Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-27966940-20170517013010/@comment-25936766-20170704143256

The Academies do seemingly follow a theme of "guidance and protection", if you want to generalize and reduce it as much as possible. However, more specifically, each Kingdom seemingly has a theme for it's internal Academies and Combat Schools.

For example, in Vale we have Signal and Beacon, and both things are....well, signals.

In Mistral we have Sanctum and Haven. Haven is a synonym of Harbor (and, FYI, has no relation to the word Heaven), a place ships can use as shelter. A Sanctum is a sacred place inside a church or temple, which isn't intended to be a shelter, but at times it's been used as such.

So, in Vale the theme is Signals, and in Mistral the theme is Shelters. So if someone wants to make some original Academy present in one of those kingdoms, it's name should follow Signals (for Vale) or Shelters (for Mistral).

So, for example, making a Valesian Academy named "Guardian" fits the apparent theme of the Academies, but not the theme of Vale's Academies. Meanwhile, a name like "Light" or "Smoke" does fit; the former because Lights have been used as Signals, and the latter because of Smoke Signals.

Now, with Vacuo and Atlas it's more complicated. In Vacuo's end we only know the Academy, Shade. For the moment, that implies a theme of either Darkness and Shadows, or something related to blocking light (since Shades are created when you block sunlight).

With Atlas, the kingdom originally was Mantle. Atlas was just the Combat School, and was named Alsius, which later overtook the Kingdom as the nation developed around it. It later got it's name changed to Atlas after the Great War, and seemingly became an Academy in the process (it also means there were Combat Schools before Academies).

The thing is, the whole theme of "Holding the planet over their shoulders" (leaving aside how Atlas was punished with doing so because he didn't side with the Olympians in the Titanomachy), doesn't fit the Academy as much as it fits the entire kingdom.

Atlas has the most advanced tech, from robots to airships, which overshadows the other Kingdoms's tech. It also hosts the SDC, the nº1 Dust-trading company, and Dust is used by everyone for everything. Everyone needs Atlas, as a result. It's like the US.

But now, focusing on the apparent theme as far as the Academy is concerned, that leaves us with only 3 options:

1) Greek Gods, possibly Titans (and Primordial gods like Urano and Gea, who everyone believes are Titans).

2) Entities that suffered heavy punishments.

3) Entities that have very heavy, very important responsibilities and burdens.

Meanwhile, focusing on Atlas's original name, Alsius, we get another theme: Cold, since Alsius is Cold/Chilly in Latin. Which is simpler, unless you want to use a Latin name for it.

Now, all that aside, here's my question: Is there anything that says there are more Academies than just the 4 we know? I recall someone, I think Kerry, saying there were multiple Combat Schools in each Kingdom, but I don't remember anything implying there were more Academies than Beacon, Haven, Shade and Atlas.

And in the case of Atlas, I feel it'd make more sense if it doubled as a Combat School, given it was one originally. Not to mention, in the case of Atlas, the Kingdom grew around said Academy, so why would they even have another one?

Now, I know fan-creations don't need to adhere to canon in everything, but still.