Order of the Banished Scholars

The Order of the Banished Scholars, also known as the Radical Hildegardians, was an extremist religious sect founded on 22 March Y924 by Stanford Hawthorne, Reginald Brightmoon, Roderick Alston, and Shia LaBeouf when the four were students at Hildegard University. The sect worshipped the goddess Hildegard, but disagreed with orthodox wisdom about the rightful limits of knowledge and magic. Instead, they believed that full devotion to Hildegard required them to seek knowledge at any cost, even from deeply dangerous extraplanar sources.
On 15 July Y924, the group began a sit-in in front of the College of the Holy Mother, insisting that the temple-campus (which had previously rejected their ideas) recognize Radical Hildegardianism as a valid method of worship. The sit-in lasted until 24 July, at which point headmistress Enheduanna-- fed up with the ever-growing crowds-- called in the city guard, who began arresting members of the Order. Over the next several weeks, the four leaders of the group (Hawthorne, Brightmoon, Alston, and LaBeouf) went on public trial in front of the Council of Deans of Cape Hildegard for heresy, incitement of violence, and disturbing the peace. All four were convicted and sentenced to banishment outside city limits on 24 August Y924.
By their banishment the next morning (25 August Y924), the cult had amassed at least two hundred followers that joined them on their journey out of town. All of the local colleges, particularly Hildegard University and the College of the Holy Mother, saw record numbers of students drop out over the next several years to seek out the scholars' rumored new home in the mountains of Cypruvalu, said to be in an abandoned deep ruby mine. At its peak, membership in the cult reached nearly 500.
By the early 940s, villages near the cult's last known location began to report sightings of strange mutated monsters, as well as the unexplained births of several tieflings. Authorities from Cape Hildegard sealed off the only known entrance to the mines in Y957.

Type

Religious, Cult

Controlled Territories

• Cave of the Banished Scholars

Notable Members

• Face-Stealer
• Kuralìma Mílaruk