The Reef
The Front Gates
On the Obloggian Floor, around the base of the Spire, the Reef continuously holds all manners of teaching events — lectures, demonstrations and even novel experiments — to any passerby with the slightest interest. The topics, naturally, are always about trivial topics or shallow introductions. Most knowledge is reserved for the higher minds and should a lesser mind come across something they are not able to bear, the consequences can be catastrophic.
Novice front-speakers still make that mistake from time to time, with the unwarranted gut explosions that ensue. Once their messed is cleared, the would-be professors are dragged inside in shock, never to be seen again, or utterly changed.
Front-speaker Klkrisnpp will have to retire from his outside duty from now on. I assure to her lineage that she is still a valued researcher of our Reef, and that this small incident shall not hinder her future research.
The belly of the Reef
While the entirety of the Learning Spire is often refered to as the Reef, only the bottom third is dedicated to the academy. The upper floors serve the education purposes of the spire. However, the Reef itself reaches deep inside the shell of the Sphere, to depths none but a few scholars are allowed to reach.
Classrooms
Most of the tortuous galleries of the spire lead to classrooms, slightly larger caverns where an experienced scholar will dispense a specific knowledge to a rapt group of heterogeneous listeners. Students, front-speakers and peers alike mass inside the cramped space to harvest to the last drop of information.
The first seek wisdom and materials, they absord everything like sponges, filling themselves with unrefined knowledge to the brim. Then, when they are about to burst, they retire to make sense of what they learned. Create connections, lay a the ground for future questions and carefully craft the memories that will help them in their apprenticeship.
The second look for anecdotes, surface knowledge that they may then spit in front of the unassuming people. Most are not researchers yet, barely deserving the title of scholars. One day, they will prove themselves by producing a new expertise, a never-seen-before perl of science that will grant them access to the prestigious facilities. But in the meantime, they gather the scraps, what is too benign or too harmless to be of use to the Reef.
The third look for novelty and conflict. Even renowed scholars never cease to learn, for the domains of science are vast and a single life is not enough to drink even a drop of all the knowledge gathered by the Reef each cycle. Scholars are expert on fields most cannot fathom the existence of, elite minds relegated to the backrooms of the institution. Sometimes, it is also the occasion to confront the thesis of a rival. Doing so in front of a big audience is ideal to bring shame to a fellow scholar. Those debates are never about winning. They are about making the opponent lose.
There is no timetable here, no defined professors. Only scholars, and would-be scholars learning from each others. Whenever one decides to teach, they find an empty room and starts. The learners are never long to come. They are not guaranteed to stay, however. A large and loyal attendance is not a show of popularity, but of excellence: time in the Reef is too precious to waste it listening on banalities or valueless knowledge.
Desks
When a room is too tiny to serve as a classroom, it often is a desk. They are not claimed by anybody, but rather rooms where anyone can come to work. Students needing alone time to rearrange their thoughts, scholars looking to record their thesis on a speech bubble or frontspeakers putting together a demonstration, they all may use the various tools stored around, save for the speech bubbles. The rarity and delicateness of these instruments restrict anyone but the acknowledged scholars to put their tentacles on.
Rarely can more than one person occupy a desk at once. When a room happen to be occupied when a researcher wants to enter, tradition dictates that the one with the lesser amount of academical renown leaves. Most of the time, the matter is quickly discussed. If a signature is not recognized, then eyes are witnesses of age and wisdom. Sometimes, one refuses to leave their place to someone they don't acknowledge as more deserving, and a Call to Memory occurs.
Wandering Scholars
Scholars who spend most of their time inside the Learning Spire are oddities, rather than the norm. It is believed that for a scholar to truly understands the nature of their research and the Expanse around them, they must experience it first-hand. Thus, the structure only shelters a third of the Reef's total population, most of which being learners who have yet to prove themselves worthy of the title of scholar.
Knowledge is at the core of the Reef
At the centre of the largest room inside the Learning Spire lies a single Memory. Ages-old, this Memory, whose signature gave the term for "knowledge", is the record of every scientific accomplishment that occurred inside the Reef. Whenever a scholar achieves something noteworthy, they will come to Knowledge and explain what it is about, and how groundbreaking their discovery is.
From trivia to groundbreaking inventions, Knowledge knows it all, and remembers it along with the signature of the scholar who brought the information to them. Even forbidden knowledge that caused the downfall of their discoverers is stored inside the seemingly infinite library that form the mind of this being.
The Call to Memory
When two scholars cannot agree on which one of them is the most renowned, or simply when light must be made on a specific research, they call to the Memory of Knowledge. The shell will describe one by one all the accomplishment of each scholar, alongside their merit to the Obloggian society. As the Memory cannot lie nor forget, this is an undisputable way to settle disputes.
Woe betide the scholar who, blinded by his own hubris, saw themselves as greater than they are. For arrogance and science are natural enemies, the punishment for failing a Call to Memory is never a light one, no matter how petty the original argument was.
Invalidation of a theory
Knowledge is only a tool to unveil the profound implications of the world. This tool might be crooked, making the inferred implications twisted and brittle. Sometimes, they really are. But when knowledge is erroneous, everything that is built upon its initial premises crumbles. This is why the greatest dread of a scholar is to see its theory invalidated.
The invalidation can be the upbringing of a new theory that creates more credible, stronger implications, or simply the demonstration of a fraudulent experiment. When that happens, the author loses way more merit than they have gained through the craft of that knowledge. The impact is even more devastating for Seat-holders, for whom it is almost always an immediate loss of their place.
As scholars grow older and attach more theories to their signature, so too will the chance of an invalidated theory. Thus, most veteran researchers are very cautious in their research, and prefer not to produce any new knowledge rather than lose everything they have worked for.
What do you mean, amusing trivia? My work brings us at the advent of our Sphere for cycles to come! Not that I expect a Prudentist to understand.
Competing Scholars
Five main schools of thoughts are in opposition inside the Reef. They have divergent opinion on the methods, goals and importance of their science. While they are not incompatible with each others, they all try to spread and overthrow the others in a series of internal clashes.
Prudentism
Knowledge is a danger. We are the shell.
Prudentism is a very conservative view of science, the idea that knowledge is dangerous and should be controlled, rather than explored. They are the major school, with more than half of the Reef's scholars agreeing with their tenets. Many great lineages and religious movement support prudentists, supplying them with what they need to further their ideals inside the institution.
Most of the prudentists' activities is spent creating new regulations and limitations on methods, as well as invalidating other's theories. They are responsible for both the very low casualties during experiments, and the reinforcement of existing theories by confirming again and again proved facts.
Optimism
If not for good, what us is Knowledge?
While they have some points of agreements with the prudentists, optimists are more extreme in their ideals. To them, science should only focus on direct applications for the wellbeing of society and living beings. Fundamental knowledge or research just for the sake of it are a criminal waste of time in this ideology.
Over time, optimists have brought numerous benefits to The Expanse. Life-expanding medicine, more efficient farming technology and political systems adopted in multiple spherias.
*/Rationalism
Absolute Truth can only be reached through Knowledge.
The most recent school of thought, rationalism advocate for the pursuit of all knowledge following hard and technical science. no shell should be left unturned, and the unknown is shadows that must be cleared. They have gained a lot of popularity during the advent of the Seekers, since their goal are similar. However, the terrorist branding of the misfit organisation lead to the persecution of Rationalism.
They now are the least numerous group, and despite some great names like Lmallni or Akllarelsllh who made groundbreaking discoveries, it is not a popular ideology.
Violentism
Knowledge leads to superiority over ignorance.
Violentists believe in the idea that knowledge is power, in the most genuine sense. This world is a dangerous one, and only the strongest can come out on top. This school was greatly reinforced after the parution of The Genesis hatched from the End, when they realized knowledge can become a great weapon of mass destruction.
More than annihilation of lesser minds, violentists also seek intellectual superiority over other spherias, proving to The Expanse the might of Oblogga.
Scholarship
Knowledge is what a true scholar yearns for.
Every member of the Reef is a scholar. Yet, if one of them introduces themselves as Scholar, rather than Prudentist or Rationalist for instance, they refer to this school. While they like to claim that this group gather every scholars that don't agree with any school of thought, Scholarship does have some clear tenets. To be acknowledged as a Scholar, one must seek knowledge for the sake of it, while never infringing on the regulation put in place by Prudentists.
They don't limit their scope to a certain field or goal, and rather explore the frontiers of science, where nobody else goes. The most recluse and enigmatic researchers are more often than not Scholars.
The Twelve Seats
As Oblogga has twelve spires and twelve great lineages, the Reef is governed from twelve Seats. Each one is held by an emerit scholar, the highest of Obloggian's minds. A Seat is not given, it is earned. Just as well, a Seat is not given up, it is lost. When the merit of another scholar outclass that of a Seat-holder, it is dethroned without ceremony, but that rarely happens. The invalidation of a theory is the most common way to lose this prestige, the second being death of old age. Should a Seat-holder decide to step down from their own volition, they only make the latter slightly more frequent.
Holding a Seat not only gives the opportunity to weight in the Obloggian Council, but also to define the direction of the whole Reef. They usually are the leaders of their school of thought, and are the only one with complete access to the deep facilities hidden inside the Shell.
Violentist Kplooonrk
Prudentist Llonari
Prudentist Nerkpioon
Prudentist Hollene
Keeper of the Secrets Igiriil
Scholar Tyrklal
Rationalist Akllarelsllh
Scholar Fllflnfllflnfllfln
Prudentist Klerrellkrk
Optimist Pekkel
Optimist Xlkperlllomn
Rationalist Kermlro
The Obloggian Perspective
To be honest, we don't really know what transpires inside the Reef. But, you know, since you need to be a higher mind to even be considered a visitor, I don't mind. Knowledge is dangerous, and this place is bursting with it! Although, I suppose it is also one of our Sphere's biggest fins, and this is something to be proud of! I do attend some lectures by the Floor, and some I enjoyed. Enlightening? No, entertaining I would rather say.
"Doing so in front of a big audience is ideal to bring shame to a fellow scholar. Those debates are never about winning. They are about making the opponent lose." Love this XD <3 I love how you've managed to make this place comes alive with all those little anecdote and the scholar portraits at the bottom! My favourite is how people are using their own prestige and importance to shove others out of the way and how they all have to have official confrontation to determine which one is better XD Oblogga is always such a fascinating place... Are the octopus more intelligent or more attracted to scholarship than other species since they hold 9/12 seats?
Thank you, I'm very glad you liked my article! So octopuses are the most common species on Oblogga, by far. More specifically, all but one of the 12 great lineages are octopuses. Furthermore, the layout of the spires make it difficult for species that don't have the flexibility and the soft body of octopuses to even navigate inside the Reef. So the octopus-to-others ratio is pretty representative of the Reef's population. Much more than the Violentist ratio, which are greatly underrepresented among the Seat holders. It is also worth noting that only 6 of the seats are taken by Obloggs (the octopus subspecies native to Oblogga): the Hollene are immigrants, Tyrklal and Kermlro are not natives. All that being said, octopuses do have a higher average intelligence than most other species in the Expanse.