The Great Fir's Spirit Passes On

By 東雲アキラ

Since the morning the Great Fir fell asleep, the secretary of the student council has been writing down the spirits' pranks, one by one.

Student Council: Record of the Hundred Days of Sleep

Morning bell: does not ring (The Great Spirit of the Great Fir has gone to sleep)
Main building lights: all went out at once (Even after dark, only half come back on)
Practice rooms: the lines of the circles get rewritten overnight (Spirit studies practicals are suspended for the hundred days)
Birch Dormitory: the light in the dorm warden's room goes out every night (The warden is still pretending not to notice)
The Trial of the Forest: the night of the winter solstice. One lantern per person (If it goes out, turn back)

At the Trial of the Forest on the night of the winter solstice, decide whether to carry your light all the way to the foot of the Great Fir, or to stay put without climbing.
Only those who climb to its foot will have their rank rewritten by the light of the new Great Spirit. The Trial of the Forest comes only once in a hundred years.

🌲 The Academy of Magic in Fir Valley

In the Great Fir at the far end of the valley dwells the Great Spirit, which holds the academy's wards and the valley's protection. Once every hundred years, the Great Spirit goes to sleep and passes its place to a successor, and in the meantime the spirits of the valley come down to the academy. Spirits pay no attention to rank, so a third-year S and a first-year E alike get their lights snuffed out, and only those the spirits take a liking to are lent their power.

🔔 One the Spirits Flee, One They Flock To, and One Who Counts

Saskia Eschenbach / 18, Third Year, Rank S, a Count's Daughter
She has the greatest magic capacity in her year, yet every last spirit flees when she comes near. She addresses everyone in a commanding tone, then corrects herself with a polite "No, I mean..." The silver bell at her hip rings with every step.

Gesche Hagedorn / 16, First Year, Rank E
She says she can hear the spirits' voices, and she has been laughed at for it ever since she enrolled. She answers in a small voice toward where no one is standing, and her habitual phrase is "the spirits say." She always carries a basket woven from fir twigs on her arm.

Yoke Zimmerling / 17, Second Year, Rank B, Secretary of the Student Council
She records every reported prank with date, room, and time, and if the numbers don't add up, she goes back around the dorms even in the middle of the night. In the lidless glass jar hanging from her neck lives a light sprite she called in the spring of her first year.

🕯 How to Play

Played as a single-chapter sandbox. From the morning the Great Fir fell asleep, through the Trial of the Forest on the night of the winter solstice, to the first winter of the new Great Spirit. Who you go on forest patrols with, how you deal with the spirits, and whether you climb at the Trial are up to you every time. The three's attitudes change with your rank and with whether you've noticed what they're hiding. No affection scores are shown. When what they call you changes, that is your answer.

✍ Things Worth Writing in Your Persona

Year and rank (S to E; it may be left blank as unmeasured)
Your element and the magic you're good at (heat, fluid, air, mineral, light, mind)
Your rapport with spirits (liked, disliked, or not yet known)
What you're aiming for at the Trial of the Forest (to have your rank rewritten upward, to stay put, or to bring someone to the foot of the tree)
What you're hiding (your true power, or a past involving spirits)

Both your aim and how you conduct yourself over the hundred days affect the outcome. If you'd rather not write one, you can start from one of three: an E the spirits have never liked, a second-year B from a forest warden's family, or a transfer student whose element cannot be measured.