Eldur Monk
Years on years on years, for what?
Masters of the Disciplines
The Eldur Monks hold the highest possible position in the Eldursteries, rising to their role by mastering the monkhood's four disciplines: fire, history, relations, and planes. The methods of becoming an Eldur Monk have changed from century to century as new disciplines have been added and new responsibilities have developed; today mastery over the disciplines is considered sufficient. "Mastery" is a term used flexibly within the organization, as the content in the discipline of planes may have limited accessibility compared to relations or history. In contrast, the discipline of history has an overwhelming amount of content that would be impossible to fully study in a human lifetime. To that point, most monks of the order will dedicate their lives to understanding a single subject (and perform duties therein) while the Eldur Monks have chosen to diversify, often forgoing the luxuries enjoyed by their contemporaries, be it free time or adequate sleep. The desire to become an Eldur Monk also alleviates certain responsibilities, as those who aspire to reach the position are spared from the menial tasks associated with those who seek the order's assistance.
Of course, some practical tasks are necessary, such as understanding how to operate Elduri fire magic technology for the discipline of fire, speaking to interplanar entities for planes, settling disputes for relations, or analyzing records for history. Any aspiring Eldur Monk must be capable of performing and understanding what future generations under them will take part in. The mastery of information and tasks across all disciplines is essential, as the Eldur Monks are often the confluence which cooperating disciplines work through; the various disciplines benefit from each other's knowledge to make breakthroughs, but the presence of interdisciplinary masters to parse and communicate information prevents the entire monkhood from needing to shoulder the burden themselves.
Regardless of mastering each discipline, Eldur Monks often have a preference for one amongst them which inevitably leads to different Eldur Monks filling slightly different roles. For example, a passion for relations makes some Eldur Monks a better fit for haggling on state funding. If one has a passion for history, he may assist foreign researchers. Another benefit of taking up certain roles is that specific Eldur Monks often know their preferred disciplinaries more substantially, allowing them to build better teams for projects based on interest and aptitude. Ironically, it's not uncommon for Eldur Monks to become so engrained in their original discipline of interest that they shirk unrelated responsibilities and resign to unfamiliarity in other fields; this has led to some comparisons between the Eldur Monks and simple professors of scholarly institutions. Most Eldur Monks are still the most prominent minds in their fields, however, and their generalized understanding has resulted in achievements that may otherwise be impossible.
Responsibilities
Internal
Most of an Eldur Monk's time is consumed by internal responsibilities. Corresponding duties include: assigning monks and workmen to tasks, educating monks, permitting research based on proposals, endorsing aspiring Eldur Monks, assigning research teams, leading certain research investigations, changing record format standards, and assisting monks when interdisciplinary information is required.
Educating monks alone can be a fully occupying task. Still, the presence of several Eldur Monks means the task is taken in rotations or a single monk will be dedicated to education for a time. Most Eldur Monks will jump at the opportunity to perform certain internal duties, as they align closely with the disciplines at hand.
External
While the knowledge of the Eldur Monks is essential to the organization's survival, so too is engaging with external entities to maintain their perceived value. These responsibilities include: haggling for funds with the governy of Euvurcrest, procuring records from foreign organizations, representing the Eldursteries in legal disputes, upholding social relations with surrounding lordships, and maintaining correspondence with the governy on current events.
Most Eldur Monks are hard-pressed to perform external tasks with the zealous enthusiasm associated with disciplinary duties. However, those passionate about relations will usually volunteer and enjoy the benefits of foreign appeasement. External duties can still be overwhelming at times, requiring more numbers than those passionate about relations, leaving the less socially apt (or those without patience for the layman) forced to leave the Eldursteries and take part in politics
Rembrandt Rivalry
Eldur Monks
- Public institution
- Free services
- Directly subservient to their government
- Bound to their monasteries
- Rigid format requirements
- Common availability
- Limited joining requirements for standard monkhood
- Members overseen by greater organization
- Often engage in magic
- Often credit sources
Rembrandts
- Private Institution
- Charged Services
- No direct loyalty to their government
- Travel to Employers
- Limited format restrictions
- Substantially limited availability
- Substantial joining requirements
- Members unmanaged by greater organization
- Untrusting of magic
- rarely credit sources
*The preceding letter has been documented and recorded by the Eldursteries, but context behind the letter is limited. Most believe Rembrandt Hollister to be defending his position of scholarship to the baron, pleading for him not to turn to an Eldur Monk for help instead. The note, however, is used to support a key piece of rhetoric that the Eldur Monks use against the rembrandts: credit. While aggregating existing information is essential to improving knowledge, many rembrandts have taken to attaining their positions exclusively by collecting sources from abroad and "analyzing" them, which transfers credit to their own name. The Eldur Monks view this as both dishonest and impractical, as valid citations are necessary to track and validate information over time. Many rembrandts seem aware of the ethical quandary, as Hollister himself uses it as a threat against the Eldur Monks in this very letter*My journey as a student took me across the world: Fjordstrond, Shellbay, the Isles, Kazbur. By the age of twenty, I'd had more experience than a monk of fifty. I performed studies on location and aggregated sources. I built my own team and inspired them to follow me, same as any Rembrandt. The book I made- the field I invented- does more than fulfill potential. My work creates potential. That potential will be followed by dozens of aspiring scholars and the Eldur Monks will lick at the footsteps of my findings.Let them toil with their formats and plead for a scratch of taxes while my next work takes me to their doorstep. Let me scour their tablets and put their findings to a book that will make thousands in gold. I've aggregated the findings of savages and lords alike in the past, and all they claim ends under my name. The Eldur Monks toil away for years on years on years, for what? So their decades of time wasted can be credited to me.
Notable Eldur Monks
Eldur Monk Canaan, revered for his hand in the early studies of planes, was prevented from continuing his work when Laminarum was removed from the planescape. In an attempt to prolong his life in old age, he worked with the scheming rembrandt known as J. B. Stalker. Having achieved an abnormally long life himself, Stalker would put a theory of his to the test and bind the soul of Canaan to a spirit known as "Both." While this merging worked in theory, the already present spirit of Both dominated Canaan, leaving the status of his spirit uncertain. Some of his contemporaries believe that Both itself was somewhat altered by the Canaan as well, changing its motives and ideals.
Geralt Imalda was a rare example of a human druid, born in the year 1720 MD. He dedicated his life to decrypting various languages around Laminarum, hoping he could rediscover lost translations in the early fires of the Eldursteries. His final challenge involved deciphering the gnomish language, which seemed to imitate the pattern of rings on trees. Unfortunately, most gnomish communities were rather reserved at the time, so he took to investigating artifacts of an old gnomish mound-village in the Nadlewood Strip. Imalda took a small team of history monks to the mound but refused to give them leave. It wasn't until food ran low and hope even lower that they would begin excusing themselves back to the Eldursteries one by one, yet Geralt himself never followed. His writings were found decades later, scattered throughout the mound while his skeleton had become inhabited by roots and insects. Astonishingly, his translations later became essential to understanding gnomish magic.
*While Geralt remained in and around the mound for decades, his contemporaries occasionally visited to determine his status, but his speech had become garbled and impossible to understand. He made only one return to the Eldursteries, ten years before his demise. By that time, he had been considered a lost cause and the organization decided to leave him to his own devices.*
Eckhart, while painted as a stubborn fool in his tale's light, is alleged to be a substantial Eldur Monk in his time. A large portion of his work is said to focus on understanding the nation's founding, including the unsavory treatment of J'barri refugees. Some believe that this unpopular look at history inspired the baron to hire a rembrandt in the first place. Several records surrounding J'barri fire magic weapons and commentary on the potential dangers of overreliance have been credited under his name in the monasteries' stone tablets, but whether it's the same man discussed in the tall tale is unknown.
Following the conversion of Augur's End into Newmot, the imperial Augury allowed for substantial cultural exchange between Trinen and Mot D'nir. Given the latter's poor record-keeping throughout history, Ariya desired to paint a picture of their ancient culture to drive more sympathy for the native reptilian folk. Following the catastrophic events of the time, many Tara-Jhen refugees had moved to Eldurgrund, leaving Ariya to hear their plights of dislocation. Ariya aggregated a team of recently ordained Tara-Jhen monks and went down south to help graft their lost history. Substantial bounds in progress were made, and much of Laminarum's Mot D'nir records are a direct result of her work or the influence it had.
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