As Humans evolved more, so too did their capacity to use the mystical force known as Vita, and in the seventeenth century, a new Guild was founded: the Sorcerors' Guild. This was to be a Guild for all the learned Humans who had accomplished a means of wielding Vita to their own means. Of course, this created instant rivalry between the Guild and the latinus scholari, and this threatened to cause great discord between the two societies until, in 1798, an agreement was reached; the Latin Scholars would continue to, as they always had, claim membership from the academics of the World, while the Sorcerors' Guild would strictly only admit Humans with power over Vita as Guildmembers. This agreement has held true ever since. In time, however, the Sorcerors' Guild gradually became more and more involved in Human politics, and the influence of the latinus scholari over the rulers of the Seven Kingdoms began to wane.
Just as it seemed that the latinus scholari were becoming surplas to requirements, the late nineteenth century brought a fundamental change to the World, as the great battle between rival sorcerers Kylar and Feados triggered the eruption of the Initium Occasus, and the creation of the Nephilim. Of course, being a direct consequence of both Vita and a member of the Sorcerors' Guild, the latinus scholari seemed to have no jurisdiction in the new phenomena, but for one undeniable fact: paranoia. Suddenly Humans were finding themselves having to share their World with mutated, vastly powerful creatures spawned from pure, raw Vita, and fear was rife amongst the Humans. This had been partly fuelled by the latinus scholari's immediate kneejerk reaction that had prompted the Seven Kingdoms to each send out an army to destroy Ba'ados, the First Nephilim. Although this campaign did not stop the coming of the Nephilim, it set the tone for the way the new race would be welcomed by Humanity. The latinus scholari, who had foreseen this threat and had - unlike the Sorcerors' Guild - been the ones to persuade the Seven rulers to send out their armies, once again had the unwavering ear of every single Human in a position of power.
With the rapid eruption of the Nephilim race, it soon became clear that hostilities en masse against the Vitabreeds would only serve to plunge the World into war again, and so a loose arrangement was made, and Nephilim and Human began to, for the most part, co-exist peacefully. Meanwhile the latinus scholari had regained their power and influence, and now had a new goal: the investigation of the Nephilim race, and the safeguarding of Humans against them should the circumstances ever require it.
Reality: The latinus scholari was originally set up as an advisory body to ensure that the Seven Kingdoms did not fall back into the warfare of the previous millennium. However, that is where the truth about the organisation's history ends. Soon after the Kingdom Wars ended, it became a prime goal of the latinus scholari to be the total power behind all of the Seven Kingdoms' thrones. This worked for a time, until the wet-behind-the-ears Sorcerors' Guild began to grow itself in power and influence at an unprecedented rate. From that point on, a bitter feud between the two societies began, and this feud has never been resolved, despite public appearances.
The coming of the Nephilim could not have occurred at a more convenient time - perhaps there is even more to that than anyone might suspect. Regardless, the Latin Scholars seized on this new 'threat' as their ticket back to the top, and set about ensuring that they would succeed at advising the Seven rulers to march against the Nephilim, where the Sorcerors' Guild was simply too lax to do so effectively themselves. However, again the Scholars had underestimated the situation, and as more and more Nephilim began appearing from the Initium Occasus, a new plan had to be formed. It was therefore reccommended to all rulers that peaceful relations be fostered between the two races. Meanwhile the Scholars had a new goal: to study this fascinating - and deadly - new species. But the more they found out about the Nephilim, the more they came to realise that, in time (granted, possibly in excess of three or four centuries), Nephilim would become the dominant species in the World. Thus now the Scholars have yet another new mission, one which is more important now than wealth, power or knowledge: the survival of the Human Race. For it is now the intention of the latinus scholari to experiment on, document and discover all they can about the race of Nephilim, with the eventual aim of annihilating them completely. Of course, this must be carried out in the utmost secrecy and care; not even the rulers of the Seven Kingdoms know what the Scholars do in their high towers.
Recent events in the Emerald Kingdom have begun to pave the way for the Scholars to have more freedom in their work, as, following several very high-profile murders at the hands of Nephilim, King Malthos has declared full war on all Nephilim who choose to stay in his realm. Although this is risky and could possibly lead to a return to the Kingdom Wars, the �sian Scholars are now more or less free to do whatever they want with Nephilim within the Emerald Kingdom.
Character Creation Guidelines: It is completely impossible for any Nephilim to infiltrate the ranks of the latinus scholari due in part to their unique Aptitude of Nephilism, hence unless the game is specifically a latinus scholari game, no Player Character should ever have any affiliation with the sect. That said, there are certain things to bear in mind when creating characters (such as NPCs) of the Latin Scholars. First, as a basic inductory rudiment, almost all full members are fluent in the ancient language of Latin (meaning they require the prerequisite of either Academics 5 or Occult 5). Upon gaining rank within the society, most Scholars are also instucted in the Aptitude of Nephilism - as it is the last and only real defence against the enemy. Besides these guidelines, Knowledges are obviously favoured, although there are several subsets of the Scholars who do actually specialise in less scholarly activities - Hunters, for example. The majority of Scholars are reasonably wealthy (Resources 2 minimum), and a great many posses mystical Artefacts. Finally, any and all of the Common Aptitudes can be found in the employ of Scholars.
Storyteller Note: The latinus scholari are beyond secretive. Everyone knows they exist, but the best that anyone outside of their ranks can ever do os merely speculate as to their goals and methods. No Player Character, with the slim possible exception of characters in an actual Scholars game, will have the slightest inkling about the latinus scholari/ If in doubt, the answer is simple - do not let your players read any of the information contained here. Besides, sometimes the mystery of not knowing anything can be more fun.