HOUSES & SORTING

[peckishmods]

THE SORTING PATH

The Sorting Ceremony takes place in a small, circular cavern beneath the Auditorium. It's separated into four quarters, tiny rooms with little more than a door back and a door forward, each decorated in the style of one of Peckenpaugh’s four Houses. Right smack dab in the middle of it all is a small subterranean waterfall. Don't jump in the water, kids, it really holds things up when Bub has to run in and fish you out. At the forward door in each room, a single question is emblazoned above the frame, etched in glowing letters. While the questions are different for every student, each seasonal room is consistent in the types of questions it poses. Students must answer aloud, at which point the door will unlock and they can proceed to the next room. Even quibbling is an answer, and after a certain amount of silence, the door will unlock and the ambivalent student will be ushered through. Sortings can take anywhere from 45 seconds to 7 minutes. A new student can certainly spend longer than 7 minutes in the Path, but there’s some strange magic at work down there that bends and stretches time so that they never take too long. The record holder for fastest sorting is Elizabeth Mitchell, who in 2008 sprinted through the Sorting Path in a record 25 seconds to join her best friend Alice Hypes in Mothgarden. (They’re married, now.)

The Sorting Path is accessible only when the stage is fully retracted, and the entrance is in dire need of an update. The squat wooden doorway, built back in the days when people were short and sickly and there was no need for a door frame over 5'6", opens up to a small dirt path that leads students down a slope to the start of their sorting.

Students first enter in the brightest room, the SUMMER ROOM, where the midday sun streams down from an enchanted ceiling. It's warm in here, and it smells faintly of freshly cut grass and chlorine. The walls are painted with stylized murals depicting idyllic summer scenes with Whintossers scattered throughout. The door at the far end of the room is painted in flaking Wildgulch colors, embellished with colorful sea glass, shells and bits of polished volcanic stone. The Summer Room door asks sortees to think about how they might act or what they might do; often the question touches on a student’s hobbies or interests. Frequently, the question is framed within a strange and outlandish hypothetical situation.

In the FALL ROOM, the midday sun has turned to mist at dusk, and the faint image of impossibly tall trees can be seen on the cavern walls. Here, it’s cool and visitors' footfalls crunch noisily, as though the floor is lined with dead leaves and twigs. It smells, distinctly, of Autumn; earth and dead plant life, crisp air and campfires. The door to the Fall Room is one solid piece of wood, the shapes of leaves and footprints have been carved into its surface. The questions above this door typically ask about what is important to the student, often framed around holidays, traditions or family. Asking what sort of gifts one might like to give or receive is a common one.

It gets the darkest in the WINTER ROOM, where the northern lights flicker overhead, bathing everthing in blue-green glow, and the air is cool enough to see your breath. The trickling of the waterfall has gone silent, and the pool beneath it has frozen solid. There’s a silvery sheen over the pine green and violet Winter Room door; it’s covered in frost, and the ice crystals have formed elaborate fractal-like patterns on its surface. The Deeplurk questions are weird and don’t always seem to make sense: what kind of food are you, what kind of tree would you marry. There’s definitely, probably, a method to the madness, here.

In the final room, the SPRING ROOM, the sun is just rising over some invisible horizon. It smells like flowers and the waterfall is thawed again. Little moths flutter through the room, coming to rest on plants that don’t seem fake, but shouldn’t be growing underground. Sometimes, it’s lightly raining inside. Historically, there’s a 75% chance that a student who arrives in the Spring Room when it’s raining will choose Mothgarden.

Instead of one door, here, there are four, with the words to Mothgarden's question "WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GROW?" appearing above them all in an arc. On each door is a plaque that states that House's motto and a description of how the student could find happiness there, such as: "You want to make your mark in the world but don't know how. Wildgulch will lead you there!" and "Deeplurkers never second-guess themselves. If you want to learn the art of self-assurance, take a trip northward." The Spring Room always illuminates the door that it thinks suits the student best, but it is the student, themself, who must pick where they want to go.

Once they have passed through a door, it’s a short trek upward. Students emerge in the auditorium surrounded by members of their chosen house, all of them ready to cheer for their newest addition.

WILDGULCH

❝ FORGE THE FUTURE ❞
BEACHY BLUE & SUNNY YELLOW

Associations: Central American Whintosser, summer, south, fire
Key traits: creative, motivated, outgoing, impatient

It's eyes on the prize in Wildgulch. Whether that means changing the world or just changing a lightbulb, these motivated movers and shakers are ready to get stuff done. Creative in every sense of the word, the Summer House calls to anyone who wants to make something: a song, a painting, a product, a change? You'll find like minded folks in the house of the many-armed whintosser. Plenty of ideas never make it off the drawing board, but nothing stays theoretical long in Wildgulch. They've got the drive to make it happen.

All that boundless energy means students in Wildgulch tend to be impatient. They don't have time for unrealistic ideas or dawdling. If you can't keep up or stay on track, maybe you should just let them handle it. They're great at spinning plates, after all! The other Houses call them insensitive, but that's not quite the truth. Sure, they can be intense, but they've got plenty of feelings. Wildgulchers need acknowledgement and praise to really thrive, and can be easily deflated when their hard work goes unrecognized. Don't they deserve a pat on the back from time to time?

For every livewire personality in Wildgulch, there's a subtler sort of moxie to be found. They don't all need to be in the driver's seat; as happy working in a group as leading the charge, many are just glad to be here. Making and helping where they can, ready to step in when needed, more than a need to control, Wildgulchers all have a desire to create, to influence their world, and to leave a lasting mark.

THORNTRAIL

❝ PLANT FIRM ROOTS ❞
MAHOGANY & SLATE

Associations: Big Foot, autumn, west, earth
Key traits: diligent, cooperative, perfectionist, hot-headed

Nothing gets done by halves in Thorntrail, where diligent fixers and fighters tirelessly pursue their goals. They love a challenge, and nothing's worth doing if it doesn't take a bit of sweat and blood to get it done. In the House of Sasquatch, ambitions run high, but they keep their feet planted firmly on the ground. More than individual recognition, Thorntrailers are focused on the community. They treasure tradition, applaud practicality, and value loyalty and authenticity far more than cunning.

Their rivals in Mothgarden call them disciplinarians — hard-nosed fuddy-duddies — but that's an unfair assessment. Being practical does not make you dispassionate. The Autumn House does have its risk averse and its creatures of habit, but everyone needs to let their hair down from time to time. There's a reason Thorntrail has held onto that unofficial motto of "Work Hard, Party Harder" for so long: apply that Autumn House work ethic to blowing of steam and things are bound to get explosive. There’s nothing boring about it.

They may be keeping their noses to the grindstone, but not every Thorntrailer is interested in doing things by the book. Perfectionists, renegades and rule-breakers roll up their sleeves side-by-side in Thorntrail, where the paladins and rogues can find friendship. It's tireless work ethic and a desire to do right that ties them all together.

DEEPLURK

❝ CARVE YOUR PATH ❞
PINE GREEN & VIOLET

Associations: Giant Aquatic Serpent, winter, north, water
Key traits: resolute, independent, secure, stubborn

It can be hard to accurately describe a House whose defining trait is a tendency toward nonconformity, but Deeplurk is what it is and relentlessly so. Some among them wear the label intentionally. Others simply can't help but be their own weird selves. Whatever the reason, Deeplurkers value personal identity and will swim against the tide in the name of self-actualization. That's the other thing about Deeplurk: theirs is a house of strong convictions and quiet confidence, making it home to unstoppable forces and immovable objects, both. If the system does not work for a Deeplurker, then a Deeplurker will change the system. They are the provocateurs, the idealists and the revolutionaries.

You can count on a Deeplurker to not listen to perfectly good advice. Once set on a path, dauntless Deeplurk is hard to deter. Stubborn mules, the other Houses call them, though they're quick to correct: "resolute" sounds much nicer. Always independent, Deeplurkers love their freedom, perhaps at the expense of all else.

In Deeplurk you'll find both starry-eyed activists and gruff reluctant heroes, but not everyone in the Winter House is looking to start a revolution. There are those in Deeplurk happy to go with the flow, so long as they can still be true to themselves and their beliefs.

MOTHGARDEN

❝ SEEK GREATER HEIGHTS ❞
PEACHY PINK & SPRING GREEN

Associations: Mothman, spring, east, air
Key traits: curious, open, perceptive, moody

The spirit of adventure is alive and well in Mothgarden, all curious minds hungry for knowledge and new experience. That insatiable need for more draws them to scholarly pursuits and daring exploits in equal measure; you're as like to find a mad scientist in their midst as an intrepid explorer. Wherever they are, Mothgardeners greet the world with eyes wide open, inspired by all they see and questioning everything as a matter of course. They are dreamers of big dreams, unwilling to be stifled by the status quo and often landing themselves in trouble as a result — where there's a bright mind, a quick tongue often follows. Mothgarden is where academics and intellectuals are kindred spirits to punks and rebels.

Openness is a chief virtue here among the flowers, but that doesn't mean every Mothgardener is a ball of sunshine. On the contrary, their moods can be as changeable as April weather; no matter what they’re feeling — be it bright warmth, stormy melancholy or something inbetween — Mothgardeners feel it deeply. For all their grand schemes, they tend to be flighty and self-indulgent. Often, it's nothing more than the thrill of the new driving them, and motivating a Mothgardener to see their big ideas through can be a challenge (much to the chagrin of Wildgulch). Their rivals in Thorntrail might go so far as to call them unreliable, but why be fussed about it when they know that their brilliance and charm more than make up for those shortcomings?

In Mothgarden, intellectualism meets romantic wanderlust, but not everyone has their head in the clouds. A mercurial nature is not what defines the students of Mothman's house. Rather, it is that Mothgardeners are always looking to the horizon, longing to learn, unafraid of what the future holds.