Disciples

The disciples are an order of scholars, healers, postmen, and scientists who are trained at a school called the Bastion of the Disciples. As advisers to the Trost nobility, the disciples have largely supplanted the Alchemists' Guild. They are sometimes called "the knights of the mind."

Focusing on scientific knowledge and disdaining belief in magic, in the present day the Order of Disciples has largely eclipsed the older Alchemists' Guild, which claims to possess arcane magical knowledge, but whose number, power, and abilities have waned over the centuries.

The disciples are a secular organization, not a religious order, though they do swear sacred oaths to follow the duties and restrictions of their office. Unlike certain other organizations such as the Faith of the New, which has male and female priests, women are not allowed to join the disciples, and thus its membership is all-male.

Students at the Bastion of the Disciples are named 'acolytes' as they have not passed the studies.

The Bastion
The Bastion of the Disciples is an impressive structure in the centre of Trost, and is considered the home of all disciples. Here they undergo all of their training from the time they arrive as acolytes until they have achieved the status of disciple.

Duties
Almost every castle and noble family in Trost, no matter how small, has a disciple on hand to teach the lord's children, give him counsel, and attend to medical and educational needs. The lords of the provinces are also reliant on their ability to send long distance communiques using trained messenger birds, which they are responsible for tending in a castle's rookery. Disciples also serve as the resident medical expert at a castle, responsible for everything from setting broken bones, assisting childbirth, and knowledge of medicinal herbs and potions to aid fevers and internal illnesses. In addition, disciples also observe changes in the weather to watch for shifting of the seasons.

Similar to the Scouting Watch, the Order of Disciples is an egalitarian institution whose members must ignore their past family and political ties, give up their right to inheritance, and take an oath of celibacy. Thus, like the Watch, younger sons or bastard sons are often made to join the disciples, so as not to interfere with the inheritance of firstborn and/or legitimate sons.

The Patriarch
The Patriarch is the ruling council of the Order of the Disciples. It is composed of the assembled Great Disciples, the highest-ranking members of the order. It is based in the Bastion.

Archdisciple
The Archdisciple is considered the senior member of the order and serves as its representative to the king. He can only be made or unmade by the Patriarch. He sits on the small council of the king and acts as one of the king's advisers.

Great Disciples
The perceived "master" of any area of study is given a ring and staff and the title Great Disciple. Great Disciples are the senior members of the Order and are given the right to sit on the Conclave. Many Great Disciples are used for the greater houses in place of a regular disciple.

Studies
In order to become a disciple, and no longer an acolyte, a student must pass examinations in at least five of these subjects:
 * Astrology
 * Astronomy
 * Economics
 * Falconry
 * History
 * Magic (Looked down upon by disciples as it is related with the occult)
 * Medicine and Healing
 * Smithing
 * Warcraft