I've been thinking a lot about different education models lately, both because my son is approaching two and because I'm going back to work in a couple of months. The last two years have really changed how I think about education and public school, and writing fiction is one way I process different mental paradigms. During National Novel Writing Month I considered trying to write a boarding school story in the Verraine universe. I realized that parenthood has made it difficult for me to write a story about sending a pre-pubescent child off to a school to get lectured at with limited supervision and sporadic contact with home. I tried to imagine a "magic school" setting aligned with educational and parenting principles that I actually agreed with, but still had enough drama and conflict and excitement to carry a story and realized halfway through the brainstorming that Naomi Novik had already done a brilliant job of it. Check out _A Deadly Education_ if you have a high tolerance for brutal cliffhangers, because it's excellent. Of course, just because one author has says something similar to what I want to say doesn't mean that I can't put my own spin on things, and I intend to: [[2021-12-01 The Black Stones of Sanctuary (FF)]] is perhaps one of the few stories I write that count as a "power fantasy" in that it represents everything some very specific emotions I have about protecting children I have taught. It's not my most polished work, but it's from the heart in a way that honestly few things I write are. Speaking of polished, the ambiance of the Tal and the Collegium is modeled on a weird thing I stumbled across in my reading: the architecture of 10 Downing Street. For readers who (like me) tend not to keep up with British politics, it's a where the Prime Minister lives and has his offices. It's probably comparable to America's White House, except more like a townhouse than a mansion. It was (shoddily) built by a complete scoundrel in the late 1600s. Sometime during the 1730s King George II tried to give it to his treasurer, but Sir Robert politely declined by asking him to make it the official residence of anyone who wound up with his position; he was basically the king's Prime Minister. 10 Downing Street eventually developed into a center of government in the 1800s. They almost demolished it because of all the gambling dens and gin parlors and brothels springing up in the surrounding area. During industrialization it acquired a truly heinous coating of soot and other gunk. The grime was so bad that when they finally cleaned it and did some restorations, people were so startled by the cheerful yellow stonework the government wound up painting it black to get people to stop complaining. The Tallan Collegium was created as a safe haven for mages after a pretty nasty war during which the Cult of Valor tried to control or exterminate anyone with magic abilities. The Cult was able to spread because many people _would_ like to see mages exterminated. Mages tend to have a lot of individual destructive power, but at this time in Verraine's history are relatively rare, which makes them vulnerable. The glittering black tower, with its clean edges and pristine appearance, represents a compromise between flaunting their power and allowing people to forget that they _do_ have power. Just because they _could_ keep a white or golden building standing tall and bright doesn't mean that such an act would be wise. ## Further Reading - Here's the [official history of 10 Downing Street](https://www.gov.uk/government/history/10-downing-street).