The Mountaineers

**The Mountaineers**, also known as Mounties, are a group of people seeking the Lost Collection. They believe that magic is real, but that it was erased from history due to unknown forces.

## Description

The Mountaineers is a group of individuals determined to find the Lost Collection and unlock the secret history of the world. The "core Mountaineers" are currently Ascender, Endri, Eaves, Itsuki, and Bash. Members of the recently created Basecamp 33 Forum are known as "recruits" - the newest additions to the Mountaineer family.

The name The Mountaineers originates from a hand-written occult pamphlet. The pamphlet was an account of someone who had been admitted into a secret society called Monarch’s Mountain, that was dedicated to the collection and preservation of rare objects and pieces of literature. Like the first Mounties and the Lost Collection. Over the years, monarch butterflies, which were a major symbol in the Monarch Mountain pamphlet, became a totem-like symbol for the Mountaineers.

## History

### The '94 Mountaineers

In 1994, a small group of people who remembered the Lost Collection created an online forum to discuss and research the books. The '94 Mountaineers made great strides in finding the Lost Collection, including tracking down Sullivan Green in 1997, though he claimed to know nothing of the books.

Martin Rank worked with the Mountaineers before they were "blown to the six corners twenty years ago." According to him, "We worked together, but they were more ballsy about it. And when they went sniffing where you've been sniffing they got their noses swatted".

In an interview with Augernon, Martin Rank was able to discover that the '94 Mountaineers had acquired the Book of Briars themselves and unlocked twelve of the sixteen fragments. At that time, a storm came for the Mountaineers. The entirety of the '94 Mountaineers, except for Ascender and Augernon, were wiped away by a malignant force. Augernon survived, but the "thing" that came for the other '94 Mountaineers came for him and twisted his mind, ripping the truth that he had seen from him. Ascender was able to escape this fate by never staying in the same place for too long.

### The Core Mountaineers

After the original group of Mountaineers fell apart, word spread across The Low about the group's fate - a warning for those who came too close to the truth. Despite this, Ascender carried on, never staying in one place for too long. Through his journeys, he assembled a ragtag group of believers who either found Ascender or were recruited by him.

In January 2013, Ackerly Green's Guide to Magiq fell into the hands of the children of author CJ Bernstein after changing hands for many years. In January 2016, the Mountaineers met with the Bernsteins to acquire what remained of the Guide, but found that it had finally disintegrated. Using a hand-drawn copy of the guide, mixed with the core Mountaineers' memories, a new copy was created.

July of 2016 marked another massive development in Mountaineer history when they were alerted of a new post relating to the Book of Briars. A website for the Book of Briars opened, and an automated mailer from the site sent out emails to the Mountaineers.

### Opening the Basecamp

After recreating the Guide, the Mountaineers made the decision to post it online at Magiq.Guide. They decided that the best way to solve the mystery of the Book of Briars website was to share it with others and recruit their assistance. Posting the Guide online was also their 'insurance policy' - spreading the truth so far that they would not be silenced like their predecessors were. In addition to the Guide website, the Mountaineers created the Basecamp 33 site and, later, the Basecamp 33 Forum, where they openly discussed their journey learning more about the mystery of the Book.

In his post "You Are The Mountaineers," Ascender came to the conclusion that he and the other core Mountaineers were not meant to solve the Book's fragments. The core Mountaineers were meant to be guildmasters to each other six guilds, to guide and advise the new recruits as they worked to unlock the fragments. Ascender realized that the mystery of the Book reached far beyond the six of him, and that it had to grow with the new generation of Mountaineers.

## Gallery

Logo for Basecamp 33, the headquarters of The Mountaineers
## References

1. ↑ http://basecamp33.com/2016/07/why-are-we-called-the-mountaineers/
2. ↑ http://magiq.guide/
3. ↑ http://forum.basecamp33.com/t/the-cagliostro/282/128
4. ↑ http://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fragment-eleven/735/693
5. ↑ http://forum.basecamp33.com/t/you-are-the-mountaineers/90
6. ↑ http://forum.basecamp33.com/t/the-monarch-papers-character-inspiration-concepts/447/6
7. ↑ http://magiq.guide/
8. ↑ http://basecamp33.com/2016/07/166/