Lemurian Culture

###### Return to Lemuria

Lemuria has a long and rich history that has developed a wide and varied culture. Within the Empire a multitude of factions and powers have arisen. These forces may make their presence felt in Kumari Kandam as well.

## Ascendant Magus Empire (AME)

Lemuria's main culture is the Ascendant Magus Empire. It has existed for 4519 years.

## Barbarian Tribes

There are barbarian tribes that do not accept the rule of the AME. They live in remote regions and spurn TADA.

## The Bardic Collective

Both a secret society and a written history, the Baric Collective works to collect and is a secret history of the AME. While many factors and biases contribute to what history is taught in schools or by expensive private tutors, the truth is not always represented. The Collective was created to remove those biases and leave the untainted truth.
**The Works of the Collective:** While raw, unadulterated truth is their goal, the collective works of hundreds of individuals is filled with conjecture and supposition where fact could not be found. Lengthy ramblings on the nature of truth and fact can be found scattered in its pages alongside multiple contested accounts of various events where witnesses disagree on what the truth is. Despite these imperfections, the Collective is the *least* biased account of the actions of the people of Lemuria. The hundreds of volumes are frequently collated into a series of refined summaries, such those those who do have access will often only peruse the 400 page summary of each century. The 400 page volumes of each year are relegated to their archives and plumbed only by devoted academics and researchers.

**The Methods of the Collective:** In order to get at the truth of any matter, the collective has 4 primary methods: interviewing, spying and scrying, "other" activities (which means bribery, thuggery, blackmail, purchases, etc) and divination. They have agents full time and part time across the continent that send their truths back to the Collective.

**Organization:** At the top there is a Bardic Council. No one is certain knows who is on the council - but all must be Bards to serve at the highest levels. The inner workings of the Bardic Council and their underlings falls well within the definition of a secret society. Below them lie the various Lemurianas - sub groups that specialize in different aspects of life. People, locations, events, magic, gods, spirits, artifacts, etc. And under them are agents, collectors, archivists, and authors.

**Secret Society?:** While technically a secret society, there are simply too many people to keep it truly secret. Well educated citizens have certainly heard of them, and may even know of an agent or two. Academics, researchers, historians, and other such folk absolutely know of them and make use of their services - the collective needs money to continue to collect the truth. But once a known agent hands off to a collector - the trail goes dark. The Collective will dissuade the overly curious with misdirection, illusions or other mind altering spells. But those who persist have been known to disappear or have a sudden reversal of fortune and back off. Some have even ended up dead in mysterious circumstances.

**Rumors:**

* There is a rumor that has persisted for centuries that the Bardic Collective is merely a branch of the **The Akashic Library** who are working on the prime plane.
* While few Lemurians have reached Kumari Kandam, many believe that Bardic agents are already there.