Setting Details - Who are the Wisemen?

Long story short...
Since before the descendants of Torris split the Hong kindgom thricewise, (about 4000 years ago by current reckoning [the current year is 35 of the (S)econd (E)ra]) there have been legends that spake the names of the Wisemen.

"The Wisemen," a term that has become their unofficial title ever since the various legends were collected for study, refers to a specific group of people who wield power over Mana greater than any other across the face of Agartha. 7 is their number, each one aligned with one of the 7 Elementals. They are peerless warriors and supreme mages, more powerful than anything ever to grace this plane. They are thought to be so powerful that they command the obedience of their own Mana Beast. Or so, at least, the legends say.

Digging Deeper

For roughly four and a half thousand years, stories of the Wisemen have pervaded cultures across the globe. Everybody has their own depiction of the Wisemen, or one of them at least. For example, in the Grass Clan of the plains on Tigris, the Orcs believe that the Wiseman of Wind is a golden eagle given an earthly form by the winds, who punished him for daring to fly higher than them. On the other hand, the people of Vinstad, a town in the Lemurian fiefdoms, believe that he is a man who became an elemental when he was brought back to life by a gust of wind and imbued with its power after falling from one of the many cliffs around the area.

In this way, the Wisemen have become almost religious figures in certain sections of Agartha. The mystique that has generated around their image certainly attracts many to believe them to be merely folk tales and legends, but there are several cults across the globe who insist upon their existence. Each culture that has established itself long enough to form its own belief system or religion has had at least one Wiseman cult spring up. In fact, in recent years it has become quite stylish for someone to join one instead of becoming initiated into one of the Deific religions. The Cult of Sapios the Treewarden in particular has been growing in size, bolstered by claims that its leader is in fact the Wiseman himself.

What this means for you...

Whether or not you wish to join one of the cults, innumerable though they may be, is up to you. If you want to make up the cult yourself, have at it. There are so many tales and myths about the Wisemen that if you came up with your own version it wouldn't at all be surprising. Enterprising individuals may even wish to capitalize on the rise of the cult religions, in one fashion or another.

History in the Making

The names of the Seven Wisemen were formalized in an anthology of local legends and folk tales about them entitled the Micel Staer, a 9-volume script written by a group of Lemurian monks in 598 F.E. It was a labor of immense proportion, as gathering this fluid information was a task for decades, if not centuries. Stories of the Wisemen often spoke toward their ability to keep themselves hidden, and indeed it seemed as though they were invisible figments, considering how slowly the legends were cataloged. Miraculously, it was completed within three generations, and has since been kept in pristine condition in a fervently guarded vault. For 437 years, these books were accepted among the scholarly as the most comprehensive and accurate depiction of the Wisemen, even though a decision has yet to have been made on whether or not the 7 mythical people even exist. According to the Staer, the 7 names for the Wisemen are:

Hou Shan, Wiseman of Fire. Name taken from eastern Calderan, meaning born of flames.
Rajumyrsky, Wiseman of Wind. Name taken from Runic Jorden, meaning hurricane.
Riktahasta, Wiseman of Void. Name taken from Modern Muan, meaning empty vessel.
Sapios, Wiseman of Leaf. Name taken from Old Tigritian, meaning Oak tree.
Draki, Wiseman of Water. Name taken from Standard Fyrissian, meaning shore or wavecrash.
Grundwaeg, Wiseman of Earth. Name taken from Old Tigritian, meaning clay jar.
Lucidus, Wiseman of Light. Name taken from Old Lemurian, meaning aware or apparent.

What This Means for You


Well, now they have names.

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More later.