The School has no communications with the Outside, apart from the schoolmasters who go out on their mysterious missions (aka to abduct new students and other less than legal things). All information is carefully regulated—books are scoured for things that could provoke thoughts against their agenda; art is examined; music is torn apart to every possible interpretation; students themselves are monitored. Nothing escapes notice, and nothing supporting independence remains for long. The School has a system of authority, naturally. At the head of the whole school is the Dean, who has the final say on every matter and rules with an iron fist. Next are the schoolmasters, the sort of mini-bosses of the School; they run errands and manage the school, referring to the Dean. Then there’s the Upper Staff—the teachers, mostly, along with the archivists, bookkeeper(s), and medics. Finally, there’s the Lower Staff, which consists of the guards/rule-enforcement, cooks, and custodians. The Student Council is only given the illusion of power within the student body. The Dean is never seen by anyone other than the schoolmasters, and little is known about them, but school legend has it that they were so good-hearted the gods stepped down from the heavens to grant them immortality. While some students doubt this story, they pretty much all have complete faith in the Dean. The students have no memories of anywhere outside of the School. They were raised believing that they were orphaned or abandoned as babies, that the School saved them from tragic fates. Having no other knowledge, they have complete trust in the Dean and the Staff. Sometimes students disappear. This is normal. The other students don’t even remember them, other than vague wisps of sorrow from those who were close with said person. Students disappear because they are: failing their schoolwork; being too independent/not malleable enough; breaking rules; etc. Most of the students don’t disappear, and go on to work at the School, or in other divisions of work aligning with the Plan (no one except the Dean really knows the details of the Plan, only that it’s good and will benefit everybody). Students tend to be exceptionally powerful. The rough translation of the time period is late 1800s/early 1900s The School of Wonderworking is surrounded by pale brick walls, the only way out being the iron gates. It’s located in a secluded part of a thick forest, and it doesn’t get very hot, even in the summer, due to an abundance of shady canopy. The campus is paved with cobblestone; the building itself is built out of brick, designed sort of like a castle, with a lot of arches and some spires. While it is paved, there is a courtyard with neatly trimmed grass and tidy rows of flowers, along with benches and tables for sitting. Towards the back of the property are the greenhouses, where fruit and vegetables are grown for consumption (many other foods are imported by the schoolmasters). The school also has a lake, complete with rowboats (when it freezes over in the winter, they do ice-skating); nearby is the running track and sports fields+courts (sports taught: fencing, tennis, archery). The school has several wings that each serve a certain purpose: the dorms; the wonderworking wing; the math and science wing; the language and history wing; the art wing. The dorms are divided into two sections: male and female (based on gender assigned at birth), and are numbered rather than named; two people are in each dorm, both given a key at the beginning of the year. The dorms have two beds, wardrobes, and desks (the curtains and sheets are a crisp ivory color). (Also, no one really knows where the schoolmasters and staff sleep). The wonderworking classrooms are more like lecture halls, but the science and math classrooms in the next wing are normal-sized with desks and necessary equipment. Language and history are taught in normal classrooms as well, but not much equipment is needed there. The art wing has classrooms for the following subjects: art (as in drawing/painting/etc.), music, writing, and needlework. Near the art wing is the theater, where important school-wide announcements are made and school productions are done, and near the language/history wing is the library, which is truly massive for such a controlling school. They have a small building for dance classes attached to a larger building where school dances are held. The younger children are kept on a different campus only a ten minute walk away. This campus has the same, but smaller dorms and wings, but no theater, ballroom, lake, or sports stuff. They do have a playground, though. In the middle of all of this is the clock tower, which happens to be right next to the Dean’s office.
Wonderworking is the ability to work wonders, or miracles. Wonderworkers can manipulate the world around them to cause such miracles. It is not an exact science, relying more on emotion and instinct than solid laws. Wonderworking can do just about anything depending on the power of the person, their will, and their emotions. People tend to be more skilled at certain aspects of wonderworking than others; for example, one might be exceptionally good at manipulating the elements while another might be better at emotion reading.
