is not the language everyone speaks - many characters do not fully understand English, and speak in their own native tongues. Personal language charms exist, and may be provided by the government or bought with personal funds as needed.

While your character can speak any language you'd like, we are an English language roleplay board, so please keep the roleplay itself in English. You can indicate what language a character is speaking out of character, without actually writing out their speech in another language. If you include non-English dialog, you need to include a translation somewhere in the post.

What is Manta Carlos?

The setting for Starlight Academy are the Manta Carlos Islands, which is the home of both Manta Carlos the city, and Starlight Academy (which is the main academic institution).

ALT: What are the islands called?

What events would my character know about?

Playing a native of the island (or even someone who's been there for a few years) can be hard. To help players out, the wiki has a list of recent events for you to check against.

What disciplinary measures are taken for misbehaving students?

The wiki has a page on student expectations and the consequences for breaking those rules. You can find it here.

ALT: What would warrant a suspension? Can my character be expelled? What punishments are there for students?

What classes can teachers teach?

Pretty much anything. Starlight Academy is a hugely varied school that has everything from kindergarten to college classes. You can have organic chemistry and a history of magic class side by side without issue.

What are the ages for each grade?

Grades are based on the american system. The Student Class Listing includes a list of all grades, who is in them, and the normal age of someone in that grade/level.

ALT: What age should my student be? What grading system does it follow? What school system does the site follow?

Is there a list of all classes?

No. The majority of classes happen 'off screen'. It's safe to say that all the standard class types get covered, while more specific ones may or may not. There's no master list of what courses are available.

Information on Students

The students category encompasses all characters studying at Starlight Academy, from preschool up to post-grad. This also includes part time students and scouts in training. It does not include adults taking cultural classes, students at other schools, or police academy attendees.

Being a student takes priority over other categories. Someone with a job who is a student goes in the student user group.

Starlight Academy follows the American K-12 Grading System. If you’re unsure what grade to put your character in, check this page on our wiki. We allow wiggle room (don't stress about when they were born) when it comes to the grade a character is placed in. We also do not automatically advance characters grades, in case a player would prefer them to stay static. If you want your character to advance, please make sure to update your student's grade each September in the designated thread.

Starlight Academy has a preschool and daycare, and most young children would be students rather than citizens.

Adult characters who have the equivalent of a full education might take cultural classes, but would not be considered students.

Characters who have incomplete, nonexistent, or otherwise spotty educations would be placed in the remedial program, which allows students to catch up to the grade they should be placed in (or letting them graduate with a diploma through the remedial program). Remedial program takes the place of the characters grade, and has specialized classes.

Characters who cannot advance (due to intellectual disability, a lack of aging, or otherwise) would be placed in the special needs program.

College and graduate student should make sure to have a major listed (or 'undecided').

Information on Staff

Staff members are characters that help run the school. This isn’t restricted solely to teachers. Gardeners, scouts, security, counselors, janitors, school doctors, and other such positions are part of the school staff. Virtually any position in the school (even Department Heads) except for Headmistress is up for grabs.

A character can take classes or have a job outside of the school while still being staff. A staff character taking some classes is not considered a student. However, a full time student can get a job at the school, although they'd be classed as a student first and foremost.

For example, a teacher could take classes outside their own area of expertise for academic curiosity, but could not get a degree for doing so. They would be considered staff. Similarly, a student could work as a teacher's assistant, but they'd be considered a student.

Staff in Starlight Academy are closely monitored and expected to be professional. Not to say your staff member can’t do bad things, but if they do, there’ll be repercussions if what they did is ever released to public knowledge.

If there isn’t a specific staff member on the list, always assume there are NPCs taking on their work. Starlight Academy is never short on staff.

Information on Citizens and Businesses

Citizens are characters that aren’t Staff or Students, meaning they’re outside Starlight Academy altogether. Characters may arrive on Manta Carlos having already completed their schooling, although depending on the culture the character is from they may be required to take seminars on normal behavior on the island, it's customs, and control of their abilities. While Manta Carlos has excellent welfare, citizens would not be able to live comfortably on welfare alone, so they are recommended to take on jobs.

Manta Carlos has a huge and diverse community, and almost every job you could imagine is represented. From fantastical jobs like potion-makers, to completely mundane things like fast food workers, everything is on the table. Most public services jobs require mandatory schooling first. Those at the hospital need to be certified MDs and those in law enforcement need to have two years of Police Academy. Players are allowed to have characters in political positions, though Minister is the highest they’re allowed to be.

Making businesses is, in fact, encouraged in Manta Carlos! When making a business, comment on this thread with the appropriate form and post them in the Businesses and Organizations forum. We generally don’t need to accept the businesses, so go ahead and post them in there. If we find a problem with your particular business, we will let you know. As a general rule, public services like law enforcement pages should only be handled by mods, but everything private is fair game. Also, don’t assume that your business is the only or biggest service in Manta Carlos, though you’re free to assume popularity. You do not need to play the character that is the CEO or owner of a given business. As long as you have at least one character involved in the business, that's enough.

"Crime" is a category on the Business and Public Services list for larger, more organized groups. This covers gangs, mercenaries, fences, etc. Most criminals and criminal business are usually located at the Underground or the Strip posing as legal businesses. Overt crime is very much not allowed in Manta Carlos, and if your business would be too obvious to characters, a member of the staff might contact you about IC consequences.

How many floors are there at the school?

Starlight Academy is a magical academy, and it seems to grow on it's own at times. Some people swear a certain building was two floors before, but as far as others can remember, it's always been three. It's a sprawling campus with a large amount of buildings, comparable to a large college campus.

ALT: How many buildings are there? How big is the school?
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