It is impossible to speak of the Argent Peak Sect's history in any detail without acknowledging the strange qi vents which give the Sect its name. First recorded in the reports of the Xi era expansion and subjugation of the southern tribes, the Argent Vents were at first simply thought to be signs of spirit stone veins in the peaks. Although this was not entirely correct, it spurred significant assets to be assigned to capturing and settling the region, driving away the barbarians who squatted around the vents.
Early mining efforts turned out to be disappointing, while seams of spirit stones were present, they were of low quality hardly producing any significant number of green stones. While still lucrative and allowing the Xi to fuel a boom in their common soldiery that allowed better maintenance of their claims, institutional interest soon turned elsewhere.
Thankfully, some among those assigned to governorship of the region found an interest in the vents. Many spirit stone rich regions have something similar, clefts and crevices that expel compressed spiritual energies from the spirit stone seams under the earth. Typically these indicate high potency stone deposits where the energies flowing along natural lines rupture the physical earth. This is the source of Mount Tai's eternal shroud of spiritually potent mist.
This proved wrong for the Argent Vents, to the frustration of the Xi. Argent Vents rather than being points where energies become overpressurized are instead points where opposing qi types meet and find perfect equilibrium. The pure energies produced by this transmute surrounding materials in low grade but relatively quickly renewing spirit stones. Scholars remain uncertain what causes this unique interaction, which does not occur anywhere else in the Empire.
Unfortunately early mining efforts disrupted this equilibrium in many places, and spirit stone renewal theory was not so far advanced, so most of these unique seams were simply mined out and destroyed. In following years this served to highlight the remaining vents effects. The Argent Peaks region was a calm and temperate place, avoided by more tempestuous spirits and the worse of the floods and rockslides endemic to other portions of the Wall.
As the vents broke down however, this began to change. Scholars among the Xi left to govern began to theorize that the energies released by the vents had neutralizing effects on unbalanced and chaotic qi. Presenting their findings to the counts of clan Li, who had been assigned administration of the center-south territories, they were given funds to study the region. This was the origin of the Argent Sect.
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What then are the benefits of Argent Qi? Argent Qi is calm and accepting, it is inherently balanced in a way few other energies are. This enables the cultivation of Argent Qi to interact smoothly with all but a small number of qi types. It is superb for the cultivation of qi pools in young cultivators, since energies gained from its cultivation arts do not introduce conflict with that generated by other arts, and even when no longer cultivated, Argent Qi easily transforms into other types with minimal loss.
Similarly, though it it harshly limited in supply, the liquid in Argent Vents is highly useful as a base for elixirs and pills. Most such bases introduce at least some level of impurity to the mixture, but the Argent fluid is on the short list of materials which do not.
In addition, despite the difficulty of making a study of such personal things, those who cultivate Argent Qi often report less discomfort and injury when attempting early realm breakthroughs and the clearing of meridians, which while a minor effect is quite helpful for the maintenance of armed forces and the teaching of children.
There are a number of theories as to how this came about. Some scholars say that the Argent region lays upon an exact and unique crossing point in the world's meridians. Other scholars posit that the particular arrangement of the mountains in the region produces a sort of natural geomantic focus. Others posit that the liquid which is found within Argent vents is a not a byproduct, but an actual source, a naturally occurring deposit that simply does not occur elsewhere within the lands claimed by the empire.
What is known is that Argent Vents are extremely reliant on natural geomancy, that is the lines of energy created by the arrangements of geography and natural processes. Much of the Sect's efforts has been bent toward restoring the damage done by early mining, and this research has born much fruit. In early days the sect learned enough to halt the degradation of the remaining sites, via careful landscaping and restoration programs.
Over time, sect scholars discovered that it was possible to restore 'dead' vents through careful transplantation of liquid and crystal growths to the sites, in a manner akin to making cuttings from trees bloom. It is a slow process however, and even in the modern day the oldest of the 'repaired' vents do not match the potency of the remaining original sites.
Slow as it is, there are many reasons to be optimistic. It has been tested and proven that the rate of recovery is improved as more sites are repaired and grow, and so although it has been millenia, the full recovery of the region may be only a scant few centuries away! With the last of the ruined sites documented and seeded, the picture of the original geomantic framework is becoming clearer by the day.
Alas for the hastiness of our ancestors! Still, the Sect's understanding has advanced greatly, and with its Great Sect Status, some have even begun experimentation into the establishment of wholly new sites, and increases in the potency and spread rate of Argent Qi.
One day, if such is possible the availability of low ranking stones may even increase exponentially! The effects of such an expansion would no doubt have tremendous effects on the quality of life for all within the empire!
-Excerpt from a leaflet released by Argent Sect to local noble families.
