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The Imperial Academy at Serebursk. The name spoke to a proud history and tradition. It was not the first institution of higher learning established in Novmir, but it was the first in the United Empire. It had been established in the last half of the 19th century as part of the new and meticulously planned city of Serebursk, a new capital for a new state forged in the fires of civil war. The designers' decision to wedge the place between King Martin’s Prospect, named for the first king, and Emperor Clement’s Prospect, named for the first emperor, spoke to their hopes for the future prestige of the school and simultaneously met them in a self-fulfilling prophecy of geography.
The third side of the triangular grounds, meanwhile, was closed in by the sluggish and deep waters of the Osetrovaya, which wound its lazy way through the center of the capital. Tradition held that it was good luck to walk the river’s banks at the start of a term. So it was of great convenience for the superstitious among the incoming students that the rotunda in which the matriculation ceremony was being held was located on that side of the campus. The magnificent paneled and gilded inteior was a welcome reprieve from the baking heat of the late summer sun for the prospective graduates and attending faculty, clad as they were in the stuffy academic dress required by the occasion. Unfortunately, it did nothing to spare them the ceremony itself.
The Academy was fully aware of the promises of pomp and circumstance it name made, and had dutifully kept them for the past century. What might have been a matter of filing paperwork at a more practical school was in Serebursk drawn out into a lavish ceremony. First there had been an opening prayer from the school’s chaplain, followed by a series of formulaic speeches from professors, outstanding members of the community and a duke on loan from the Imperial Assembly. The third part was without contest the most tedious, as the students to be were one by one called to the stage and formally inducted. This particular section of the ceremony had grown steadily more and more impractical as each class grew in size, but to turn against tradition was unthinkable.
By the time the chaplain reappeared to conclude the ceremonies most the students were squirming in their seat, counting off the seconds in their heads until it was finally over and they'd be free once more. An appreciable portion of the professors from the Academy’s numerous faculties seemed to share the sentiment. When the chaplain finished and the provost stepped up to conclude the ceremony, the assembled’s reaction was as much a vast collective sigh as it was applause. There was an clattering uproar as hundreds of newly inducted students began chattering again and got up from their seats. Without delay, the herd moved as swiftly as possible from the chamber to begin the term.