Worldsetting

"it's like, you know, faux victorian"

Sinfonia takes place in a fictional worldetting called Hymnia, which I use for a lot of my other works and characters (those who know my characters more might have noticed characters like Oskar, Henri, Harmonia, Marion and Njal are from the same world, just from different times and countries). I have intentionally kept the maps of the world as well as the country names very vague, partially because it's a lot of work I don't necessarily need to tackle right now, partially because I like to take my time to develop world through the characters I have. That being said, the world is very similar to ours and a lot of the countries have direct inspirations from the real world: the country of Niebroy has been directly inspired by Russia and the eastern border of Finland, while the country where Sinfonia takes place in draws its inspiration from some of the European countries, mainly UK, France and Germany. Likewise Sinfonia's time period could be placed somewhere late 1800s or early 1900s, but there are differences such as the distribution and accessibility of electricity that don't follow our world's history. There are also different fauna and flora such as glowing flowers people use as lamps in places where fire is dangerous (such as wooden buildings that are fast to ignite) - little things like that.

The major difference is that this world is directly linked to the realm of demons, and demons have been acknowledged to be part of the history - there used to be many coexisting with humans, but they have been thought to have died out by now. This, of course, isn't true, but demons mostly do prefer their own realm for a long while, until in the far future they make their comeback. This results in people not really believing in paranormal as they're convinced it's all gone now and strictly a part of the history, but it's acknowledged the world indeed was a tiny bit more mysterious during the ancient times, in some places for even longer than that. Most people can't see ghost much less true spirits, but those who are sensitive to the spirit world do exist, and within the context of this world their experiences are also perfectly real. 

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[Lottenberg Academy]

"Knowledge to protect"

Lottenberg Academy refers to both the middle and high school buildings of the school premises. Lottenberg was built during a time when a war was at hand, and as such multiple different escape tunnels were built into it to protect not only the students, but other townspeople as well were they come to seek for shelter. Nowadays Lottenberg is renowned for its beautiful location; the nature nearby and the refreshing air coming from the faraway mountains. Especially the high school is nowadays known for its piano teachers, and many musically gifted boys from nearby locations want to apply there. 

Lottenberg is a private, all-male boarding school. The cost of the school and housing makes sure majority of the students attending are from well-off families, and as such the amount of applications to the school hardly ever exceeds the limits. 

The high school building resides a walking distance away from the middle school premises. Although many high schoolers tend to walk through the middle school grounds to get to the city faster, the road and gate to the high school resides on the other side of the campus area, thus making the distance longer when traveling by a carriage. 

Majority of the Lottenberg Academy introduced in this section refers to the middle school building. ​

The prefects' room

School prefects have their very own room in the main building of the school: fancily decorated with soft cushions and fine paintings, this is both a hangout for prefects during the school hours, as well as a place where they hold their meetings and work on any possible projects they have. This is considered the second best room in the entirety of the old school building, only losing to the principal's office whose grandeur interior was mostly decorated by the current principal. Only prefects and teachers are allowed to come into this room, and most students have never actually seen what it looks like inside this meeting room. 

Prefects tend to get leftover desserts from the kitchen, and after teachers are done reading the day's paper it's directly taken to the prefect room next, where each prefect can read in turns until finally the paper is given to the students. Another prefect privilege is the fact they don't necessarily need to spend recesses outside like the others, as long as they stay inside the prefects' room. 
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Prefects themselves are responsible of holding school events, addressing students' worries and concerns and working as a communication link between the students and the teachers. Prefects are generally very respected among those who attend the school, and simply by holding the title and trademark ruffle collar of the prefect gives you some power over other students. As such, their commands are generally listened to, and they tend to be the ones who make sure common rooms are emptied when the night falls and that everyone is in their rooms and ready to sleep. Teachers usually check up on the first years after prefects finish their job, but for second and especially third years the prefects are trusted with this task entirely. ​

Dormitories

The dormitory building is made of wood to ensure it stays warm during winters, and was also built well after the main school building. Dormitories are where the students of the boarding school live, and where majority of their after school socializing tends to take place. 

There are five floors: the basement where the showers are, the ground floor where first years live, second floor is for second years, third floor for third years and fourth floor for special rooms. The vice principal Victor Courtenay also lives on the ground floor with the first years: the newest teacher is always put in charge of the students in dormitories, and as a newcomer this job fell on him. Depending on how many students there are in each year group there is a chance there will be boys of one age group on two different floors, but usually this is not the case, and each group has their very own floor.

The fourth floor is precisely for situations where the three first floors for students are full, but most of the time this is not the case. Instead students who need special arrangements regarding their rooming are usually put there, as well as the more wealthy kids who want a room all for themselves and can afford it. Claude and Jonathan also live on this floor: Claude supposedly because his flute playing bothered others, Jonathan in turn has his own, currently undisclosed circumstances. Some other notable residents of this floor are a first year student Henri who lives alone because of his supposed nightmare problems, Albert, a boy with partially burnt face, and Marcus, his best friend. 
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Prefects have an important job regarding the dormitories: they take turns to make sure everyone has gone to bed when the nighttime comes. Teachers usually take care of the first year students, but for the most part second and third years are left alone with the assumption they are old enough to understand the rules. 

Common rooms

Each floor has its own common room where students of their respective hallways (and thus usually their year group) gather together. Although there is no real rule that indicates students of different ages aren't allowed to visit other hallways' common rooms, it's an unwritten rule nobody is allowed to go to the common room of older students unless specifically invited. Especially third years with their rather luxurious common room and gramophone are considered those whose invitation matters the most, and many fight for the attention of their oldest seniors in order to get to visit the room.  

First year common room is considered the most ascetic: although it has soft chairs, tables and curtains, there isn't much else in there. Second years' room is similar, but they have a large bookshelf, some paintings and generally a little more sophisticated decoration. Third years have everything the first two have, but their room is clearly the most sophisticated and expensive. They also have a small fireplace. 

Library

The library is shared by the middle school and high school students alike, and is often one of the rare places where the students of each school really get to see each other. However, as library is the place to study and not to chat, the bonding between students must happen outside. A few high school students are traditionally assigned for the library duty each year, ultimately acting as librarians, but sometimes a middle school student can assist in the job as well. This duty is done after school, and the students responsible of this usually arrange days for each other to divide the workload. 

The library has two floors in total, the second floor used mainly as a storage. The building is small but cozy, large bookshelves reaching the ceilings; ladders placed against them to make it easier to reach the books. However, one must be extremely careful as not to fall down - the ladders are not as sturdy as they might initially feel like! 

Abandoned tower

The school building has two towers in total, with the abandoned tower facing the far end of the school yard. Due to its location it's hard if not impossible to hear the school bells ringing from there, and as such it has been left mostly untouched, especially given students only have an access to the place when the school building's doors are open. Even the cleaners don't usually bother visiting the abandoned place, the top of the tower with only one table, an empty vase of flowers and a small window to gather dust. However, among some students there is a rumor about a ghost living in the tower, and every once in a while some courageous students try to go take a look, only to return back empty handed with no ghost sighting whatsoever. Even so, some claim there really is a ghost of an old student haunting the place, and only selected few know when this ghost truly appears. 

Old dorms

Considerably smaller in size compared to the new dorm building, the old dormitories used to be a part of the blueprint of the school building itself. However, the lack of any proper water pumping system combined with the coldness of the rooms eventually made it so that building a new wooden dormitory next to the school building became cheaper than renovating the old ones. Nowadays the old dorms are off-limits from the students, but some sneakier students have found ways to get inside this forbidden area to investigate. Old rooms are mostly filled with old junk that was no longer needed in the school, as well as to store some paperwork away. 

Underground tunnels

The school was built when the country was fearing for a war to break out with another nearby country. As a result the school building contained underground tunnels where the students and the staff could go to hide and seek safety were the school to get attacked or if locals needed shelter. However, this war never came to be and the tunnels were then blocked and marked away from later copies of the blueprints, making it so that even the current principal of the school isn't fully aware of all the single tunnel locations. Underground tunnels are strictly forbidden from entering because there are like a maze for those who don't know what they're getting into, and with the building being old there is a risk of tunnels collapsing. However, just like with the old dorms, some rascals always find ways to them, Leon being particularly well-versed in the way the tunnels work: some claim he knows tunnels even the teachers don't know of, but Leon has never revealed the locations to anyone. 

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Nearby locations

High school building

Built much later than the middle school's building, the high school building is a short walking distance away. Its architecture is much modern and the building naturally newer, having received its large funds thanks to the fame of the middle school building: many of the students wished to continue in nearby schools, and putting a high school building very close was a good way to ensure its popularity. The high school in particular is known for its great piano teachers, and although not a music school, many of those who'd love to pursue after more serious and more personalized studies in playing the instrument apply almost every year. 

High schoolers share their library building with middle schoolers. They're not allowed to visit the dormitories of younger students or vice versa without a permission from a teacher or a professor. Students aren't allowed to loiter around each other's buildings or yards without a good reason. 

Maisier

A friendly and calm town, Maisier has good connections to the nearby city, and so the town is treated almost like the outskirts of the city. Maisier is something of a student town, known for Lottenberg's middle and high school. Maisier is also known for its musicians: many world renowned musicians are originally from Maisier or have studied there, and the idyllic environment also attracts musicians to settle down there. 

The streets of Maisier are peaceful but very lively, filled with the chatter of people and the tunes of music, and during good weather it's hard to find anyone indoors! Tourists are also attraced to the town for its beauty and reputation, and the train station being one of the country's biggest connection stations also ensures a lot of new faces almost every day. 

Train station

Train station is the main way of coming in and out of the town, and most boys use train to travel to home and back. Sadly, however, the railway system doesn't fully cover the whole country, and depending on your location you might have to walk or take a carriage - some of the boys don't use the train at all because it doesn't cover their area.

The station is located near the center of the town with only a small walking distance away, and the sounds of whistles and busy people have become part of the town's very image. Because it's often a busy place and the safety measurements might not always be the greatest, the boys are not allowed to walk around the station without a permission: aside from the dangers of falling down on the tracks, suspicious activity and kidnappings are rare but not unheard of especially during the busiest hours. Of course this doesn't actually stop those who really want to go there, but getting caught means not only detention but also being forbidden to visit the town for a month. For boys who mostly greatly anticipate the biweekly visits, this punishment feels particularly cruel. 

Forest

Despite the fact the school buildings are surrounded by the forest, it's almost strictly off-limits from the students: they're only allowed to play within the area that is inside the fences of the school. Going anywhere past this barrier is strictly forbidden, and to further emphasize this the students are told they can be instantly expelled if they are caught from entering that area. Of course this doesn't stop the most adventurous ones as the old fence does have holes in it that could fit a teenager to go through, but it still keeps majority of the boys away from entering too far into the woods. The forest is vast and large but predators and other animals rarely venture to the school premises due to the fence and the fact the school is very populated and noisy. 
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The forest itself is lush and green, consisting mostly of deciduous trees and giving the forest an almost fairy tale -like atmosphere, and you can see mountains far off in the distance. Despite being off limits there are countless of old paths all across the forest, but loitering too close to the school is not allowed, and anyone who wants to hike or camp within the woods is required to be far away from the school area. There is an old well near the premises, but it's long since dried and abandoned.