fandomhigh | Keeping Your Advantage: Terrain & You, Monday, Period 1

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keeping your advantage

Keeping Your Advantage: Terrain & You, Monday, Period 1

"Welcome back," Ghanima said as the students entered the Danger Shop. She was standing beside two large trunks, and the room was blank, not yet assigned an environment. "Today, we're going a bit farther north than many of you, myself included, are accustomed to."

She pressed a button on the remote, and suddenly the students would find themselves surrounded by snow. "Welcome to the Arctic!" Ghanima said cheerfully, apparently unbothered by the sudden drop in climate.

She was cheating and regulating her own body temperature, which was why she seemed so perky. Normally she wouldn't use her Bene Gesserit talents in such a flagrant way, but it was only for an hour, and was hardly going to lead to Abomination. "I hope you brought your mittens! For those of you that didn't..." she knelt to open the first chest, which was filled with coats, hats, mittens, and snow shoes. "Suit up."

"Long before brick or wood houses with indoor heat became commonplace, people had to be creative when building homes to protect them from nature's elements," Ghanima lectured as people got dressed. "Wealthy Europeans embraced the concept of a nearly indestructible castle built from stone. Native Americans in warmer climates favored the tepee, or tipi, made entirely of animal hides or bark. Unfortunately, for the inhabitants of Earth's more frigid regions, such as the Canadian tundra, neither of these were good options. Building materials were pretty much nonexistent, making it difficult to craft even the most rudimentary home. These people used the only abundant material to form a modest roof over their heads: snow. Thus, the igloo was born. The Inuit, better known to some of you as Eskimos, invented the igloo centuries ago. The igloo was a means for hunters to survive brutal winters in a vast area spanning more than 3,500 miles, including eastern Siberia, Greenland, Alaska and parts of Canada."

"Today, we will learn how to build the most basic of snow shelters," she continued. "Knowing how to make a snow trench shelter, a snow cave, or igloo can save your life in a winter survival situation. The great insulative qualities of snow can be used to help keep you warm enough to survive in even the coldest weather; but only if you know how to use the snow to your advantage."

"Only experts should try to make an igloo to spend the night in, least it collapse on you. A snow trench or cave, however, almost anyone can do," Ghanima said, quickly explaining the techniques behind making a trench. "I've provided shovels and knives for today's work, but you won't always have such equipment in the field. Snowshoes also make good digging tools, and if you're carrying a field kit, a cup or pot will also work."

"Now get to work," she said, opening the second chest to distribute tools to the class before taking a knife for herself. She wasn't going to ask the students to do something that she was unwilling to attempt herself. "Feel free to work solo or in groups. I programmed the room so that we've got one hour to dark, and you don't want to be caught out without a place to sleep."

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Work alone or in groups to dig shelters into the snow, using these instructions as references.

There are tarps and skis and ski poles in one of the trunks, to use to brace the top if you wish, or you can try carving large blocks of snow with your tools. There are also trees around, if you want to try collecting sticks.

Once Kuroko managed to get bundled up in appropriate clothing and stop shivering, she started looking around. Sure, she could probably do an okay job by herself, but she figured that partnering up with someone would turn out to be a lot more efficient.

"Hello." Lana waved at Kuroko. "Want to partner up?"

"That sounds to me like an awesome plan."

Kuroko grinned.

"You ever done anything like this before?"

"I've cleared out rubble; I don't imagine it can be too different. We pile it up first?"

"Yeah, that sounds right." Kuroko hefted her shovel and let out a sigh.

"I am not built for this kind of manual labor."

She pointed at a spot a few feet away. "Shall we make our pile there?"

"All right."

Lana grinned, stretched out her hands, and started using the Force to pile the snow.

"Psychokinesis?"

Kuroko grinned in approval.

"Nice! Way more efficient than a shovel."

Unfortunately, Kuroko couldn't really show off her own powers very well. Loose snow was a bit tricky to teleport since it wasn't really solid.

"The Force," Lana said, "but functionally the same in this instance." She grinned. "And much better than a shovel." She finished mounding the snow up and did her best to push it down. "We might still want to pack it a bit manually, though, just to be safe."

"I can at least do that part since you did all the hard parts."

Kuroko climbed up on the snow pile and began jumping up and down on it. Given her build, she didn't actually put that much pressure on the snow, but she was trying to make up for that with enthusiasm.

Lana wasn't going to make her do all of it anyway, so she grabbed up a shovel and started walking over the snow and smacking it down with a hint of Force strength behind it. "Where are you from?" she asked Kuroko, mostly just to make conversation.

"Academy City." Kuroko had gotten over expecting people to recognize the name of what was probably the most famous city in her world, so she just glanced casually over at Lana. "What about you?"

"Dromund Kaas," Lana answered. "I've never heard of yours and you've probably never heard of mine either, I'm guessing."

Kuroko laughed. "Good guess!"

"What's Dromund Kaas like?" she asked, being careful about the pronunciation of the unfamiliar-sounding place.

"A lot of jungle and lightning," Lana said, "with a large city in the middle of it. What about Academy City - is there an actual academy there?"

"So not a lot of snow, huh?" Kuroko looked around at the ground around them and decided she'd done enough jumping on the mound of snow Lana had made.

"Hundreds of them. It's the largest concentration of students and researchers in the world."

"Well, in my world, anyway." She wrinkled her nose. "Not that that's always a good thing."

"No snow," Lana agreed. "And I went to the Sith Academy on Korriban; it's a desert world. What's wrong with so many schools in the same place?"

It sounded like heaven to her.

"Oh, the schools are fine for the most part."

Kuroko made a displeased expression.

"It's all the labs and scientists and stuff that cause problems. It's apparently really easy for them to lose track of morality in the face of their precious research."

"And that causes problems?" Lana asked. "Do they forget safety protocols too?"

"Forget?" Kuroko rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"They basically are Administration for the city, so all they care about is results. I mean, sure, technically there are protocols, but most people don't bother with them." With perhaps predictable results.

That sounded...remarkably home-like to Lana.

She nodded. "You spend a lot of time being careful, then."

Kuroko scowled and nodded.

"And cleaning up messes." She glanced over at Lana curiously. "You don't sound like the situation is that surprising to you."

"Sith Lords aren't known for their adherence to protocols, either," Lana said. "Some of the researchers are more enthusiastic about results than safety." There wasn't much judgement in there, it was just the truth. "Apprentices and acolytes can end up cleaning up the messes, too. Or being the messes."

The frown on Kuroko's face deepened, then a thought struck her and she suddenly grinned.

"You know what? I feel like I can imagine pretty well what things are like for you back home." Because it sounded like they were pretty similar to Kuroko's own home.

Activity: Make Your Shelter!

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