Ando Order

Introduction

While Highshield holds dominion over most of the Aurumtine Mountains, the peaks are recognized as the home to the monks that belong to the Ando Order. While Mount Highshield preaches faith and loyalty to their king and country, the monks are separated from this ideology and seek enlightenment and mastery of their spellcraft through other means. They are considered masters of evocation and some of the most formidable fighters in the world. Through understanding themselves they are capable of feats that most would require a blade or a mage’s focus to accomplish.

History

In an ancient time long forgotten by the rest of the world lived a woman named Sayua Ando who walked beside the Dragons. She watched them shape the plane of Rhyst and befriended Paludrex the Earthen Wyrm. Through virtue of might did she gain the Dragon’s kinship, and with it she came to understand the nature of the universe. After a conversation that lasted three days did she ask the Dragon to raise a trail of great mountains out of the sea. Her request was for a home that could endure the very nature of Rhyst and the planar forces that threatened it so that she could raise a society founded upon the principles of defending it. The Dragon granted her request and the Aurumtine rose from the frothing sea and pierced the clouds.

Sayua Ando thanked the Dragon and set about doing as she said she would, and soon a number of the mountains were the homes to those she called her family. They were taught the wisdom that the woman had learned and the direction by which to thrive. But despite their blessings and gifts, the first Convergence that Rhyst ever knew fell upon the world once the Dragons had entered their slumber, and the people of the Aurumtine were left to fend for themselves. Demons crawled out of the sea, wounded by Eschen’s storms, and Fae manifested out of the clouds where the Twin Winds had cast them from the heavens. Across the mountains did their conflict bring about chaos and destruction upon all that Sayua had built. It was said that in the midst of a dark hurricane that encircled the isles Sayua led her people toward the peaks in a retreat. So many of them had perished in the fighting that by the time they reached the summit Sayua was only joined by four others.

She cried out for guidance and begged the Dragons to answer her, but when no response came, Sayua realized what had to be done. With their enemies still climbing high into the mountains, Sayua delivered her final lesson to those four who had ventured with her to the peak, and then she instructed them to rebuild upon the storm’s end. She descended the mountain, this time alone, where she came to face the Demons and the Fae contending over the path to the top. It was said that the storm and the battles lasted for the next seven days, and throughout their entirety did the four hear the battlecries of Sayua.

Upon the seventh day the thunder diminished and the violence came to an end as every enemy across the Aurumtine was defeated or forced to retreat. The survivors found Sayua lifeless upon the shore for she had fought her way from peak to ocean. Though their leader was gone, the four were determined to see her final wishes through, and together they began to rebuild what was lost. Sayua’s teachings were immortalized on stone pillars that marked each peak across the Aurumtine, though they were separated by distance and climb.

Today the Ando Order of monks still practices the evocation magic that Sayua herself was capable of, a form of fighting that manifests through one's acceptance and recognition of their cosmic place in the universe. Many from Highshield and even a rare few from afar embark on a trek from shore to each tall peak where they learn her words and understand the ways of the Ando monks. Ordinarily the Ando Order has worked in tandem with Mount Highshield and its people and together they have come to weather a number of Convergences, however a recent disagreement pertaining to the unique nature of this age has caused a divide between the monarchy and the monks.

Trivia

The Aurumtine are said to have been blessed not only by Paludrex but by each of the four Great Dragons; the mountains themselves boast the highest elevations in Rhyst where rains are pure and cold, the air is rich and abundant, and the fires of the mountain warm and provide fertile land despite the altitudes

Members of the Ando Order do away with weapons due to the belief that they detract from the personal strength of the warrior, many attributing this to one of the teachings of Sayua

Despite surviving age after age, the only texts that reach back to the beginnings of Rhyst are those carved by the Four Saints that stood beside Sayua at the peak of Mount Highshield

Credit

Tattles https://forum.verdict.dev/showthread.php?tid=1249&pid=6809#pid6809