“Hope is a fickle, dangerous thing. It steals your focus and aims it towards the possibilities instead of keeping it where it belongs - on the probabilities.”  - Xaden Riorson, Chapter 10, Page 130

Congratulations! You have just survived the first test on your path to becoming a dragon rider. The parapet took its first lives, shrinking the number of new cadets from 200 to 170. Unfortunately, in the end, only 120 dragons shall be willing to bond with fresh cadets and, even then, danger is far from over. Your first year contains many tests in which your every skill will be evaluated. In fact, it is quite likely that not everyone will survive to see the Threshing day.

If only the tests preceeding Threshing were your sole worry, but no: The dangers of this new quest are vast. In Basgiath, especially as a first year, you cannot trust anyone. There is a lot of scheming to get rid of the weak links in the squads and there is an ongoing drama and confrontation between the children of the rebellion and those not bearing rebel blood. 

You will have academic classes where you will be taught more about signets, shields and magic, battle brief, physical training and dragons. Each course has their assigned professor, who is responsible for managing their own area of expertise. In class, squad-, section-, and wingleaders shall be following and evaluating you, and sometimes you might even battle against them on the fighting mats.

✦ WHERE THE GAME BEGINS ✦

In the honour of your survival of the Parapet, a casual event is held in the courtyard in celebration of the new cadets. It is also possible for the professors and senior students to attend and meet the fresh students. It’s the perfect opportunity to start forming possible alliances and search out the possible weak links, who could be a liability to your squad and thus require swift elimination. At the end of the event, the new students will be divided into their new squads.