GAST ACADEMY - Key Persons
Martial Hall: Members of the Martial Hall train in all forms of combat and weapons. Their training fields are located high up in the mountains where the snow is thick and the winds never stop howling.
Wraith Hall: The Wraith Hall teaches members how to commune with the dead and manipulate their spiritual energy. Many of their members can be found at the scene of a fresh murder.
Chanting Hall: The Chanting Hall was created by kavi. They teach their ancient mantras to prospective students, as well as imparting telepathic mastery. Though their numbers are fewest among all the halls, due to the rigorous aptitude test required to get in, a member of the Chanting Hall is invaluable.
Inventors Hall: The Inventors Hall is a research department that has pioneered many breakthroughs in electrical engineering and machinery. Members of this hall can easily be picked out by the grease stains and tools they carry around.
Robin Kelsey (May 26, 665 - November 12, 727) was a retired mercenary from Gast Academy, and father to Kojin Kelsey. Robin was 13 when trade between the Populo Federation and Hafland opened, and he immediately became fascinated with the island, which promised the adventure of a lifetime. When he turned 18, he sailed for Hafland with his best friend, Gabriel Fletcher, and they both enrolled in Gast Academy. Robin entered the Espionage Hall while Gabriel joined the Wraith Hall, and the two friends were ultimately put on a team with Evie Darling of the Panacea Hall. Robin found he had a knack for picking locks, and combined with his natural charisma, he excelled in the Espionage Hall. Robin's team successfully ran missions together for 27 years, unheard of since teams usually lost a member or dissolved entirely by that age.
Robin was a notorious womanizer, a trait that would get him into trouble toward the end of his mercenary career. During one of his flings, he got a minor Zholese noble pregnant. The woman, Alba, died during the birth of their son, leaving him the sole caretaker. With Kojin's birth, Robin made the difficult decision to quit the team and raise the boy on Magna Tellus. Although Gabriel was initially furious with Robin and his sudden resignation, he and Evie eventually realized it was in everyone's best interest-the team was well past their prime, and continuing to take contracts in their advancing ages was asking for trouble.
Unfortunately, an idyllic life with his son wasn't in the cards. Within a couple years he began noticing the first symptoms of creeping death. The mysterious disease took root swiftly and his health decayed rapidly. Robin spent most of his money on medical care, but the best doctors could do was slow it down until his untimely death in 727.
Tatjana Grand (born October 31, 598 FA) is the younger sister of Jure Grand, though the term is relative since she is also a nelapsi, thirteen centuries old. Like her brother, there is no documentation about her true origins, but there is a prevailing theory (refer to Jure's entry to learn more).
Tatjana roamed Slavania with Jure until their separation during the Peasant King's Rebellion. While neither has given a reason for this, one could guess it has to do with Jure's renunciation of human blood, whereas Tatjana still very much prefers the taste of humans and the occasional kavi. Whatever the reason, their animosity toward each other is well-documented, with the siblings coming into direct conflict on many occasions in their long-lived lives.
In 12 AT, as if in response to the founding of Gast Academy, Tatjana founded Dracul Academy. With a nelapsi as the academy's Proconsul, it goes without saying the mercenaries are also vampiric creatures, which has given Dracul Academy a dark reputation. They have no rules for what they will and won't accept, though they have become known as the academy to approach if you need someone killed-no questions asked. Adding to this image are rumors they accept humans as payment to feed their monstrous appetites. Unsurprisingly, both the Populo Federation and Radiant Empire have attempted on numerous occasions to destroy Tatjana's academy, even hiring rival mercenaries to help. None have been successful, as Dracul Academy's location is a closely guarded secret, and those who get too close disappear under mysterious circumstances.