Order Esculentus

The Order Esculentus is a Sharn-based monastic order who believe that attaining physical, mental and spiritual completion is not possible without (in addition to discipline and physical training) attention to and mastery of diet.

Membership & Assets

To be determined by DM.

Reputation & Relations

To be determined by DM.

Philosophy

The order and its members follow a number of assumptions that are taken on faith:

The journey to find physical, mental and spiritual perfection is the most important undertaking a person can make.
Physical training and discipline are crucial to tune the body, mind and spirit to perfection.
Eating and digesting alters the body, mind and spirit and, therefore, can either enhance or derail the journey to perfection.
Since eating is something that must be done constantly, the journey to perfection requires constant effort to match what is eaten to the needs of the eater.
On the journey to physical, mental and spiritual perfection, matching what is eaten to the eater is, by far, more difficult to achieve consistently than physical training and discipline.

As a result of this philosophy, the order takes food and its preparation extremely seriously and, as a practical matter, all other aspects of the Order, even important ones like physical training, are secondary to cooking. Nearly every aspect of the Order, in fact, stems from a single principle:

Perfection in cooking occurs when available ingredients are used to provide the eater with exactly what they need.

This single principle has broad implications for the Order and its members, generally setting a rationale for permissible behavior. In particular:

The focus on the needs of the eater imply that there is no absolute standard for perfection in food and, as a consequence, the Order does not focus on specific cooking traditions, but tries to learn all of them. This strongly differentiates the Order from various cooking schools and causes various levels of conflict with many of them. It also means that the Order doesn't differentiate between "proper" and "improper" or "rich" and "poor" food. The eater needs what the eater needs, regardless of the class of the food or the eater. In a broader sense, this principle encourages monks to match their actions to the needs of a situation. This is not an "end justifies the means" philosophy, but rather "use the right tool for the right job".
Measuring if the needs of the eater were met is difficult, and is largely considered the point of personal combat or other tests. When one monk bests another in personal combat in the morning, it is not considered proof of his fighting superiority, but rather proof that his previous night's meal better prepared him. Broadly speaking, monks of the Order measure people by accomplishment, not words. Further, they consider accomplishments transitory, meaning less as time goes on because other meals are eaten. A man who has been a great leader for years will not, therefore, necessarily be a great leader tomorrow.
In order to focus on the needs of the eater, the chef must know what these needs are, and the higher levels of the order think much about techniques for doing so. It is, of course, easier to know your own needs, so lower ranking monks usually cook for themselves, not yet trusted to cook for other monks. The higher level of the Order is somewhat divided into two schools of thought on the needs of the eater. One feels that the eaters own feelings on the matter are not relevant, and he should be fed what the chef thinks he needs, even over his objection. Among those who have been served by them, monks in this camp have a reputation for being either crackpots or avant garde geniuses when, for example, their commissioned meal for a high ranking official consists entirely of one and a half figs. In contrast, other monks feel that the desire of the eater matters significantly, as meeting an expectation affects spiritual well-being. The outside world considers monks following this school of thought better cooks but, in combat, those who eat their meals generally lose against those who eat meals from the "we know best" school of thought.
The word "available" carries heavy weight for many in the order. In a general way, the Order considers it proper to make the best you can with what you have, rather than wishing you had more. Many also feel that it refers to avoiding waste and finding a use for every part, what many call "using the whole buffalo". A significant minority in the Order has a slightly different reading of the principle, believing that the the work "available" implies that it is possible to create a meal that perfectly meets the need of the eater using any ingredients. This faction of the order tends to be concerned (some would say obsessed) with making perfect meals from minimal ingredients.
The principle in general carries an implication that helping others along the path to perfection is a worthy thing to do. While a few in the Order feel that only monks following the path are truly worthy of such meals, most believe that you don't necessarily need to be on the path to benefit from it, even if you don't realize it. Some (usually the Lawful Good members of the order) consider it a duty to explain and promote the philosophy when cooking for others and make a point to cook for those they feel need the most help. Others (generally the Lawful Neutral members) are content to let the food do its work without exposition and cook more out of practicality than altruism. Preparing a meal for the specific purpose of undermining the perfection of another is one of the Order's strongest taboos, and anyone caught doing so (though this is hard to prove) is ejected. While some whisper of a former monk who did so now running his own monastery dedicated to making such food, most dismiss this as fantasy.
The word "exactly" is taken to imply "no more and no less" and, more generally, implies that the search for perfection involves a certain balance, and that it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Most monks in the Order believe this at some level and all are encouraged to be moderate in life.