Flagg Institute

Flagg Institute
South of the Capitol Anozira is the enigmatic Flagg Institute. Flagg is not concerned with training the greatest hunters, but manufacturing and spearheading Remnant’s technologic process, with hunting the Grimm as merely a side-effect.

The majority of the institute is focused on technology and research. Its graduates often times end up respected engineers and doctors. Products created by the institute, such as the Leighly-Braun Manifold and the CATSAI software, are some of the most sought after products across Remnant.

When Flagg does train Hunters, they pride themselves with training Hunters equipped and trained with what they claim are the greatest weapons created by Remnant. At least that’s what their publicity office says. Everyone’s running from something and the reality of Flagg’s huntsman training program is that an alarming number (approx. 40%) of its recruits have a tendency to have something to run from. All walks of life from deserters, fugitives, psychopaths, daredevils, deviants, hooligans, renegades, outcasts, and general scoundrels find themselves walking the campus grounds. Called “Predators”, these young men and women are put through rigorous training on par with most other academies and outfitted with the latest technology and cybernetics created by the doctors, engineers, and professors within the labyrinths of laboratories and test ranges the institute is composed of. Many Flagg students later find their cash and fortunes working as mercenaries, being paid exorbitant sums for recovering live Grimm (through non-lethal means), finding lost artifacts, vigilantism, corporate espionage/sabotage, and even black operations both private and governmental.

As a result of this gun-for-hire nature of work and the stereotype of a predator’s past, vast controversy surrounds the Flagg institute. For one, many conspiracy theorists are convinced they are a backing for the White Fang because of the higher Faunus enrollment. The heavy use of Cybernetics among students is also criticized for a multitude of reasons, mostly from Luddite factions. Moralist groups are generally displeased with Flagg welcoming “the scum and villainy of Remnant” and their emphasis on “personal gains, as opposed to the greater good of our societies”. But really the source of these controversies is the technical training mandatory for graduation. The most outspoken (and arguably least credible) critics claim that Flagg undermines Remnant’s defense by not requiring that Predators immediately enter into service as professional Huntsmen.

Flagg's Initiation
In order to function as an effective second-start school, Flagg requires no previous transcripts or battle records. In order to compensate however, Flagg operates a rigorous live-fire initiation and survival does not guarantee admission either. The initiation itself varies, one initiation may involve a group of 8 students being stranded in the wilderness to survive at the instructors whim. Another could involve a small team of 4 being pitted against hordes and hordes of mechanically replicated Grimm interlaced with surplus AK-130 drones. Sometimes, an Initiation can be rather elaborate with would-be students sent on either a pre-fabricated or actual low-priority mission for the Institute.

Predator Squads
Unlike Beacon and many other Hunter Academies, Flagg students do not form fixed teams and given the way Predators are trained, fixed teams are counter-intuitive. Predators are expected to be able to function in almost any situation. A fixed team of pure close combat, snipers, etc. can be crippling. Mixed teams can fall where pure specialists succeed. Some jobs don’t even require an entire team. As such, each Predator is trained to be as self-sufficient as possible. While Predators are more than capable of functioning alone, they are just as effective in properly set-up squads. An adage goes “for every one Predator you see, there’s at least one more. And he’s %#!ed you over already” Squad selection is based on what a certain mission (training or real) requires. Predators then choose as many of their peers as they deem necessary along with the skillset they need.

CATSAI:
CATSAI is an acronym of Combat Analytics, Tactical Supervision, Artificial Intelligence. CATSAI is standard issue for all Predators. Instructors use it to review recorded combat footage to assist students in correcting mistakes or as evidence of the completion of objectives during a contract. Students use it to claim bounties, operate deployable turrets, drones, etc. communicate with squadmates, or track kills for peer contest. The CATSAI unit itself varies, but it is often installed on a high performance smartphone for general use. In combat use, the smartphone is placed in an armored compartment somewhere on a Predator’s Tactical suit and plugged into a camera where it can record combat.

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[1] The reality is, Flagg WILL accept students with criminal records, but only under a special re-socialization program that involves having them serve a number of years under the institute with obvious restrictions. =====