The Order of the Golden Light is an order of monks who have monasteries in
Cambria, Reetland and
Sankhar.
The chief monastery of the order is in Sankhar but the hierarchy is very loose and the
monks in each country have their own way of doing things.
The order teaches its students to seek enlightenment and fulfilment through perfection of mind and body following a regimen of physical and mental discipline,
study and service (teaching, scholarship, healing).
It is funded through donations from nearby communities and wealthy individuals
in gratitude for its services and through its own produce (for example "Droplets of Light", a popular honey based confection).
In order to not to be seen as competing with the established church the Order has been keen to style itself as a
secular organisation and its teachings a 'philosophy' rather than a religion.
By the general populace, however, the monks are viewed as wandering clerics
much in the same way as clerics of the
Church of St. Erin.
The origins of the order go back to the fabled land of
Kadia. Many hundreds of years ago before the Silk road was closed wandering monks Kadia brought their teachings into
Sankhar and trained many disiciples. When the
Gnoll Invasion cut off Sankhar from the East the Order was formed to preserve all
the monastic traditions that had been taught.
Sankhat refugees brought the teachings of the order into Reetland and in 656 the Order started building its only monastery in
Cambria five miles from
Pell's Hold. In due course the Order attracted financial and political support from the nobility
as it was seen as a stabilising influence on the realm particularly among communities of Sankhat extraction.
In 906 all monks of the order were excused paying a tithe to the established church.
There
have always been rumours that the senior monks of the order are actually
taught magic as part of their training. The monks have always denied this saying their incredible feats of hand and mind
can sometimes be mistaken for magic.
It should be noted that the established church does not allow non-human clerics so non-humans seeking a clerical vocation often opt to join the order instead.
As a result those with Sankhat heritage tend to be more accepting of non-humans than most.