2025 FOUNDER PARLEY
Date: September 1, 2025 | Time: 5:00pm
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Date: September 1, 2025 | Time: 5:00pm
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The Entrance Hall was heavy with the sounds of students; trunks rattling across flagstones, owls fussing in their cages, the nervous shuffle of shoes against polished floors. Sorted students made their way to the Portiport to head to their common rooms, claiming bunks and checking who their dormmate would be for the year. For the unsorted, however, they stood still in the center of the hall. For many, the day had been a blur: the departure from Cardiff, the length of the day, and the grandeur of Penwick Castle pressing in all at once.
Headmistress Pryce’s presence was not sharp or commanding but steady, her voice cutting gently through the swell of chatter. She raised her hand for quiet, and slowly, the students hushed, glancing nervously at one another as older students took notice as they moved about, watching with thin smiles that betrayed knowledge the younger ones didn’t yet have. “Welcome to Penwick,” Pryce said, her voice calm but carrying. “You have finally arrived at the beginning of your journey here. And the first step, as it has always been, is to meet our founders.”
A stir rippled through the group. Some straightened, others fidgeted more anxiously, and a few whispered quickly to one another before falling silent again under the headmistress’s gaze.
“You will go alone,” she explained, pointing up the large stairs to one of the doors above, “into the Assembly Hall. There, you will find our four founders above the stage. From left to right they are Griffith Varell, Gerard Mercator, Viviane Floranti, and Pelles Modron. Each one will ask you a question." More than one first-year swallowed hard. "Don't worry, this is not a test; they are not looking for a showcase of knowledge. Sometimes the questions are personal. Sometimes they are strange, more like riddles. Do not trouble yourselves trying to find a clever answer or the 'right' answer. They are listening for honesty, not wit. When you have answered each of them, you will be dismissed to the Dining Hall for supper, and the next student will take your place. It will be over before you realize it has begun.”
"Once the last student has gone through, the founders themselves deliberate which house you belong to. They do this for each and every one of you, so I will warn you, tonight may be a late night. Most years, the Deliberation lasts an hour, but some have lasted up to five or more." A murmur of unease swept through the cluster of black-robed students.
Headmistress Pryce let the moment stretch, her gaze sweeping the line of nervous faces. Then, softer, she added, “You cannot prepare for this, and you are not meant to. Trust that you are already enough."
The silence that followed was thick, expectant. Then the doors to the Assembly Hall creaked open, and the first name was called.
Headmistress Pryce’s presence was not sharp or commanding but steady, her voice cutting gently through the swell of chatter. She raised her hand for quiet, and slowly, the students hushed, glancing nervously at one another as older students took notice as they moved about, watching with thin smiles that betrayed knowledge the younger ones didn’t yet have. “Welcome to Penwick,” Pryce said, her voice calm but carrying. “You have finally arrived at the beginning of your journey here. And the first step, as it has always been, is to meet our founders.”
A stir rippled through the group. Some straightened, others fidgeted more anxiously, and a few whispered quickly to one another before falling silent again under the headmistress’s gaze.
“You will go alone,” she explained, pointing up the large stairs to one of the doors above, “into the Assembly Hall. There, you will find our four founders above the stage. From left to right they are Griffith Varell, Gerard Mercator, Viviane Floranti, and Pelles Modron. Each one will ask you a question." More than one first-year swallowed hard. "Don't worry, this is not a test; they are not looking for a showcase of knowledge. Sometimes the questions are personal. Sometimes they are strange, more like riddles. Do not trouble yourselves trying to find a clever answer or the 'right' answer. They are listening for honesty, not wit. When you have answered each of them, you will be dismissed to the Dining Hall for supper, and the next student will take your place. It will be over before you realize it has begun.”
"Once the last student has gone through, the founders themselves deliberate which house you belong to. They do this for each and every one of you, so I will warn you, tonight may be a late night. Most years, the Deliberation lasts an hour, but some have lasted up to five or more." A murmur of unease swept through the cluster of black-robed students.
Headmistress Pryce let the moment stretch, her gaze sweeping the line of nervous faces. Then, softer, she added, “You cannot prepare for this, and you are not meant to. Trust that you are already enough."
The silence that followed was thick, expectant. Then the doors to the Assembly Hall creaked open, and the first name was called.
Prepare to meet the founders...
Here are a few guidelines for posting in this thread:
- This is an in-character opportunity to write out your experience being questioned by the four founders. Only incoming students for the 2025-2026 school year may write in this thread.
- Your interview will last no longer than five minutes.
- You are free to write dialogue of the four founders. However, they will not say much other than welcoming you, asking if you are ready, their question, and perhaps a short reaction to your answer.
- You may use the questions asked in our Sorting Quiz HERE, or create your own.
- You are welcome to lightly godmod Headmistress Pryce. She will call your name, and you may say she gave you a smile, a "good luck", or a small word of encouragement.