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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Insight" data-source="post: 3790162" data-attributes="member: 11437">[sblock=Mad Prophet]THE STORY OF THE MAD PROPHETThe story of the Mad Prophet harkens back to before the founding of the Black Rock Monastery.  In those days, the Old Gods held sway.  A group of monks following Antonidas broke from the establishment and formed their own order, which would eventually become Black Rock Monastery.  The monks, led by High Elder Hedronus, along with eight other monks (whose names have been lost to the sands of time) comprised the founding members of the order.One of the founding members, who came to be known as the Shining Prophet, demonstrated the ability to speak directly with Antonidas.  This monk rose to a place of prominence, though his existence was often hidden from the outside world for fear the prophet would be killed or imprisoned for heresy.  The Shining Prophet tired of his captivity, however, and, after a falling out with the High Elder, left Black Rock Monastery, not to return for some time.Several generations later, as time went on, the order told history their own way, and recast the Shining Prophet as the Mad Prophet, and assigned the prophet certain characteristics and behavior that may or may not have been true (for example, the order's histories tell that the Mad Prophet destroyed all of the scrolls in the Black Rock library, thus the reason for the lack of ancient history on the foundation of the order).  The Shining Prophet's ability to speak with Antonidas became a viral madness that threatened to consume the order, and the elders were forced to throw the prophet out of Black Rock Monastery lest he bring it down from within.Meanwhile, the Shining Prophet had crossed the wastes, and traveled to far away Sohr Sakahl, a desolate place of great inherent power, but feared by locals.  Here too, the nomads and residents of the area called the prophet mad, but dared not confront him.  In Sohr Sakahl, the prophet built a great stone tower, seemingly with his bare hands and sheer force of will.  Within the great tower, the Shining Prophet remained for generations.After many generations, after the worship of the Old Gods had fallen out of favor, the Shining Prophet returned to Black Rock Monastery.  Though only a single man (albeit incredibly long-lived), the Shining Prophet demanded that Black Rock Monastery return to its rightful place as a bastion for the worshippers of Antonidas.  The prophet was greeted instead by a cadre of the current elders, including a descendant of High Elder Hedronus, who did battle with the prophet.  The result of this battle is in dispute; the order's histories record that the Mad Prophet was driven away in humiliation, but rumor has it that the prophet instead slew all of the elders and left on his own.Whatever the case, the tales of the Mad Prophet of Antonidas slipped from fact, into rumor, and into legend, and would have completely vanished had the prophet not reappeared some time later to reclaim his rightful place in the world.  Some say that the Mad Prophet had become a god himself, or an avatar of Antonidas, or a ghost, but in any case, could not leave his tower.  Instead, the Mad Prophet attracted and trained an 'apprentice' who would be his representative in the material world.  The Mad Prophet would keep only one such representative at a time, and these men and women, usually drawn from the ranks of his former monastic order, would act on the Mad Prophet's behalf, using the power of local legend and fear of the great unknown to achieve the Mad Prophet's motives.While his apprentices have historically been mum on the subject, reasonable people who comment on the subject do not believe the prophet to truly be mad.  His motives clearly involve the worship of Antonidas, even in this day and age when the Old Gods have all but passed into memory.  When pressed on this issue, the prophet's representatives have let it be known that the prophet's motives are his own and often beyond the comprehension of mere mortals.  The prophet's representatives have been well trained and treated well, though a few have strayed and attempted to betray their master's trust, only to meet with an untimely end.The monks of Black Rock Monastery have a vested interest in keeping the story of the Mad Prophet alive, as it is whispered in places that the prophet knows secrets that can bring down the order, and it is only a matter of time before the prophet lets these secrets become public knowledge.  It is for that reason that the monastery continues to perpetuate the stories of the prophet's madness; it is for their own survival.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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