- If child meets PRIMARY REQUIREMENTS, child qualifies for FIRST CLASS status. Child will be enrolled in a Preparation School, where physical and language capabilities will be brought to standard over the course of a year.

- Once finished with Preparation School, a FIRST CLASS child's nuclear family (siblings and parents, 4 per First only) must meet the SECONDARY REQUIREMENTS of the tests. Extensions can be given for underage siblings for as long as 2 years. Up to 3 months before launch, any SECOND CLASS colonists may be opted out. However, because the [IF] holds custody rights, Firsts may not be.

- A colony ship is launched with all 500 colonists aboard in cold sleep. The ship pilots itself out of the solar system and accelerates to cruising velocity. The 50 crew (in shifts of 10) and the 100 Firsts are awakened, and during the course of the voyage the Firsts are trained by the crew in all the matters they will need to know upon arrival. NOTE: the relativistic effects on time within the ship produce a roughly 5:1 ratio. Groups of Seconds are brought out of cold sleep in shifts, cycling once per year, to visit with the Firsts.

- Members of a colony ship's crew who are legally married may register their spouse as a Second Class colonist who will return with the ship and crew once the colony is stable, but no children. Further, because of the danger cold sleep poses to unborn children, married (and unmarried) couples are required to take necessary precautions to prevent conception until landfall. (ADDED 07-31-04)

- After landfall, the colony ship's crew (still rotating 10 at a time) serve as the immediate authority, until the seniormost officer determines that the colony is stable and a governing council is elected (the ship's crew are not elligible candidates). Beneath the crew are the Firsts, who train the Seconds as the crew trained them following landfall and serve as the "hands" of the authoritarian crew. In the event that the colony is not declared stable before the last of the crew perishes, military authority passes to the Firsts, who will have been ranked by the crew during the voyage based upon their performance.

- There are 3 Stage 1 sites: GOBI (China), SIBERIA (Russia), and ANDES (Peru). Of the three, the Gobi Compound is the oldest and most prestigious, but generally admits only Chinese students.

- Stage 1 lasts 6 years, and new students generally range from 8-10 years old. At all three sites, the only language permitted between the faculty and students is Mandarin. The languages spoken by the faculty away from the students varies between sites, and amongst themselves the students use a slang form of the bastardized Mandarin-based pidgin which has developed within the international army of the [IF].

- All Stage 1 facilities are mostly subterranean. A small bunker above ground serves as access to a much larger installation below.

- Education within Stage 1 facilities is generalized, training students in academic issues relating to [IF] service. Though physical conditioning is a part of the curriculum (becoming more involved as students progress), no combat or related training is taught at Stage 1.

- As a military academy, Stage 1 (and 2) have strict conduct requirements. Because of the sensitive nature of these facilities and the education being provided therein, students are only expelled under the most grievous circumstances, and are sent to the private-sector rehabilitation facility Charybdis. Less serious incidents are met with standard military punishments, often directed at groups.

- Evaluations of student performance during Stage 1 training determines placement within Stage 2's AIT (advanced individual training) programs. Programs include Engineering, Communications, Navigation, Medical, Science, and Special Operations.

- Within the AITs exist special sub-programs such as Command and Covert Operations. These programs evaluate the performance of the Stage 2 students over the course of their first two years and induct promising candidates at the halfway point. Sub-programs are largely extracurricular in nature, and though they may substitute certain AIT courses for sub-program alternatives, most of their coursework must be done during a student's allotted free time. Unlike the AITs, these programs drop students who fall below set standards without punishment; the dropped student resumes normal coursework and the sub-program is removed from the student's record.

- The Engineering AIT trains technicians and engineers. They are commonly assigned to bases (terrestrial and extraterrestrial) as technicians and spacecraft (survey, colony, defense, and supply) as engineers.

- The Communications AIT trains comm and ops officers. They are commonly assigned to bases (terrestrial and extraterrestrial) and spacecraft (survey, colony, defense, and supply).

- The Navigation AIT trains pilots and conn officers. They are commonly assigned to bases (terrestrial and extraterrestrial) as pilots of docked craft and spacecraft (survey, colony, defense, and supply) as conn officers and pilots of docked craft in the case of carriers.

- The Medical AIT trains medtechs and doctors. They are commonly assigned to installations and craft of all types.

- The Science AIT trains researchers and survey officers. They are commonly assigned to R&D installations (terrestrial or extraterrestrial) as researchers and to starcraft (survey and colony) as survey officers.

- The Special Operations AIT trains covert operatives. They are commonly assigned to counterterrorist Tactical Response Units (TRU) and abroad as contract agents. (AIT DESCRIPTIONS CHANGED 07-31-04)

- The Command sub-program is open to Engineering, Communications, and Navigation students, and teaches leadership theory and additional military strategy and history.

- The Strategic Planning sub-program is open to Communications and Science students, and teaches advanced strategy and tactics theory focusing on large-scale deployment, geopolitical analysis, and public relations planning.

- The Research and Development sub-program is open to Engineering, Medical, and Science students, and teaches R&D methodology with regard to the development of viable new military technologies. Each AIT will study advancements and technologies relevant to their respective fields.