Editing Bahir All-Walker (section)

=History=
Bahir was once an academic, born of academics, but his youthful researches in forbidden and esoteric lores left him unsatisfied and restless. Discarding the comfortable life of the savant and scholar he sold everything he owned and set off into the wilds of Creation. He spent nigh on a decade hunting down and investigating rumours of shadowlands, unusual environmental conditions, First Age ruins and skirted the edges of Creation up to the borders of the Wyld itself. No hidden place or forbidden knowledge escaped his pursuit.

His Exaltation came while investigating the borders of the Wyld and wandering just a little too far...Lost in the Wyld, Bahir refused to panic but found himself confronted with visions that were by turns horrifying and wondrous. Finally a woman appeared before him, beckoning him onward, at times becoming almost transparent. In his desperation Bahir clung to the vision of the woman and her unearthly beauty like a drowning man to driftwood until, after many days in which Bahir's sanity was repeatedly tested, he finally came to solid ground once more. Collapsing exhausted to the earth, sobbing and crying with relief, he passed out. When he awoke it was to find yet another woman sitting by his side. This was Aera, the Black Wolf Seer, and it had fallen to her to retrieve the young Exalt.

Bahir's talents made him a natural student for Aera and he threw himself into new studies and duties with the Silver Pact. He was swiftly initiated into the Crossroads society and volunteered for the retrieval packs, happily combining his loves of knowledge and exploration. 

Aera became both lover and mentor, leading him step by step deeper into the mysteries of Luna and ensuring that his assignments with the retrieval packs gave him plenty of opportunity to scout areas of interest to both Bahir and the Pact. In the process of one hunt he "stumbled" across the Bastion of Silver Dreams, a Lunar-aspected manse on the edge of Creation containing the dead body of an earlier holder of his Exaltation and a welcome trove of her possessions.

Bahir is obsessed with the experience of the Other, all the manifold aspects of Creation fascinate him and he firmly believes that by integrating the myriad facets through which Essence manifests itself that he walks closer to some ineffable truth. As above, so below, Bahir's quest mirrors aspects of Luna's relationship with Gaia. Perhaps more than even he realises at times. Nonetheless he continues to seek out Heart's Blood forms wherever he goes and looks to expand into the other realms; the Elemental Poles, Demon forms and the Underworld all beckon to him in dreams and vision-quests in the Wyld.

Bahir has begun contributing to Thousands Streams river projects with some subtlety. In general he begins by scouting the area with his various unusual senses and establishing what spirits and mortals have the most influence. Then he carefully gains influence over the local little gods and spirits. Whilst doing that he begins entering the dreams of those mortals most useful to him, inserting prophetic and visionary dreams that presage his arrival and promise great things to come as well as laying down various symbolic resonances with animal forms from his library. Shortly after that he begins appearing to selected individuals in those animal forms in a manner that supports the dream imagery and, where possible, enlisting the aid of little gods or deploying elementals to support his themes. Eventually, when he judges the timings to be right, Bahir appears in person. Bahir then begins to teach the populace various rites and observances embodying the deep truth of man's proper relationship to Gaia. This normally culminates in a festival-pilgrimage, a ritualised wandering intended to sanctify the area, in which he can cement his influence. Having established his position Bahir makes further use of magic and dreamwalking to guide his charges in their sleep.