Common Name: The Grand Induction
Official Designation: Mana Placement & Integration Trials (MPI Trials)
The Abyssal Hall sits at the absolute center of the Student Residential Ring, a neutral and awe-inspiring space designed to impress, intimidate, and orient new arrivals. Every year, it serves as the stage for the First-Year Ceremony, the defining moment when incoming students are formally introduced to Ossirian Deep, evaluated for mana aptitude, and assigned to their respective houses.
The event is part ritual, part assessment, and part celebration, and it establishes the first bonds, rivalries, and hierarchies that will shape a student’s time in the Deep.
Structure:
A massive spherical dome, hundreds of meters across, constructed from pressure-regulated mana glass reinforced with layered obsidian and conduit-laced steel. The dome maintains a slight negative gravity, allowing objects, flora, and students to drift slowly in controlled arcs.
Interior Aesthetics:
Bioluminescent coral, kelp, and magical plants float freely, casting a soft, undulating glow. The feeling is simultaneously underwater and otherworldly, emphasizing the city’s aquatic nature while signaling the magical environment students are entering.
Grand Table & Mana Vortex:
At the dome’s center hovers the Grand Table @Concord , a circular black-pearl glass platform suspended above a gently rotating mana vortex. This vortex channels ambient mana from the Auric Dome into the chamber, stabilizing floating furniture, adjusting gravity for spectators, and powering demonstration conduits during MPI trials.
Floating Tables & Observation Platforms:
Around the Grand Table, hundreds of smaller floating tables orbit slowly. Faculty, upperclass students, and administrative observers take their places here, forming concentric rings that allow unobstructed views of the ceremony below.
Lighting & Ambiance:
Soft, diffused mana illumination ensures visibility without harsh shadows. Bioluminescent flora reacts subtly to emotion and magical activity, adding a living pulse to the environment.
The First-Year Ceremony has three core functions:
Assessment of Mana Aptitude:
Incoming students undergo the Mana Placement & Integration (MPI) Trials, a series of controlled exercises designed to evaluate their magic type(Basic, Conduit or Natural), magical potential, and compatibility with house philosophies. Trials are observed by the Arcane Regulation Council, house representatives, and senior faculty.
House Assignment:
MPI results, along with prior records and magical tendencies, inform house placement. While rare exceptions exist, students are generally assigned to houses that complement their inherent abilities and personality tendencies.
Community Induction:
The ceremony introduces first-years to the citizen-student culture of Ossirian Deep. They witness the scope of the Commons, interact in controlled ways with upperclass students, and learn their first lessons in civic responsibility, magical ethics, and the gravity of living beneath the Auric Dome.
Arrival and Orientation:
First-years are escorted in small cohorts through the Commons. Upperclass students hover along the transit lanes, greeting newcomers, showing courtesies, and sometimes playfully intimidating them.
Opening Observance:
Once inside Abyssal Hall, students float toward designated arrival platforms, which maintain neutral gravity for orientation. A welcoming address is delivered by the Rector of the Center Circle or a house-appointed representative.
MPI Trials:
Each student performs a series of trials tailored to gauge:
Mana type and strength
Magic affinity
Arcane control and focus
Creative application under pressure
Observers record results via mana sensors, embedded in the hall’s glass and the floating tables, producing real-time analytics for house placement decisions.
House Reveal:
After assessment, students are summoned individually to the Grand Table. The table subtly shifts to reflect the student's mana resonance, and a house sigil projection envelops them briefly as the official announcement is made.
Communal Recognition:
Once all assignments are made, floating tables tilt, signaling the end of the formal trials. First-years are now free to orbit among peers, meet fellow housemates, and participate in light magical exercises to acclimate to Commons life.
Closing Ritual:
The ceremony concludes with the Flowing of the Mana, a symbolic circulation of ambient magic from the dome through the hall, reinforcing the city’s stability and reminding students of their shared responsibility in sustaining the Deep.
The ceremony is deliberately non-competitive, though MPI results are tracked by houses and faculty for academic and social evaluation.
Floating tables and zero-gravity elements teach first-years control and spatial awareness, essential skills in Ossirian Deep.
Bioluminescent flora responds to emotional states, allowing subtle faculty oversight: fear, excitement, or overexertion is visible without intrusive monitoring.
Upperclass students often participate as guides, mentors, or ceremonial assistants, reinforcing house identity and hierarchical structure.
The Abyssal Hall ceremony is the first defining experience for students in Ossirian Deep. It blends:
Academics – testing and gauging potential
Society – introducing communal norms and house identity
Magic – direct exposure to arcane systems and mana flow
Citizenship – first understanding of how personal action contributes to city-wide balance
For first-years, it is a rite of passage, a moment where the fantastical weight of Ossirian Deep becomes undeniable: the floating coral, the bioluminescent glow, the whisper of mana under their fingers—and the knowledge that their life is now permanently tied to the city beneath the ocean.