Standard basic education is not mandatory; reading, writing, basic combat and other essential skills required to function in the working world are the responsibility of the parents to teach and nobody else. Parents who neglect to teach their children these skills will find their children lacking when it comes to teaching their grandchildren of the world, and so it is in the best interests of the entire family that teaching is done to the best of their ability. There are no limits to just how much parents can choose to teach their children, and indeed those parents more well-versed in the working world will often raise children better prepared to succeed in life. It is possible, in rare cases, that well-educated parents will be able to teach their children all that they need to know without ever hiring a private tutor.
However, for most children, between the ages of 9 and 15, more advanced teaching may be needed to teach them what skills their parents cannot. There are no state-sponsored schools that will do this. Various tutors scattered throughout the Empire peddle their skills and offer their training wherever they can find it, and these 'schools' can be set up by anyone. Because of this, there is a constant air of competition between tutors that helps the elites to maintain control over the social class system. Richer parents will be able to afford better teachers, and often the richest parents will sponsor their children all the way through the Erudite, allowing their children to completely bypass working in the lower ranks of the Arm Militum.
Standing at the highest tier of education available is the Ivorian Erudite. Not just a single building, but a whole branch of soldiers and officers dedicated to teaching and researching.
Arm Magister, otherwise informally known as the Erudite, is the acting body that provides all higher education within the Empire, as well as monitoring and funding all research performed by the intellectually elite. While it may not share in the power or notoriety of the Viden Academy, it is by no means made redundant; the teachings of the Erudite, mostly within the university it operates within of the same name, are all geared towards more practical fields, preferring to focus more on application and less on theory. If one is taught history, they will be taught the history of battles and sieges across Idalos and the tactics used by the former commanders. If one is taught geography, they will be taught how best to use ones environment to their advantage on the field of battle. If one is taught language, they are taught how to negotiate, coerce and intimidate their enemies into conceding, or their allies into joining. Not everything is geared towards battle, but it rarely can't be turned in that direction through one way or another, and it normally is; while all matter of books are freely available for anyone to research as much as they wish on whatever topic they should choose for their studies, most of the teachings are fine-tuned to whatever practical applications it has that can be best applied to suit the agendas of the Empire - 'cutting the fat' is what most lecturers call it.
As well as educating the next generation, each of the Schools that makes up the collective Erudite monitors and maintains the work across the Empire in each respective field, similar to that of a union, keeping all work to the highest standard possible and trimming away the edges of those who fail to provide their services to the necessary standard. Both overtly and covertly, Erudite agents are said to sit amongst every shipwright, every carpenter and every smith under the service of the Ivorian Empire. Some even claim that they sit amongst every high-ranking official; after all, it is the mandatory obligation of every Euralcalus to take some form of study in the Erudite, in part to prove their competence, but mostly to ensure that they are skilled enough to take on the responsibility that comes with an officer rank, no matter where they may go or what they may do with it.
Most important of all, however, is the maintenance of the Valenarium, one of the largest military hospitals in Idalos known, and operating entirely under the watch of the Erudite and its finest combat-medics and apothecaries. Only fitting, considering the size and scope of the military that the Ivorian Empire holds, and a necessity at that, given the amount of casualties found daily during exercises, drills or real attacks. Those trained inside are taught in aiding all manner of species, including Human, Ithecal, Qi'ora and more. Civilian care is limited but it exists, at no charge to the general public and indiscriminate of race or origin.
The various focuses of the Erudite are separated into schools of study, utilising a small combination of skills focused down to a niche. Each school runs its own forms of research, approved by the tutors and administrators, and are mostly separated except for seasonal meetings to discuss progress.
School of Medicine
One of the largest and most important branches of the Erudite, with teachings focused mostly on either direct application or research into new forms of battlefield protection. Most of its work happens in the Erudite's own hospital, known as the Valenarium - a separately-standing building that caters solely to soldiers and the teaching of medicine. However, for more academic tuition over practical teaching, there are various other rooms across the Erudite frequently dedicated to the more academic side of the practice. All forms of both physical and mental healing are taught in the school, including all peripheral teachings, including growing herbs to produce the largest quantities of healing poultices and creating the perfect blends of drugs with advanced chemistry.
- Medicine
- Surgery
- Gardening
- Chemistry
- Meditation
- Psychology
- Caregiving
- Research
School of Mathematics
The closest one can come to a school teaching pure theory in the Erudite, while the applications of the complex number-crunching are a very useful thing to have in any situation, the kind taught by the School of Mathematics is slightly more niche. For those aspiring to become Quaestors, spending their days behind desks managing the welfare of ten thousand soldiers at a time, or working trade deals worth thousands of nel, there is no better place to be. In theory, one holding a qualification from this school could approach every Arm in the Integrum and find a well-paying job. Perhaps they won't climb the ladder the same way a military commander would with training from the School of Strategic Logic, but one can never underestimate the power of a great mind such as those that house this school more than most.
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Chemistry
- Business Management
- Logistics
- Cryptography
- Investigation
School of Engineering
More focused on large-scale design and architecture, engineering is often considered to be a more advanced form of simple construction, but in fact shares so little with it that it entirely earns its own school. Responsible for the Empires most prestigious stonemasons and architects, studies are mostly focused on not only designing the most reliable and sturdy houses, but creating entire cities and forts to be the most fortified, made quickly and with as few resources as one can allow. It's often said that small teams of Ivorian Empire engineers can raise forts in days that will stand through years of siege, not to mention the massive fleet made and maintained by those same hands.
- Carpentry
- Construction
- Ship Building
- Sewing
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Research
School of Strategic Logic
A slightly more niche area of study, almost exclusively taken up by aspiring commanders and young officers wanting a lot of soldiers to push around. Almost all study takes place on the fields during drills and exercises, on both small and large scale faux-battles. Elements of several different trades are incorporated into studies to give aspiring commanders the greatest edge over their opponents when it comes to large-scale field tactics or one-on-one battles when caught in sticky situations.
- Tactics
- Logistics
- Psychology
- Ranged Combat
- Blades
- Polearms
- Siege Combat
- Shielded Combat
School of Construction
Unquestionably the most densely populated of all higher professions, and with good reason. Work often includes crafting every and any kind of weapon and armour one could expect to find in an army, including any and all types of shield, sword, polearm, axe and more. As well as that, it prepares one to work as the head of their own forge - something they very well may end up as at the end of their course, since it often takes a soldier to know what a soldier needs on the field.
- Smithing
- Fletching
- Alchemy
- Leather Working
- Sewing
School of Law
Nearly exclusively taken by those that wish to become a member of the Senate, or becoming a foreign diplomat acting as an ambassador, all topics focus heavily on both national and international law, customs, history and the speaking arts, occasionally bringing in the influences of several skills depending on whether the individual wishes to focus on creating law or enforcing it.
- Leadership
- Persuasion
- Negotiation
- Rhetoric
- Sociology
- Psychology
- Politics
- Linguistics
- Intimidation
Moral - 100 total points in up to 3 chosen skills, 50 pieces of relevant knowledge in up to 3 chosen skills.
Moral is known as the basic foundation for all higher study for a reason. It's a basic requirement for any aspiring to become Euralcalus, and for many it's what holds them back from climbing the ranks. While study is technically focused down to one skill, many students looking to climb their ranks quickly will often make full use of the facilities to rapidly advance through a wide range of skills as soon as possible.
Ludus - 125 total points in up to 3 chosen skill, 75 pieces of relevant knowledge in up to 3 chosen skills.
A following directly from Moral, picking up and expanding on parts that might have been missed or simply forgotten in lower classes. Many who find skim through Moral will find little trouble, but the true purpose is to remove those who struggled at the first hurdle for good.
Grammaticus - 150 total points in up to 3 chosen skills, 100 pieces of relevant knowledge in up to 3 chosen skills.
A crowning qualification, and the stopping point for most of those who climb the ladder of the Erudite's system. Here, the exact nature of one's results is not a simple pass or fail as before; a test must be taken at the end, unique for each student, that determines exactly how much, or how little, one has learned.
Rhetor - 200 total points in up to 4 chosen skills, 150 pieces of relevant knowledge in up to 4 chosen skills.
A highly advanced form of study, allowed to only those that complete their Grammaticus with high results - a way of thinning down the herds to make way for the select few that climb to the highest ranks of the Integrum.
Philos - 250 total points in up to 4 chosen skills, 200 pieces of relevant knowledge in up to 4 chosen skills.
The most advanced study, those with qualifications such as these frequently go on to do great things, whether within the walls of the Ivorian Empire or beyond. Their training in a broad range of fields gives them an upper hand no matter what situation they find themselves in.
