The Eaters of Wisdom and the Invisible School of Thaumaturgy
During the late period of the Lloroi civilization, men regarded two temples as holy above all others--the Spires to the Sun and the Temple of Kings. The first was the seat of the national god of the Lloroi Empire; the second was considered older and held in equal reverence by all nations, free and subjugated. Many a Lloroi emperor visited the Temple of Kings' sacred precincts to beg wisdom of the oracle. The boldest even aspired to the magic gifts which had been gathered by heroes of the past and dedicated to the safekeeping of the gods of destiny.

The great Cataclysm eventually laid low the Lloroi cult of the sun god, but not so the Temple of Kings. It survived because the gods of destiny survived. From among the children of the priests, the local mountaineers and homeless wanderers, the sacred order of the Temple always found enough acolytes to perpetuate itself through the chaotic years of the early post-Cataclysm.

Of all the mystic orders of Minaria, none has a mystery more impenetrable to the outsider than does the Temple of Kings. Manx myths regarding the Temple have entered popular folklore, but neither god nor priest has ever raised his voice to confirm or deny the speculations of others.

Through all the upheavals of man and nature, the gods stood as an aegis over the timeless pagoda. The priests are said to have maintained a marvelous library from pre-Cataclysmic times. Alas, it has little if any direct benefits for the world at large; its scrolls are intended for the edification of the Temple order alone. Not even the most royal foreign visitor is permitted to gaze upon the eldritch calligraphy.

Yet,despite their privileges, the priests are by no means believed to live a life of luxury. The holy men subsist on simple fare--honey, meal and goat's milk--provided by the tenants of the Temple property. These plain folk receive in return the blessings of the priests and enjoy the eternal peace of the mountain enclave, but do not share in the secrets of the sacred order. In fact, claims the Elven prince Cwenn in his travelogue High Pilgrimage, the mountain folk are not materially improved in any way for their proximity to the Temple, although the royal traveler speaks glowingly of their pristine character and kind hospitality.

No army has ever ravaged the homes of the tenants nor the ancient Temple itself. This is a true miracle, for the frosty northlands are a breeding ground for wild marauders--both human and Goblin. Terrible legends are told of the supernatural dooms that have befallen those who have borne arms of violence across the sacred grounds.

Isolated, the Temple passed centuries in remote meditation. Finally, according to Snagod, the Goblin mythographer, the gods of destiny revealed to the Hierophant Singing Dream that change was nigh in Minaria; it was the will of the gods that the priests of the Temple be appraised of these events.

From this revelation Singing Dream took inspiration to divide the priesthood into two orders. The first, the Order of the Contemplators, would tend to their meditations as the Temple priests had done since time immemorial. The other order, that of the Walkers, instructed its members to go forth into the world to learn the ways, thoughts and deeds of all the sentient races that populated Minaria.

Succeeding generations sent many Walkers from the Temple of Kings to the distant hills, coasts and valleys. Such priests and priestesses were bound by their order's laws not to interfere with the free working of destiny amid any of the foreign folk they visited. The cowled Walkers, passing like wraiths through barbarian camp and fledgling village, became the objects of awe and superstition. Many sagas of early times contain reference to the strange visitors. Many Walkers' insatiable appetite for knowlege of the migrations, the leaders, the arts, the crafts and magic practices of foreign peoples led them to be known among outsiders as 'the Eaters of Wisdom.'

Occasionally, the fear the Walkers raised caused them to be attacked. A few members of the order were killed this way, but it was usually the brigands who suffered. The rules of the order did not prevent a Walker from defending himself, and various martial powers were attributed to Walkers. One Walker, Shining Beacon, who appears as a character in the Khuzdite epic The Sugiyameid, is credited with 'the Shout that Maddens', 'the Punch that Disembowels' and 'the Finger that Petrifies.'

The Contemplators meditated upon all the information which the Walkers communicated to the Temple of Kings. in this way the two orders long cooperated in harmony. But gradually, over several generations, there developed certain disagreements between the Contemplators and the Walkers. The most conservative and introspective acolytes tended to become members of the Contemplator Order; the more restless and imaginative preferred to wander over the face of Minaria as Walkers. The leadership of the Temple remained within the order of the Contemplators, as its responsibility tended to tie a priest to the Temple grounds. Meanwhile, the Walkers, seeing the ills of an ignorant world, were increasingly tempted to intervene in secular affairs for good purpose and were frustrated by the laws which forbade it.

Occasionally at first, but more frequently later, Walkers were discovered to have violated their vows. For example, Silver Morn, a Watcher of the eighth century who dared to impart moral teaching to the rude tribesmen of Zehr-hu-Pon, was excommunicated. Worse infractions followed as when Noble Hope cursed the barbarian chief Ramaharto--a cruel harrier of both barbarous and civilized lands. Finding Ramaharto triumphant in a new atrocity, Noble Hope spat magically into the cruel one's face. Immediately the barbarian shrunk and disappeared into his massive clothing. Noble Hope parted the furs and removed a puling infant from them. This he handed over to Ramaharto's mother, charging her to rear the child to be wiser and more just than she did the first time.

These and similar infractions were duly dealt with via penance, excommunication and like measures A far worse scandal wracked the Temple orders when Joyous Hand, a high-ranking Walker, removed a number of magical scrolls from the library and distributed them to certain high-minded outsiders. His hope was that the power of magic would help virtue triumph in the secular world, but his act was a violation of all his order's laws. Legend says that the gods themselves took a hand in Joyous Hand's punishment, sending demons to torment him until he threw himself into a vast lake to drown.

The Contemplators were unanimous in denunciation of Joyous Hand's deed, but he was spoken of with some respect by elements of the Walkers. The attitude of these few made the administering conclave of high priests suspicious of the whole order. Some insisted that the order be abolished, but the gods gave no sign that this solution would please them. Instead, the conclave laid down harsher penalties for misdeeds, and ruled that henceforth a Contemplator would be Grand Master of the Order of Walkers. Furthermore, Walkers were no longer to be permitted into the Temple of Kings immediately after a tour of duty in the outer world. A fane was established on the shores of the lake where Joyous Hand had died--as a reminder of the gods' power. After walking among corrupting influence, a Walker was required to pass a year of meditation in the Fane of the Walkers before returning to the Temple of Kings. And lest the Grand Master himself suffer from corrupting influences, a new Contemplator was appointed to the office every year.

To the Contemplators these reforms were only vital precautions; to the Walkers as a whole it was a rebuke to their honor. Joyous Hand the Heretic became a symbol of free thinking among a secret group of Walkers called the Leredargs ('Lered' being the secular name of Joyous Hand). The Leredargs believed that the gods of destiny inspired select individuals to intervene directly in worldly affairs for the cause of virtue and civilization--in essence, believing that they were part of a divine plan Many of the later Walkers discovered to have broken the rules of their order were in fact Leredargs. These heretics were dealt with by the sternest measures short of death and torture--these latter punishments being the province of the gods alone.

During the Grand Mastership of Crystal Soul, Walkers came hurrying to the Fane of Walkers with reports of strange, alien creatures thronging through the lands of Mivior. These 'abominations of the land and the horrors of the air' were working such unimaginable evil that many of the Walkers were compelled by conscience to do the unthinkable and beg their Grand Master to invoke strong magic against the deadly tide. Grand Master Crystal Soul responded indignantly and sent the names of the protestors to the Temple of Kings With their names went Crystal Soul's recommendation for their excommunication.

Before many weeks had passed. the refugees of Hothior descended upon the fane. vainly appealing for aid for their stricken country Crystal Soul replied only: Let the gods' will be done!" and extended only the meanest of hospitality to the refugees. He denied them all provisions and other assistance which might in any way be interpreted as interfering with the divine plan for the world.

Meanwhile. the Walkers studied the advance of the abominations anxiously They had followed the River Flood Water north and were now perilously close to the Walkers' fane Crystal Soul permitted no defensive action. not even when the first monsters entered the adjacent lake itself. According to the historian Wiyot in his The Rise of the Kahuraru Awari, Crystal Soul stubbornly maintained that the gods would never permit the destruction of their fane, even while scaled arms pulled down its towers and alien tentacles crushed the life out of the Grand Master himself.

The surviving Walkers fled into the wilderness, where they were joined by many excommunicated Leredargs. After the disaster, the Walkers were more than ready to convert to the heretical Leredarg views and elected one of them, Gowannuraw, as the new Grand Master. Gowannuraw's first official act was to renounce all affiliation with the Temple of Kings and reorganize the Walkers as an independent entity, which he called Kahuraru Awari (Sword of Fate).

Gowannuraw directed the repair of the Fane of the Walkers, now called the School of Thaumaturgy, protecting it with a spell of invisibility. The School became a haven for refugees, as the powerful spells of the wizards within kept the abominations in check.

The Kahuraru Awari (still called the Eaters of Wisdom by the common people) established a library in rivalry with the one in the Temple of Kings and sent out the call for students of the higher wisdoms. From its earliest days the School never lacked for pupils nor rich endowments. One of the first young men to be educated by the Eaters of Wisdom was Teredon, destined to found a new social order among the Vidarna tribesmen.

During the succeeding centuries, many of Minaria's most eminent statesmen, magicians, philosophers and generals would owe their education to the Eaters of Wisdom. Even students with little interest in the finer delicacies of education would seek the martial training that only the Eaters could provide.

Although thought of as wizards and lectors, the Eaters of Wisdom retained some of their original priestly proclivities. Nonetheless, the Kahuraru Awari had discarded much of the old Temple theology. They no longer believed in a destiny guided by intelligent gods. Rather, they envisioned a type of neutral life-energy that could be set to either good or evil purpose. It was the life work of the Eaters of Wisdom to utilize these supernatural forces for good ends.

The most promising students of the School were offered the opportunity to alter their curriculum to include magical conjuration. The rigors that the initiates had to undergo to achieve entry into the Higher Mysteries are hinted at by the Elven general Droncain, who captured the Invisible School of Thaumaturgy during Boewenn's War. He writes: "Under the School we found strange mechanical contrivances constructed by the priests in the subterranean crypts and caverns where the nocturnal initiator rites were celebrated. These machines indicated the severe tests of moral and physical courage undergone by the candidates. After passing through these torturous ways, the neophytes who survived the ordeals were ushered into the chamber of the immortal life-energy, a noble and awe-inspiring vault illuminated by unearthly lights.'

As the doctrine of the Kahuraru Awari evolved, the wizards were continually confronted by the specter of war. While war was considered the most grievous manifestation of negative life-energy, the Eaters of Wisdom dared not be indifferent to the conflicts that regularly disturbed the peace of Minaria. It appeared to the wizards that war invariably led to the triumph of the most negative and least civilized elements. To help redress the balance, the Kahuraru Awari initiated a tradition of magical research into military science.

During the eleventh century the Eaters developed the Reflector and the Enchanted Castle. The latter, an incredible fortress designed by the sorcerer-architect Pirakaw, was kept in a neighboring dimension when not in use. When needed, the spells of the military magicians could summon it as a place of refuge.

As a consequence of these astonishing discoveries, the environs of the Invisible School drew many spies. The Eaters of Wisdom have not been known to do worse than admonish and expel the trespassers, but in the year 1044 a series of disappearances in the nearby forest made the area a place to be shunned. The incidents gave rise to the legend of the Mist Monsters, grisly creatures that lay concealed in the white mists of the Well of Lered (as the Kahuraru Awari called the adjacent lake). The Muetarian historian Amlas theorized that the constant use of spells in the vicinity had let in the old abominations through the portals of time. Cynics guessed instead that the Eaters themselves were waylaying and murdering wayfarers.

Gradually the Eaters of Wisdom evolved into an effective fighting force. They unveiled the Magic Bridge in 1101 when fleeing the Muetarian army across the Yando swamps; in 1209 they baffled the Conodras tribesmen during the siege of Agada by King Mesilim. But perhaps their most memorable military achievement was the Battle of Warlock's Hill, when a horde of Gakstetter Goblins laid siege to the Gap Castle in 1288, threatening to break out across all of southern Immer.

The Kahuraru Awari masters of military science and their advanced students arrived upon a hillock overlooking the siege. Breaking their mystic paraphernalia out of their wagon, the wizards summoned the Enchanted Castle from its misty dimension. Once safely ensconced, they evoked the destruction of the Whirling Vortex against the Goblins.

The magical attacks so infuriated the wild Goblins that their war chiefs could not control them. Instead of continuing their assaults upon the fatigued defenders of the Gap Castle, the Goblins turned their fury against the Enchanted Castle. The leader of the wizards, Carthon, especially distinguished himself in the fighting. School records read: "A Goblin, seeing the carnage that Carthon was making of his comrades, rushed at him--ready to die if only he could kill him--and decapitated the hero with an iron broadsword. At that same moment, another wizard burned the brute through with a bolt of energy, stretching him dead alongside his victim....Meanwhile, the Kahuraru Awari, both masters and students, manfully defended the ramparts, breaking bones and severing nerves with their lightning-like kicks and blows. When the Goblins could make no headway against men who fought with bare hands, they withdrew, demoralized."

Day by day the carnage was repeated, but the determined Goblins could not win the magic-wrought towers. At length, the royal army arrived f rom Castle Altarr, sending the Goblins scattering. Before they reached their own country, they had lost many more comrades to the wizards' Reflector.

After exploits such as this, the Eaters of Wisdom became much-sought-after allies. Rich bribes and flattering tributes were paid to the succeeding Grand Masters, until critics could rightfully charge that sometimes the Eaters acted more from greed than from virtue.

One monarch who respected the Eaters' power but could not win them into his faction was the fanatical Elven High Prince Boewenn. Accordingly, he made the Invisible School the target of his best general, Droncain, providing him with magics sufficient to undo the School's protective spell. The Eaters, who had grown proud and complacent, were taken utterly by surprise. Some escaped through underground ways, but many were captured and returned to Ider Bolis. Most of these perished under torture as Boewenn sought to wring their secrets out of them, but in dying they placed a terrible curse on Elfland. The curse seemed to be borne out as the war turned against Boewenn and foreign armies captured Ider Bolis.

In the aftermath of war, the Eaters of Wisdom repaired the damaged school and replaced their depleted numbers. Their defeat led to a critical analysis of the faults that had caused it and the next few Grand Masters worked tirelessly to purify the order's moral outlook. No longer would gold or secular concerns affect the judgment of the Eaters of Wisdom regarding when they would go to war or for whose cause they would fight.

Today, fair-minded observers have no reason to cast aspersions at the Kahuraru Awari; they are faithfully and courageously performing the role they have chosen for themselves--that of the swordwielders of Fate.


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