Skip to content

An Episode at a Glance

Each mission in Operation LAPIS is built around three sub-episodes, each with two immersion prompts (labeled .a and .b). A sub-episode is the basic unit of classroom activity. The standard pattern across the curriculum looks like this: 1.1.a, 1.1.b, 1.2.a, 1.2.b, 1.3.a, 1.3.b.

Some sub-episodes carry a third prompt (.c or beyond) when a new mechanic is being introduced or a scene runs longer. Mission 1.1, for example, has a third prompt (1.1.c) that introduces the Memorātiō.

A single sub-episode typically spans three to five class periods depending on schedule, pacing, and how much time you spend on the CODEX materials. A full mission (three sub-episodes) is usually two to three weeks of classroom time. The flow below describes the natural phases of a sub-episode rather than prescribing exact day counts. Mission 1 characters appear as illustrations where the pattern is genuinely typical.

The Anatomy of a Sub-Episode

Each sub-episode contains:

  • Two immersion prompts (.a and .b) -- the narrative text students engage with. Some sub-episodes have additional prompts (.c, .d) when a scene runs longer or introduces a new mechanic.
  • A CODEX HUD page carrying the backbone sections: KEY-TEXT, Informational Texts A and B, GRAMMATICA, VERBA, CULTURALIA, and ATTUNEMENT
  • An Agent response (RPG only) -- your in-character reply that advances the story
  • A Memorātiō entry -- a reflective writing prompt in which teams record what their character experienced

Phase 1: The .a Prompt

Posting and first read

Post the .a prompt to your delivery platform. Have teams read the scene together in class. Circulate and monitor; resist the urge to translate. The CODEX VERBA section is the first stop for unfamiliar vocabulary, and the rollover tooltips on the LAPIS site carry glosses for terms that go beyond the core list.

Activating the CODEX

When the prompt gives you a natural anchor point, activate the relevant CODEX section before teams respond. In Mission 1, when Marcus demands the team's name, send students to the CULTURALIA naming reading before they compose anything. The cultural context is not a detour; it is the information they need to do the task well.

Work through the CODEX materials deliberately:

  • CULTURALIA and Informational Texts give the historical and cultural context the response will draw on. This often takes a full class period in itself.
  • ATTUNEMENT comprehension questions scaffold both the cultural reading and the grammatical content. In Mission 1, the prepositions practice set maps directly onto the game action -- each false location the team invents for Marcus is a fresh grammar repetition.
  • GRAMMATICA -- if a new construction appears that multiple teams are struggling with, brief direct instruction keyed to the GRAMMATICA section is appropriate. Keep it anchored to what just appeared in the prompt.

Team response and Agent reply

Teams collaborate on their character's response outside class. Each team has a designated lead operative for the current sub-episode, whose job is to consolidate the team's ideas and post the character's final action in the main thread.

After the lead operative posts, you reply in character as the Agent of the Demiurge, advancing the story and reacting to what the team did. A few principles that hold across the curriculum:

  • Let reasonable actions work. If a team does something sensible in the fiction, let it succeed.
  • Re-rail in-fiction, never out of character. If a team goes off-script, have the NPC react in character and steer back -- never refuse a move by stepping outside the fiction.
  • Punt to the right NPC. Characters like Tiberius can credibly not know things. Use their deflections to teach teams that good questions need to go to the right person.
  • The nuclear option. Early in the curriculum, you can gently steer a lead operative directly from within the fiction. Because the TSTT is the Demiurge's program, this does not break immersion and can build metacognition about how narrative choices work.

Lead operative rotation

Rotate which student serves as lead operative each sub-episode. Establishing this rotation in Mission 1 pays dividends across the year.

Phase 2: The .b Prompt

The .b prompt continues the same scene or moves it to the next beat. The cycle repeats: post the prompt, read together, activate any remaining CODEX sections, teams respond, you reply in character.

Begin this phase by reviewing the .a responses together as a class. Project or share each team's post and read as a class. Correct common Latin errors lightly: model correct usage rather than marking every mistake. Preserving willingness to compose is more important at this stage than surface accuracy.

Phase 3: The Key Texts

The KEY-TEXTs are Latin-only passages (unlike the mixed-language immersion prompts) that continue or comment on the story. They are the primary vehicle for building interpretive reading proficiency and are more demanding than the immersion prompts.

  • Teams read for meaning collaboratively, using rollover tooltips and the visual walkthrough (available in Missions 1--14) for new constructions.
  • Work through any remaining comprehension questions together.

Mark KEY-TEXT completion in Mission Control once a team has engaged with the reading. This is worth 150 LP per sub-episode.

Phase 4: The Memorātiō

The Memorātiō is a reflective writing prompt in which teams record a short narrative account of what their character did and experienced. It functions as a cumulative diary of the character's life across the operation. In sub-episodes where the Memorātiō appears as a numbered prompt (as in 1.1.c), it is posted and responded to like any other prompt.

Coach the form (third person, past tense, character voice) rather than treating it as a live in-character exchange. The goal is for the team to write as their character reflecting on the events, not to continue the story.

Awarding LP

After each sub-episode, award LP in Mission Control based on each operative's individual contribution to the team discussion -- not the final post alone. The target is ~300 LP per sub-episode, calibrated to the four-level rubric.

Mark ATTUNEMENT completion separately in Mission Control once the team has engaged with the comprehension questions. This is worth 150 LP per sub-episode, separate from immersion LP.

See Latinity Points & Grading for full guidance on the rubric and awarding.

The Shape of a Full Mission

A full mission (three sub-episodes) follows the same four-phase cycle three times, each activating its own CODEX HUD with new cultural and grammatical content. In Mission 1:

  • 1.1 (The Boy in the Tree) -- Roman names, Bay of Naples geography, prepositions. Three prompts (1.1.a/b/c) including the introductory Memorātiō.
  • 1.2 (House of Sextus Aemiliānus) -- the Roman house, the accusative. The team meets their first nitidus guide.
  • 1.3 (House of Caecilius) -- the Roman cēna across multiple sessions; roles of servī and clientēs; lead operative rotation.

Using LAPIS Alongside a Textbook

Some teachers run LAPIS alongside a traditional textbook, using the missions as a reading and composition strand. The textbook's grammar sequence and the immersion prompts will not always align. Treat the textbook as the explicit grammar instruction track and LAPIS as the applied reading and cultural track. Students who encounter a construction in the prompts before formally studying it are getting comprehensible-input exposure; that is a feature, not a problem.

Next: The CODEX