The Order of Historical Wisdom

History
The Order of Historical Wisdom started off as a small enclave of scholars who sought to collect, preserve, restore, and copy ancient documents as a way to recover and preserve history. Outlaws began to see the enclave’s trove of documents as a desirable target and source of money and fame, so the scholars began to learn martial arts in order to defend their library.  From this, the monastic order was formed.

Beliefs
The order still sees understanding of the past as essential to both society’s and individuals’ efforts to move forward.  The restoration and meticulous copying of historical texts is both the central work of the order and an essential discipline in its monks’ training.

Fighting Style
Monks of the order are normally trained in the Way of the Open Hand.  The order is generally suspicious of anyone who follows the Way of Shadow, as subterfuge and deception have too often been used to obfuscate or rewrite history. Indeed, monks are encouraged to avoid subterfuge and deception unless circumstances make it entirely impossible.

Monastery Description
The monastery is a walled complex with a single gate.  The complex consists of a courtyard, a main building with rooms for meditation and working with ancient documents, a dining hall (with kitchen), a small guest-house reserved for traveling dignitaries bringing new documents for addition to the order’s library or buying copies of documents, and a building for communal housing.

The monastery is nestled along the edge of the Sunset Mountains.