#fanschool lore

[walpurga-nacht-academy]

WNA School Clubs

Ancient Languages Club: A club which focuses on helping members perfect their language skills. Activities include study of manuscripts and their translations, teaching the basics of transcriptions and practicing conversational skills. 

Animal Languages Club: It is a club which focuses on helping students perfect their animal language skills by providing ample opportunities to put them into practice. The students are able to test their skills on a variety of animals and creatures that live on or near the school campus. 

Club members participate every year in the “Twisted Wonderland Animal Language Speech Competition”, having more often than not won it.  

Archery Club: An athletic club which teaches students how to properly handle and shoot a bow, as well providing them with competitive and recreational shooting. 

Art Club: A cultural club which provides students with the opportunity to hone their artistic skills and learn about the history of art. Students from this club are often responsible for designing pamphlets or banners for the dormitories’ use during Samhain Night. 

Basketball Club: An athletic club where students learn how to play basketball, and are able to practice it among themselves. The club participates in inter-school competitions against other all-girls teams. 

Broom Racing Club: An athletic club where students learn how to properly manage a broom and fly competitively. It is the largest athletics club in the school, and one of the best when it comes to national rankings, with WNA producing a number of the best broom racers in history. 

Choir: A cultural club where students organize monthly performances for the Saturday night school meetings, as well as Samhain Night concert. The club is also in charge of providing vocals during the Inter-School Magift Tournament cheering performance, and thus many members of this club are on the Cheer committee. 

Computer Club: One of the more recent clubs, established at the request of Grimmaire students who wish to modernize the library system of their dorm. It is as a result one of the smaller clubs in the school.

Cooking Club: A club which focuses on helping students improve their culinary skills, as well as learn a deeper appreciation for the different cooking styles and dishes that are found throughout Twisted Wonderland. 

Debate Club: One of the oldest and more established clubs, it focuses on teaching students the oratory skills they might require in a future career. The club is well-known for being one of the best on a high school level and keeps students informed of the current social and political issues. 

History Club: A club which focuses on promoting awareness of important historical events, as well as a study of cultures and how they changed and evolved throughout the years. 

Horseback Riding Club: A club which allows students to take weekly riding lessons, where they have the opportunity to care for horses. It is also known for its involvement in inter-school competitions and national horse shows. 

Literature Club: A club which focuses on teaching students the interpretation skills they need when discussing a literary text, as well as attempting to familiarize students with a variety of genres and literary movements. 

Magical Shift Club: An athletic club which focuses on teaching students the rules of Magical Shift. It is eclipsed in popularity by the Broom Racing Club, and as a result it leads to clashes between club members. The club is too small to be taken into consideration for inter-school competitions and thus members usually limit themselves to discussing game strategies and playoffs. 

Martial Arts Club: A club which focuses on teaching students self-defense techniques and a variety of hand-to-hand combat styles. 

Music Club: A club which focuses on allowing students to learn how to play a variety of instruments. Much like students part of the Choir, members of this club are heavily involved in the Cheer committee, often being in charge of accompanying their group with taiko drums. 

Students of this club are also chosen yearly to perform on the hang drum during the Danse Macabre.   

Newspaper Club: A club designed to help students develop skills in journalism. It is the club in charge of producing the school newspaper and many of its students are also on the Broadcasting committee. 

Photography Club: A club which focuses on teaching students the technical skills of photography, as well as study and critiques each other’s works. Students from this club are also responsible for taking pictures for the yearbook as well as during other school events, excepting the Spring Debutante Ball. 

Science Club: A club which focuses on providing activities for students who are interested in involving themselves in fun and engaging scientific investigations. 

Tea Appreciation Club: A club which focuses on teaching students about the history of tea and its production process, as well as engaging in a variety of ceremonial rituals or experimenting with different blends. 

Tennis Club: An athletic club intended for teaching students the rules of tennis and providing them with opportunities for recreational practices and competitive plays. 

Volleyball Club: A club designed for volleyball players of all skills levels to learn about the rules of volleyball and practice it recreationally or competitively. 

Committees

Animal Care: Members of this committee are tasked with ensuring that the animals on school grounds are taken care of and looked after on a daily basis. It is of extreme importance for the students to ensure that they are all in good health and satisfied with their living conditions.

Broadcasting: Members of this committee are in charge of the school’s broadcasting system used to make announcements or to act as presenters during school events. 

Cheer: This particular committee is tasked with ensuring that students and the Prefects who participate in the cheering section set up for Inter-School Magift Tournament are prepared for their roles. It usually meets two months in advance on a weekly basis to go over the details and plans.

Discipline: A committee which ensures that the school rules are followed by holding students accountable for their actions.

Health: A committee which is tasked with promoting among the student body the advantages of a healthy lifestyle and bringing awareness to possible issues that arise from overusing magic. Members of this committee offer instruction on how to prevent Overblotting and dealing with fatigue.

Library: Members of this committee are tasked with ensuring that the school library system is working properly, and with maintaining the state of the books in their care. 

Physical Education: This committee is responsible for organizing the October Broom Relay Race, as well as any sports activity the students might be participating in.  

[walpurga-nacht-academy]

The Witch Dances

It is said that during the annual gatherings of the eight witches on the Bald Mountain where they would swear obedience to their Master, they would engage in dancing and loud partying for his amusement. They would usually follow the format of a circle dance, the witches coming together around a bonfire, and overcome by frenzy became enticed to spin and sway to unheard melodies among demons and spirits. These dances could and usually did go on throughout the entire night until the break of day. Their laughter and yelps could be heard from the base of the mountain and villagers of Brocken would often be tempted to join them in their revelry. However, this was considered unwise as the dancing was sacred to the witches themselves, and any man caught spying would be immediately struck mad.    

Nowadays, the dances are performed as an homage to the memory of the eight illustrious figures whose teaching inspired the formation of the dorms. Taking place a week before the Sorting ceremony, students who passed the admission exam are invited to attend a ceremony known as the Witch Dances. Its purpose is to help the young girls about to enter Walpurga Nacht decide which particular dorm they might find most helpful for their studies based on its presentation by the Prefects. 

Danse Macabre

Opening the Witch Dances at dusk is an event known as the “Danse Macabre”. In the venue which takes the form of a theatron (ancient Greek theater), a group of twelve students are gathered in the middle around a bonfire that is burning brightly. Dressed in red, loose dresses the girls also wear masks that resemble various animals, among the most common being pigs, wolves and goats. Around them, at a fair distance, is another group of nine girls clad in black and seated down with hangs in their laps or tambourines in their hands. The girls around the bonfire hold hands and as the others students begin to play their instruments start to dance in a circle around the bonfire. The dance is wild and unstructured, accompanied by chanting and punctuated by yelps and shouts as the students twirl and move to the rhythm of the music. The red clothing makes it seem like they are blending in with the fire itself, and the animal masks create a grotesque image of madness and devilry. 

The purpose of this dance is two-fold: to recreate what the atmosphere on the night where the eight witches met on the Bald Mountain must have felt like and to acknowledge the sacred nature of this event. Though information about the witches is scarce, it is said that the eight of them came from very different walks of life based on the textual evidence left behind by their grimoires. The fact that they would assemble each year and treat each other as equals was proof of their respect for each other. The twelve girls dancing around the first are said to represent the months of the year, and the number nine is considered a cursed one but also has connotations of power. 

As a result the twelve dancing girls are girls chosen for the month of their birth, at random, from among the second, third and fourth years. It reinforces the idea that no matter the girl they are all witches at their core. The nine instrumentalists are all chosen from among the music club. The girls usually prepare for this event before the end of the previous school year, after the Prefects for the next year are announced.

The Prefects’ Dances

Once the Danse Macabre is over, all that remains on the stage is a ring of scorch marks and footsteps. What follows is a short speech given by the Headmistress of the school regarding the legends of the eight witches and their teachings, before introducing the Prefects at the start of their performances to the audience.

What follows afterwards are the presentations for the eight dorms according to what the respective Prefect thinks are its most important features. Traditionally, Rosenhex has always had a focus on their mastery of enchantments and charms, either bringing constructions to life or asking for volunteers from the audience in order to cast a charm on them. Grimmaire takes a more methodical approach and almost simulates a classroom lecture, as the Prefect rattles off the many spell compositions and steps to be undertaken when casting. Kriegskald’s performances have usually been focused on showing off their newest creations and mechanisms, or bolder Prefects have gone ahead and attempted to recreate them on stage. Galdtrea’s performances are often cited as lacklustre as there are only so many ways one can talk about and present a collection of herbs and plants. Monarchia presentations are turned usually into a monster show, where tamed beasts are brought to show the audience their various tricks and abilities. Oraluna has focused mainly on showcasing its divination talents and fortune telling by asking for volunteers from the audience. Eliksia has always done a live demonstration of how their alchemical concoctions might be used or what their effect might be, with the Prefect explaining the process. While Noctasis has remained rather controversial with its exhibitions of mummified corpses and pickled organs to this day.

The Danse Macabre portion is allocated thirty minutes, and is followed by a short intermission of fifteen minutes. The Headmistress’ speech is usually an hour and a half, followed also by an intermission. Each Prefect is given 50 minutes to perform their ‘dance’ and it is up to them how they use it. While the dancing witches must wear red and animal masks, and the singing witches must wear black, the Prefects are allowed to dress in any manner they consider fitting. Some may order customized costumes, while others may choose to don the school’s Ceremony Dress. The only request is that whatever clothing they wear, it must remain in the limits of public decency.   

The Witch Dances are not traditionally televised, this being seen as a breach of privacy, however this year, at the request of Prefect Rosalia Morgainne, the school has allowed her manager to livestream the eight performances. It was considered inappropriate for the Danse Macabre to be caught on camera, and the manager considered the Headmistress’ speech irrelevant to the PR campaign he was undertaking. 

Notes: The idea for the Witch Dances comes from several sources. First there is the Disney animated short “Night on the Bald Mountain” where spirits and demons dance for Chernabog’s amusement in infernal fire. The image of the three masks (pig, wolf, goat) correspond to the three animals that appear during a scene in the short. The red dresses are an allusion to the Fire Women that also appear there. Second, there is the image of Walpurgisnacht as shown in Goethe’s Faust, where witches and warlocks dance together on top of the Harz Mountains. Another reference is made to the Iele, which are beings in Romanian folklore who are said to dance so beautifully it drives men mad. The name ‘Danse Macabre’ refers to the artistic allegory on the universality of death: regardless of one’s station in life, death comes for all.

[walpurga-nacht-academy]

Does the school have dorm uniforms?

Hello, Nonnie! Thank you for the ask! ❤️

WNA doesn’t actually have dorm uniforms! Unlike NRC which was founded on the ideals of the Great Seven, WNA was founded on the teachings of the eight witches who worshipped eight deities. Very little is known about the actual figures themselves, so the school focuses on the texts left behind rather than the persons themselves. This is reflected in the way the academy is very academically inclined, and would consider dorm uniforms a frivolous affair. 

The closest the school comes to having dorm uniforms is the different coloured skirts that helps differentiate students among themselves. Though even that is done because they need to keep an eye on their competition. It functions as a warning basically.

This is actually one of the reasons the girls enjoy visiting NRC, and their dorm uniforms are quite popular among the female population.  

[silent-dragon]

Shroomside's Staff

That I am making others could if want to

Josephine Goni - Principle & Language Arts Teacher(Temp)

Twist of Shadow Queen & Peach from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Ethan Crow - Magic Science Teacher

Twist of a Boo from Super Mario Series

Nimue Pandora - Magical Telekinesis Teacher

Twist of Cia from Hyrule Warriors

Kavogoln "Sir Red" - P.E. Teacher

Twist of Ganondorf from Ocarina of Time

Jane Sealeaf - Magic History Teacher

Twist of Captain Syrup from Wario Land 4

Mason Chain - Head Cafeteria Cook

Twist of Wolf Link from Twilight Princess

More subjects/positions exist but will have no named/npcs til someone may want to make oc