[Resurrected] The Revealing Light

Jacob had spent the past few hours perched on the roof of some cager’s house with his sketch pad in one hand and a pair of binoculars in the other. The surface of the roof was rough with many rusty nails jutting out of the sparse shingles. “Why am I doing this?” he muttered to himself.
It was a silly question, of course. He knew exactly why he was doing this. His fellow Shiners had entrusted him with the task of keeping an eye on a certain vrock that the Revealing Light had labeled “Worth Learning About”. He shifted his position when he realized that he lost all feeling in his rump.
After days of searching, he pin-pointed the Tanar’ri’s location to the warehouse across the street. It was apparently in a meeting with a group of tieflings. What the purpose of the meeting was, Jake could only guess about. He was no lip-reader after all. When he knew that he learned everything that he could by staring through binoculars from twenty feet away, he leaped off the roof... and fell into a pile of boxes with a loud clatter. After a minute of pushing away debris and stumbling, Jacob stood up and dusted himself off.
“YOU AGAIN!?”
Jake slowly turned around to find the demon of his study towering over him and snarling. The Archivist chuckled nervously, “Hello, sir. Would you mind filling out this questionnaire? No? Bye, then!” Jake threw a smoke bomb to the ground, shrouding the entire area in blackness. When the vrock’s vision returned, all that remained of Jacob was a crumpled sheet of note paper.

“A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.” “There are some things mortals were not meant to know.” “It’s none of your business.” Such words are blasphemous to a Shiner. Knowledge is meant to be learned, understood and shared. By keeping secrets to yourself, you are benefiting no one and holding back the progress of society. You could be the most knowledgeable and intelligent person in the multiverse, but what would be the point if you refuse to share that knowledge. If you don’t teach others what you know, all that information will disappear when you die, never to be regained. And that is a sad thing indeed…

Philosophy: Knowledge is not to be horded. It’s meant to be shared.
Nicknames: Shiners, Archivists, the Curious, Those Nosy Berks
Headquarters: The Bharrai Research Center, Elysium
Major Races: Aasimar, Chaond, Githzerai, Gnomes, Humans, Tieflings, Zenythri.
Favored Classes: Bards, Clerics (with Knowledge Domain), Monks, Rogues, Wizards
Factol: Professor Edward Davis (CN male shadow-prime human Smart10/Charismatic6)
Prominent Members: Bumpliforn (N male gnome Expert12/Rogue2), River-of-Ash (LG neuter Tiefling Wizard11/Loremaster4)
Alignment: Any, except Lawful Evil
Symbol: An open book surrounded by a halo of white light.

Philosophy

“Look at the wizard, I say! Locked in his tower with hundreds of books, scrolls, manuscripts and tablets. Everyday, he pours over his library, slowly unlocking the secrets of the multiverse. ‘If only they knew’, the mage chuckles to himself as he guards his knowledge greedily. Over the years, as he learns more and more, he becomes paranoid. ‘Those lower peasants must never know about these tomes,’ he mutters to no one. He continues to build stronger defenses around his library. Thicker walls and more powerful warding spells. He smiled to himself, knowing that no one will get in to steal his knowledge. Then one day, nature catches up with the old mage and he dies. His tower falls into disrepair and crumbles into broken mortar. Years later, two men walk by the ruins of the wizard’s tower. ‘I wonder if anyone used to live there?’ says one man. His companion pulls him away and replies, ‘It doesn’t matter. Whatever’s in there has long since decayed to dust. Let’s leave!’ The two men walk away from the wrecked stronghold and disappear into the distance. Soon, all that remains is the sad little ruins. A grim reminder that, no matter what the mage discovered, no matter how powerful he was, his life ultimately amounted to nothing…”

This is the fable that Factor Bumpliforn tells new recruits the first day that they join the faction’s cause. While many of the younger factioneers roll there eyes when the crazy old gnome tells this story, it really does illustrate what The Revealing Light wishes to prevent. The Shiners believe that, keeping secrets benefits no one and will, in the end, cause more harm to your goals than good . Share everything you know. For the things you don’t know, do everything in your power to learn about the subject and THEN share it. By adhering to this way of life, in the mere forty-five years since the faction was founded, the Archivists have compiled a database, so massive, that it almost rivals Demigorgon’s library in the Abyss or the Arcane Tower in Gehenna. The database is growing larger everyday and, to add insult to injury, it’s entirely open to the public. The Curious are very proud of the fact that anyone can just walk in to their library or log on to their many terminals in Logos and Dothion to learn about a multitude of subjects, ranging from the mating habits of a Lim-Lim to what Mephestio had for breakfast yesterday.

Of course, there are many people in the multiverse that loathe giving up their secrets. The Revealing Light wishes that it didn’t need to come to this, but the faction remedies this by sending out people known as “Agents” across the face of the multiverse. Their purpose is to collect data and uncover secrets that many forces wish to remain hidden. At first, many of the movers and shakers of the planes found the attempt laughable. That is until a Shiner agent managed to infiltrate the Arcane Tower and made off with a number of manuscripts detailing some of the Yugoloth’s plans regarding the recent turns in the Blood War. Now, most people are wondering just how far the faction will go before things turn ugly.

Next: Brief History....