Introduction
Honor, Excellence, and Integrity.
These are the bywords of the Adamant Deeps Sect. Located in the northern fens of the Thousand Lakes province, the Sect strives to forge all applicants into exemplary Imperial citizens and instill in them a strong sense of civic duty and pride, along with the skills and trades which are taught in its halls. As crude ores and base metals may become superlative alloys, the Adamant Deeps Sect aims to prove that the many disparate peoples of the Empire are stronger together.
Specializing in the arts of metallurgy, the Adamant Deeps Sect teaches many related fields. Smithing, talisman craft, prospecting, and ecological studies are all taught in the Sect’s halls by experts provided by the Imperial Court. Disciples are naturally tutored in the honorable ways of martial excellence and discipline as well for all nobles of the Empire should be equipped to defend it. However, the Sect’s primary focus remains the mysteries of metal in specific and advances in the Empire’s understanding of the material properties of the world in general.
Experience in the Adamant Deeps Sect provides important skills for both masters of craftering and natural philosophers. Inner Sect members who leave will find their Sect education useful no matter their station, the principles taught here being sufficient to make any student an exemplary member of clan and court.
Sect History
The Adamant Deeps Sect has its origins deep in the pre-Imperial past under the individuals whom the legendary Yao the Fisher commissioned to discern the properties of the sacred metals dredged from the fathomless deeps of Lake Hei. These individuals, whose names are sadly lost to public histories, were the ones who discovered the methods by which copper could become bronze and the powerful properties that this alloy held. Previously, tools of copper, stone, and wood were often all that was available with jade tools occasionally in use by the wealthiest individuals.
These materials lacked the ability to withstand the energies of complex formationwork, but the new alloy, bronze, held an edge far more easily than copper or stone, even unenhanced, and while jade was more resilient, it was far less useful for holding martially arrays. In contrast, bronze could be produced in much higher quantities with the cooperation of the White Serpent and her kin.
So it was with gleaming spears in hand, spears that pierced the simple armors of hide and bark which the other peoples of the Lakes wore at this time, that mighty Yao and the earliest Bai brought the Thousand Lakes under their rule. However, over the millenia, these individuals were slowly taken for granted and forgotten, and complacence prevented their art from advancing.
When the smiths of other lands discovered ways that iron could be smelted to if not exceed, then at least compete with the bronzesmith’s work, some interest was revived, but when, a few millenia later, the mad smith Zheng Bo disseminated the secrets of steel, previously thought to be enhanced iron and producible only by certain master blacksmiths, such efforts once again fell by the wayside.
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The Adamant Deeps Sect was raised from the remains of a minor sect dedicated to studying metals, neglected in funding after the great westward march. Granted charter and funding by the Imperial Throne, infrastructure was built, and experts flocked to test their theories and experiment among the ancient forges. Given the directive to focus on producing metals superior to steel in quantities useful at the level of the state, many promising studies have already begun.
Enrollment
Enrollment in the Adamant Deeps Sect is a simple and efficient matter. Applicants are required to pay an up front fee to enter the Outer Sect, after which they have three years to impress an elder or Core Sect member with either a significant project or display of personal virtue. Outer Sect members who fail to do so may stay on as Sect workers or return to their families with the lessons taught in the Outer Sect. As stated in the Imperial Decrees, troubled applicants receive a loan to cover the entry fee, which must be repaid with labor or military service.
Inner Sect members receive up to three years of further instruction, after which they may apply to the Core Sect for testing or pay an additional fee for further lessons.
Careers
The Adamant Deeps Sect focuses on turning its applicants into exemplary members of society over specific career applications. For the majority of our disciples, it is expected that they will go on to serve their clans and the Empire above any particular vocation. Nonetheless, the education offered by the Sect opens many roads.
Master Metalsmith: The most obvious career, but one which should not be discounted. The preparation of superlative materials is an absolute requirement for supporting the creation of powerful and reliable talismans, even should the disciple not choose to become such a craftsman themselves.
Court Philosopher: It is popular among the wise clan heads of the Empire to gather thoughtful scholars and philosophers into their courts in the modern day. This ensures the intellectual vibrancy of their court and provides opportunities to make advancements in various fields and improve upon their lands and people.
Imperial Officer: The ranks of the Empress’ armies have been slowly expanding since the days of her father. An officer of the Imperial Army is expected to be a solid and dependable gentleman or woman of excellent breeding and intellectual rigor. Conveniently, the Adamant Deeps Sect offers an education complementary to this expectation.
Prominent Sect Members
Sect Head Gong Shan: There are many materials which the laymen refer to as ‘Adamant’ from mystical alloys created by the highest level craftsmen to certain natural ores or the strange and indecipherable blue metal that sometimes filters through the exotic trading ports of the Xuan. Even steel was once called adamant before its properties were fully documented. Gong Shan is an expert on these varied materials. Having discovered ways to produce several alloys thought lost after their creators passed without apprentices, as well as having developed an improved type of steel which remains inviolate to rust and wear even without formation work, he is the foremost expert on metallurgy still living in the Empire and a natural head for the Adamant Deeps Sect!