News SeeD
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THREE DAYS LEFT, AND YOU GET:
SeeD is an elite mercenary organization founded by Cid Kramer, a former soldier and knight from a small village in Ordalia. SeeD began with the establishment of a large academy equipped to house orphans in Balamb and train them according to SeeD's charter. SeeD are skilled mercenaries that operate heavily in the area surrounding Balamb, most of which lacks a strong Imperial military presence save for Galbaldia. SeeD operates in institutions called Gardens which were built using excavated technology provided by NORG, a wealthy member of the elusive Shumi race.
Balamb Garden and its sister institutions in Galbadia and Toroia are practically self-sufficient facilities which require very little external contact to function and thus keep their students from being heavily impacted from outside influences not approved by Garden faculty. What exposure they get is during leave days to visit neighboring towns. In truth, however, what is important about the Gardens is not the facilities themselves as advanced as they may be, but the SeeDs being tended to within.
A SeeD trainee undergoes a varied education and training, typically beginning at some point between the ages of six and ten. Since most candidates for SeeD training are orphans in the care of the Garden, some are given homes with families who register to house them. Even in such cases however education is still handled entirely by the Garden through a series of lectures, drills, and simulations which are regularly updated to optimize students for the changing state of the world.
Unique to the SeeD curriculum is the institution of strenuous combat training which occurs mostly in the 'high school' years of thirteen to seventeen, and involves expeditions into neighboring wilderness to engage fiends and other wild beasts for field experience. Most importantly during this part of training however, is the teaching of "Junctioning"--a classified method unique to SeeDs where an individual forms an ongoing pact with an Esper that grants them the ability to ‘draw’ unique skills from their summon in addition to calling that Esper in a way not dissimilar to some forms of summoning magic. The nature and origin of Junction is a jealously-guarded secret, even among Garden faculty, and some suspect that no-one beyond Headmaster Cid himself actually knows the truth about SeeD's unique talent.
The end course for SeeD candidates revolves around a graduation exam--a low-priority combat operation conducted under the heavy supervision of senior students and instructors. Due to the potentially dangerous nature of these exams obedience to one's superiors is vital, and several otherwise exceptional students have failed their tests simply due to recklessness and inability to follow orders. Those who do not pass are given opportunities to retake the exam at a later date. Those who succeed become full fledged SeeDs and begin operating as mercenaries on behalf of the Garden, receiving room and board if they so desire as well as additional pay based on their operations. Due to their small number and relative lack of interference, the Empire has not officially moved in opposition to the SeeDs--officially they have mostly been viewed with skepticism as a group of 'backwater soldiers' who could not possibly be a threat to similar mercenary forces or Imperial military strength. However, growing rumors of SeeD forming a contract with the Wild Rose Rebellion has caused alarm within the intelligence community, as have suspected actions against Galbadia.
In terms of characters, SeeD FCs and OCs will typically be in their late teens to early twenties, with a few deviants who are prodigies, older students, and graduates still residing at the Garden. Almost all ‘true’ SeeDs will have been trained at Balamb or Toroia/Trabia Garden, at least at some point, since Galbadia Garden no longer offers Junction training due to high-rate of conscription of graduates into the Galbadian military. Mechanically, a SeeD character will be trained in a particular class with a personal list influenced by their ‘Guardian Force’ (Esper). This gives them access to a single Caller spell as one of their personal abilities as well as some justification for other personal abilities to fit a particular ‘theme’ of knowledge drawn from their junctioned Esper. Unfortunately, this endowment of knowledge is, as mentioned, a pact, and thus comes with a price. Most commonly SeeDs suffer from some degree of memory loss after extended exposure to a junctioned Esper, many times forgetting childhood memories from before they entered Garden. The specifics of a SeeD character’s ‘tribute’ to their Esper, however, is up to the player who is encouraged to make mention of it in their app and possibly discuss drastic losses with a charstaffer.
THREE DAYS LEFT, AND YOU GET:
SeeD is an elite mercenary organization founded by Cid Kramer, a former soldier and knight from a small village in Ordalia. SeeD began with the establishment of a large academy equipped to house orphans in Balamb and train them according to SeeD's charter. SeeD are skilled mercenaries that operate heavily in the area surrounding Balamb, most of which lacks a strong Imperial military presence save for Galbaldia. SeeD operates in institutions called Gardens which were built using excavated technology provided by NORG, a wealthy member of the elusive Shumi race.
Balamb Garden and its sister institutions in Galbadia and Toroia are practically self-sufficient facilities which require very little external contact to function and thus keep their students from being heavily impacted from outside influences not approved by Garden faculty. What exposure they get is during leave days to visit neighboring towns. In truth, however, what is important about the Gardens is not the facilities themselves as advanced as they may be, but the SeeDs being tended to within.
A SeeD trainee undergoes a varied education and training, typically beginning at some point between the ages of six and ten. Since most candidates for SeeD training are orphans in the care of the Garden, some are given homes with families who register to house them. Even in such cases however education is still handled entirely by the Garden through a series of lectures, drills, and simulations which are regularly updated to optimize students for the changing state of the world.
Unique to the SeeD curriculum is the institution of strenuous combat training which occurs mostly in the 'high school' years of thirteen to seventeen, and involves expeditions into neighboring wilderness to engage fiends and other wild beasts for field experience. Most importantly during this part of training however, is the teaching of "Junctioning"--a classified method unique to SeeDs where an individual forms an ongoing pact with an Esper that grants them the ability to ‘draw’ unique skills from their summon in addition to calling that Esper in a way not dissimilar to some forms of summoning magic. The nature and origin of Junction is a jealously-guarded secret, even among Garden faculty, and some suspect that no-one beyond Headmaster Cid himself actually knows the truth about SeeD's unique talent.
The end course for SeeD candidates revolves around a graduation exam--a low-priority combat operation conducted under the heavy supervision of senior students and instructors. Due to the potentially dangerous nature of these exams obedience to one's superiors is vital, and several otherwise exceptional students have failed their tests simply due to recklessness and inability to follow orders. Those who do not pass are given opportunities to retake the exam at a later date. Those who succeed become full fledged SeeDs and begin operating as mercenaries on behalf of the Garden, receiving room and board if they so desire as well as additional pay based on their operations. Due to their small number and relative lack of interference, the Empire has not officially moved in opposition to the SeeDs--officially they have mostly been viewed with skepticism as a group of 'backwater soldiers' who could not possibly be a threat to similar mercenary forces or Imperial military strength. However, growing rumors of SeeD forming a contract with the Wild Rose Rebellion has caused alarm within the intelligence community, as have suspected actions against Galbadia.
In terms of characters, SeeD FCs and OCs will typically be in their late teens to early twenties, with a few deviants who are prodigies, older students, and graduates still residing at the Garden. Almost all ‘true’ SeeDs will have been trained at Balamb or Toroia/Trabia Garden, at least at some point, since Galbadia Garden no longer offers Junction training due to high-rate of conscription of graduates into the Galbadian military. Mechanically, a SeeD character will be trained in a particular class with a personal list influenced by their ‘Guardian Force’ (Esper). This gives them access to a single Caller spell as one of their personal abilities as well as some justification for other personal abilities to fit a particular ‘theme’ of knowledge drawn from their junctioned Esper. Unfortunately, this endowment of knowledge is, as mentioned, a pact, and thus comes with a price. Most commonly SeeDs suffer from some degree of memory loss after extended exposure to a junctioned Esper, many times forgetting childhood memories from before they entered Garden. The specifics of a SeeD character’s ‘tribute’ to their Esper, however, is up to the player who is encouraged to make mention of it in their app and possibly discuss drastic losses with a charstaffer.