Jun 15, 2026 5:12 pm
Tern City Overview
Tern city is the capital of the Tern City-State, a member of the Open Road Alliance. It is a river port city on the northern edge of the island, meaning it serves as a juncture between river traffic and sky-craft traffic, and is a trade nexus.
The local population numbers approximately half a million, about 80% which are Karposarks. The dominant native language is Hatambetl. Creed-wise, the split is similar to that of the ORA overall.
Seminary Overview.
Very Brief History of the Seminary
The Tern City Polyscholastic Seminary's history dates back to the Shik Empire, when it was called the Tern City Imperial Seminary, and contained multiple departments and compounds, including the one currently known as General Esoterica. During the Shik Insurrection, during an attempted siege by imperial forces trying to regain control of the Tern province, a fire burned down most of the original General Esoterica compound. A decade later, a reconstruction effort began, one in which several interest groups associated with the emerging Ataraxia Concordat acted as contributors. This collaboration ultimately resulted in forming close connection between the Concordat and the Seminary.
General Esoterica Compound
The General Esoterica department is fully situated within its corresponding compound, which is a fenced-off approximately pentagonal shape filled by six partially interconnected buildings and six courts (one of them fully enclosed by the central building). It is approximately 200 Shik yards between exterior vertices, or about 300 from a vertex to the opposing edge.
The five outer buildings are each connected at the second floor by a roof-covered corrdior-bridge to one of the corners of the main building. This comes in handy during rainy and snowy seasons of cold air and muddy ground.
There are five quadrangular courts wedged between the buildings. These serve as places for walks during a break, food and stationery stalls during dry seasons (and to a lesser degree at other times), training grounds for physical activities, and the like.
Compound Buildings
All buildings include large lecture halls and smaller single-class lesson rooms. The central building houses the main library, dining hall, administrative offices, and various main logistics. The five outer buildings are each dedicated to a single creed, which influences what lessons are taught there, what the minor libraries contain, and what temple annex a building has.
The five outer buildings are:
Notice that there is no dedicated student residence building in the compound. Given that the demographics of the seminary lean towards the middle/upper class, most students tend to live in guesthouses of their relatives or allied dynasties. Some rent rooms in various lodging houses around the city. The worst off have to resort to doss-houses.
Tern city is the capital of the Tern City-State, a member of the Open Road Alliance. It is a river port city on the northern edge of the island, meaning it serves as a juncture between river traffic and sky-craft traffic, and is a trade nexus.
The local population numbers approximately half a million, about 80% which are Karposarks. The dominant native language is Hatambetl. Creed-wise, the split is similar to that of the ORA overall.
Seminary Overview.
Very Brief History of the Seminary
The Tern City Polyscholastic Seminary's history dates back to the Shik Empire, when it was called the Tern City Imperial Seminary, and contained multiple departments and compounds, including the one currently known as General Esoterica. During the Shik Insurrection, during an attempted siege by imperial forces trying to regain control of the Tern province, a fire burned down most of the original General Esoterica compound. A decade later, a reconstruction effort began, one in which several interest groups associated with the emerging Ataraxia Concordat acted as contributors. This collaboration ultimately resulted in forming close connection between the Concordat and the Seminary.
General Esoterica Compound
The General Esoterica department is fully situated within its corresponding compound, which is a fenced-off approximately pentagonal shape filled by six partially interconnected buildings and six courts (one of them fully enclosed by the central building). It is approximately 200 Shik yards between exterior vertices, or about 300 from a vertex to the opposing edge.
The five outer buildings are each connected at the second floor by a roof-covered corrdior-bridge to one of the corners of the main building. This comes in handy during rainy and snowy seasons of cold air and muddy ground.
There are five quadrangular courts wedged between the buildings. These serve as places for walks during a break, food and stationery stalls during dry seasons (and to a lesser degree at other times), training grounds for physical activities, and the like.
Compound Buildings
All buildings include large lecture halls and smaller single-class lesson rooms. The central building houses the main library, dining hall, administrative offices, and various main logistics. The five outer buildings are each dedicated to a single creed, which influences what lessons are taught there, what the minor libraries contain, and what temple annex a building has.
The five outer buildings are:
- The Phrontistery, a Misotheist building that does not have a separate temple annex. The name refers to the building as a whole. Secondary subjects include cosmology as well bureaucratic and politological topics.
- The Lyceum, an Abstractionist building, with a meditation annex (sometimes called the Lyceum Proper). Maths and logic specialisations, among other ones, usually go here.
- The Haunt-Worshipper building, with a Feretory annex. Secondary subjects include cosmology and history of materials science.
- The Orthomorphist Refractionist building, with a shrine annex. Main secondary subjects lean towards artistic and expressive.
- The Poikilomorphist Refractionist building, also with a shrine annex, and with a similar leaning of secondary subjects.
Notice that there is no dedicated student residence building in the compound. Given that the demographics of the seminary lean towards the middle/upper class, most students tend to live in guesthouses of their relatives or allied dynasties. Some rent rooms in various lodging houses around the city. The worst off have to resort to doss-houses.