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I imagine it would be more difficult for Bassilea than Norcia since I imagine Griff implemented a political system similar to Poland-Lithuania’s after becoming High King, and that system would make it quite impossible to establish political dynasties.

However, Bassilea under Freyda would still have a ruling family. She would probably instate an elective monarchy in which succession is inspired by the native Norcian derbfine, which Griff abolished due to his aversion to any type of royal family or lineage after growing up a squire and serving those like Ixion and Rhode. Essentially, Bassilea’s succession would call for the baseline requirement for candidacy to be a relation to the reigning monarch via a common great-grandfather. A single candidate from each branch of the royal family which met the requirement would be vetted before getting assigned to be an administrator of one of Bassilea’s seven regions. After 1.75 (1 year and 9 months) years or so, an electors’ council would be called to vote for one of the seven candidates. The council would include local administrators, minor nobles, middle-tier nobles, and high nobles. After the votes were counted up by an official, the two candidates with the most votes would be taken to the lairs at Vask, where they would be presented to a goliathan. Whoever got Chosen would become the official ruler of Bassilea, and be guided in rulership by the reigning monarch before they took the throne.

Meanwhile, Norcia’s way of avoiding dragonriding dynasties would be simpler. If one gets Chosen by a dragon, any child from the next generation of their family (nieces, nephews, children, adoptive children) wouldn’t be allowed to be presented. After that, third-generation children could be presented, but fourth-generations couldn’t, and so on. Only two children across all branches of one family could be presented during the ceremony. If both of them were passed over, then that family had to wait until the next batch of dragon eggs came to present children to it again. To be brought for the Choosing, a child had to be 13.

Callipolis, of course, would only allow orphans and foundlings to be presented, and whoever was Chosen (at age 12/13) had to stay celibate, so dynasties weren’t something they needed to be worried about.

So, I stated that part 2 would be about the Callipolan electoral system, but that’s kinda complex and I came back from a birthday party just now, so education system it is.

After Furysong, I imagine that the Callipolan education system was debated thoroughly. It was one of the last things to be fully realized, as the political system was more important and Lee wanted to go to Farhall in peace, without the title of Protector-designate (or, as of Furysong, First Protector) on his shoulders.

Much of the patricians wanted to keep the education system in Callipolis the same as it was under Atreus. Free, mandatory schooling with clear quality gaps, to ensure only their people could have access to premier education. They would also be similar regarding elections, when debating the electoral system. Even if Phemi was well-meaning and worked on the charter as penance, there are things that, as a dragonborn, she has very little understanding of. She wouldn’t be familiar with a commoner’s plight, not the way Lee, or even Delo, was.

As such, I don’t imagine her seeing an issue with the metals test. She would see it as Atreus did, as Annie did in Flamefall. A way for a lowborn to rise, potentially to the top. As she wasn’t familiar with the rationing structure, or if she was, her understanding was extremely warped based on what dragonborn like Ixion told the younger generation about “stupid peasant brutes thinking they’re as valuable as patricians”. However, despite the support of the patricians, this would be the only thing Lee would be genuinely inclined to use his power for at all, and he would be backed by the Firstrider and two leaders of a large political faction (Megara and Val Lazare).

As such, the Callipolan education system would change dramatically. With whatever authority Lee cared to keep as leader of city rebuilding, he would make any unclaimed patrician homes on Scholars Row into schools. Unclaimed townhouses would become “primary” grammar schools (for children aged 6-11). Smaller manors would become “intermediate” grammar schools (for children aged 11-13). Medium-sized manors would become “advanced” grammar schools (for ages 13-15).

Despite Lee and Annie’s protests, a compromise had to be made between one faction and the other, and the patricians’ side was a reinstatement of the metals test, but with there being the chance to take it again a few years after your first attempt.

While this would be progress in the right direction, it still wouldn’t be enough. Annie would propose a path assessment instead. At age 15, every student in Callipolis would have to take an assessment in May. It would be standardized, but it wouldn’t assign a social class based on the result. Just your scores and recommended paths based on them.

Lee would take this idea a step further, with there being two parts to the path assessment. The first would be a multiple-choice. The first 15 questions out of 50 would be standardized, basic knowledge. The other 35 questions would be keyed to a student’s strengths. For example, if a student’s four best subjects out of seven are geography, language, agricultural science, and economics, then the student would get eight questions on each of those topics. The first four questions would be difficult in the more “testing the waters” sort of way. The last four would be actually challenging. The final three questions to make the 35 would be questions which are complex, meant to test true grasp of the material.

The second part would be a written examination, consisting of two parts. One would be similar to an SAQ in AP classes. Just a series of three questions, each with three components, which would be answered using 2-4 sentences. The second would be similar to an LEQ or a DBQ, just a full-on essay question where the student can dive deep into two specific subjects and connect them.

After the exam in May, results would come out in July. Two documents within a single envelope. The first would be the scorecard, the second would be a list of ten recommended subjects of further study.

The following year, the student would go into specialized education for five years afterward. At the end of those five years, they would have two options for “academic” subjects: a thesis or a capstone. For non-academic subjects which aren’t trade (for example, sales or marketing), the examination would be a practical, where someone has to successfully market or sell five products to pass. For trades, the apprenticeship would have served as constant assessment.

There would be two pathways which didn’t require a path assessment at age 15, and those would be Guardian training and the Judiciary Fast Track, both paths favoring lowborn orphans and foundlings.

The Judiciary Fast Track would have been an idea proposed by Megara. To staff the Sky Council of the Areopagus, which oversaw dragonriders and their conduct, a class of lowborn would be educated every nine years. These children would be selected to attend the Legal Academy (formerly the Lyceum) from ages 9/10 to ages 18/19. Due to Callipolis’ new boarding laws, all nine-year-olds had to be from the city, its poorer areas, so they could be day scholars for the year.

Guardian training would have a similar structure. Every nine years, a new class of Guardians would be selected to train at Farhall. These children would be 9/10. In accordance to the new boarding laws, all nine-year-olds had to be from the Far Highlands in order to be day scholars for their first year.

Due to the extreme responsibility required for both of these paths, fundamental education would be required before the Choosing or starting to learn about case law and dragonriding law. As such, three years of pure theory/fundamentals would be taught before a Farhall student ever was presented to a dragon, or before a Fast Track student had their first lesson in case law. The Choosing would happen when Farhall students are 12/13, just as the Fast Track students would have their first lectures on case law at 12/13.

The assessments for Guardians and Judiciary Fast Track students would have the same content, but would favor different demographics. Guardian training would favor those who grew up in orphanages and foundling homes, with no family to show. Meanwhile, the Fast Track would favor fostered orphans, those who grew up hearing about the injustices committed by dragonriders of the past at the dinner table. Both of these initial classes would have 52 students, but they would be sort of an inversion of each other. While 40 students at Farhall would be from orphanages/foundling homes, 40 student in the Fast Track would be from foster homes. While 12 students in the Fast Track would be from orphanages, 12 students from Farhall would be fostered.

Their talent search would work as follows: there would she a physical section in a gymnasium, a moral section in a classroom set up seminar-style, and an escape-room style logic puzzle. Based on how all of the students called complete the tasks, they would either be rejected, made a Fast Track student, or made a Farhall student.

A few years after the general path assessments, Guardians and Fast Track students would have their own tests. Guardians, to see which Order they would be in, and Fast Track students to see whether they would be judges, aides, auditors, or probationary officers.

At age 18/19, the Guardians would be taken to the Guardian quarters which replaced the Palace at Pytho’s Keep for their ranking assessments. In order to encourage fellow cadets to see each other as friends than competitors, the regular tournaments as ranking mechanisms would be forgone and more as a sort of “presentation” of Fourth and Eighth Orders.

When they arrived there, Annie, Cor, and Crissa (Firstrider, Alternus, Tertia) would assess the riders in the arena along with Lee, Lotus (who was ultimately made Farhall’s drillmaster, executing the teaching of drills which Lee created as the school’s head), and Duck (who eventually began staying in Callipolis permanently eight years post-Furysong, at Lena’s behest, as many of the children they had originally began teaching right after the book were now nearly graduated and in the workforce and Lena enjoyed once again feeling like part of a family, with loving in-laws like Mr. and Mrs. Sutter, a protective older brother figure like Cor, and two lively younger siblings like Greg and Merina and wanted to stay near Duck’s family, in Callipolis, and was soon after recruited by Lee to become a part of the staff at Farhall, just for a while). Actual trials and assessments would last a week, and evaluations would last another week.

Under this new system, dragonriders of each Order would be split up. Fourth and Eighth Order riders (eight) would remain at Pytho’s Keep and train to become active frontline riders, Sixteenth Order (eight riders) would be quartered in the rebuilt Cloister, and train to protect the Palace and get government officials out in emergency. Since the Palace would be built separately from the arena, the Cloister hallway would have a self-contained courtyard entirely built of stone/gravel for training, and another courtyard which would be a more traditional one, meant for access to the greater Outer Palace, and Thirty-Second Order (sixteen riders) would be split into four. The four most skilled riders of the Thirty-Second Order would be assigned to the Far Lowlands, nearby Pytho’s Keep, as reserves for the Fourth, Eighth, and Sixteenth Orders. The next four would be assigned to the Middle Lowlands, to act as reserves for the Far Lowlands riders. The next four would go to the Middle Highlands, to Nearhall, and the least-skilled of the Thirty-Second Order would be taken back to Farhall, to protect it and the Far Highlands in general. Order assignments would be given to the riders on the first day of the third week, after which Fourth and Eighth Orders would maintain their locations, Sixteenth Order would head to the Palace, and Thirty-Second Order would head to either the Far Lowlands, Middle Lowlands, Middle Highlands, or back to Farhall.

During this time, the 20/52 riders who were not Chosen and became Guardian Council trainees (a sub-council of the War Council which specifically focuses on dragonriders, staffed by sky-widowers, passi, or regular civilian dragon biologists and auditors) would also be assessed to see where their talents are. For the trainees who aren’t necessarily diplomatic but still have knowledge of a charter and how dragonriders are supposed to function, the assignment would be to stay at Pytho’s Keep to monitor the conduct of Fourth and Eighth Order riders. In Farhall’s initial class, this would be about 5 students. To the rural regions, there would two for each of the four. Finally, at the Palace, there would be seven. Around 3 or so would be conduct monitors, 2 would be mostly office-bound, creating drills and memos and whatnot of what the Guardians need from Annie and Crissa’s monthly briefs to the War Council to keep them posted on the affairs of the riders and standards for dragonrider education. Finally, there would be the 2 who are extremely diplomatic, and thus would go before legislative and judiciary officials to appeal for more resources if need be.

As for the Judiciary Fast Track, assessments would also happen at age 18/19, but would be different in content. The students would be taken to the High Court building for their assessments and the rest of their education afterward. There would be a physical portion, a test on case law and dragonriding law, and then a simulation of a courtroom scenario. Based on which parts a student is best at, they would either become a judge trainee on the Sky Council of the Areopagus (dragonrider oversight court), a judge’s aide trainee, a hearing officer trainee, a judiciary surveillance officer, or a judiciary probation officer.

Afterward, the first three would complete three additional years of legal education along with a year as an assistant to a sitting judge, aide, or hearing officer and another year of field training (at a rural or neighborhood court). Meanwhile, the surveillance officers and probation officers would have two years as apprentices under a working surveillance/probation officer and two years as a junior officer on their own.

After Atreus’ reign and the metals test, the Callipolan people would be heavily against assigning grades and tests and whatnot, but path assessments would require both of those things. In light of this, the minimum age of boarding would also be assigned to letter grades. From ages 6-10, a combination of Denmark’s “message books”, an ongoing written communication between a student, their teacher, and their parent, accessible only to the aforementioned individuals, and a portfolio of work, graded based on mastery metrics (eg. proficient, approaching, assistance required). These grades would be used purely as a baseline for student growth rather than a mechanism of competition.

From ages 10-14, a number grading scale (1-6) would be introduced. 1 would be a failing grade and 6 would be the highest. The Callipolan education system would be mostly based on unit tests, but in preparation for the choice that they would be given at the end of higher education (16-21), there would be a project at the end of every academic quarter, a midterm project in the middle of every quarter, and teachers would have the option to replace one unit test with a project every quarter.

It’s kinda late, and there aren’t that many changes that I want to detail in this post, so I decided to do Norcia right now. I’ll do Callipolis part II soon, and that’s going to focus on Callipolis’ electoral system.

First of all, I’m operating under the assumption that Norcia’s political system was based off of the Gaelic Tanistry system. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, in Tanistry the successor to the throne was shortlisted via derbfine, a family tree of sorts connecting candidates to the current High King through a shared great-grandfather.

While this would be Norcia’s historical system, I imagine that Griff, who was already very conscious about power and leadership and worried over what type of leader he’d be throughout Furysong, wouldn’t want any sort of heredity in Norcia’s system. After growing up a squire to lords like Ixion and Rhode, who inherited their titles and were terribly cruel, Griff would be wary of any amount of heredity, even if it wasn’t the deciding factor, and even it was only just heredity.

At the kingsmoot, Griff would warn to the voting elders that he would abolish the derbfine system in Norcia as one of the first thing he did as High King, but he would keep his country’s other traditions (such as legal codes and petition) intact. Though there would be some more traditionalist elders voting in the moot who would be drawn toward Seanan and his pure revival of Norcian traditions (including the derbfine), most of them, similarly wary of the throne moving through any family line, even if they were well-meaning and not colonists, would vote for Griff in the kingsmoot.

The system Griff would implement in its place would be something similar to the Polish-Lithuanian system. However, due to the lack of a true class of nobles in Norcia at this point, absolutely anyone born in Norcia, whether a fisherman’s son or a government official’s daughter, could put themselves forth if they wished. Everyone in Norcia would be educated by teachers from places like Callipolis.

Griff would also limit his power immensely. While Norcia’s native legal codes (which I imagine are based on Gaelic Brehon Law) didn’t allow High Kings absolute power, I imagine they still would have had a lot of it. Due to how small and centrally-administered Norcia is, I imagine that her native legal code would have called for High Kings to hold petition once a month, with sort of lawyers speaking on behalf of petitioners.

However, the result of the ha’Aurelian rule would have been fragmentation of clan unity. While the humble-riders were friendly with each other and there were occasional unions between Norcians of different clans (such as Agga and Eamon), the clans still wouldn’t trust each other that much. Instead, post-Liberation justice would mainly be seen to through clan elders. It was only when an issue involved more than one clan that petitions were brought to Griff.

Despite the fact that petition wasn’t a central thing now, Griff would still host it at the citadel. However, it wouldn’t be petition. It would mostly be a chance for members of all clans to share meals and hopefully get closer. Whenever there were petitions, however, their presentation would take a few hours at most. Mornings would be dedicated to educating adults, the first few hours after the midday meal would be for petitions (if there were any), and then it would just be chill. Any leftovers from lunch and dinner (petition would last the entire day) would be taken home by the common workers, who would have moved into the evicted ha’Aurelian manors after the kingsmoot.

I also imagine that both Callipolis and Norcia would have a more rehabilitative justice system. Punishment would be based on number of offenses and severity of offenses, and, in Norcia, would be based around the citadel lairs (got this idea from @skyfiish’s Take This to Heart, after Delo’s (I think) comment about making Seanan shuck oysters as punishment for his disruptive behavior).

Besides that, the ha’Aurelian manors would be where the common workers live and where their children were educated. Each manor would have 4-5 floors.

After the Great Leveling and the destruction of many Calllipolans’ homes, I imagine a lot of Callipolans would stay in Norcia until rebuilding was complete. These Callipolans would be in charge of teaching the children of citadel servants in Provisional Palace apartments.

Finally, in the Greatlord’s former study (Griff would move his quarters to the other side of the citadel, the lair side, while still being as near as he could within the Riders’ Wing to the rest of the government) would be where Becca, Astyanax, Duck’s younger siblings, Seanan’s children, and others would be taught by Duck and Lena. Astyanax would, of course, be far ahead of his peers (maybe besides Duck’s brother, Greg, who I imagine would be ten). I imagine Sty was eight during the Liberation (like Lee during Palace Day), and with his dragonborn education, would have gone up until a third-grade education in just a year. Meanwhile, Greg, who, though he was a fourth/fifth-grader, had a generally medium-quality education in Callipolis under Atreus, which would amount to being about a year behind (third grade in fourth grade).

As for the Greatlord’s and his children’s apartments, I imagine that they would serve as a warning of the ruler Seanan would be. While Griff took a more plain, austere suite in the Riders’ Wing, Seanan would keep the Greatlord’s apartments for himself, his children, and his parents. Rhode’s and Roxana’s former apartments would be claimed by Seanan’s cronies and their families. As Seanan probably didn’t have a ton of paperwork (I imagine the paperwork would be handled by the ha’Aurelians, who were banished from Callipolis about three months post-Furysong due to there being no utility for them there and Callipolans loathing them, seeking refuge in the island which was formerly their family’s jurisdiction, and to no one’s surprise, the only reason they would be allowed to stay there was because no Norcian adult had been granted education enough the handle all the mountains of government-related paperwork, and it would be daunting for Delo to do mostly on his own), the Greatlord’s office would fall into disuse as he used the study within the Greatlord’s apartments to complete any paperwork which was sent to him.

I was just researching Imperial Russia’s education system to get an idea of the education dragonborn children received under the Triarchy and Triarchy-in-Exile,, and then felt compelled to search up Nordic education systems and found the perfect model for Norcia: Norway, with Denmark’s short days and year-round schedule.

Norway’s education system focuses on outdoor learning and practical skills, which I feel fits pretty well with Norcia. Classes would be taught practically, outdoors, until age 13. At that age, weekly outdoor time would reduce and be replaced with long expeditions to learn practical skills. Age 13 would also be when students could decide to be taken for the Choosing and dedicate themselves entirely to primarily outdoor education (Becca would do this if there were dragons ready to Choose when she was 13).

For riders, a day would begin with a three-hour classroom block, then pivot into observation of the full members of the fleet in training for an hour. Afterward, they have three-hour training sessions of their own, including sparring, aerial tactics, and a mock-battle serving as military history. Afterward, the cadets would come before Griff and a panel of clan elders and Woad-riders to give them a rundown of what they did during the battle. Griff purposely speaks last out of the panel and also makes it clear that no confession from a cadet could result in any sort of punishment, as they were just completing a task Griff gave them.

Anyway, for the students who choose the comprehensive route (Astyanax would do this), they would take mostly electives focusing on their area of interest until age 15, when they have the option to choose 1-2 areas of interest to either study the entire year as a test run, or distributed over the warmer and colder seasons. At the beginning of the following school year, students had an option to commit to a path or further explore. For those who committed to a path, it remained highly practical, sort of like extended job shadowing or an apprenticeship under an experienced professional.

As opposed to Callipolis’ more rigid assessment system (grades introduced at age 10), Norcia wouldn’t have grades. Until age 13, there would be verbal-only feedback. There wouldn’t be formal portfolios or assignments marked with “proficient” or “needs assistance”. Instead, there would be parent-teacher conferences where a student and one of their parents met the teacher to get feedback every 2-3 weeks. Following in-class assessments (which would either be projects or practicals), teachers would meet with students individually to give feedback.

At age 13, portfolios would start for both tracks, but for the riders’ track, there would also be a Fleet Message Book. Unlike Callipolan message books, this one would be accessible to all cadets. At the end of daily training (Monday-Friday), cadets would be log their strengths and weaknesses in the book. On Saturday, the final day of the work/school week, cadets would be paired based on their strengths and weaknesses. For example, if cadet A is skilled at using gravity to their advantage but weak at sharp banking turns and cadet B is skilled at sharp banking turns but weak at using gravity to their advantage, they would be paired together that Saturday in a sort of peer mentor program.

Monday-Friday, school would be five hours, and Saturdays, it would be three hours. Depending on the day and the season, after-care would be provided, lasting a certain length. Monday-Friday, warmer seasons, parents would work for nine hours. Saturdays, warmer seasons, they would work for six hours. Sundays would be off. During the colder seasons, parents would work for six hours on Monday-Friday, 4.5 hours on Saturday, and they would also have Sundays off.

On weekdays (summer), children would be at school from 9am-2pm and parents would work from 8am-5pm (nine hours). On Saturdays, school would last from 10am-1pm and parents would work from 8am-2pm (six hours). In winter, weekdays would see children going to school at 10am and returning at 3pm and parents heading to work at 9am and returning at 3pm (six hours). Saturdays would have children heading to school at 11am and returning at 2pm and parents going to work at 9am and coming home at 1:30pm.

However, after a petitioner brought up having to work on Saturdays as a grievance, he looked into it. Since Norcia received and gave a lot in trade during the warmer seasons, Griff told the petitioner that working on Saturdays in the summer was necessary, but he would shorten their hours and give them more time to sleep in the morning. During the colder seasons, on the other hand, Saturdays would be made a break day for both parents and children.

The new schedule would look something like this: weekdays in both summer and winter unchanged, Saturdays in summer having parents work 4.5 hours (9am-1:30pm) and school hours being the same, and Saturdays in winter having no work or school hours. However, students would still get a slight bit of homework to ensure that they don’t forget what they learned over the week, though it would be purposely designed to be finished in a day.

Also, the justice system would be massively overhauled. Unless someone proved repeatedly, after multiple chances, that they weren’t willing or able to coexist peacefully with other Norcians, punishment would be community service.

For @accountusername

So, I’ve been kinda working on mapping out new political systems for Callipolis and Bassilea (and to a lesser degree, Norcia), and wanted to post about how I imagine the political system in Callipolis would look post-Furysong and how exactly it got there.

First of all, I imagine Phemi’s charter was based on the Damian Republic. In my head, Damos is the equivalent of Rome with a bit of Ancient Athens, so how I imagine regimes changing in Damos would be: Damian Kingdom (ruled by corrupt dragonriding kings); Damian Commonwealth (after destroying all dragon eggs, the Damians established a political system similar to Ancient Athens, which would be what Megara and Lee were advocating for in Callipolis during Flamefall); the Damian Republic (basically the Aurelian Cycle’s version of the Roman Reoublic, after the Commonwealth expanded a bit, this political system was what Phemi based the charter on, with some of her own additions, like the Council of Riders); and finally, the Damian Empire (which I imagine initially being similar to the Byzantine Empire in terms of succession, with an 11-person electors’ council where commoners had 3 votes, the aristocracy had 3, and the military had 5, being named co-ruler was also based very much on public acclamation, though it devolved into a more centralized version of the Holy Roman Empire, with extremely limited opportunities for social advancement besides military or the civil service exam, a seven-person electors’ council where commoners only had a single vote, and acclamation traditions which were purely to uphold tradition).

After showing Annie her charter, Phemi would open up negotiations. The first negotiators would be a few representatives from the Gold Advisory Council, a couple of prominent-but-not-as-prominent patricians, and Megara and her uncle Val Lazare.

Politics wouldn’t actually be the first thing that was agreed upon. Instead, it would be that all dragonborn should immediately be banished from Callipolis, as they were a danger to any chance of a new system. For Megara and Val, this was more about the fact that the dragonborn were their oppressors, and wouldn’t stop oppressing them just because they were told nicely. For the patricians, however, it would be a combination of the dragonborn being dangerous to Callipolis, and a danger to them personally.

However, Annie would decide to give them a few months to prove themselves before banishing all of them, and she would also tell them having the Bastards on hand to take patrols is necessary, since all the other Guardians were busy with assisting in the rebuilding of the city, highlands, and lowlands, and that what was to be done with them after was up to them. However, she agreed that their inheritances should be frozen until they prove that they could integrate. Annie would also state that Phemi, who write the charter in the first place, would be exempted from this banishing, as would Lee. At that, Phemi would request that Ethelo and Nestor be allowed to remain, and that they wouldn’t be a disturbance to life outside the Summer Palace.

It would be decided that, until rebuilding was over, the Bastards would continue taking patrols. To give them a little mercy after their properties were essentially pulled out of their hold, Annie would assign them each to patrol their families’ provenances. The Stormscourge Bastards (Titus and Angelo) would be assigned to the North Sea coastal patrol, and be quartered in Farhall’s watchtower (the only part which wasn’t burned down by Ixion, since it was too far from the main house for the fire to spread there). The Skyfish Bastards (Ariel and Cadwal, since the book says that Bardolph “went down” after Annie got him while she was trying to get the Bastards off the other Guardians’ tails) would take the Medean Sea coastal patrol in the Near Lowlands and quarter in the Skyfish Summer Palace. The ha’Aurelian Bastards (two of them, unnamed) would patrol the Medean Sea at the coast off Harbortown, and be quartered with the remaining Guardians.

When the topic of dragonborn inheritance came up, Lee, who was currently at Farhall managing his ha’cousins, would be called in. While still technically Protector-designate because nothing about the new electoral system or political system was decided yet, he’d want to relinquish the title and hand it over to someone else. During this summit, it would be stated that any remaining dragonborn (who weren’t in their amnesty window) were allowed to keep a single of their family’s properties, and the others would be put in a state trust. Lee would choose to keep Farhall and surrender Nearhall and all other Stormscourge property except for the comparatively small, modest Stormscourge manor in the deeper Middle Highlands which Electra decided to keep for herself. Phemi would choose to keep the Skyfish Summer Palace and surrender all other Skyfish properties to the state.

After that, the next topic would be dragons and dragonriders. Megara would call for any dragon eggs to be destroyed and all dragons currently being ridden to be sent to the Star Springs, while the patricians would be in favor of Atreus’ status quo (dragons and government enforcement). Neither side would agree with Phemi’s Council of Riders idea, but for opposite reasons. Assuming that the Council of Riders is supposed to be part of the civil service, either nonpartisan dragonriding civil servants, or government-adjacent, Megara would be automatically against it because government-adjacent could easily turn into government enforcement. Meanwhile, the patricians would be against the Council of Riders because it would their power, since government-adjacent could easily turn to government advisory (the charter’s wording was “a division between dragonriding and politics”, not government, which just means that the Guardians couldn’t seek political office, not that they were barred from government), and then turn into a show rule by dragonriders.

Annie would then suggest that the Guardians fulfill the same duties that they would have as a civil service council (such as aerial defense and disaster relief), but away from government completely. They would still be subordinate to the law, but they would become a military unit instead under Annie’s proposal. This would go through, though only barely.

This would also pass, but Phemi would forbid that anything be done to Lee’s property without his permission, so Nearhall would be made into a rural grammar school for children from the Near and Far Highlands. Villa Sorgente and Rivalonga would serve the regions they previously had provenance over (Near Lowlands and Far Lowlands). Unlike under Atreus, all highland/lowland children would be required to attend school five days a week, which would prevent their education from being “sporadic”, as the Mackys’ son’s was described to be in Fireborne. In fact, Callipolan educational regulations would state that students 10+ would be required to board five days a week and return for the weekend, while students below age 10 would be day scholars.

The order would be given to construction teams in the highlands and lowlands that after their current project (rebuilding farmers’ villages) was complete, their next assignment would be to rebuild the four manors and convert them into schools.

Only after this would debating about government start. Here, Lee would be more present, not wanting his country’s government system to be cruel like it was under Atreus or his own ancestors. The first thing he would advocate for would be an independent judiciary, to preserve the institution’s neutrality. Also, to avoid the rise of another dictator like Atreus, he’d propose a system of checks and balances, but also a dual executive. The First Protector would be the military and diplomatic leader, while the First Citizen would be the civilian leader, in charge of the government.

This post is getting kinda long, so I’m going to make the last bits short and sweet. The legislature would be bicameral, with a representative Lower House which debates and writes the laws (the People’s Assembly) and a semi-hereditary Upper House which is a purely advisory chamber which has the ability to delay bills (the Examiners’ Chamber), for patricians. The Examiners’ Chamber’s ability to delay bills would require strict constitutional precedent, which would be assessed by Phemi and her Council of Inspectors.

The way the Examiners’ Council would work would be that a family could hold a seat for two generations before giving its seat to another family. There would be 175 seats, but only 150 voting seats. These seats would be split amongst the old-money patrician families (200) and the almost-old-money patrician families (100). Due to the two generations rule, there would only be a hundred seats for the former and 50 seats for the latter. The other 25 seats would be for more progressive patricians, to serve as a check against the more conservative 150 voting members. Phemi would be Lady Chancellor due to her knowledge of high society and whatnot, along with her knowledge of the charter. She would essentially keep the conservative patricians in line.

The judiciary would be tripartite, which each court having three sub-councils. The first court would be the Areopagus (the High Military Court), consisting of the Sky Council (oversees Guardians), the Sea Council (oversees the navy), and the Pedion Council (oversees the army). The second court would be the High Civil Court, with the Farmers’ Council (agricultural law), the Workers’ Council (labor law), and the Patrician Oversight Council (this council would also oversee remaining dragonborn). Finally, the High Finance Court, with the Commerce Council, State Trust Council, and Business Council. The judiciary would also feature a council independent of the courts, the Constitutional Council, whose duty is judicial review and interviewing candidates for First Citizen/First Protector.

After Nearhall (renamed The Perpendium), Villa Sorgente (renamed The Prospectium), and Rivalonga (renamed The Seminarium) graduated their first two classes and were considered an overall success, Lee’s idea to turn Farhall into a dragonriding school would be looked upon better, and he would be given clearance. This would be about six years post-Furysong. Two years later, Farhall’s main building would be rebuilt, and it would be renamed The Elevandium. It would accept students aged 9/10, but wouldn’t have them be Chosen until three years later, when they had a better understanding of what vows of celibacy and guardianship truly meant. For the students who didn’t wish to make those vows, there would be a working exchange program between The Elevandium and the Norcian fleet’s cadet class, so instead of renouncing their new dragon, the student could be escorted to Norcia and become a member of their fleet’s cadet class. Similarly, students in Norcia’s cadet class who might not wish for romance, and the Guardian vows would be seen as an easy escape for them, so they would become part of Farhall’s student body. The school’s admission policies would be the same as Lee said it would be in Furysong: it would favor orphans and foundlings.

Most of the students would be from orphanages and foundling homes (30 out of 52 students). Ten of the 22 remaining students would be orphans/foundlings fostered by poorer urban families, and the remaining 12 would be fostered orphans from the highlands and lowlands. In accordance with Callipolan boarding laws which state that students need to be 10+ in order to board, all nine-year-olds would be from the Far Highlands, so they could be day scholars for their first year.

Since there would be students who weren’t Chosen, there would be a path for them as well. After it was decided that Guardians wouldn’t become a Council of Riders, it would have been decided that they, along with the navy and the army, would be given a sub-council in the greater War Council. This sub-council would be called the Guardian Council, and would represent the interests of Guardians in government (meaning logistical things, like requesting extra feed for the dragons if needed). This council would be for either widowed riders, passi from The Elevandium, and civilian experts like dragon biologists and so on.

Also, Pallor and Aela’s eggs would be presented to Norcian children, not Callipolan ones, due to the fact that things about dragonriding under Callipolis’ new regime by the time they were mature enough to Choose, and that window would close for them eight years (I believe) before dragons were presented to The Elevandium’s students.

Similarly to how the dragonborn manors became grammar schools for rural children, Lee would have been directing the conversion of any unclaimed patrician manors on Scholars’ Row into grammar schools for the children of the urban poor and orphanages. After he went to Farhall, he’d give oversight duty to Rock, who would continue Lee’s work and even make unclaimed Janiculum manors into schools as well.

Also, similarly to how the dragonborn had to choose a singular property to maintain, the patricians did as well. Unclaimed manors would be the ones left afterward. Anyone in government would the required to surrender their assets to the state trust for the length of their term.

I also don’t imagine that the Bastards or the remaining ha’Aurelians would end up integrating and accepting the reality that they have no power and that they were functionally useless. The ha’Aurelians would go around six months post-Furysong and be sent to Norcia, where they would handle the bureaucratic, paperwork-heavy aspects of governance (such as being archivists, clerks, and legal technical writers under Delo’s supervision as Head Secretary of Norcia).

The Bastards would be sent away four years post-Furysong, after rebuilding was completed and their services as patrols were no longer needed. They would be exiled to Norcia, where they would pad up the fleet’s original numbers (eight riders to fourteen) and serve as lairhands under the command of Norcian dragonkeepers and lairmasters and so on. If they heavily misbehaved, Delo would be sent to handle them, but his main duties would be running skyfish drills, acting as Griff’s personal secretary, teaching Astyanax about the Triarchy, and being the Head Secretary.

Callipolis’ new color would be vermilion, more forward on a bright, visible red for (specifically) dragonriding armor (Guardians’ armor plates would have a cerulean sigil, signifying that they’re the aerial unit of the military), more forward on the orange for army and navy armor (army armor would have a terracotta-colored Callipolan sigil to signify that they’re the ground branch of the military, and navy armor would have an indigo sigil to signify they’re the sea branch), and more heavy on a deep, more formal, muted red for formalwear), and its new sigil would be a key (representing the executive branch), a quill and scroll (representing the legislature), and scales in balance (representing the judiciary). In front of them would be a large shield with a dragon embossed on it, representing the Guardians’ duty to defend Callipolis and its democratic institutions.

All War Council sub-council members would wear basic vermilion drab uniforms, muted and functionary, with distinct embroidery, sleeve cuffs, and sigil colors to signify which branch they serve. The Guardian Council would be cerulean, the Navy Council would be indigo, and the Pedion Council would be terracotta.

The judiciary councils would all wear simple, formal vermilion robes, but their sigil colors would differ based on sub-council. The entirety of their robes but their sigils would be vermilion, showing their loyalty is to Callipolis, not to the military branch they oversee. The Sky Council (Guardian overseers) would have cerulean sigils. The Sea Council would have indigo sigils. The Pedion Council would have terracotta sigils.

The first would take place in New Pythos. It’s sort of an alternate timeline where Griff gets Chosen by Sparker at age 16 instead of age 12. This Choosing would be kinda unanticipated, and it would happen during a round in the pen. Basically, Griff was put in the pen by Ixion for disobeying his lords, but instead of Niter or Ryla delivering the punishment, a different dragon would be brought to the pen from the lairs, a large black stormscourge, known for being aggressive to its handlers and unresponsive to any prospective rider. When the dragon didn’t attack Griff as much as Ixion hoped it would, he would kick its side the way he did Niter when he was uncooperative, and all hell would break loose. The dragon would turn on him and breathe sparked dragonfire straight at him, smothering him a thick layer of ash (like Pallor did to Annie sur Aela after he sparked). Ixion would be rushed to the infirmary, Niter to the lairs for treatment, and after he left, both Julia and Delo would notice that Griff’s eyes were black with spillover.

An emergency meeting would be called in wake of Ixion’s hospitalization, to which attendance would be limited to the Triarchs-ascendant (Rhode, Delo, and Julia in place of Ixion), and the current sitting members of the Triarchy-in-Exile (Rhadamanthus and Nestor). During the meeting, it would be debated what to do with the dragon. While Rhode and even Julia would want it to be kept in the lairs and be used as a broodmare, Delo would protest, saying that the stormscourge’s fire was strong and could be an asset. Rhadamanthus would agree, and say that the dragon should be muzzled and chained until further notice, and that other peasants should be presented to dragons as well, to be used as canon fodder for the fleet.

A year later, the humble-riders would begin training, aged 16/17 themselves. Griff would be seventeen, and would quickly be found to be the most capable peasant rider in the fleet, and also the most rebellious.

The second idea was inspired by a few fanfics I read on AO3, and it would be a sort of AU exploring what would happen if Julia grew up in Callipolis instead of Lee. It would be a one shot (so far, just her Choosing Ceremony, where she gets Chosen by a smoky-colored stormscourge). We would also see a bit of her dynamic with Annie here, and it would be nothing like Annie/Lee’s, since from the get go, Julia would be asserting power over her and not caring at all for her feelings.

I’m planning to add another chapter in my notes which is snapshots of Lee’s life as Leo Stormscourge in New Pythos. The first would be his Choosing, where he’s found to be a passus. These snapshots would show him first getting close to Ethelo, who’s a year younger than him, since they’re both passi in a very dragon-centric society. Then, through his friendship with Ethelo, a friendship with Delo would form, and through that friendship with Delo, he’d get to see Griff’s plight and turn fully against the dragonborn regime (carefully, to make sure he survives, but not reluctantly, since he hates Ixion even in this timeline due to their relationship souring after he was revealed to be a passus, and he wouldn’t have a good relationship with Rhode and Roxana either, since they’re straight-up cruel).

The third one would be the one with the least canon divergence. After the Revolution, instead of taking Lee to a Cheapside slum orphanage and passing him off as a Cheapside slum orphan, the soldier would take him to an orphanage in the backstreets of Southside and pass him off as a lower-mid tier minor patrician family, the family Aster, near enough to Cheapside for him to attend Cheapside Grammar and not Southside Grammar (or whatever Southside’s grammar school was called). He’d still meet and befriend Annie pretty early on by protecting her from bullies trying to steal her food.

Nothing else really would change, except that during the first year of Guardian training, Lee would wrestle a little more with what it meant to ascend so fast from a displaced patrician orphan from a minor family to becoming a dragonrider like his father. At the Southside orphanage, he felt distant from the Stormscourge name. He was a nobody patrician orphan from a nobody patrician family. But now he was Chosen. A dragonrider, one who felt closer to his father than ever.

It would be a short, very insincere phase where he tried to “impress” his father’s memory (he wouldn’t know about how Annie’s family died at this point in this version; if he did, he wouldn’t be so concerned with satisfying his father’s memory) by insulting those of low birth (besides Annie, who he thought of as fundamentally wrong to insult without feeling like those bullies at their grammar school). Halfway through his first year, him and Annie would have a conversation in the library where Annie inquired why he was acting like this, and said he was being like Power (even though Lee still hated Power in this version). Lee would be ashamed at the comparison, telling Annie that he didn’t mean to come across like that and that he was trying to satisfy his father’s memory. Annie would then reveal how her family died and ask afterward if that was the sort of man he wanted to satisfy. The other half of their first year would be dissonance from Lee, disbelief that his father, so loving and protective, could ever do something like that. He’d subconsciously stop trying to be like Leon or satisfy his memory.

During that conversation, Annie would also demand that Lee treat her friends better. Duck and Rock, who were her core group (Rock would have been her first friend due to both connecting over similar pasts, and Duck would become Annie’s friend after he helped her on an assignment), Crissa somewhere between her own friend and a friend who came with Duck (Crissa would have first been Cor’s friend, and by extension Duck’s since I imagine that the Sutter brothers were quite inseparable during their first couple of years of training, but Crissa also knew Annie because they shared a dorm).

Despite his subconscious resistance to being like Leon, Lee would have still been ashamed of being Chosen by an aurelian instead of a stormscourge, and would have been after information about stormscourges for the entirety of his first year. His first sources of information would have been patricians like Alexa and other patrician stormscourge riders (not Power or Darius, since the last thing he’d want would be to seem chummy with them) who were friendly with Lotus (who was his first new friend in the Guardian Corps), but their condescension would have annoyed him, so after Annie asked him to treat her friends better, Lee would approach Cor sur Maurana, the most skilled commoner stormscourge rider in the fleet by far.

While their friendship was initially built on Cor informing him on stormscourges, by a bit through their second year of training, Lee would become genuine friends with Crissa, and through Annie, Duck. After a few weeks of seeing Lee get along well with Crissa and Duck, Cor would come around as well. In later years, they would go on to be the closest of the group.