Battle School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the science fiction novel Ender's Game and its sequels, by Orson Scott Card, Battle School was a military academy in Earth orbit.
In Card's fictional future universe, humanity is at war with an alien species known as the Formics, or, colloquially, buggers. Battle School is the training ground for the future leaders of Earth's war effort—most notably Ender Wiggin and Bean. At the school, they undergo a rigorous curriculum designed to teach military strategy and tactics. As befits an elite school, only the very best and brightest students are taken. Prospective students must undergo invasive monitoring, and a battery of tests, to see if they are suitable for the school.
Students are generally taken to Battle School at a very young age—5 or 6 years old. The common age of "graduation" is usually 12. While at Battle School, they are taught academic subjects, including especially a heavy grounding in mathematics and science, a setup for work in space; for instance, Card describes Ender as learning trigonometry, which in the United States is not taught until high school.
However, the academic work is not the focus of Battle School. Rather, the true evaluation of the students comes in battle simulations which are run by the school's instructors. The students are divided into 41-person armies, most named after an animal (real or mythological). They fight mock battles in weightlessness, armed with harmless lasers and suits that freeze when hit with a laser shot. These battles are used to test the tactical aptitude of the students. Their performance is used to evaluate their progress. As such, the student body places a great weight on the standings in these games, a perception which is encouraged by instructors. The object of the game is supposedly to 'destroy' or freeze all the enemy soldiers and then pass through the gate the enemy entered through, but unconventional tactics on Ender's part somewhat subverted this victory condition. To win the game, four soldiers must touch their helmets to each corner of the enemy gate, and one soldier must go through the gate.
List of armies Ender was a member of (listed in chronological order):
List of other known armies:
| Army Name: | Colors: | Known Commanders: |
| Asp Army | ||
| Badger Army | Pol Slattery | |
| Centipede Army | Red - Black - Yellow | |
| Condor Army | Black - White - Black | |
| Dragon Army | Grey - Orange - Grey | Ender Wiggin |
| Ferret Army | ||
| Flame Army | ||
| Griffin Army | William Bee | |
| Hound Army | ||
| Leopard Army | Pol Slattery | |
| Lion Army | ||
| Manticore Army | Green - White - Gold | |
| Phoenix Army | Petra Arkanian | |
| Rabbit Army | Carn Carby, Bean (Julian Delphiki), Nikolai Delphiki | |
| Rat Army | Rose de Nose, Dink Meeker | |
| Salamander Army | Green - Green - Brown | Bonzo Madrid |
| Scorpion Army | ||
| Spider Army | ||
| Squirrel Army | ||
| Tide Army | ||
| Tiger Army | Talo Momoe |
| Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series |
|---|
| Anton's Key | Battle School | Command School | Dragon Army | Formics Free People of Earth | Hierarchy of Alienness | International Fleet Molecular Disruption Device | Pequeninos | Philotes | Philotic Web | Stark |
| Books | Characters | Concepts |
