The idea is promote shard growth, help balance certain unbalanced economies and to provide a haven for players at Empath Abbey in North Yew.

The Merovingian kings were noted sorcerors in the manner of the Samaritan Magi, and they firmly believed in the hidden powers of the honeycomb. Because a honeycomb is naturally made up of hexagonal prisms, it was considered by philosophers to be the manifestation of divine harmony in nature. Its construction was associated with insight and wisdom – as detailed in Proverbs 24:13-14: “My son, eat thou honey, because it is good… So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul…”

To the Merovingians, the bee was a most hallowed creature. A sacred emblem of Egytian royalty, it became a symbol of Wisdom. Some 300 small golden bees were founded stitched to the cloak of Childeric I (son of Meroveus) when his grave was unearthed in 1653. Napoleon had these attached to his own coronation robe in 1804. He claimed this right by virtue of his descent from James de Rohan-Stuardo, the natural son (legitimized in 1667) of Charles II Stuart of Britain by Marguerite, Duchesse de Rohan. The Stuarts in turn were entitled to this distinction because they, and their related Counts of Brittany, were descended from Clodion’s brother Fredemundus – thus (akin to the Merovingians) they were equally in descent from the Fisher Kings through Faramund. The Merovingian bee was adopted by the exiled Stuarts in Europe, and engraved bees are still to be seen on some Jacobite glassware.”

On May 27, 1653 a mason, Adrien Quinquin, working on the reconstruction of the church of Saint-Brice in Tournai, discovered a Merovingian tomb containing various articles, including a leather purse containing gold coins, a gold bracelet, some pieces of iron, and numerous pieces of gold cloisonnéed with garnets, among these the 300 bees. One of the pieces was a ring with the inscription CHILDERIC REGIS, identifying the tomb as that of Childeric I, father of Clovis. The discovery excited great interest in Tournai and Brussels. Archduke Leopold William, Spanish governor of the Netherlands, put his personal physician, Jean-Jacques Chifflet, in charge of studying and publishing the finds. In 1655 he published his work, Anastasis Childerici I Francorum regis, sive thesaurus sepulchralis Tornaci Neviorum effossus et commentario illustratus.

Even the slightest restriction of personal rights makes it impossible for a population to fully realize their place and destiny. I'm sure this is why the Enlightened Ones have a hands-off approach. If we are deserving of a place among the civilizations of the universe, we have to develop it on our own. We will either achieve it, or destroy ourselves - in which case we don't deserve it anyway.

This is one of the sticking points for me in this whole illuminati dichotomy. Before the rift that split the Shards and the Remnants it sounds like all of "them" knew what lay ahead for mankind. They must have realized that material existence, earthly governments, monetary control, etc. were *transient*.

Why do the bad guys seem to struggle for millenia over power and money and control of a population that is, at best, temporary?

Perhaps half of them became convinced that we have no chance at eternity and want to "get it while they can", IE money, power, control, before humanity buys the farm.

Perhaps the other half still think there is a chance, and as long as they can protect "it" we still stand a chance?

As long as there is life; there is hope.