The building was big, but not as fancy as you had hoped. 1917, what a year for brickmakers it must have been! But now it’s time for a tour of this non-copyrighted wizard school setting, and what a group that’s gathered. You look around the courtyard where you stand: a number of people are strategically positioned so that they are as far away from anyone else as possible. Evidently, this is a friendship party.
Even though you arrived right on time the tour guide is nowhere to be seen. You have to wait a while, the “Feliz Navidad” playing in your headphones looping five times before a large duck hurriedly waddles into the courtyard. You chuckle to yourself over how crazy it would be if KTH had actually hired this duck as a guide when a voice speaks up from the duck’s direction.
“Hello everyone, sorry I’m late! I’m dAnkan! I’ll be your guide for this extravagant tour of KTH!” says dAnkan.
“Great, school hasn’t even begun yet and I’ve entered a psychosis” you think, glancing nervously at the others in the courtyard, trying to see if they might want to call an ambulance for you.
But everyone else has turned toward dAnkan, looking at them as though what just happened is the most natural thing in the world. One of the participants even quips:
“No worries, we’re running on academic quack time, right? Hehehehe!”
dAnkan glares at the jokester with murderous (or at least assault-worthy) intent, but quickly joins in laughing.
“Well, phenomenal, this is going to be fun! Let’s get started!” says dAnkan cheerfully. They begin waddling towards the entrance of one of the castle-like buildings. You and the other participants follow dAnkan into the first building, which dAnkan introduces as E. One of the others asks about the name but gets no response from dAnkan, who instead points out the artwork on the ceiling. A moment later, you arrive at a corridor of portraits.
“Okay folks, here’s a bit of KTH history: these are all of KTH’s principals!” dAnkan exclaims.
“But that can’t be a principal, right?” one of the participants asks, pointing at a portrait.
“It most certainly is!” dAnkan responds, almost sounding a bit offended. “Rector Paulus Quagga was one of KTH’s more unique principals! He served more as an artistic muse for the students, inspiring them not just to think about technology and science but also about art. It’s said that he’s the ‘art’ in KTH’s motto, ‘Science and Art,’ and when you see him, you can really understand that,” dAnkan explains with an air of authority.
“Let me see… This particular painting was created by the legendary artist and communicator Samuel M. The artwork is said to be so detailed in capturing Quagga’s essence that you can even hear him speak through the frame,” dAnkan remarks cryptically.
“What nonsense. How could you hear a painting from the 1800s?” one of the more skeptical participants comments.
“Well, Samuel was an inventive man, to say the least,” dAnkan replies with a smirk. “Anyway, old Quagga here holds the password for the door to get out of here, so why don’t one of you ask him for it?”