5-032: Vizierate Interview Room
You wrote via email:
I’mcurious about Oliver’s education. I’ve read the list but I’m unsure how far hegot before he decided to bail. Would he have had to already picked vizierate orlegion and be attending a specific academy, or was there an academy he couldattend where he wasn’t sure which he would end up in?
I responded, but amend that response slightly following some research:
It would be common that Oliver would have gone to Military or Vizierate Academy had that been his intended path. However, plenty of people go through Higher Education and join one of the services later.
Based on Oliver’s history I imagined him going all the way through the Common Stream then switching to Higher Education and achieving a HE Certificate (equivalent to a contemporary undergraduate degree). Although he might have an AHE Certificate if he worked his ass off. Based on his skills it looks like he studied computing and computer security. I assumed he’d added to his skills through self study and practical education as a novice cyberterrorist.
GURPS rules say 200 hours of formal study equals one skill point. By my reckoning that makes most undergraduate (Dominion Higher Education) degrees worth between 10 to 16 skill points in one or a cluster of related skills, with 12 being typical. A Masters (Dominion Advanced Higher Education) would typically be a further 6 to 12 skill points. I originally said I thought Oliver was too young to have an AHE Certificate but he might have if he worked hard. He’s older than I remembered but I think that’s correct. He has 14 points in computer-related skills (15 if we add a minor in Psychology) so a HE Certificate with some subsequent real-world learning plus development of his dodgy thief skills after formal education feels right.
You are, of course, free to say he did whatever. From having his AHE Certificate to leaving school early (probably after the Common Stream) and being completely self-taught.
He definitely got his higher education. There was all intention to join a branch, he was undecided mostly due to his mother. He felt more suited for vizierate work but wanted to make his mother happy by joining the legion.
He would have worked quite hard as his mother drove him to be hard working while he was naturally gifted with his brains.
I’ll say, if that’s alright, that he has his AHE.
But he will respond. “It was decided for me, by members of the vizierate.” This is a ‘certain point of view’ statement. He’s saying that based on the information he found, those corrupt people he found out about decided it for him. Just incase there’s some sort of check she or I need to make as this is technically a lie, I suppose.