The Keepers of the Word is an ancient organization founded over 2000 years ago in the now defunct Kingdom of Andalusia. The original organizing purpose of the Keepers centered around a few key objectives:
- Protect the kingdom from outside forces
- Serve as key advisors to the ruling king/queen and other landed nobles
- Collect items and knowledge of magical power
- Protect the people from the abuses of magical power by keeping such power tightly controlled
Much of the history of the Keepers prior to the beginning of the Third Age has been lost, although it is believed that they were involved on some level with the end of the calamity. It is thought that for the first 1000 years of their existence, the Keepers operated only in Andalusia and nowhere else on Galadorn.
After the end of the second age, the people of the land were unable to use magic for hundreds of years. It is also theorized that the leader of the Keepers at the end of the age was killed or lost.
Under the new reality, the Keepers shifted their focus. They would no longer serve and operate in only one kingdom, they would investigate the reasons for the loss of magic and they would preserve all knowledge of magic use.
The Keepers spread around the continent, and were welcomed into the different nations. After decades without magic being in the land, an organization gathering knowledge about magical power was seen as a bunch harmless librarians. The Keepers were able to grow in numbers and went from being an organization that started as almost exclusively human to being as diverse as the continent in which they operated.
A few hundred years into the Third Age, magic started to return to the land, and the Keepers, as the only significantly large organization that maintained a strong interest in magical knowledge and items, suddenly found themselves as one of the strongest forces on Galadorn.
The Keepers trained their own on use of arcane magic and created academies to that end. The Keepers philosophy is based on the lessons learned at the end of the Second Age. They believe that uncontrolled magic is extremely dangerous. To that end, they devoted themselves to an updated set of objectives:
- Control the use of magic to protect the people of Galadorn from its misuse
- Collect and preserve magical knowledge and items to keep them safely out of the hands of those who would not use this power responsibly
- Recruit the brightest, most talented and morally incorruptible of the land to join and strengthen the Keepers
- Preserve peace throughout the land
The Keepers grew in power and influence in the different nations of the continent, who were convinced to assist in building facilities in the largest cities for the use of the Keepers, such as Luxarth, Academy of the Word in Ilythyrra in the nation of Myst Haven.
Magic usage, particularly arcane magic, is licensed by the Keepers. To use magic, one either needs to be a Keeper, or needs a license from the Keepers, which comes with an annual fee, which can be costly. The more complicated the magic (ie the higher the level) the higher the fees for the license. This effectively means that legal magic use is reserved for the Keepers and those who can afford a license. The Keepers send out Inquisitors throughout the land to investigate unlicensed usage of magic and refer violators for prosecution.
