A troll is hatched at a designated spawnworld (hańhut), a planet claimed and managed by one or more spawning agencies (hańitfibbi ra' miqquhya), informally known as “covens” (kuśihhut), which are run exclusively by the jade caste. The primary criterion for a planet to even qualify for evaluation to become spawnworld is no less than 95% climatic parity with the original Alternian climate in order to provide a maximally productive and most importantly native-like environment for the mother grub that is to be seeded on that planet. It is largely acknowledged that divergence from the so-called “canonical habitat” of a mother grub is a contributing factor to the rate of mutation in its offspring.

Wrigglerhood is considered to last from the zeroth hour to the fifth wriggling night. During this period, one is provided with caste-segregated quarters and schoolfeeding which focuses on educating wrigglers primarily on civic literacy: understanding the complex structure, duties, and expectations of the Empire is baseline for survival. Instilled in their young minds is an appreciation for the Empire, especially the Empress, in all its greatness and efficiency. As one grows, they almost inevitably come to realize that this aspect of their education was mostly untrue. They are also provided with broader academic programming on subjects such as mathematics, biology, astronomy, and others relevant to modern trolldom. The highbloods usually receive a superior quality of education on the more scientific subjects, while education on civil society is uncompromisingly extensive for all trolls.

After elementary schoolfeeding, each individual is sorted into a pod (ińgal) with eleven other podmates (ińgalrulyi) of around the same age. In each pod is one troll belonging to each caste from rust to violet, including lime, which has in living memory always been a standard caste. Pods are a combination co-habitational living space and classroom, with each troll having their own respiteblock only accessible to them whilst also sharing a common area in which lessons are issued. They are assigned a custodian or "lusus" (visus), who is a jadeblood that oversees the social development of the pod with the aim of impressing and maintaining the values of hemospectral hierarchy within that pod. A troll is meant to know their place in society while not causing too much trouble; a rustblood is punished for having a proper argument with a purpleblood rather than backing off, but so too is a violetblood punished for striking a lowblood without provocation. Corporal punishment is a common language employed in social instruction, and it is even taught that reliating against those lower than you is a fair way to conduct one's self.

After a short time of learning to live together, the Trials (Dźavityi) program begins, though bearing little resemblance to its ancient predecessor. The objective of the Trials is to identify and hone the natural skills of an individual in order to fill a labor role which they will assigned by the end of this five-sweep period. The first phase begins by introducing expert instructors into the pod, who provide a rigorous education on procedures and knowledge surrounding their position to the entire pod for a fifth of a sweep each. The activities and performance of the pupils are closely monitored and charted to calculate where each individual's affinities lie. Testing is mainly focused on comprehension and theory rather than hands-on experience at this time.

The first phase lasts two sweeps, over which a young troll will be presented a total of ten subjects and have their scores calculated on a ten-point scale:

• Aerospace Conflict (instructed by a veteran pilot)
• Ground Conflict (instructed by a veteran soldier)
• Medicine (instructed by a mediculler, usually a general physician)
• Research & Development (instructed by a senior researcher)
• Legislaceration (instructed by a career legislacerator)
• Agriculture (instructed by a senior agriculler or agrifield overseer)
• Execution (instructed by a senior executor)
• Engineering (instructed by an engineer/mechanic, usually aerospace)
• Industry (instructed by a manufacturing lead)
• Labor (instructed by a senior labor manager)

Jadebloods are given special treatment, receiving instruction for a separate "Broodkeeping" subject by a coven member whilst their podmates are receiving instruction in Labor. The grading is often biased, with lowbloods conspicuously more likely to score higher on subjects such as Labor, Industry, and Agriculture whereas highbloods more commonly are graded as having an affinity for Research & Development, Aerospace Conflict, or Medicine, for example. Trolls that score low across the board for whatever reason are more likely to be sorted into the Labor and Ground Conflict categories by the end of the first phase.

Once the first phase is complete, the pod custodian reviews the subject scores of each of their charges and, having the final say, hands out their assignment (cuhuaya). A troll is assigned to a department (dźutya), which is a category of labor which corresponds to the subject they were assigned. One's assignment appears on their identification form, limiting them to occupations within that department for what will most likely be the rest of their life; less than three percent of trolls, most of them highbloods, will ever receive a departmental transfer by request.

Following assignment, the pod is dissolved and, at the age of 7 sweeps (14 years), each troll is transferred to a secondary institution. For most, this means being transported to a "career academy", a starstation that acts as a college of sorts, literally called a "place that sharpens" (ficihut). The analogy is sound, as this second phase of the Trials also intends to further specialize the schoolfeeding of the troll. This stage of education is far less standardized than what takes place on spawnworlds as it is dependent on the organizing agency, instructors, sector resources, and so on. Generally speaking, it is a long-term hyper-focused educational program in which topics a pupil doesn't quickly excel at are deprioritized. By the end of their third sweep they are participating in on-the-job training and, on their tenth wriggling day, they are legally an adult (rahup) ready to participate in the workforce.

As part of the employment process, the career academy will upload the adult troll's identification form to a regional database of unemployed graduates containing information such as basic identification, appearance, grades, career licenses, and so on, which other agencies are able to view. The hiring sub-agency of a given agency, if seeking to hire, will put a bid out for that individual which other hiring agencies could potentially challenge. The auction period varies, but generally lasts no longer than one to two perigrees before one is shipped away to their new place of employment.