The people of Daer Akmir, long ago, considered the power of The Haruspex to be a dark and malevolent power that was a curse from the Shadowed Lands or the dark powers of the Divine. This knowledge was propagated from various sources but fed mainly from the Clergy of Ekimelahw under the power of its Ministers. For many centuries, whilst the arts of Sourcery, The Divine and the Wyld flourished those that practiced the art of the mind were hunted, captured and put to death.
Whilst this abhorrent practice was ongoing, as it is in some far corners of the land, so the art of the psionicist could not develop and even when this activity ended the Iron Table and its rulers kept a close eye on the Institute of Contemplation as they grew and rose to power and folk have begun to suspect that they limited the growth of the power to one major guild and a handful of smaller ones, although few would dare voice such fears. However in recent days the truth of this knowledge grows in validity as the truth of the Astral unfolds.
The Adepts Assembly is a small guild, sponsored by the Institute of Contemplation and, rumour has it, that was founded by Christine Rivers. It is located in the fiefdom of Ash Beyond Ash in the Duchy of The Bitter Veil and is growing in numbers with a philosophy that trains Haruspex’s to begin extending their powers outside of their own forms and into the world itself. It is firmly believed, among the adepts, that in the old histories psionicists had developed to a stage where they could conjure fire into the minds of their enemies, possess the bodies of others or literally run through the air.
It is also believed that these talents are the ones that caused the persecution of the psionicists to begin in the first place; it is extremely hard to control and without excellent self awareness and training it could be easy for accidents to occur, accidents which lead to circumstances that are difficult to explain. However their exploration into what is considered a darker power has led them to be considered with both suspicion and distrust, their future remains uncertain.
Old Misdeeds
Much of the fear of those past misdeeds provides the fuel for the fire of passion that drives the adepts towards their goal. Most think the stories of atrocities against the psionic folk is driven by rumour and exaggeration if not propaganda by the Haruspexes of old. The Assembly have spent long seeking more tangible truths and have displayed what physical evidence that they can for all to see within their guild buildings.
Holly Goodall
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