Imperial Acedemy (Questions about Vector specifically)

[AngFour]

I'm not overly familiar with all of the EU, so my questions is this: How old are Imperial children when (if) they go to the academy?

 

 

I ask specifically because of Vector. According to his Codex, he's 26 when he meets the agent at the end of Act 1. He *might* be around 29 when all is said and done (Acts 2&3, RotHC, SoR, Ziost).

 

How long was he a Joiner? That's another question.

 

I wonder about this because he was a very established Diplomat even before becoming a joiner. He wasn't some new, fresh out of the package Imperial just striking out. He makes reference about having wine with the tutors of Pashon (the guy who tries to kill your agent on Belssavis/Voss -can't remember which planet- if you turned House Cortess into a Killik hive). He makes other references about being on other planets.

 

His Wiki (and Wookie) page echo each other and say, "At a very young age." So...what? Was he 18 when he graduated? Is the Academy like Hogwarts where they get their acceptance letter from a womp rat at 11 years old?

 

 

I'm very curious, especially since it would help my head canon for my own agent, pin pointing a bit more of a specific age other than "In her 20's."

 

Thanks

Edited July 27, 2015 by AngFour

[Cedia]

Perhaps he was an advanced student? My adopted father got his BA at age 18 and so went on to get his Master's at a fairly young age.

 

EDIT: I checked, and it turns out that he was 21 when he got his Master's degree. So if Vector is 29 and was in a similar situation, 8 years to gather a lot of diplomatic experience would not be a stretch, in my opinion.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Cedia

[Diviciacus]

It's implied he hasn't been joined very long - perhaps a few months - but also that he joined not long after he got to Alderaan, too. People don't typically go to school to learn diplomacy. They go in for "political science" and then end up diplomats because they spend their time in the political sphere. So being 26, he's probably got... six to eight years of diplomatic experience, the first few of which would likely have been him working as an aide.

 

We also don't know what schooling is like in the Empire. There's no guarantee it's "graduate grade 12 at 18." More likely, since military service is compulsory, somewhere in the mid-teens their regular grade-schooling is complete and then they go into a specialized thing: Sith to the Korriban Academy, some into spec ops (like Agents), some into specialized roles, like Vector, and most go into basic training for infantry.

 

The Agent is almost certainly early 20's, though. The Nal Hutta op is literally your first mission out of whatever training IA's go through.

Edited July 27, 2015 by Diviciacus

[Cedia]

The Agent is almost certainly early 20's, though. The Nal Hutta op is literally your first mission out of whatever training IA's go through.

 

Yes, but if human, s/he served in the military for some time, and if Chiss, was living on the streets for some time. S/he could still be early 20's, but I don't think that's locked in, especially for a human.

[Diviciacus]

Yes, but if human, s/he served in the military for some time, and if Chiss, was living on the streets for some time. S/he could still be early 20's, but I don't think that's locked in, especially for a human.

 

You're thinking of "non-human, non-Chiss" races for the growing up on the streets. It's not outside the realm of the norm for children to be homeless, even on our world. And in SW? Both Mako and Kira grew up on the streets of Nar Vegas. If anything, this would suggest that non-Human, non-Chiss Agents are the youngest of the lot. (Mako is 19 and Kira is 20 when you first meet them).

 

Chiss, however, are part of their Expeditionary forces and end up in Imperial Intelligence through what might be some kind of exchange program.

 

 

 

On Voss, my Chiss Agent literally says "To serve the Empire was to serve Csilla." (Or possibly the converse. One of the two.)

 

 

 

Anyway, it doesn't seem like military training is that long. Elara Dorne is out of regular military academy by 22 (Extrapolating her 1-50 story age of 26 minus two years since her defection and two years of service in the Imperial military). It's hard to say, though. Does it go standard military training then Intelligence, or is the intelligence training part of a later-academy-years specialization? We don't know, so at best I can guess.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Diviciacus

[Cythereal]

It's also implied that the Imperial Academy includes a boarding school equivalent. The Sith Warrior can remark that they went to the Imperial Academy to complete their non-Force education before they were summoned to Korriban.

 

I'd imagine it's something on the order of the Academy's teachers watch each student and guide them into the education/career path they seem best suited for.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Cythereal

[Roanna]

I had always assumed that if the Empire thought a particular child had the potential to be gifted, either in the Force or any other field that would serve the empire, they wouldn't have any compunction against removing that child from their parents to be trained from early childhood. Even the Jedi began training younglings when they were barely past the toddler stage. Even though Sith initiates go to Korriban in their late teens to early 20's for their trials, in my mind they have been training somewhere else for as much as 15 years.

 

In my head cannon, Vector received similar early training to prepare him for service to the Empire, either at the Empire's insistence or in his parents attempt to curry favor with the powers that be.