The Black Monastery

The Black Monastery is the base of the Dark Monks, who are a group of Dark Magic users in Tyrrus founded by Ryvera devoted to stopping the abuse of divine magic for evil purposes. While the Monks mainly deal with dark mages they will just as eagerly fight light mages who use light magic wrongly.

Founding
The Dark Monks are one of the oldest organisations within Tyrrus, and possibly the world. In 455 Ryvera, an ascended of the Mother, rebelled against her gods and became dark. She believed that nothing ever got done by the light gods, especially not the mother, who had a strict policy of no interfering. Soon after this she met up with other like-minded priests who had forsaken the light and together they founded the Dark Monks. At first the dark monks had a mission to eradicate evil dark mages from Tyrrus, as they viewed the abuse of dark magic as a terrible crime, but soon this mission expanded to encompass all those who used divine magic for their own evil and greedy purposes. Though the Monks were doing what they were doing purely for moral reasons, they often charged people for their services and acted as a mercenary service, simply so they could afford to carry on. In 542 the Monks had amassed a veritable fortune and began to construct the Black Monastery, a castle in the Eastern Mountains from which they could base their operations. After making sure the Dark Monks could prosper Ryvera left, to continue her mission elsewhere. Throughout history she has occasionally returned in times of crisis but for the most part stays away.

Conflict with the Kingdom of Blackspire
When the Kingdom of the Blackspire began to encroach into the region now known as Silvershire in 592 the Dark Monks fought back. The Kingdom was viewed by the Monks as a corrupt group and they were attacking local villages using Dark Magic, the Dark Monks had nowhere near as big an army but used guerrilla tactics and attacked tactically from stealth. In 629 the Dark Monks gathered enough forces to invade the city of Violetholt, sneaking into the city and destroying the city guard from within. Their target was Zaikerik, Lord of Runeholt, who was visiting the city. They did not manage to kill him but they did kill his wife. The Monks did not have enough manpower to take over the city and prolonged battle would only go badly for them, so they quickly retreated after the failed attempt on Zaikerik's life. Eventually The Kingdom of Blackspire fell all by itself after Nekrus opened the rift, but the Dark Monks would forever have to deal with the consequences.

The First Dragon War
The Dark Monks sided with Velkyn during the First Dragon War, as they were followers of darkness. Though technically they were then the allies of Zaikerik and Mortholme it was a reluctant alliance and they never went to battle together. The Dark Monks did however infiltrate Everwood City and the Citadel in their fight for Velkyn. However, the Kingdom of Everwood soon retaliated by attacking the Black Monastery and tearing down the exterior wall, the Dark Monks barely defended their base against the large armies of Everwood and many were lost but they did survive. After the Dragon War ended the Dark Monks made a peace pact with Everwood.

The Dark Monks played no part in the second dragon war as light and darkness played no part in it, they viewed it as a war between dragons not gods.

The Falconsreach Conspiracy
When the Dark Monks discovered that Evelynn Falconsreach was using dark magic to stage a coup all across Tyrrus in 1925, they were quick to react and thwart the conspiracy. Unbeknownst to Evelynn members of the Dark monks infiltrated her ranks and fought back. Olivia the Seer, the Dark Monk representative at that time, was a member of the Council of Archmages and ordered that Evelynn be exiled from Haven. When Evelynn returned wielding new magic and claiming to be Queen of Haven, the Dark Monks joined the Archmages in the Haven Civil War, but failed to defend the Citadel.

Recent History
The Dark Monks had grown idle, since the 1930's the attitudes in Tyrrus have been mostly civil and no major threats of Divine Magic have grown, mostly due to the Archmage Council's presence in every major city. However since the rise of Zaikerik in 2003 they have become more active, dealing with the threats of undead which have risen all over Tyrrus. They also discovered that Mina Frost was destined to become Queen of the Dead. In 2015 the Dark Monks sent Eloha Nightborne to retrieve Mina but when she arrived the city was under attack from armies of undead. The Dark Monks had not expected this and could not respond quickly enough. However thanks to the help of Kellan Sithwyr and Baldomar Eririm, Eloha successfully brought Mina back to the Black Monastery, whereupon she began to receive training to better control her powers. The Dark Monks were also present at the Grand Tournament of Eredan since they suspected Ezrabalus Kairn of dealing in necromancy. With help from Nymphadora, Clarvak Stoneheart, Anovid Kilnegar and Ace they successfully stopped Ezrabalus from summoning Zaikerik and banished Sir Zeylin and his armies back to the spirit realm, after Anovid had made the mistake of summoning him. After this Anovid joined Mina at the Black Monastery and became an informal Dark Monk.

Architecture
The Black Monastery seems a fairly small castle at first glance. It consists of a squat keep built into the mountainside surrounded by a wall and a network of square towers. The Central tower is the largest at about 40 metres tall and much wider than the other towers. The wall encloses two courtyards, the Moonglade Courtyard, a place for tranquility and meditation, and the training grounds which is where the stables and armoury can be found and training takes place. There used to be another wall surrounding the monastery but it was destroyed by the Kingdom of Everwood in 669 when they attempted to take the keep. Many other parts of the structure are still ruined from this siege and rough scaffolding has been put up in places.

The Black Monastery is built mostly from the dark stone quarried near the mountain, ranging from dark grey to black. the black and white banners of the Dark Monks are strewn about the monastery.

The Monastery continues into the mountain and underground however, the surface is only a part of the Dark Monk's base and deeper within lie more hidden places, dark ritualistic altars and archives, places not even the Dark Monks go to very often.

Appearance
The Dark Monks typically wear black cloth and leather armour, looking a bit like ninjas. More modern monks will often wear long black coats or hats, but most have hoods. Most will wear the Dark Monk banner somewhere on them.

Weaponry and Magic
The Dark Monks use a variety of weaponry, generally favouring quick and stealthy weapons such as swords, daggers or spears. More recently the Monks have adopted gunpowder weaponry as it proves effective against undead. Many however do not use weaponry and rely on magic.

In terms of magic Dark Monks often use the element of fire but can use any element. They of course all know Unhallowed Incantations, mostly using necromancy so they can counter other necromancers, and those that are skilled enough use dark magic.

Important Members/Related Characters
Ryvera

Eloha Nightborne

Olivessa the Seer

Luthius the Exorcist

Lars the Crusader

Mina Frost

Anovid Kilnegar

Clarissa the Confessor

Brother Garrus

Varius Nightborne