Savant

{{Religion_infobox {{Quote|We are the chosen and the blessed. Touched by the Void, baptized by fate, tempered by destiny, and driven by purpose.|Krovo Scrios}}
 * BG1=223333
 * BG2=667777
 * imageBG=
 * image=SavantTemplar.png
 * name=Savant
 * hideor=
 * leader=Harbinger
 * governing=Ring of Arch-Savants
 * positions=*Savant Scion
 * Savant Templar
 * Savant Ghost
 * Savant Eldar
 * Arch-Savant
 * organizations=
 * sects=Animites
 * headquarters=Holy Sanctum
 * language={{sw|Charon language|Char'ark]]
 * affiliated=Charon Dominion
 * hideb=
 * text=Void of Oblivion
 * deities=*The Void
 * The Presence
 * locations=
 * artifacts=Void Stone
 * ceremonies=Rite of Kenosis
 * holidays=
 * hideh=
 * founding=
 * planet=
 * founder=First Prophet
 * collapse=
 * hideot=
 * members=*Krovo Scrios
 * Prescyla Osiris
 * Ponolus Traek
 * era=}}

A Savant was a member of the Savant Caste who wielded, worshiped and fanatically devoted themselves to the entropic forces of the Void. The signature weapon of the Savants was the deathscythe, a bladed pole weapon similar to a glaive that was forged with a unique mineral that, when made into an alloy with other minerals or metals, had a vamparic reaction when channeled with Void energies. The purpose of the Savant was threefold; servitude to the Void, the eradication of all life, and subjection to the Harbinger who was the physical authority of the Presence. Forming the "master caste" of the Charon Dominion, the Savants carried out a near-total galaxy-wide genocide over a period of one thousand years, known as the Oblivion Crusades.

Origins of the Savants
SavantTatooine.png "They believe themselves to be your saviors as much as they purpose themselves as your executioners. If defiance is your choice, you will only find that their terrible will is far more arduous to deny than you can possibly imagine."

- Savelle Ulesari

The date of the official formation of the Savants was unknown; they were confirmed as being non-existent prior to the advent of the First Prophet, but were at least an organized group of Void-tethered individuals by the time of the initiation of the Oblivion Crusades. Considered to have been the true inheritors of the Presence's will, thralls, and some Zealots, often imparted the blessing "hallowed are the children of the Void" when in the presence of a Savant. The Savants were seen as the war leaders and those marked by destiny to ultimately fulfill the fate sealed within the tenants of the Void of Oblivion. To that end, the other castes, including the warrior Zealot Caste, were considered to have simply been supplemental individuals furthering the "master caste's" goals and purposes.

Savants were inducted into the Savant Caste at an early age; typically, a Void-tethered individual was detectable upon birth, with some even detectable while still in utero. Isolated from the rest of the Otherspace galaxy during their developing years, the Savants are deemed Scions and received controlled education, ranging from typical curriculum of mathematics, history and writing, to philosophy, moral codes and standards and martial training―both armed and unarmed. As Savant Scions matured, their tutelage extended into military strategy and tactics, the grueling training and exercising their Void powers, and even studies of understanding the theorized nature of, the antithetical energy field of the Void.

By the time the massacres of the Oblivion Crusades neared its finale, a small fraction of Savants broke away from the rest of the Caste, resulting in the brief but momentous Charon Civil War. Led by "the Seer", a Savant gifted with the power of Omen, in a movement the mainstream Charon dubbed the "Cult of Light", the group of heretical Savants sought an alternative path from their sacred texts within the Void of Oblivion, which later came to be called the philosophical creeds of the Void of Animus. The conflict lasted a short, but undetermined, amount of time, which concluded with the members of the cult escaping through a spacial rupture that would later become stabilized into the Aperture.

Creed of the Savants
"And what is the to the Presence? We too soon forget that the First One of the Void was not of the, but the lowest of the slaves."

- Mercius Nothian

Savants

Training and servitude
"From this day forth, every breath you take, every sensation you feel―every beat of your heart―exists for will of the Harbinger of the Presence."

- Prescyla Osiris