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The Maehr’evar Order The Guardians of Knowledge Overview The long lives of the Elves tend to draw them to scholarly pursuits, either to fill a want for adventure, so they may improve their own knowledge and wisdom, or so they can protect knowledge and the world for future generations. The Maehr’evar seeks to be a place for the Elves who seek to learn, research, write, teach, and explore. Their duties are as varied as they are important. Headquartered in the Great Athenaeum of Elvenesse, this group of scholars and adventurers are always seeking new recruits to improve both the nation of Elvenesse and the world at large. Structure The Maehr’evar are organized in a loose but effective structure, which tends to serve their purposes well. The ranks of the order are as follows: Grandmaster The Grandmaster of the Maehr’evar has the duty of keeping tabs on those below him in the order and allotting resources to different projects. It is he who organizes meetings of members, calls major expeditions, maintains the library and its collection, and who deals with both foreign scholarly guilds and the Council of Elvenesse. The position is currently held by Elros Silma. Masters of the Order Masters of the Order are those who are experienced at their craft and can serve as a bridge between the Grandmaster and the Ordermen. Generally, there is to be a Lorekeeper, who is to coordinate the librarians, writers, and teachers of the order, and the Scoutmaster, who focuses more on expeditions, adventurers, and cartographers. Ordermen The Ordermen of the Maehr’evar is the rank and file position of the guild. They are all considered equal scholars and adventurers of repute. They may lead their own projects, write their own books, and teach their own lessons as they will, and they may help each other on larger projects when needed. Journeymen The Journeymen are those who just joined the Order and seek to become Ordermen. They are to hold an apprenticeship under a current member of the Order, preferably one with similar interests, in order to learn our ways, tenets, and procedures. Once deemed ready to start their own projects by the one whom they are shadowing, they are inducted into the order as full Ordermen. Duties The members of the Maehr’evar can be anything they want within the wider category of scholars, and may determine their own projects. They may freely move between any field they have interest in. However, many projects will tend towards a few areas, broadly categorized as writing, research, teaching, and exploration. Writing An imperative part of preserving knowledge and enhancing culture is to create new works, both artistic and educational in nature. The Maehr’evar will encourage and sponsor works of create and non-fiction writing among the people of Elvenesse, in order to expand our collection and enhance our peoples culture and knowledge. Research In order to learn and to record knowledge, one must seek it out. This may be through visiting other libraries to read or purchase copies of new books, by looking at ruins found by explorers, or by looking into the powers and effects of the less dangerous artifacts within our possession. Teaching It is no use to horde knowledge if you do not pass it on to future generations. Hence, teachers and librarians who organize lessons and help people find the books and knowledge they seek are another important facet of the order. Exploration The final major task of the Maehr’evar is the exploration of the world to find ruins to explore, monsters to fight, and dark cults and covens to exterminate. We seek to map the world, note where places of interest are, and deal with them as necessary, independently or with the help of other, more combat focused groups. The Maehr’evar Code The Ordermen swear to uphold this code upon entry to the guild, the four rules of the Maehr’evar Order. Breaking these rules bring you under the mercy of the Grandmaster, and can warrant anything from a warning to expulsion from the order. I. Unwarranted Harm Or Death Should Be Avoided At All Costs. We’re here to codify the world, not turn it into a pile of ash and bones. II. The Sovereignty Of Nations Shall Be Respected At All Times. While it pains us to allow knowledge to go unrecorded, or worse, for dangerous knowledge to run amuck, it is not our place to supercede any nation. It is best to not become criminals in the eyes of the world. III. Knowledge Should Be Treated With Respect And Care. It is difficult to index burnt books, or to categorize a destroyed relic. Obviously not everything we attempt to collect will survive it’s travel to the guildhall, but try to not willingly break things. Nothing is worse than lost knowledge. IV. Power Merits Respect. Along with the mundane, we may often collect pieces of extraordinary danger. Proper respect should be given to such things, and they should never be trifled with. Understand that pieces that have been deemed ‘restricted’ are not toys we horde for ourselves, but are items we guard the world from. The Great Seals The Maehr’evar Order grades every piece of knowledge in their possession with a seal. The seals are red-wax, and the individual stamps are in the possession of the Grandmaster. Each Seal is stamped with a piece of parchment which gives a brief detail of the object, and any needed information. There are four seals in total: Mundane, Guarded, Prohibited, & B.C. The Mundane Seal is the most common, and identifies this piece as typical knowledge, giving it the lowest rating of danger/power. All pieces which are open for public viewing, such as the books in the public library, are stamped with Mundane Seals. Mundane seals are given the mark ‘M’. An item with a Guarded Seal means that this item is normally only to be handled by Ordermen. These items are considered a bit too dangerous to be shown to the public, but on request may be taken from the reliquary to be studied or used by outside forces. This seal is marked with a ‘III’ symbol. The Prohibited Seal signifies that this item is of immense power or otherwise value, and should never leave the reliquary under any circumstances. These are pieces which are kept away from the world due to high risk of abuse. Even Ordermen are disallowed from viewing these pieces, and need the express permission, as well as chaperoneship of, the Grandmaster. The mark of this charm seal is a bolded ‘X’. Finally, the B.C. Seal is the most important of all the graded seals, and is given independent of the others. This means a piece can have both the B.C. Seal as well as one of three previous seals.. Standing for ‘Black Contingency’, any item with this seal is to be destroyed if at risk of falling into outside hands. Obviously, only items which are deemed as near cataclysmic are ever given this charm seal. The B.C. Seal is the only time any piece of Knowledge is marked for destruction, and holds a rather powerful and somber place in the Order’s culture. It’s mark is a ‘Skull’ symbol. How to Join In order to join the Maehr’evar, a candidate should seek out the Grandmaster in person or start a correspondence via bird. The Grandmaster will then set up a short interview with potential candidates to gauge their interests and disposition so he can match them with an Orderman to study under. Once deemed ready, the Grandmaster will give the Journeyman the Oath, at which point they will become a full Ordermen of the Maehr’evar. As a note, those seeking to join must be citizens of Elvenesse, or at least able to enter the city. OOC Notes