December 22, 1182
"All right, out with it." Today was the day of Raia's family's annual Christmas party, and she usually spent the entire day at the castle of the hosts--Lonriad and Asalaye this year--to help with the preparations. Needless to say, Ellona had not expected her to turn up at her own home a shire away. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at your brother's?""They can manage without me for a few hours. This will be a quick visit anyway." Then why hadn't she just waited for Ellona to arrive at the party? "I need to discuss something with you. I've already talked to my father and he's willing to provide the bulk of the funding--"
"The funding?"
"Yes, funding. And rather a lot of it, though of course he'll expect a fair share of the profits.""Profits?"
"Well, it's not as if we can do much without some profit margin, though I am hoping to aim for affordability."
Affordability, now? This was clearly a business venture, but beyond that, Ellona couldn't guess what her friend was talking about. "Raia, I think you're under the impression that we've discussed whatever you're talking about previously." Somehow.
"Ah, sorry--though technically, we did talk about this once." For sanity's sake, Ellona chose not to ask when. "But I'll back up. I chose to talk to you before the party because this is still just an idea and I don't want to risk anyone overhearing and thinking it's for sure. My father wants to see if we can get additional funding from the baron and Lorn, and of course we can't do much without Ietrin's approval."
Then why on earth was Raia talking to her of all people? "Ietrin's not going to like anything that involves me.""What Ietrin doesn't know won't hurt him." Raia winked. Keeping things from the crown did seem to be the Veldorashire style. "By the time he has to know about your involvement, it will be too late for him to shut us down."
"Shut what down?"
Her friend smiled--and thank God it wasn't her cryptic smile! It was about damn time this conversation started making sense. "Remember how you said you would have liked to attend university?"
About four kids too late for that. Never mind a lack of geographical convenience and, for any institution she was aware of, the wrong set of genitals. But Ellona supposed she could humor Raia. "Yes?"
"Well, how would you like to be Assistant Chancellor?"NEXT CHAPTER:
10 comments:
Next chapter will be longer, promise!
(Also, 1182 is done!)
Another Naroni-year gone by already? Wow.
Yes, yes, yes! This is a great idea. Raia and Ellona both need something to keep them occupied, and this could benefit so many people. Fingers crossed they get it past Ietrin (and that he doesn't get to restrict the curriculum to son-bearing and dainty waving.)
Yep! The next year might be long-ish, but I'm hoping at least a few of the years of this decade will be on the shorter side. I wanna see all the kids grow up. ;)
Raia and Ellona do both need the occupation... and so do quite a few other people who could potentially help out. ;) And this will be great for the citizens, and the kingdom as a whole. Naroni can finally have something to boast about!
And I shudder to think how a course in son-bearing would be taught. :S
How does one teach son-bearing anyway? xD
The father is responsible for the gender of the child! xD
Though I guess as long as Ietrin doesn't know about the innerworkings of the university, he can't nag. So better keep him in the dark. xP
University run by Raia and Ellona = completely and totally awesome! I want to attend!
Also should have realised that's what Raia was talking about in the last post, especially since you were talking about Naroni U before.
And yeah that was a quick year. Quicker than normal, it seems. Were there less posts or something?
Mimus: Exactly! And even a class in child-bearing in general is problematic enough. :S
Yeah, I'm thinking Ietrin will be told the bare minimum of what he has to know in order to approve the project. With any luck, "it'll be a major attraction and an economic boost" should be enough.
Joseph: I am hoping most of the prospective students will agree. ;)
1182 had thirty-one posts, which I don't think is short for Naroni as a whole (I think it was 1159 that had a grand total of seven), but both 1181 and 1180 had over sixty each, and the most recent year that's had fewer posts than 1182 is 1176. So in the short-term sense, I guess it was a quick year.
YES! Naroni University is in business!
Or at least it will be soon enough. :D I'm assuming that next post will be Severin convincing Ietrin? With ... his mysterious guest who I recognize? ;)
Still, I can't wait to see what happens when Raia and Ellona get started. This ought to be great for Naroni as a whole, as well as all the people involved in the uni itself.
And one last question, just to make sure -- is it ok for me to release the stuff now? ;)
The idea is at least in the works. And that is a logical guess as to what is going on in the next post. ;)
Naroni could use an attraction of some sorts. Having a university will be a big bonus in terms of their international standing, especially if their university is somehow different than the others out there (which it will be, and not just because I'm much too lazy to research Medieval universities, though that is a big part of it). Bringing in foreign students will also help.
And if people are going to school, maybe they'll put off having babies until they've graduated and the population growth can curb somewhat!
And yep! *sits back in desk chair and grins evilly* Release the stuff. ;)
Well, if I remember correctly, universities of the past had only three big curriculums: rhetoric, grammar and religion.
So there is a lot to expand on.
Mind, I don't know if this was true for every university.
My plans so far mainly expand on the Maxis model, with some influence from Albion's Camford, only Medievalized. So I'm thinking those will be included.
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