The Seminary & the Collegium of Preceptors
As recorded by Muadib Baraka, Preceptor of the Collegium.
When the Crowndom knew peace, Tag Mehir the Unifier understood something that most conquerors never do. An army takes a kingdom. Only education keeps it.
After defeating the dark sorcerer Nemero Merawanji and binding the dozen kingdoms under one crown, one faith, and one tongue, Mehir's first act was not to build a palace. It was not to raise a wall, mint a coin, or carve his name into stone. He built a school.
He summoned his most trusted advisor, a philosopher named Sinar Ɛelmohan, a man who had spent his life believing that the future of Mehirea lived not in its swords but in its children. Sinar was given one mandate: create an order dedicated to the education, discipline, and moral guidance of every young mind in the realm, an order that would outlast any king, any war, any dynasty.
He did not fail. The Seminary, the building and institution itself, rose in the Crystal Mounts province, in an empty valley between the Valley of Faran and the Crystal Mounts, in a place that would become the city of Fars.
A grand fortress of learning, home to the world's greatest library, known as Al Mawsoa, the Vast, a place so full of accumulated knowledge that scholars said you could spend a lifetime inside it and still die with questions unanswered.
Dar Fatten of Fars, through their Ħekemdar Fihr, funded Mawsoa's first schools, hired the first teachers, and gave the order its political foundation. They have supported the Seminary ever since with land, coin, and influence.
The order that grew from Sinar's vision, the scholars who live and work within the Seminary's walls, is called the Collegium of Preceptors. It is not the Seminary itself. It is the order that dwells there. They wear deep blue robes with golden sashes, silver thread embroidered in the shape of books and quills. Each Preceptor carries a staff of knowledge, carved with symbols representing the fields they have mastered: a book for history, a number for arithmetic, a pen for philosophy, a tongue for language, a sword for strategy, a hand for politics, a star for astronomy, a plant for agriculture, a map for geography. Each carving earned. None given.
Our Ranks Are Four
The Talib. The student. Young. Hungry. Beginning.
The Mudares. The mentor. Teacher of towns and settlements.
The Muadib. The Preceptor. Overseer of education in the great fortresses. The Muadib of Daratag serves as High Preceptor, advisor to the Tag himself in the Royal Council.
The Adeeb. The Sage. Leader of all. Chosen by the Council of Integrity through a trial of wisdom and moral conduct. Not elected. Proven.
We are governed by the Council of Integrity, the most respected Preceptors across the realm, who advise both the Sage in Fars and the High Preceptor in Daratag on the direction of education and the moral compass of the Crowndom.
We swear two vows: to educate, and to guide. Not just the mind. The soul.
Our motto: "Raise the mind, and the realm follows." "Discipline is the ink that lasts."
The city of Fars exists because of them. Pilgrims and seekers travel from every corner of Mehirea to stand at the Seminary's gates, hoping to be found worthy of entry. Not everyone is accepted. Those who are rarely leave unchanged.
I am Muadib Baraka. I am one of theirs. I am assigned to Shamandar, in Shama, keeper of Dar Samasar's records, advisor to its rulers.
I am the man who writes down everything history would prefer to forget. I have humbly mastered seven of the nine fields. My staff, almost complete. Almost.
"Do you know why the Seminary has so many steps?"
Ħamy glanced at him. "I heard you complain a lot about them."
The Muadib gave a pale smile. "The steps were the first lesson. Before a young seeker touched ink or scripture, he climbed until his legs shook and his lungs burned. The Seminary wanted to know who kept climbing."
The Covenant of the Jud
Also known as: Ħilf Al Jud, Ħilf Al Fudul, the Order of the Heart, the Covenant of Light, the Deej, the Monks, the Knights, the Guardians of the Amulet, Al Muqinoon (Men of Certitude).
Founded by Fadel Mehir, a Tag of Mehirea who gave up his crown to pursue spiritual knowledge, walking east to the mountains of Deeja in the ancient lands of Talorad. There, in prayer and meditation, he found Yaqin, certitude, and, combined with the serenity of Deeja's people, discovered the Fold: a power accessible only to those with a clear heart and complete surrender of material attachment.
The Covenant's fortress, the Judar, sits atop the highest mountain in Deeja and is effectively impregnable. Their weapon, the Chiwazy, is forged from Nafis stone in a Nazolean steel handle wrapped in Jallad leather, sunlight stored in the crystal and released as a blade of deadly light, wieldable only by those with genuine Yaqin.
Ranks: Muqadam (the Headfore, leader of the Covenant), the Ħalaqa (the Ring, high council), Syd (Master), Emir (Commander), Mualim (can wield the Chiwazy, holds no command), Gund (Soldier, cannot wield the Chiwazy), Telmeeth (Apprentice, from age fifteen).
The Jud serve as advisors, healers, peacekeepers, and mediators, joining a side only when absolutely certain of its justice, always sending diplomats before knights. They guard the Amulet of the San of Talorad in the Judar. After Qehar the Desecrator dismantled their influence across the Crowndom, they retreated to the Judar and became legend, until Ħamy Samasar summoned them, and they came.
The Lyceum & the Guild of Healers
The great institution of medicine and alchemy in the Crowndom, located in the city of Ġariqa in the Sunken Basin, ruled by Dar Hani Wud, the snake breeders and potion masters, from the Bastion. Where the Seminary is dedicated to the full breadth of knowledge, the Lyceum specializes in medicine and alchemy alone. Its graduates form the Guild of Healers, the Ħakeems, who serve across the Crowndom as physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries. High Ħakeem Bastam, the physician present at Book One's opening, studied at the Lyceum and has served three Tags.
The Gundartag
The Selaħdar of Daratag itself, Dar Samasar's household guard assigned to the throne under the terms of the Accords of Mehirea, fulfilling the Accords' third pillar, "a Samasar protects." Founded by Kanan the Ferocious in the Old Traffic Fort (the Man Tester) in Shama, it is the institutional expression of Dar Samasar's ancient role as guardian, dating back to Anin the survivor and formalized into a Crowndom-wide protective mandate. Ħamy Samasar commands the Gundartag.
The Ħith
The opposing path to the Jud, cultivating the Self rather than the Heart. Where the Jud surrender material attachment in pursuit of Yaqin, the Ħith seek power through the Self alone. Its dark lords are called the Dakans, the inciters.
Darasilm, the Dome of Peace
Built by Tag Hidar in Redanea after the Accords of Mehirea were signed, on the very ground where the Sand Wars' final battle was fought. Above its great central door is carved a verse from the Criterion: "Itha malo lassilm fasliħ, If they incline towards peace, then make peace." Inside, a giant painting depicts the three men who signed the Accords, Samy Samasar, Irfan Al Mansour, and Tag Hidar. Outside stands Hidar's statue.
Daraladl, the House of Justice
The supreme court and headquarters of the High Qady, the Crowndom's master of justice.