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 super-
natural dooms that have befallen those individuals and small bands that have
borne arms of violence across the sacred grounds.

Isolated during the Years of Chaos, the Temple passed slow centuries in remote
meditation. Finally, according to Snagod, the Goblin mythographer, the Gods of
Destiny revealed to the Hierophant Singing Dream that profound change was
nigh in Minaria and it was the will of the gods that the priests of the Temple be
appraised of such significant events.

Inspired by this revelation, Singing Dream divided the priesthood into two
orders. The first, the Order of the Contemplators, would attend to their medita-
tions as the Temple priests had done since time immemorial. The other order,
that of the Walkers, would go forth into the world and learn its ways, thoughts,
and the great deeds performed by all the sentient races that populated Minaria.

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 -- Hyyx, also known as the Spires to the Sun, and the Temple
of Kings. The first was the seat of the national god of the Lloroi Empire; the sec -
ond was revered as being much older and held in at least equal reverence by
all nations, free and subjugated. Many a Lloroi emperor visited the Temple of
Kings to beg wisdom of the oracle. The boldest even aspired to petition the
deities for the magic gifts which had been gathered by heroes of the past and
dedicated to the safekeeping of the Gods of Destiny.
Succeeding generations sent many Walkers from the Temple of Kings to the dis-
tant hills, coasts, and valleys. These 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
many a barbarian camp and fledgling village, became in time the objects of awe
and superstition. Many sagas of early centuries contain references to these
strange visitors. Many Walkers' insatiable appetite for knowledge -- of the
migrations, the leaders, the arts, the crafts, and magic practices of foreign peo-
ples -- 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 him-
self and various martial powers were attributed to Walkers. One Walker,
Shining Beacon, is credited with 'the Shout that Maddens', 'the Punch that
Disembowels,' and 'the Finger that Petrifies.'

The great Cataclysm eventually laid low the Lloroi cult of the sun god, but not The Contemplators meditated upon all the information which the Walkers com-
so the Temple of Kings. It survived because the Gods of Destiny survived. municated to the Temple of Kings and in this way the two orders long cooper-
From among the children of the priests, the local mountaineers, and homeless ated in harmony. But gradually, over several generations, there developed cer-
wanderers, the sacred order of the Temple always recruited enough acolytes to tain disagreements between the Contemplators and the Walkers. The most
perpetuate itself through all the chaotic years of the early post-Cataclysm. conservative and introspective acolytes tended to become members of the
Contemplator Order; the more restless and imaginative preferred to wander
Of all the mystic orders of Minaria, none presents a mystery more impenetrable over the face of Minaria as Walkers. The leadership of the Temple remained
than does the Temple of Kings. Manx myths
regarding the Temple have entered into popular
folklore, but neither god nor priest has ever raised
his voice to confirm or deny the speculations of
others.

Throughout the many upheavals of man and

nature, the gods stood as an aegis over the time-
less pagoda. The priests are said to have main-
tained a marvelous library from pre-Cataclysmic
times. Alas, its scrolls have bequeathed few direct
benefits to the world at large; they 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 of the ancient manu-
scripts.

Despite the reverence they enjoy, the priests by no

means live a life of luxury. The holy men subsist
on the 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. Alas, they do not share in the
secrets of the sacred order. According to the claim
of 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 glow-
ingly of the locals' pristine character and kind hos -
pitality. If the truth be told, however, they benefit
by freedom from war, for no enemy army would
think to violate the sacred precincts of the Temple. An illustration from the book High Pilgrimage by Prince Cwenn. It depicts the legend of the heretic Joyous Hand,
whom the Contemplators believe was driven to his death by demons.

1
within the order of the Contemplators, as its responsibility naturally tied a priest ilously close to the Walkers' own fane. Still Crystal Soul permitted no defensive
to the Temple grounds. Meanwhile, the Walkers, seeing the ills of an ignorant action, not even when the first monsters slid into the adjacent lake itself.
world, were increasingly tempted to intervene for good purpose and were frus - According to the historian Wiyot in his The Rise of the Kahuraru Awari, Crystal
trated by the holy laws which forbade it. Soul stubbornly maintained that the gods would never permit the destruction of
their fane. He seemingly retained this belief even while scaled arms pulled
Occasionally at first, but more frequently later, Walkers were discovered to have down his towers and alien tentacles were crushing the life out of the Grand
violated their vows. For example, Silver Morn, a Watcher of the Eighth Century Master himself.
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 mag-
ically into his face. Immediately the barbarian shrunk and disappeared into his
massive clothing. Noble Hope parted the furs and removed a puling infant from
amongst 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, excommunica-
tion, and like measures. A far worse scandal racked the Temple orders when
Joyous Hand, a high-ranking Walker, removed a number of magical scrolls from
the library and distributed them to certain wise outsiders. His hope was that the
power of magic would help virtue triumph in the secular world, but his act was
a violation of his order's most sacrosanct vows. Legend says that the gods
themselves took a hand in Joyous Hand's punishment, sending demons to tor-
ment him until he threw himself into a lake to drown. From his birth name,
Lered, the Well of Lered came to be.

The Contemplators were unanimous in denunciation of Joyous Hand's deed,

but he was spoken of with some respect by some individual Walkers. The atti-
tude of these few made the governing conclave of high priests suspicious of the
entire order. Some insisted that the Walkers' order be abolished, but the gods
gave no sign that this solution was ordained. Instead, the conclave laid down
harsher penalties for misdeeds and ruled that henceforth a Contemplator must
be Grand Master of the Order of Walkers.
Furthermore, Walkers were no longer to be permitted into the Temple of Kings
after a tour of duty in the outer world without purification. 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 influ-
ences, a new Contemplator was appointed to the office each year.
To the Contemplators these reforms were necessary precautions; to the
Walkers they were a rebuke to their honor. Joyous Hand the Heretic became a
symbol of free-thinking among a secret group of Walkers called the Leredargs,
who believed that the Gods of Destiny intend that well-prepared individuals
intervene directly in worldly affairs in the cause of virtue and civilization -- in
essence, believing that they were themselves part of a divine plan. Many of the
later Walkers discovered to have broken the rules of their order were in fact
secret Leredarg heretics. These apostates were dealt with by the sternest
measures possible, short of torture and death -- these latter punishments being
considered 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 observed to be throng-
ing through the lands of Mivior. These 'abominations of the land and the hor-
rors of the air' were working such unimaginable evil that many of the Walkers
were compelled to beg their Grand Master to invoke strong magic against them.
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 stern
recommendation for their excommunication.
Thus these mighty magicians did nothing in the face of catastrophe. 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. In fact, he was careful to deny them provisions and other assistance
which might be interpreted as interfering with the gods' divine plan for the world.
Meanwhile, the Walkers studied the advance of the abominations anxiously.
The creatures were following the River Flood Water north and now loomed per-
“The Reflector,” from the arsenal of the Eaters of Wisdom.
The surviving Walkers fled into the wilderness where they were joined by many
excommunicated Leredargs. After the unprecedented disaster, the Walkers
were more than ready to convert to the heretical Leredarg views. A convert for-
merly known as Melting Star was elected as the new Grand Master, who intro-
duced the practice of calling the holy brothers by their birth-names. Thus he
became known as Gowannuraw and his first official act was to renounce all affil-
iation with the Temple of Kings. In forest exile he and his brethren reorganized
the Walkers to be an independent entity, called from that point on the Kahuraru
Awari ("Sword of Fate").
When the Abominations moved on, Gowannuraw directed the repair of the Fane
of the Walkers, which in later years would come to be called the School of
Thaumaturgy. The wizards' magic protected it with a spell of invisibility, which
allowed the School to become a haven for refugees. These displaced persons
in turn served and helped to support the brothers with their crafts and labor.
The Kahuraru Awari (still called the Eaters of Wisdom by the common people)
established a library from surviving texts and sent for students desirous of learn-
ing the higher wisdoms. The first students received by the Eaters began class-
es in 1001 A.C. From its earliest days the School never lacked for pupils nor
rich endowments. One of the earliest scholars to be educated by the Eaters of
Wisdom was the future sage 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 subtleties of a liberal edu-
cation would seek the martial training which at that time the Eaters could best
provide.
Although thought of variously as wizards and lectors, the Eaters of Wisdom
retained some of their original priestly proclivities, despite the fact that 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 which filled the empty spaces and which could be utilized
for either good or evil purpose. It was the life work of the Eaters of Wisdom to

2
invoke these supernatural forces for good ends.
The most promising students of the School were offered the opportunity to
include magical conjuration in their curriculum. The rigors that the initiates
A bookplate in the library of the Invisible School of Thurmaturgy, featuring a
drawing of the Temple of Kings.
underwent 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: "In subterranean crypts beneath the School we
found strange mechanical contrivances apparently used in initiation rites.
These machines suggested the severe and sometimes painful tests of moral
and physical courage. School prisoners said that after passing through tortur-
ous trials, those neophytes who did not renounce their aspirations to magic
were ushered into what was reputedly a chamber of the immortal life-energy --
a noble and awe-inspiring vault reported to be illuminated by unearthly lights.
As the doctrine of the Kahuraru Awari evolved, the wizards were continually
confronted by the spectre of war. While war was considered the most grievous
manifestation of negative life-energy on the land, the Eaters of Wisdom did not
dare to be indifferent to those conflicts that regularly disturbed the peace of
Minaria. It appeared to the wizards that without intervention for good, most wars
led to the triumph of the least enlightened elements. To help redress the bal-
ance, 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, a mystical 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 to the place where
they stood as a citadel 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.C. 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 concealed in the white mists about the Well of Lered. The Muetaran
historian Amlas theorized that the constant use of spells in the vicinity had let in
the old abominations through the portals of time, but cynics guessed that the
3
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 Muetaran 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 achieve-
ment 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 in wild rapine across
the whole of southern Immer.
The Kahuraru Awari masters of military science and their advanced students
arrived upon a hillock overlooking the siege and summoned the Enchanted
Castle from its misty dimension. Once safely ensconced, they evoked the
destruction of the Whirling Vortex against the savage 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, their warriors turned their fury against the Enchanted Castle.
The leader of the wizards, Carthon, especially distinguished himself in the fight
for its survival. School records read: "A Goblin, seeing the carnage that
Carthon was making of his comrades, rushed at the hero and decapitated him
with an iron broadsword. At that same moment, another wizard burned the
brute through with a bolt of energy, stretching him dead alongside his vic-
tim....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 so well with bare hands, they withdrew demoralized."
Day by day the carnage was repeated, but the determined Goblins could not win
through the magically-wrought gates. At length, the royal army arriving from
Castle Altarr sent the Goblins scattering. Before they reached their own coun-
try, the fugitives were to lose many more comrades to the wizards' Reflector.
After exploits such as this one, the Eaters of Wisdom became much-sought-
after allies. Rich bribes and flattering tributes were offered to succeeding Grand
Masters, until critics could rightfully charge that sometimes the Eaters appeared
to act more from greed than from virtue.
One monarch who respected the Eaters' power but could not woo them into his
faction was the fanatical Elven High Prince Boewenn. Accordingly, he made the
Invisible School the prime target of his best general, Droncain, providing the
warrior with magic sufficient to undo the School's protective spell. The Eaters,
who over the years had grown proud and complacent, were taken utterly by sur-
prise by Droncain's assault. Some wizards escaped through underground
ways, but many were captured and returned to Ider Bolis. Most of these wretch-
es perished under torture as Boewenn sought to wring their secrets out of them.
He learned little, but in dying the Eaters of Wisdom placed a terrible curse on
Elfland. The curse seemed to be borne out as the war soon turned decisively
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 those
faults and vanities that had caused discomfiture. 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. Virtue alone
would decide when they would go to war and for which cause they would fight.
This was true, but it is also said that as secular wizards grew more powerful,
they found mystic ways to influence the mighty sorcerers.
Such chicanery aside, fair-minded observers have no reason to cast aspersions
upon the Kahuraru Awari; they are faithfully and courageously performing the
role they have chosen for themselves -- that of acting as the sword-wielders of
Fate.
In closing, we offer this famous student song from the Invisible School.
The Student Song
If you've ever had a yearning to make magic or white sorcery,
You ought to come and study at our school of blue-gray porphyry.
We teach the rites of magic and all arts phantasmagorical;
You'll learn to deal in augury and counsel as an oracle.

You'll be initiated to the subject of cosmology,

And have an easy handle on the insights of symbology.
In long-forgotten doctrine you'll soon gain a keen facility,
And in psycho-energetics you'll reach unsurpassed ability.

You'll achieve a great capacity for instant molybdomancy,

Amaze your friends and neighbors with your flair for quick pyromancy.
In fact, in every study that is rare, arcane, and mystical,
You'll rout them all debating, no matter how eristical.

You'll decrypt the Lloroi scripture with erudite tenacity,

Separate the derivation from the gems of true sagacity,
Finding edifying parables of atrocity and of parricide,
Like the sleep-disturbing fable of the army that was putrefied.

In esoteric orders you shall learn a secret history,

And sacred iconism shall no longer be a mystery.
You'll quote obscure theologians on transmigration and typtology,
And write your master thesis on the subject of runology.

You'll distill hermetic potions, achieving the empirical;

You won't believe how swiftly you'll create a deucèd miracle.
By the fusion of theurgic salts within your crucible
Even making a homunculus should not prove excruciable.

You'll become a necromancer and have commerce with the revenant,

Interpret ghostly whispers when the table tap is evident,
And if your pschagogic duties are all carried out in amity,
Can you ever be surprised by a disaster or calamity?

You'll inscribe a magic circle to fulfill your dreams of avarice,

Calling up from Chaos' reaches creatures loathsome and cadaverous,
Coaxing transmutation knowledge from a dark fiend androphageous,
Who names himself Gormelichor, or something more outràgeous.

You shall scry enormous portents in a mirror of black obsidian,

Then inform a grumpy monarch he must die by an ophidian,
And should the knave in anger jail you for such mischief of a mountebank,
Prestidigitate the key you need to take you from your dungeon dank.

You'll be very well provided with all cantrips parapsychical,

With curses, spells, and geases, and with summons demoniacal,
With periapt, fetish, yes, and something called phylactery,
And with tasteless philter potions you may apply with alacrity.

If to a wizard's fame and fortune you quickly rise and stake a claim;
Please thank the School of Thaumaturgy the day you finally make your name.