There are few people in this world who know the true nature of schools. To them, schools are merely institutions of education, where children are taught the necessary skills in order to become productive members of society. On some level, this is the main function of schools, but there is a darker purpose behind it all. The true purpose of schools is to suck the individuality out of every single student. Society does not want individuals; it wants cogs to fit into the machines. Conforming, obedient cogs who would only answer to their master’s beck and call.
Teachers are the ones charged with the duty of draining any form of self out of their students. They use many means to do this: monotonous lessons, tedious tests, and a disinterest so obvious that even the most gung-ho of students will simply stop caring. Yes, there are some teachers who would fight this corrupt system, but their efforts, though valiant, often come too little too late, and bright personalities are crushed into nothingness.
There were some teachers, though, that took their duty more than seriously. They made it their goal to crush the spirits of all students who came under their tutelage. Yet despite their best efforts, there were a few students who managed to retain their own will. Enraged by these failures, the teachers sought other means to break their students wills.
And so, using arcane knowledge now lost to history, a secret order of teachers began construction of an artefact to carry out their goal. Taking a stone from what was once Mesopotamia, the birthplace of schools, they somehow imbued it with the power to drain the individuality from a student, and somehow change that energy to grant the user of the stone strange and terrifying powers. The teachers called their artefact the Scholars Stone.
The Stone was passed on from teacher to teacher, school to school, all throughout history. From the sands of Egypt to the fertile lands of England, the stone passed behind the scenes where it was used against students who would not give up their identities.
The Stone eventually passed from the Old World to the New, where it was used with just as much, of not more success. Unfortunately for the teachers, the Scholars Stone, which for so long had been their greatest strength, would soon become their greatest weakness.
A group of teachers, disgusted by their colleagues joy at crushing their students, took a stand against their corrupt compatriots. In a battle waged behind closed doors, teacher fought teacher to decide the fate of all students. In the end, the teachers in possession of the stone won the war, but it had cost them dearly. In the final battle, the Stone was used to drive the good teachers back, but the power drain on the Stone was too great, and it had all but lost its powers. In the confusion of battle, the corrupt teachers managed to convince their foe that the stone had been destroyed, and the good teachers celebrated their victory.
A victory that was completely and utterly false.
The Stone was taken to a secret location, hidden away from all teachers, hidden until such a time as it regained its powers, and a teacher strong enough to wield it came along.
Centuries passed and the Stone faded into legend, until it was nothing more than a tale to give new teachers something to think about as their students ran wild.
But some teachers paid closer attention to the legends. They knew them to be more than fanciful tales. They began to search for the Scholars Stone.
And one dark day, they found it…
