Her Holiness’ Academy for the Immaculate and Faithful

Her Holiness’ Academy for the Immaculate and Faithful is a Solithian military school that trains paladins and clerics. It is generally referred to as the Paladin Academy.

Appearance & System

The Paladin Academy was built with effusive ornament. Marble walls and gold accents abound. Statues and paintings depicting Solithian religious mythos decorate the campus grounds and hallways. Many repairs have been done on the school, but wear is still apparent on some of the buildings, especially the older ones.

Prospective students apply to the school, and once accepted, attend at the age of sixteen. Paladin students spend the first four years of their study at the school’s campus in Nova, and complete their fifth year in the field before formally beginning service. Occasionally, students in their first four years are given the chance to go on short field trips.

History

The Paladin Academy was founded in Nova for the purpose of training soldiers to serve in the Solithian army. Originally, the school trained just paladins; eventually, a satellite program for clerics was added.

When a new Heart of Solis is reincarnated, the academy is renamed to reflect the correct possessive pronoun of the current Heart, and new adjectives are appended to describe the Heart’s students. Past names for the institution include “His Holiness’ Academy for the Benevolent and Just,” and “Her Holiness’ Academy for the Unflinching and Bright.”

Because the school’s name has changed so frequently throughout history, it is often just called the Paladin Academy.

Campaign Relevance

Appel, Bingus, Lianata, Garf, and Yobbo trained to become paladins at the institution from the years 1851 until 1856. Claire studied to become a cleric from 1852 until 1857.

Katherine Stormquell was supposed to attend the Paladin Academy in the same year as Appel and the others, but dropped out before disappearing from society altogether. Her seat was given to Lianata. The mysterious circumstances surrounding Katherine’s disappearance and the history of scandals associated with Lianata’s family led to rumors that the Von Himmels had Katherine killed so Lianata could take her place.

Katherine’s younger brother, Orion Stormquell, is currently a first year paladin.

Trivia

• Old Cadet Borples, a student that attended contemporaneously to Appel, once got gangrene after breaking his hand. He refused medical treatment until a school nurse fought him in a lake.
• Appel has mentioned that, as a trainee, he went on a field trip to the western desert and was stung by scorpions. On another trip, Appel traveled to the northern mountains, where he, Bingus, Garf, and Yobbo got lost.