Hongshan Academy of Sciences
| “ | Food security in the Civilization Band is almost single-handedly guaranteed by the Hongshan Academy of Sciences (HAS). | ” |
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The Hongshan Academy of Sciences (HAS), commonly known as Hongshan, is a faction on Talos-II. Established in the aftermath of the First Aggeloi War by a team of Tianshis originally dispatched from Yan, Hongshan has evolved into a vast research institution specializing in agriculture and cutting-edge scientific research.
The Academy is headquartered in Wuling City, which is located within the dense bamboo forests of the Jinlong region.
Overview
| “ | The HAS is the largest and most professional integrated R&D campus of Talos-II. While the HAS continues to feed almost the entirety of the Civilization Band and enrich the bread baskets of the planet, the Academy also made rapid and tremendous progress in various fields of emerging sciences.
The foundation of the HAS was laid down by a surveillance team from Yan dispatched to Talos-II. During the few short hours after the First Aggeloi War broke out, these Tianshis had the chance to return to Terra via the Æthergate but they chose to stay and join the battle. This decision resulted in them being stranded on Talos-II with the other pioneers. Since these Tianshis treated themselves as representatives of the Tianshi Bureau, the Hongshan Crater discovered afterwards was bequeathed to these Tianshis to serve as the site of their new bureau. Since the Crater was extremely habitable, large scientific complexes and hydroponic facilities were built in this area. The region formally registered as the Hongshan Academy of Sciences days before the signing of the Band Accord. To date, the HAS continues to call itself an R&D institution of Yan and govern its territories as such. It has established specialized ministries for raising livestock and crops. Occasionally, the HAS would receive criticism for its extremely strict standards of admissions and chronic shortage of Tianshis. However, the HAS has always responded by repeating its compliance with the provisions of the Band Accord. Given such commitment to the quality, professionalism, and skills of its graduates, HAS scientists are very respected by the Talosians. | ” |
| —"Hongshan Academy of Sciences", Nexus Files |
Notable people
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Relevant Files
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Dear Alsaid: I've been living at Wuling for nearly a month. Sorry for not contacting you more often. The Æther is disrupting daily communications and messengers only swing by this place every now and then. I hope you, Nikolai, and Arva are doing well. Hongshan is an amazing place, and Wuling is nothing short of a place of wonders. I can hardly believe that this vast cornucopian garden could exist right in the middle of the Severing Fault Zone (that gash-like "wound" on the map), much less a city where numerous pioneering fields of science are being researched (you can hardly imagine the astonishing facilities and machines they have at this place)! Forgive me for being unable to list every new stuff I see here (I did take a ton of photos that I can show you afterwards). I'm really busy preparing for the Wuling Tianshi Bureau Entrance Examination. Don't be surprised. I actually passed the Preliminary Assessment (only 32 out of 270+ candidates passed this thing, and only 6 were non-Hongshan like me) when I just arrived. But the prelims were only about solving a few math problems or giving some mathematical proof. I must come up with a series of hypotheses and a design plan within 3 months. My proposal must be approved before I can become an actual Tianshi Intern. Don't worry. The Wuling Tianshi Bureau will assign me living quarters as a fellow "disciple". I will also have a Tianshi mentor who will take me to various destinations and experience the life and work in Wuling. This isn't exactly easy. What they regard as "common sense" is all pretty new to someone who did not grow up in Hongshan. I have to spend a great deal of time learning and studying new things every day. Only when I finish organizing my notes could I use the moonlight (the hour would be the third geng of the night according to the locals) to write this lette———————— (The words become increasingly illegible and eventually trails off into a single line) | ” |
| —Incomplete Letter |
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- Wuling is located in the third Severing Fault Zone (SFZ), a region where Ætherside activities remain frequent. The local Blight would assume a form known as Zhangli. The existing solution is to purify the Zhangli with an array of 120 Tianshi Pillars deployed in various locations of Wuling. In recent years, however, Blight flow has infiltrated the soil, contaminating the aquifers as well as the farms irrigated by them. What are your suggestions and ideas to solve such issues? - EITHER PROPOSE a design improvement plan for any existing Tianshi apparatus of Wuling OR a design for a new Tianshi apparatus for any of the challenges listed below currently faced by Wuling. - A senior Tianshi once said: The first revolution occurred when an extraordinary sage mastered the Originium Arts during the first expansions of Terra. The second revolution occurred when Industrial Originium Technology blossomed during the near-modern era. Now that Talos-II has encountered the Æther, an unprecedented revolution is at hand. How should we respond to these changes and the potential future that may result from this? - Choose 1 of the following materials, describe your understanding of said material, and give your assessment based on your knowledge and experiences. | ” |
| —Select Questions from Past Wuling Tianshi Bureau Entrance Exams (Parts 1-4) |
Trivia
- The name of the faction, Hongshan (宏山), means "Grand Mountain" in Chinese.