Characters:Dun Barethsol:Abbot Tham the Learned
Tham "the Learned" is a Human, aged 60 years. Like many Humans in the Order, he is a skilled singer, herbalist, and unarmed combatant. However, his reputation is for scholarly learning. He knows a great deal about both Orders. He is of a Yetin sect known as the Watchers of the Yeti. This sect holds that the Yeti's depth of knowledge of the woods (and thus the world) is second only to the elder spirits of the world. The sect seeks to emulate this particular aspect of the yeti by learning everything about everything. Understandably, he was the Abbey's Loremaster before becoming its Abbot.
Tham approaches any situation as though it were a tree. He assumes first that the essential situation will not change, allowing the student time to understand it. Second, he assumes that true understanding of a situation comes from understanding the root of the problem. As a result, explaining new events to him can sometimes be trying. He normally insists that the teller go as far back in the history of the situation as the teller's knowledge allows and then begin the account. Alternately, Tham will see farther back in the history of the story than does the teller of the tale, and ask why the teller did not start at the beginning as he should have done. For someone who is convinced of his own understanding of a given situation, this approach can often be very frustrating and even counter-productive. Tham is known for ejecting novices from his chamber if they come with a question but will not give his questions heed. For those willing to listen and be questioned, conversations with him can be most enlightening.