Akademiya Extravaganza

This article is about the festival. For the Version 3.6 event, see A Parade of Providence.

The Akademiya Extravaganza is a festival in Sumeru run by the Akademiya. It consists of the Wisdom Gala and the Interdarshan Championship.

Wisdom Gala[]

Wisdom Gala is held annually. During this time, all six Darshans will set up booths throughout Sumeru City for showcase purposes to attract potential students. These booths often include minigames and other activities.

Deciding what to showcase is a point of contention for some Darshans, as they can encounter difficulties figuring out appropriate yet appealing activities.

Interdarshan Championship[]

The Interdarshan Championship is held once every four years. Each Darshan selects one representative to participate, and the participants compete to become champion of the entire competition and thus earn rewards. In the twenty years preceding and including A Parade of Providence, one of the greatest rewards was the right to wear the Diadem of Knowledge, a valuable treasure widely regarded as a work of art.

Participants[]

Participants must belong to a Darshan. Both current students and alumni are eligible. Participants can self-nominate or be nominated by over half of their Darshan; those who are nominated can decline participation. Sages cannot participate, and participants may only participate in one Championship.^[1] It is unknown if those who were expelled, were otherwise removed, or dropped out before graduation are eligible to become participants. It is also unknown who selects the participants.

Known participants include:

Kaveh's father (Rtawahist, 20 years ago) — finished second
Huvishka's friend (Darshan unknown, 20 years ago)
Tighnari (Amurta, during A Parade of Providence)
Faruzan (Haravatat, during A Parade of Providence)
Kaveh (Kshahrewar, during A Parade of Providence) — champion
Layla (Rtawahist, during A Parade of Providence)
Cyno (Spantamad, during A Parade of Providence)
Wanderer as Hat Guy (Vahumana, during A Parade of Providence)

History[]

Not much is currently known about the history of the Wisdom Gala or that of the Akademiya Extravaganza prior to twenty years ago.

According to Huvishka, the Spantamad Darshan has had the highest percentage of winners in the championships history. He also claims that the most thrilling competition occurred 20 years ago.

Events in which participants fought to the death were included in the Interdarshan Championship up until the one held twenty years before the events of A Parade of Providence.

20 Years before A Parade of Providence[]

Shortly before an Akademiya Extravaganza was to be held, Sachin donated or entrusted all of his assets to Sumeru Akademiya. Included among his donations was the Diadem of Knowledge, a valuable treasure that Sachin declared would only be worn by the winner of an Interdarshan Championship. To celebrate, the Akademiya Extravaganza hosted after Sachin's donation was a larger celebration than usual.^[2]^[3]

The Extravaganza that year included the Interdarshan Championship, and Kaveh's father and Huvishka's friend participated in it.

Kaveh's father became a favorite to win the Interdarshan Championship, but he did not win.^[4] It is implied that in the final round, he encountered the fragment of Sachin's consciousness stored in the Diadem of Knowledge and was negatively affected enough that Arakasyapa, who still remembered Kaveh's father and happened to be nearby, took the Diadem of Knowledge and hid it in a tree hollow,^[3]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^{[Note 1]} where it would later be found by the employee who was in charge of the Diadem of Knowledge.^[9] However, the damage had already been done, and Kaveh's father fell into depression.^[6]

Exactly what happened during the final round, held in Avidya Forest, is unknown, partly because "no one dared to approach" the participants. The Akademiya eventually shut down the competition and later removed many of the events that caused participants to fight to the death, implying that whatever happened in the final round had been tragic or nearly so.^[9] It is unknown if there was any winner to that Interdarshan Championship.

A Parade of Providence[]

Main article: A Parade of Providence/Story

As a result of the change to Sumeru's leadership following the events of Archon Quest Chapter III, the Akademiya Extravaganza held during A Parade of Providence was of great importance to Sumeru Akademiya. Due to the long oppression suffered by desert-dwellers prior to the change in Sumeru's leadership, Lesser Lord Kusanali and the sages decided to specifically invite many of them, such as Candace and Dehya to the Extravaganza in hopes of having them enjoy the Akademiya's atmosphere. They also recruited Nilou, the Traveler, and Paimon, none of whom are from the Akademiya, as guest commentators in hopes of having the Interdarshan Championship appeal to more people.^[1]

The Extravaganza included the Interdarshan Championship, and its participants were Tighnari, Faruzan, Kaveh, Layla, Cyno, and the Wanderer. Alhaitham, Nilou, the Traveler, and Paimon were guest commentators. The rewards included money, research funding, a limited-edition Genius Invokation TCG card, and the right to wear the Diadem of Knowledge as usual.^[1]

There were three rounds as follows:

Find Swiftflies among the many butterflies that were intentionally released in Sumeru City. Swiftflies look different from and are faster than ordinary butterflies.
Find Ley Line Disruptors, devices that mimic the effects of Ley Line disruptions, buried around Aaru Village.
Find the Diadem of Knowledge and place it on a stand in Mawtiyima Forest.

During the Championship, Sachin's son, Jiwani, hired Eremites to kidnap his father, who he had grown to resent, as Jiwani thought his father was still alive. This plan was foiled by Wanderer and Alhaitham.^[7]

The fragment of Sachin's consciousness in the Diadem of Knowledge finally saw a worthy successor in Kaveh and appeared at the end of the final round, after Kaveh won. However, Sachin's words upset Kaveh, who threw the Diadem of Knowledge to the ground, breaking it into pieces to ensure that no one else would ever have to hear Sachin or suffer from an experience with the Diadem of Knowledge again.^[3] As the recipient of Sachin's wealth, Kaveh also decided to donate all of it to help others. With the Diadem of Knowledge broken, the image of Sachin dissipated with a smile on his face. During the reward ceremony, Kaveh rejects all of the other rewards, except the Genius Invokation TCG card, which he gives to Cyno, who then decides to buy it from him for 1 million Mora. Nahida later arrives to seal away Sachin's research, honoring Kaveh's wish for it not be disseminated, though she says that if someone else wants to take on Sachin's research in the future, she will not stop them because it is one step toward discovering the truth of the world.^[7]