Post by Wolfe on Sept 9, 2019 20:55:13 GMT -5
Attention all Haven Academy students,
There has been a recent proposal by some elements of the faculty that has come to my attention that posited the idea that perhaps adding a bit more competition and opportunities for good natured rivalry to occur between trainees would propel you all to greater heights as your training continued. We’ve had some successes and failures over the course of the semester, and I’ve come around to seeing how creating a naturally competitive environment to some degree may be useful in molding all of you into the huntsman and huntresses that you are all capable of becoming.
I realize this missive will reach you after you are just completed with Professor Shadecloak’s grueling midterm exam, but I’m afraid I have a shakeup of my own to make clear to you. Today, of course, after your twenty-four hours in the forest are completely free and yours to do with as you please. Tomorrow, though, there will be an exhibition of sorts. The first thing that you should know about this exhibition is that your class will be split roughly down the middle.
Professor Shadecloak will take ownership of the first, while Professor Van Sange will take command of the second. There were many different options for how to distribute the students in between each class, but in the end, I decided on something that would spur in some good natured rivalry from the get go. In essence, I let both professors pick one trainee from the pack that would serve as the cornerstone for their class. Van Sange picked Aegle Verdant and Shadecloak picked Colton Deraine.
Tomorrow at 1200hrs, both of these students will be conducting a draft of the remaining members of Haven Academy. The Council has recommended the use of more technologically forward policies, and I believe this is a great way to put the renewed and upgraded internet systems to the test! Indeed, on this new digital frontier we shall hold our draft so that everyone can be updated of their status in real time.
This will be no typical and simple gym class sort of affair, however. Indeed, this will be a chance to practice strategy and resource management! Simply put, this will be an auction style draft where you will be given a limited number of points to work with. I shall briefly attempt to summarize the procedure for such an event, keeping in mind that since technology is involved everything may not go exactly according to plan.
A randomized coin toss will occur in the chatroom that this will be taking place in to determine the first pick. Whoever the first pick is will nominate one of the other trainees to be brought up on the screen, and that trainee will then be ‘bid’ on by one or both parties. By nominating a particular trainee, the team leader is also bidding on them. We currently have twenty-four fully enrolled students not counting those who are in the process of having their paperwork and test results approved, so we will have twenty-four trainees in the pool. I think an example might be best to illustrate the process.
Let us assume that Aegle Verdant is the one who wins the coin toss, and thus gets first pick. Let us further, for the sake of this scenario, say that she picked someone like Argent Steele to be the first pick. By picking Argent, she bid one of her points on him and will get him on her team for that one point if Colton does not contest by bidding two of his points. If Colton bids two of his points, then Aegle can respond by bidding three of her points and so on and so forth.
Aegle would get the first selection by winning the coin flip, and then Colton would get the next. They would alternate like this until there were no more trainees left or one side ran out of points. If, for example, Colton were to spend all of his points before the auction was over then Aegle could run through and spend the rest of hers completely uncontested. She would get as many turns in a row as she had points remaining, and Colton would automatically get whoever was left at the end.
Given that these classes will be in direct rivalry with one another in the future, that may or may not be ideal. The two classes will have separate schedules, largely run by the professor in charge. Elective times will be reduced, and homerooms will be every week from now on and mandatory for each class. This is done due to concerns about the combat readiness of the student body, frankly, and furthermore with every official class between the classes there will be something at stake.
The first of these clashes will be a small tournament of willing participants to decide who gets the honor of being part of the Exhibition Round at the Vytal Festival. While some of you may be reading that and assume it doesn’t affect you in the slightest, you would be incorrect. The mandatory homeroom classes will be in the mornings, you see, and one of the most important things in life is having a good start to every morning. It is vitally important not only for your mood but for your performance for the restof the day, so an easier start to each morning will be the prize that you will be fighting for.
The winning class will have their homeroom located as near to the dorms as possible with catering staff to serve breakfast until the next clash between classes. The losing class, however, will be exiled to Training Area Four roughly two miles from the dormitory and will have no catering. You can imagine how in the winter this walk will not be desirable, but hardship builds character and motivation to succeed! I believe this is sufficient incentive for everyone to give it their all, but if not, I would be happy to try some other prize in the future.
Oh! I almost forgot to finish the explanation about the draft, yes! Excuse me, I do get carried away sometimes.
I mentioned earlier about the points and how selecting a trainee to be put to auction worked, but I never elaborated on how many points would be available for the twenty-four trainees in the pool. You will get fifteen points for each team, meaning that there will be a fair bit of strategy involved because the number of selections that can be contested is extremely limited. One of the hardest things you will ever have to do in this institution is form a team, and that is exactly the task that stands before you tomorrow.
Both Professors were made aware of this setup and picked their class leader knowing this. An immense amount of trust has been placed upon the shoulders of these two students initially selected, and I hope that each and every trainee will lend them their help in the time remaining before the draft to lend them their insight and ideas, so they make the best decisions possible. After all, nobody wants to walk several miles in the snow at seven in the morning every day for class.
There has been a recent proposal by some elements of the faculty that has come to my attention that posited the idea that perhaps adding a bit more competition and opportunities for good natured rivalry to occur between trainees would propel you all to greater heights as your training continued. We’ve had some successes and failures over the course of the semester, and I’ve come around to seeing how creating a naturally competitive environment to some degree may be useful in molding all of you into the huntsman and huntresses that you are all capable of becoming.
I realize this missive will reach you after you are just completed with Professor Shadecloak’s grueling midterm exam, but I’m afraid I have a shakeup of my own to make clear to you. Today, of course, after your twenty-four hours in the forest are completely free and yours to do with as you please. Tomorrow, though, there will be an exhibition of sorts. The first thing that you should know about this exhibition is that your class will be split roughly down the middle.
Professor Shadecloak will take ownership of the first, while Professor Van Sange will take command of the second. There were many different options for how to distribute the students in between each class, but in the end, I decided on something that would spur in some good natured rivalry from the get go. In essence, I let both professors pick one trainee from the pack that would serve as the cornerstone for their class. Van Sange picked Aegle Verdant and Shadecloak picked Colton Deraine.
Tomorrow at 1200hrs, both of these students will be conducting a draft of the remaining members of Haven Academy. The Council has recommended the use of more technologically forward policies, and I believe this is a great way to put the renewed and upgraded internet systems to the test! Indeed, on this new digital frontier we shall hold our draft so that everyone can be updated of their status in real time.
This will be no typical and simple gym class sort of affair, however. Indeed, this will be a chance to practice strategy and resource management! Simply put, this will be an auction style draft where you will be given a limited number of points to work with. I shall briefly attempt to summarize the procedure for such an event, keeping in mind that since technology is involved everything may not go exactly according to plan.
A randomized coin toss will occur in the chatroom that this will be taking place in to determine the first pick. Whoever the first pick is will nominate one of the other trainees to be brought up on the screen, and that trainee will then be ‘bid’ on by one or both parties. By nominating a particular trainee, the team leader is also bidding on them. We currently have twenty-four fully enrolled students not counting those who are in the process of having their paperwork and test results approved, so we will have twenty-four trainees in the pool. I think an example might be best to illustrate the process.
Let us assume that Aegle Verdant is the one who wins the coin toss, and thus gets first pick. Let us further, for the sake of this scenario, say that she picked someone like Argent Steele to be the first pick. By picking Argent, she bid one of her points on him and will get him on her team for that one point if Colton does not contest by bidding two of his points. If Colton bids two of his points, then Aegle can respond by bidding three of her points and so on and so forth.
Aegle would get the first selection by winning the coin flip, and then Colton would get the next. They would alternate like this until there were no more trainees left or one side ran out of points. If, for example, Colton were to spend all of his points before the auction was over then Aegle could run through and spend the rest of hers completely uncontested. She would get as many turns in a row as she had points remaining, and Colton would automatically get whoever was left at the end.
Given that these classes will be in direct rivalry with one another in the future, that may or may not be ideal. The two classes will have separate schedules, largely run by the professor in charge. Elective times will be reduced, and homerooms will be every week from now on and mandatory for each class. This is done due to concerns about the combat readiness of the student body, frankly, and furthermore with every official class between the classes there will be something at stake.
The first of these clashes will be a small tournament of willing participants to decide who gets the honor of being part of the Exhibition Round at the Vytal Festival. While some of you may be reading that and assume it doesn’t affect you in the slightest, you would be incorrect. The mandatory homeroom classes will be in the mornings, you see, and one of the most important things in life is having a good start to every morning. It is vitally important not only for your mood but for your performance for the restof the day, so an easier start to each morning will be the prize that you will be fighting for.
The winning class will have their homeroom located as near to the dorms as possible with catering staff to serve breakfast until the next clash between classes. The losing class, however, will be exiled to Training Area Four roughly two miles from the dormitory and will have no catering. You can imagine how in the winter this walk will not be desirable, but hardship builds character and motivation to succeed! I believe this is sufficient incentive for everyone to give it their all, but if not, I would be happy to try some other prize in the future.
Oh! I almost forgot to finish the explanation about the draft, yes! Excuse me, I do get carried away sometimes.
I mentioned earlier about the points and how selecting a trainee to be put to auction worked, but I never elaborated on how many points would be available for the twenty-four trainees in the pool. You will get fifteen points for each team, meaning that there will be a fair bit of strategy involved because the number of selections that can be contested is extremely limited. One of the hardest things you will ever have to do in this institution is form a team, and that is exactly the task that stands before you tomorrow.
Both Professors were made aware of this setup and picked their class leader knowing this. An immense amount of trust has been placed upon the shoulders of these two students initially selected, and I hope that each and every trainee will lend them their help in the time remaining before the draft to lend them their insight and ideas, so they make the best decisions possible. After all, nobody wants to walk several miles in the snow at seven in the morning every day for class.
Signed,
Tyrian Timber
Headmaster
Tyrian Timber
Headmaster