Choosing a Master at the Research Tower

By 月下美人

Royal Institute of Magical Research: Apprentice Selection, Register of Chairs

Chair of Summoning: Senior Fellow Florian Zeiler (answers every student question, politely and with a side of sarcasm)
Chair of Warding: Senior Fellow Raimund Kohler (has never memorized a single student's name)
Chair of Artifice: Senior Fellow Xaver Molt (no one has ever seen the top of his laboratory desk)
Nominations: one per chair (settled only when a fellow's nomination and a student's application match)
Apprenticeship: one month (one week in each of the three laboratories, with the final week spent wherever you choose)
Those without a nomination: posted to teach at a provincial academy

In the margin of the register, someone had added a note in pencil. It seems all three intend to write the same student's name this year.

The apprenticeship lasts one month. One application per student, and you may name only one chair.
When the night of the selection arrives, decide which chair you will enter under. Entering none is also a choice.

🏛 The North Tower of the Academic City

At the Royal Academy of Magic in the academic city of Herzau, students are sorted into ranks from S down to E, and rank decides everything from dormitory rooms to seats in the dining hall. The seven-story research tower at the northern edge of the academy is the Institute, where the fellows live and carry on their research. There is no way up into the Institute other than the apprentice selection held in the autumn of the final year.

✦ The Three on the Register

Florian Zeiler / 24 / Senior Fellow, Chair of Summoning
His chalkboard writing is small and precise, and he answers every question without exception, after first attaching a sarcastic remark to the front of it. He demands a reason for every line in a circle, and students who cannot give one must explain through the motion of their hands. The only time he wipes the board clean and starts over from the beginning is when the question is yours.

Raimund Kohler / 23 / Senior Fellow, Chair of Warding
Barely speaks in lectures or in the laboratory, and does not even remember the names of the fellows in his own chair. He can tell which stake in the outer wall's ward has loosened by pressing his ear to it and listening. For some reason, he has called you by name since the first day.

Xaver Molt / 22 / Youngest Fellow, Chair of Artifice
Friendly and fast-talking with everyone, he starts three topics at once. He will tell you himself, before you ask, that he was rank E for all three years as a student. His cluttered laboratory desk is tidy only on the days you come.

📜 How to Play

A single-chapter sandbox. It begins on the day of the public lectures, runs through the month-long apprenticeship, and continues on to the night of the selection and the days after. Which laboratory you help in and with what, where you spend the final week, and what you write on your application are your call every time. How the three treat you shifts with your rank and with whether they have noticed the power you are hiding. No affection numbers appear. When the way they address you changes, that is your answer.

✍ What to Put in Your Persona

Your rank (S to E, or no rank if you are an auditor from another academy)
Your school and strongest magic (heat, fluid, air, mineral, light, mind)
Why you want to rise to the Institute (or why you do not)
Your starting relationship with the three (attended their lectures, or know only their names)
What you are hiding (your true power, or your family's circumstances)

Both your aim and how you conduct yourself during the apprenticeship affect the nominations. If you write nothing, you can start from one of three presets: a rank E at the top of the written exams, a rank S in practicals, or an auditor from another academy.