- 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.

- 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.

- Once a colony has been declared stable and a governing council elected, the colony ship, left in orbit, is signalled to begin its automated process of building a hypergate to connect the colony to Earth. Once the hypergate is complete, supplies and more colonists will be sent from Earth. The colony ship, with its crew complement, returns through the hypergate to Earth.

STAGE 1:
- While in Preparation School, children are tested against special TERTIARY REQUIREMENTS, framed to identify those children suited to military service. Those who meet these requirements are pulled from the colonization program and sent to Stage 1 training. The families of these children are allowed to proceed with colonization or opt out as they wish.

- There are 3 Stage 1 sites: GOBI (China), SIBERIA (Russia), and ANDES (Peru). Of the three, the Gobi site 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 compound 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.

- Students are grouped into three clusters upon arrival. Cluster rosters are shuffled every two years. Clusters are paired with another one year ahead or behind (a "binary" grouping), alternating years (as in, a given cluster will be grouped with one older its first year, one younger its second year, the older once again its third, etc.). For some events three clusters (a "trinary") of the same year will be temporarily grouped (often to compete).

STAGE 2:
- Stage 2 lasts 4 years, and combines the student populations of the three Stage 1 facilities together at an ocean floor habitat in the East China Sea. This large installation is largely self-sufficient (able to recycle its own air and water supplies, and can produce roughly 50% of its own food), and able to support a large population.

- 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 focuses on technically-based training, grooming students for future positions such as technician or engineer.

- The Communications AIT focuses on operations-based training, leading to positions such as Comm or Ops officer.

- The Navigation AIT focuses on starflight training, leading to positions such as pilot (small craft) or Conn officer (capital ship).

- The Medical AIT focuses on therapeutic training, leading to positions such as medtech or doctor.

- The Science AIT focuses on logical training, leading to positions such as science officer (survey craft) or researcher (installation).

- The Special Operations AIT focuses on combat and espionage training, leading to positions such as covert operative.

- 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.