Seminary of the Heron

One of the few well-attested organisations within the Empire of Gond, the Seminary of the Heron (sometimes of the Heron Ascendent) combined academic, religious and political authority, and was given sweeping power to monitor and control all development which combined the arcane and the scientific, including alchemy and Artifice, but most specifically aimed at maintaining control over the power of arcanotechnology. With the rush to claim arcanotech relicts and related documentary evidence - mostly consisting of short memoranda, fragments of longer briefings and technical designs - there are more textual and artefactual references to the seminary than to every other Gontish entity combined.
The motto of in seminary was "for the future, the past." Their mission was to seek out titanic relicts, to distribute the work of analysing and developing them into a form usable by mortals to suitable artificers, and to monitor the work of these artificers. Exactly how much power this gave them is unclear, but their reach was tremendous, their seals and fragmentary documents found across Suto, both in Gontish structures and the remains of local architecture.
Many scavengers of Gontish technology, both scholastic and mercenary, like to consider themselves successors to the Heron's mission. Some even award themselves titles drawn from surviv­ing signatures and seals: Seeker, Curator-Knight, Forgelighter, and Paladin being among the most popular. The term paladin - not otherwise common on Aiaos - is derived from the Gondish word for 'cause'; or possibly for a kind of small fish.
While most of these successors are individuals or small circles of academics or treasure-hunters intent on exploring, finding, and exploiting arcanotech for their own advantage, at least one group, styling themselves the Seminary of the Heron Defiant, operates as a semi-secret society across Suto. This group has the sworn goal of seeking out and destroying all traces of Gontish arcanotech. They base this mission - and derive their notional authority - from a writ, which they claim to bear the seal of a Gond hyaGond, appointing the original Seminary to preserve the 'purity' of Gontish arcanotech from Colossal influence. They also hold a letter, addressed to a Seminarian Prime, containing a written opinion that such an influence was in fact endemic in all arcanotech.
Several Sutoan governments consider the Seminary of the Heron Defiant to be a criminal organisation.