Docent

All are welcome to learn in this place. One need not take the vows to benefit from knowledge.

— A docent to a guest taking sanctuary

A docent is a monk at the Abbey of Caelester who takes on the responsibility of educating the Novices of the abbey and helping them find their place in the Abbey. People taking sanctuary at the Abbey are also welcomed to attend many of these lessons, picking up valuable skills for use in their regular lives.

Teachers

Docent's spend most of their time teaching their sudents and coordinating lessons with more specialized monks of the Abbey:

• In the Abbey's library, they and the scribes teach all to read, write, and do arithmatic, as well as teaching Novices how to bind books, illuminate manuscripts and care for the books of the library. Some also take advanced scholarship lessons, learning research stategies, methods of analyzing texts, and rhetoric.
• Along with the Abbey's gardeners, they teach people about plants, nature, and agriculture. This ranges from basic care and handling of houseplants and small garden plots up to irrigation infrastructure, crop rotation, and other details of agriculture. They also try to instill in each and every student a deep and abiding respect for nature. Novices who express an interest can also help the beekeepers tend to the hives.
• They also work with the Maintainers to teach about the fundamentals of architecture and construction techniques. These lessons are particularly popular among the Abbey's guests, as these lessons do much to help those in need find work in construction.
• Finally, they schedule lessons with those who are dedicated to each deity of the pantheon, teaching novices the fundamentals of worship for each.

Advisors

As Novices learn these lessons, they are eventually invited to join the Abbey as fully fledged monks. As they approach this milestone, docents help guide the novices to a role they find fulfilling. Most become monks in the Abbey, in one role or another, but those who find the quiet life in the Abbey too stifling are encouraged to set out into the world and find a life on their own.

Docents also take time to get to know those taking sanctuary in the Abbey. Many of them face hardship of one kind or another in the outside world, and the docents try to help find a solution to their woes, or at least set them on the right path.