Career Paths

As they progress through Secret Academy training, students will develop a particular flair in certain classes, indicating their suitability for different roles within the organization. One of the tasks of instructors is to help trainees understand their aptitudes and focus on appropriate development of their special skills.

• Ghost Mediators, who smooth relations with non-murderous spiritual entities displaced or angered by human activities and help human ghosts complete their unresolved tasks so they can move onward to the unknown spirit realms

Many ghost mediators take jobs as police officers, nurses and similar public sector roles, both from a feeling of public duty and because it often provides a good method for finding troubled spirits. These people are good at talking with other people and making conversation, but in a different way than the consulates. They smooth relations between two or more parties and assist in getting opposing parties to understand each other. A mediator is a mix between a police officer (without the authority to arrest), a travel guide, and a counselor in relation to the ghostly realm. If a spiritual entity is having any sort of problem, a ghost mediator is who would take care of it. Ghost mediators are also the ones who conduct background investigations on potential Secret Academy students to determine if they possess the five principle requirements.

((Ethics))

• Ghost Hunters, who support mediators and act as a kind of supernatural-affairs S.W.A.T. team, battling murderous ghosts and spiritual entities

Hunters undergo constant training to keep their skills sharp. They are the strong arm of the ghostly realm and must keep themselves in top physical condition, for they may be called upon at any moment to deal with a malignant spirit. They are investigators too, and squelch many problems before they even arise. Hunters keep up to date on the latest fighting techniques and styles, integrating them into their current fighting style. Just because they're good at smashing things doesn't mean hunters don't have to be smart as well; they have to be hard workers as well as quick thinkers, able to change tactics within a split second should the need arise. With help from psychoscientists, hunters have developed a sort of CSI (crime scene investigation) kit in which they are able to take samples of residue and dust for fingerprints (a figure of speech, as spirits are incapable of leaving behind actual fingerprints) if need be. Ghost hunters are taught to fight in teams as well as solo.

((Courage))

• Spirit-Smiths, armourers and metallurgists, who create and repair spiritually active weapons and design equipment used by ghost hunters and others

Their education includes becoming well-versed in engineering, material sciences, antique techniques of metallurgy and forging as well as modern ergonomics. They learn the theories of soul structure and practice energy manipulation to a high degree of finesse, and use powerful passive telekinesis to create seamless, invisible moulds. It can take anywhere from days to months to imbue a weapon with the necessary amount of structure and energy, and it is very important that the smith's mind never waver or become distracted, or their own personality-and so the signature of their personal energy-will become engraved in the structure of the weapon, making it difficult to use by anyone else. During this time the smith can also never stop working for more than a few seconds, or the flow of energy will be disrupted, creating two distinct planes of force and leaving the structue of the weapon's energy weak and easily shattered on contact with a hard spirit-mass. For this reason the ability to subsist comfortably on little sleep or food found in all humans who have unlocked their soul face is especially prominent in spirit-smiths. Their armourers are also responsible for the sleek, practical designs of ghost hunters' spell holsters and uniforms. Their career is so time-consuming that it is usually impossible for them to have a 'cover' job. But they usually don't require any extra income either, surviving comfortably on what they gain from selling their weapons.

((Determination))

• Psychoscientists (sometimes called psy-scientists or just psy-scis) and spirit researchers in several fields, including the physics of the spirit plane/spectrum, investigation into other paranormal phenomena, psychobiology, etc.

In order to be formally recognized as a graduate in these fields, one must attain a thorough grounding in several scientific and mystical disciplines: chemistry, alchemy, biology, archeological field practice and knowledge, ancient history and psychology, as well as languages both ancient and modern are necessary fields embraced by psychoscience. On top of these common disciples, knowledge gleaned from shamanic texts, long term observation, and field reports is studied, collated, analyzed, and crosschecked by these scientists. The theories of soul composition, density, shape and so on used by spirit-smiths to create efficient weapons and by ghost hunters to combat ghosts or spirits were developed through intensive psychoscientific research. Revolutionary techniques such as the creation of stored energy in the form of paper spells were in fact reconstructed by spirit researchers based on oblique textual references in Taoist-derived Secret Volumes. Spirit researchers are responsible for discovering, translating, and codifying Secret Treaties, Secret Volumes as well as similar information and artifacts on the spirit spectrum. They also undertake the continuing search for the legendary lost ghost hunting weapons. This role is often efficiently combined with a career in fields such as archeology or anthropology. Psychoscience is the most diverse of the career paths, as most end in focusing on one aspect within the psychosciences.

((Intelligence))

• Spirit Consulates and liasons for mundane governmental and enforcement bodies on paranormal occurences

Their final training includes politics, economics, advanced logic and debating techniques. They learn much about the Secret History of interactions between the human and spirit worlds, and are the best versed in the Secret Treaties and their terms. They may seem the least intimately entangled with the spirit world, and their position is usually salaried as 'intelligence consultant' or similar by whatever agency they are employed, but in reality their job is an often-hazardous set of double negotiations, with spirits of behalf of humans and with humans on behalf of spirits. They tap into a carefully maintained grapevine of information from sources in both the spirit and human spectrum, often passed down from their predecessors and rarely free from ethical complications. Information filters through them both to and from ground level ghost mediator and hunter agents. Sometimes their forceful personality and original thinking can forestall dangerous situations that would otherwise necessitate the deployment of ghost hunters.

((Charisma))

Other Roles

There are quite a few other important roles in the organization of the ghost hunters, and not all of them are even carried out by people who have manifested their masks. Many people who begin the training do not complete it, but still have a desire to assist where they can. There are 'talent scouts' situated in education facilities all over the world dedicated to spotting potential recruits and of course, as in every other human agency, things need to be kept clean and well organized. However small their role may seem, hundreds of thousands of people around the globe hold a vast secret, as essential members of a vital and perilous secret world. These people may or may not have a partner.