The Strength of Fang Stonedrop 1: History (Part 1)
I am Jewel Shiverfawn. Fang Stonedrop was my master. She taught me the Strength. The uninitiated say that this power is magic or sorcery. It is neither. It is the Strength. Anyone can learn to use the Strength. Anyone with enough dedication, that is. Few people have the patience to even begin this work. Many people do not understand what we do. Rumors, jealousy and superstitions grow into fear and hatred. Sorcerers are misunderstood. That does not mean that people’s fear is unfounded. The Strength is a terrible and terrifying power.
Fang has passed away. I gathered her writings and diaries. I copied the most important information into my own book, which you are reading right now. I will talk about my reasons for doing this later.
Master Stonedrop never explained where she learned to control the Strength. We do not know who taught it to her. She only ever mentioned that she studied the Strength in the far east. Even though her past remains mysterious, we trained with her anyway. Her results spoke for themselves.
Master Stonedrop realized that nobody in the west was practicing the Strength. She decided to start teaching. The Strength is too powerful to be taught to any careless person. In fact, a certain amount of dedication is required to make any progress. She carefully vetted any potential aspirants. Many were turned away as unsuitable. She worried that if they learned to control the Strength, they would cause mayhem and chaos. People would die as a consequence.
The Stonedrop Order of Sorcerers was founded in Treelin City on 1387-04-08. The outer order trained aspirants in meditation and ethics. The few students that graduated from the outer order were accepted into the inner order where they began to learn the Strength. Outer order members did not learn magic of any sort.
Master Fang Stonedrop was born on 1333-12-03. She died of natural causes on 1422-05-19. She was mourned by her family in the Order. We spent the next six months trying to decide how to move forward. Master did not designate a successor. She did not write her wishes for how we should proceed.