In this desolate stretch of desert a band of zealots exiled from the Golden Realm for excessive enthusiasm are working on converting an abandoned wizard tower into a lighthouse, where they burn the dung of ghost buffalos through the long desert nights.
The zealots eat no meat and treat gnolls, elves and other soulless creatures fairly but they attempt to abduct any humans they come across. They are difficult to fight for the steel armor that they wear under their dark robes shines so brilliantly that it dazzles the eyes. They are immune to this effect because they are all blind (except for their one-eyed chief).
Their prisoners are brought back to the tower and locked into a cell that has no windows except for a long six-inch slit in the wall that connects the cell to an adjacent morgue through which grave worms slither. After a few days imprisonment, captives are asked if they are willing to “abandon the darkness and walk in the light of the King.”
Those who agree are brought to the roof of the tower at midday their eyes forced open with hooks while their limbs are bound with cords of dragon gut so that they have no choice but to stare into the sun until thoroughly blind. This way they are taught to see the light of the King in Splendor with their heart and soul, rather than their feeble eyes.
Connections:
- -A nearby hermit distrusts this sect and will warn travellers of it (11.32).
- -Ghost buffalos are also prominently displayed on the engravings on the walls of the Temple of the Hunt (14.27).
Hooks:
- -What are ghost buffalos? Anything special about their dung?
- -Do elves, gnolls and other such creatures really not have souls or is that only the dogma of this sect?
- -Who is the one-eyed chief?
- -Who has been blinded in this way?
- -Why do they tie people down with dragon gut, wouldn’t rope be cheaper?
