(From the recollections of Ebelhard Tensen)
For some, the examination concludes with the oral part alone; yet on occasion the candidate, escorted by the members of the Commission, proceeds to the ramparts of the fortress, there to demonstrate his skill — be it in marksmanship, in the use of tools, or in mathematical computation. To others the Commission presents a musical instrument, a pen, or a painter’s brush, and the children display their talent and thus secure for themselves a place within the artistic category.
It is rare that anyone shows dissatisfaction, even if he is not granted the category he most desired, for the universal elementary schooling has instilled in all of us a sense of the beauty of every craft and of their equal worth. Still, it has happened more than once that a tear was shed over the outcome of one’s categorization.
A particular case is that of the maritime-aeronautical category, for which many candidates apply; the entrance examination for it takes place on a separate day, aboard a ship or a balloon. Those who choose to declare their interest for that category receive a provisional or “reserve” designation, in the event that on the later day they should not be admitted into the maritime-aeronautical corps.
Even the supplementaries, who stood somewhat aside, did not seem despondent, for they knew that they too would have the chance to serve the Archkingdom honorably and possess a secure livelihood, though without recommendation for further schooling, refinement, or advancement. I thought I could well imagine my cousin Heini, back in my native district, standing among that very group.
They say that in the Guntrelands Republic, too, people now profess a fervent love of their state — yet they love it only because they all rule it together, not as we do, we happy Sigislanders, who love ours because it holds the fairest cities, the richest nature, and the most noble culture.
From time to time familiar names are called — schoolmates from my final year in Helmstal, the village where I had dwelt under Uncle Wilbur’s roof. Greta Preder, whose father fell in the Armada and whose mother is gone, and who had lived in the manor which the Archqueen herself purchased from a landed magnate to house orphaned children, delights the Commission with the tales she had composed during her schooling and now reads aloud. Her wish is fulfilled — she is placed within the cultural-artistic category and accepted into the Literary Academy. I should not be surprised if she one day became a new Vorben, whose quotations Uncle Wilbur can summon for nearly every conversation imaginable.
Silent Anina Harz, ever the best pupil in our school, always marked with sevens, declares for the judicial-bureaucratic category, and answers at length and with great understanding — and with an abundance of detail — concerning the various laws of the Archkingdom.
“Name for us all the Archkings in the order of their reigns.”
“Ferdinand the Founder, Eugene, Engelbert the First, Ferdinand-Lukas, Ferdinand-Paulus, Ferdinand-Engelbert the First, Ferdinand-Engelbert the Second, Engelbert the Second, Ferdinand the Restorer, Karolina-Louise.”
“And how, by the legislation of Karolina-Louise, shall the next Archking be chosen?”
Thus questioned, she explains in full the intricate procedure, whereby ten Electors — the highest dignitaries of the Categories — shall select those deemed worthy of the Torch Crown, who shall then perform a game of Ferdanding before the Archroyal Diet; and whosoever triumphs therein shall, by virtue of the blank testament of the reigning Archqueen, be held her adopted heir and therefore the new sovereign.
“And for what single reason can no one ever, under any circumstance, become Sovereign of Sigisland?”
This next question referred to the legislation established by the Founder himself and entered into the very Acts of the Congress:
“Never and under no condition may one become Archking who at any time in life has served in a foreign army or sworn allegiance to a foreign state; such a person is skipped in the line of succession, and if already reigning, is deemed by that act to have abdicated irrevocably.”
Anina further displays knowledge of international law, answering what territorial belts exist upon the sea according to the Congress System:
“Around each continent there is first the sovereign belt of islands, under the full sovereignty of the continental nation; beyond it lies the belt of resources, in which that continent holds exclusive rights to natural wealth; and beyond that again stretch the domains of neutral, universally recognized archipelagic states — the greatest among them being the United Archipelagic Confederation — for which special statutes ensure that they cannot fall into dependence upon any sovereign continent.”
As an example she expounds the rule granting the inhabitants of the archipelagic states immunity, upon their own soil, from any prosecution by the powers of the Congress — a privilege that has drawn many a pirate to pay taxes to the Confederation and thereby, as its citizens, to secure safe refuge from the justice of the sovereigns.
Anina receives, without a single objection, the category she desired, together with the highest recommendations.
At last, the clerk reads a name:
“Ebelhard Tensen.”
(…)
