The Academy
Changdam is beautiful, old, competitive, and respected. Families dream of sending their children there because graduates often become leaders, artists, doctors, authors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and public figures.
Story Overview
What is Changdam Academy?
Changdam Academy is an elite school divided into five houses. Each house represents a major way people shape civilization: words, beauty, enterprise, science, and justice.
The Problem
Behind the prestige is a damaged culture. Some students are cruel. Some teachers protect tradition more than truth. Powerful families are favored. Bullying is excused as discipline.
The Hope
Richie and Katie enter as the fourth and fifth Sayson siblings. They are younger, less proven, and often underestimated—but they still believe kindness can be a form of rebellion.
The Five Houses
Clear, symbolic, and rooted in family colors.
The houses honor the assigned family colors of the Sayson siblings while also giving the academy a clean academic structure.
💜 Amethyst
🦉
Liberal Arts
Sibling: Richard “Richie” Sayson
Animal: Owl — wisdom, observation, truth.
Purpose: to protect knowledge, language, memory, and meaning.
- Literature
- Languages
- Philosophy
- Communication
- Creative Writing
- Education
Motto: Words shape reality. Ideas change the world.
🧡 Amber
🦊
Fine Arts
Sibling: Katherine “Katie” Sayson
Animal: Fox — creativity, cleverness, adaptability.
Purpose: to create beauty, experience, design, and emotional meaning.
- Visual Arts
- Graphic Design
- Music
- Theatre
- Architecture
- Hospitality Design
Motto: Beauty inspires. Creation transforms.
💚 Emerald
🦌
Business & Commerce
Sibling: Hazel “Zellie” Sayson
Animal: Stag — leadership, discipline, prosperity.
Purpose: to build sustainable systems, wise leadership, and financial stewardship.
- Finance
- Accounting
- Economics
- Marketing
- Entrepreneurship
- Business Administration
Motto: Numbers tell the story. Strategy builds the future.
💙 Sapphire
🐺
Science & Health Sciences
Sibling: Edward “Eddie” Sayson
Animal: Wolf — loyalty, protection, resilience.
Purpose: to study life, protect health, and heal visible and invisible wounds.
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Medicine
- Nursing
- Psychiatry
- Medical Research
Motto: Discovery improves life. Science heals the world.
❤️ Ruby
🦁
Law & Social Sciences
Sibling: Candice “Candie” Sayson
Animal: Lion — courage, justice, leadership.
Purpose: to defend justice, organize society, and hold power accountable.
- Law
- Political Science
- History
- Sociology
- International Relations
- Public Policy
Motto: Justice creates order. Leadership shapes society.
Character Biographies
The Sayson Siblings
The story is told mainly through Richie and Katie, the youngest siblings, while the older three shape the academy around them.
1st — Hazel “Zellie” Sayson
Zellie is the oldest sibling and is in her final year when the story begins. She represents discipline, responsibility, and leadership. As the Emerald figure, she is tied to business, finance, administration, and wise stewardship.
She is respected, but that respect comes with pressure. Everyone expects her to be composed, reliable, and successful. Her hidden conflict is learning that even strong people deserve support.
2nd — Candice “Candie” Sayson
Candie is sharp, principled, and brave. She belongs to Ruby because her path is connected to political science, law, justice, and leadership. She is one of the older siblings closest to Richie and Katie.
She knows how systems protect themselves. Her strength is courage, but her challenge is not becoming emotionally detached while fighting powerful people.
3rd — Edward “Eddie” Sayson
Eddie is calm, protective, and deeply observant. He belongs to Sapphire, the house of science and health sciences. His path includes nursing, medicine, psychiatry, and the healing of both body and mind.
He is close to Richie and Katie because he notices what they do not say. Eddie is the sibling who understands silence.
4th — Richard “Richie” Sayson
Richie is one of the two main protagonists. He enters Changdam as the fourth sibling, carrying the family name but still trying to discover his own voice. Amethyst fits him because of language, education, writing, teaching, and authorship.
His gift is seeing meaning where others see noise. His weakness is overthinking. His arc is learning that words are not only for expression—they can expose cruelty, defend the vulnerable, and change the story people believe about themselves.
5th — Katherine “Katie” Sayson
Katie is the fifth sibling and the other main protagonist. She belongs to Amber because of fine arts, design, creativity, hospitality, and the ability to turn emotion into experience.
Where Richie thinks, Katie moves. Where Richie worries, Katie creates. She becomes the spark that pushes the story forward and reminds Changdam that beauty can also be brave.
Sibling Order at a Glance
1st: Hazel “Zellie” Sayson — Emerald, Business & Commerce.
2nd: Candice “Candie” Sayson — Ruby, Law & Social Sciences.
3rd: Edward “Eddie” Sayson — Sapphire, Science & Health Sciences.
4th: Richard “Richie” Sayson — Amethyst, Liberal Arts.
5th: Katherine “Katie” Sayson — Amber, Fine Arts.
Central Conflict
Two youngest siblings versus a broken culture.
Richie and Katie are not trying to destroy Changdam. They are trying to save what it was supposed to become.
Cynical Students
They believe kindness is weakness and compassion is naïve. Richie and Katie challenge them simply by refusing to become cruel.
Jaded Elites
Some students have survived Changdam by becoming cold. They mock idealism because believing in change once hurt them.
Powerful Bullies
The most dangerous students hide behind names, wealth, achievements, and tradition. They are not monsters—they are products of a system that rewarded pride.
“Knowledge, beauty, prosperity, science, and justice cannot heal the world alone. They must become intertwined.”
Visual Gallery
Concept posters and house identity
About the Author
Richard Sy
Richard Sy is an educator, marketer, and registered author from the Philippines. His passion for teaching, storytelling, language, and self-expression inspired the creation of Changdam Academy and the Intertwined universe.
This story is inspired by family, legacy, and the belief that people change the world in different ways: through words, creativity, business, science, healing, law, and justice.
At its heart, Intertwined asks whether kindness can survive in a prestigious world obsessed with achievement—and whether two youngest siblings can help reform a system everyone else has learned to endure.