4th of Spring, 515 AV
The sun began to rise on a crisp and chilly spring morning. As it rose, streaks of orange and red could be seen filtering out through the clouds as the ever-growing rays of sunlight touched upon the surrounding landscape, like overstretched arms enveloping the surrounding area. Claudia woke up early today. She had something interesting in mind to do today. She had an arranged sparring with her friend and fellow squire, Alexander Ross in the Antinous Training Grounds. They would be duelling with longswords, trying to increase their competency in the art of the weapon, while being clad in heavy plate armour. She had also planned on bringing along her shield for some practice. Gods know, she sure needed the practice.
The grounds were located on the eastern part of the first tier of the city. Claudia heard from the many fabled-stories that long ago, like a hundred and fifty years long ago, the area that she was standing in right now, the Training Grounds, was just the roof of the Dryes district. That was all it was. It was only thanks to Weapons Master Lucius Antinous's ingenious idea of refitting the roof to serve the Order's training purposes, that the entire Syliran order had a place to train in today. After a full year of planning and construction, it was finally ready to be used. She had always been fascinated by the story of the conversion of such a place, and how space could be achieved from thinking out-of-the-box. What a genius the man was. She was not in the least surprised that the man was as respected as he was, when he had feats as amazing as this.
Claudia walked into the grounds, with her longsword jiggling in its sheath at her hips. On her right arm, she carried with her with her large steel shield. Taking a deep breath, she breathed in the refreshing morning air. Feeling reinvigorated by the refreshing chilly air, she exhaled, letting out a satisfying sigh. Upon arriving on their meeting location, she discovered that she must have been early, for there was no one there in the grounds but her. Most of the other squires must either still be sleeping, or carrying out other errands.
Taking this as an opportunity to explore the grounds, she walked around the area, observing the many various parts of the Training Grounds. She saw a variety of terrain that was constructed to provide help to the squires and knights in their exercises to aid their training. There were mock-hallways used to practice their skill of close quarters combat, with huge boulders and debris placed among other wreckage one must traverse, as somewhat of an obstacle course.
Moving on to another area, she saw a small grove of trees that was specially cultivated to form a wooded environment for the knights and squires to train in. Fighting in wooded territory, was a common situation, they would find themselves in, and so they would need to get themselves familiar with the terrain and territory. Turning around to survey what she could see of the area, she noticed that a vast majority of the grounds was in open air, leaving any of those who trained exposed to the elements. Wind, rain, snow, sun, you name it, they would be exposed to it. There weren't even many trees around except for the small grove, she passed on earlier. She swivelled around, walking back to their intended meeting location. It was nearing their appointment time, and her friend and fellow squire, Alexander should be there soon enough. She took quick strides across the field, making good time, hoping to reach before Alex would arrive. It would be embarrassing to arrive first, only to be late in the end.
The sun began to rise on a crisp and chilly spring morning. As it rose, streaks of orange and red could be seen filtering out through the clouds as the ever-growing rays of sunlight touched upon the surrounding landscape, like overstretched arms enveloping the surrounding area. Claudia woke up early today. She had something interesting in mind to do today. She had an arranged sparring with her friend and fellow squire, Alexander Ross in the Antinous Training Grounds. They would be duelling with longswords, trying to increase their competency in the art of the weapon, while being clad in heavy plate armour. She had also planned on bringing along her shield for some practice. Gods know, she sure needed the practice.
The grounds were located on the eastern part of the first tier of the city. Claudia heard from the many fabled-stories that long ago, like a hundred and fifty years long ago, the area that she was standing in right now, the Training Grounds, was just the roof of the Dryes district. That was all it was. It was only thanks to Weapons Master Lucius Antinous's ingenious idea of refitting the roof to serve the Order's training purposes, that the entire Syliran order had a place to train in today. After a full year of planning and construction, it was finally ready to be used. She had always been fascinated by the story of the conversion of such a place, and how space could be achieved from thinking out-of-the-box. What a genius the man was. She was not in the least surprised that the man was as respected as he was, when he had feats as amazing as this.
Claudia walked into the grounds, with her longsword jiggling in its sheath at her hips. On her right arm, she carried with her with her large steel shield. Taking a deep breath, she breathed in the refreshing morning air. Feeling reinvigorated by the refreshing chilly air, she exhaled, letting out a satisfying sigh. Upon arriving on their meeting location, she discovered that she must have been early, for there was no one there in the grounds but her. Most of the other squires must either still be sleeping, or carrying out other errands.
Taking this as an opportunity to explore the grounds, she walked around the area, observing the many various parts of the Training Grounds. She saw a variety of terrain that was constructed to provide help to the squires and knights in their exercises to aid their training. There were mock-hallways used to practice their skill of close quarters combat, with huge boulders and debris placed among other wreckage one must traverse, as somewhat of an obstacle course.
Moving on to another area, she saw a small grove of trees that was specially cultivated to form a wooded environment for the knights and squires to train in. Fighting in wooded territory, was a common situation, they would find themselves in, and so they would need to get themselves familiar with the terrain and territory. Turning around to survey what she could see of the area, she noticed that a vast majority of the grounds was in open air, leaving any of those who trained exposed to the elements. Wind, rain, snow, sun, you name it, they would be exposed to it. There weren't even many trees around except for the small grove, she passed on earlier. She swivelled around, walking back to their intended meeting location. It was nearing their appointment time, and her friend and fellow squire, Alexander should be there soon enough. She took quick strides across the field, making good time, hoping to reach before Alex would arrive. It would be embarrassing to arrive first, only to be late in the end.
