The monks of the Monastery of Ten Thousand Lanterns seem to prefer their state of isolation, high up in the mountains of southern Ebrus. Their monastery is truly ancient, and rests in a lofty place of solitude, where it is often forgotten by the rest of the world.
Legends say that the Monastery was founded by a wise and powerful monk named Kobo Daishi during the historic time before Ku’Vahl was reduced to ruins. Kobo Daishi is said to have been slain by a terrible demon, and so the monks of the 10,000 Lanterns have always collected Abyssal lore in the hopes of keeping an eye out for demonic threats.
Only one Abyssal Attack against the monastery has ever been formally recorded, in the year 214 PB. Strangely, not many people were slain in the attack. Rather, it is rumored that the Demon Lord came to the Monastery alone and ignored any and all who fled from his path while he sought out the temple at the center of the monastic compound. Whether the demon was there to kill a specific person, or to claim a certain prize, is unknown.
Some rumors suggest that Shadows and Assassins were once trained at this monastery, long ago. If this rumor is true, there is not enough information to substantiate it. However, historic records have confirmed that one of Kobo Daishi’s greatest students was a Shadow who took the name ‘Kahgae’.
It has certainly been verified that Kobo Daishi followed nearly the same traditions as the people of the Shindaishi Peninsula in Lairroth. It is also rumored that a magical portal once connected the monastery to an island near the Shindaishi Peninsula. As a result, unlike the rest Ebrus, the people who live in The Monastery of 10,000 Lanterns follow traditions which hearken back to those of the Samurai.
Those born in the Monastery are often given names which resemble Shindaishi names. And many of the monks there train in the same hand to hand art of combat that became so revered by the Shindaishi denizens.
