View source for SourceMaterial-Rays of The Silver Sun

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Within the [[Guild:IvoryOrder|Ivory Order]] exists an elite group of white necromancers dedicated to healing and relief in places ranging from local communities to war-ravaged disaster zones.  Throughout [[Negaria]], medical knowledge in most villages and indeed in most cities is abysmally lacking.  Though there are herbalists and apothecaries who specialize in the healing arts, most of them are not able to achieve more than basic relief for small ailments and treat minor wounds.  Healing through magical means is often available at the temples of goodly deities, but the widespread treatment of the sick, depending on the god’s philosophy, is not too common in most areas.  Plus, healing via clerical means is usually too expensive for most normal peasants to afford.  The Rays of The Silver Sun see their purpose as transferring the knowledge of healing arts (both magical and mundane) into application to produce real benefits for the sick and needy.  The aim of the organization is to take the drawbacks of non-magical treatment and poorly-treated patients of the temples and give them effective care while treating them well.

The Rays of The Silver Sun accomplishes its mission with three main efforts.  The organization acts as a “first response” team to care for wounded civilians and soldiers in battle zones.  Units from the order often rush straight into pitched battles to pull out any fallen combatants.  For this function, certain national armies and guilds have noticed their bravery and hired them to act as a medical corps. As a second effort, members travel alone or in pairs through a circuit of communities providing barber-surgeon and herbalist services.  Peasants and nobles alike line up to see them wherever they pitch their tents and signal poles.  In larger communities, some members of the organization settle down from adventuring and begin to teach the non-magical aspects of their craft to the locals.  Successful operations of this sort have bloomed into medical academies, the largest of which is the Confederate Academy of Healing Arts in the city of [[Andarr]], which teaches both the magical and non-magical medicine.  

The founding of the Rays of The Silver Sun predates even the oldest of the original mage orders and even some of the minor gods to a time right after the Great War.  A Romini mage named [[Ajanan Domari]] made his living roaming the continent during the times of great suffering after the Orcish Destruction.  He used his skills as a mage and knowledge of white necromancy to increase the results of his healing.  Soon he developed quite a following in the western parts of [[Negaria]] where he did most of his traveling. For many years he passed on his arts and worked to alleviate the suffering caused after the war, and even beyond his normal life span he continued as an anti-lich.  

After nearly 300 years (circa 350 A.O.D) of working to heal the sick, Ajanan Domari finally settled down in a modest keep provided by his followers and students.  Unfortunately for him, that keep was located in modern day [[Dubunat]], which at the time was being conquered by the Bandit King, [[The%27ton|The’ton]].  A series of defensive battles ultimately created too much attrition to withstand, and Ajanan was driven out or killed.  To this day, it is unknown whether he used his own life-giving portal to the Positive Energy Plane to escape, or allowed it to be destroyed, taking him with it.  His followers always hope for the former, meaning he could return someday.

With the death of the founder, the scattered followers united and named their order the Rays of The Silver Sun, to express their desire to extend Ajanan Domari’s work over the continent like the rays of the sun touch the land.  It was another two centuries before the Silver Order of the old Fold of Nine approached them to offer material support if they joined their ranks.  The remaining members of the Rays of The Silver Sun accepted gladly, and went on to outlive even the Silver Order.

After the events of the Vortex of Chaos, in which the newly minted god of magic, Andrinor, played an elaborate prank on the mages of the world to dissolve the old structure and put his own in place, the Rays of The Silver Sun stood by and continued their work uninterrupted.  Through all the events of history, there were always wounded and less fortunate souls to attend.  Once the [[Guild:IvoryOrder|Ivory Order]] formed, its leaders approached the organization and made the same offer as the old Silver Order did centuries before, and the Rays of The Silver Sun became a suborder once again.

Relations with the other orders of The Trust are variable.  Even with its own umbrella organization, the [[Guild:IvoryOrder|Ivory Order of The Sun]], there is sometimes tension.  The Rays of The Silver Sun do not discriminate whom they serve.  Goodly patients are attended as keenly as evil ones, because the organization sees it as serving the greater good by showing compassion and care to all beings in the hopes of teaching them something.  The [[Guild:IvoryOrder|Ivory Order]] sometimes disagrees with this because it has a harsher stance towards Evil.  Its view of the greater good focuses more on creating and advancing goodness where it is most likely to succeed.