[h3]A Cold August Day[/h3][hr]9:20 AM, August 6th, 1210PW. 36 Degrees Fahrenheit. Raining.[hr][color=f7976a]BREAKING NEWS: Administrator Glen Bauhem has been found guilty of twenty-two counts of sexual battery, rape, and blackmail, following Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages administrative intern Boorkat Malkin coming forward with compiled evidence. All victims and witnesses were guaranteed protection by Mr. Malkin personally, as well as the protection of the Imperial Military Police, and testified under oath before the Czar in private prior to the trial. Glen Bauhem's attempts at pleading incompetence due to mental illness failed, as Boorkat Malkin provided more than adequate documentation regarding his stable mental state and adequate performance as Administrator. Czar Willamus the Fourth has stripped Glen Bauhem of the Czarine Star, and a military tribunal has sentenced Glen Bauhem to 170 years in the human male section of the Unoctocan Imperial Prison. The role of Institute Administrator remains empty pending the election now being held by the university's Staff Council.[/color] - The Unoctoc View, July 12th, 1207PW.[hr]

Once Malkin's speech concluded, Professor Katarina Volkova stepped to the podium to make her announcement. [color=c4df9b]"The cafeteria is currently open and serving a later breakfast than usual on account of the opening ceremony. Fighting is prohibited indoors, and magic usage is to be limited to low-yield output for study purposes only, except for during sanctioned activities in classrooms or in otherwise unoccupied research laboratories. All new students should follow me to the cafeteria in an orderly manner."[/color]

The Professor turned and entered the administrative building, beckoning to the students assembled in the courtyard. This time, the Chimera and human students were more mixed, though there were still outlying cliques in each group banded together around the outskirts. Even the sight of a first-generation Chimera acting as administrator wouldn't be enough to break people out of their preexisting friends' circles.

Upon entering the Administrative building, the procession passed an information kiosk - currently empty - along with a series of windows on either side of the hallway with closed metal shutters over them. A posted sign listed the hours as '700-1500 M T W Th F, 1000-1300 S Su'. Volkova spoke up - though the official school tour hadn't started yet, she still took it upon herself to point out important resources on the way to the cafeteria.

[color=c4df9b]"This is the Institute's front desk. We handle financial aid, paperwork, class scheduling, and advisory scheduling here for the most part, but the front desk also handles filing of complaints, requests for dormitory changes, class changes, and the like. The round kiosk here offers a list of temporary and part-time jobs available to students at the Institute, as well as general directions. If you ever get lost or find yourself in need of some extra money, speak to the kiosk attendant. The red window on the right handles Arena Challenges for dealing with personal conflicts in a more 'undignified' manner, as well as handling requests for private usage of the Magical Research Laboratories."[/color]

Further along, they came to a large, circular room, with smooth marble tiled floors and four hallways leading in each cardinal direction. The hallways were huge and, save for the one the group had just been in, were decorated with darkly lacquered wood, office windows, and off-white wallpaper, with electrical arc lights on the walls designed to look like older style gas lamps. The northern hallway was much shorter and featured an enormous pair of beautiful double-doors, with stained glass images of an old mage writing upon a scroll, and a young mage carefully examining a colorless flask atop a bunsen burner. Both figures were wearing stereotypical wizards' hats - old, grey, and crumpled things with their tall points flopping over from age. Along the northwest and southeast walls of the curved room were a pair of large spiral staircases leading downwards into a well-lit circular chamber with still more hallways, and the more artistically inclined students might have taken note of the dragons' head decorations carved into the ends of the darkened safety rails, which linked with the stairs' banisters.

[color=c4df9b]"Down those staircases, you may find the records chambers. For your purposes, the Research Records Room may be used to find duplicate copies of the results of all verified studies and tests performed in our laboratories. Other rooms are off-limits to undergraduate students and non-staff, and require specially tuned keys to access. The Cafeteria is through the doors to the North and in the building across the street."[/color]

Volkova led the gaggle of students further down the hallway, where the doors with the stained glass mages opened on their own. A pair of bearded old men in dark grey hooded robes hurried in, clutching huge stacks of paperwork, one of which visibly had both coffee stains and dried blood on it. The two shuffled down the stairs to the records chambers. Outside, the crowd came to a second courtyard, similar to the one on the south side of the building, though this one opened up to a wide cobblestone street, across which many brick and stonework buildings were visible. Directly across the street was a particularly unimpressive building of red brick - short, squat, and devoid of any and all external decoration beyond the doors which were just barely large enough to permit the tallest attending Chimeras and Monsters to pass.

Volkova led the crowd through these doors, where a staircase and a wheelchair ramp led downwards into a central path splitting what resembled a large, circular food court, separated into four quadrants. The ceiling was high enough for large students to fit, though it wouldn't necessarily be comfortable for them, and human-sized students would feel right at home. The northwest quadrant featured foods from Flynenhael, the northeast quadrant featured foods common to the Unoctocan Empire, the southwest featured foods from Airelosia, and the southeast featured foods from other, more exotic places - including a small selection of dishes from Deadlands monster colonies, and some foods from overseas nations and island countries. Overall, the selection was quite impressive. In each quadrant were pathways along the edges in front of the kitchen stalls, along with several round cafeteria tables with fixed-position wooden stools.

[color=c4df9b]"I'm sure you'll all find something to your liking here. Grab some trays and food, sit somewhere, socialize if you wish. Remember the rules regarding fighting and magic usage. We'll be heading on a tour of the rest of the campus in a half hour, followed by lunch at 1300, or 1:00 for those of you not used to the 24 hour clock, and finally dormitory assignments. I'll make an announcement when it's nearing time to head out, and when it's time for the tour. If you don't join me for the tour, don't blame me if you get lost every day for your first week and can't find your dorm."[/color]