The Ascendant Adepts are a Legacy that is dedicated to transcending their bodies of flesh via meditation and other spiritual tasks.
Mindset[]
For the Ascendant Adepts, the path towards Ascension begins with learning to discipline the mind and overcome the lies that bind it. Ascended Adepts learn to meditate and reach a deep place of inner peace, the "Inner Temple", allowing them to remain calm in the most difficult circumstances. They also build the strength of will to resist the outside influences that bombard the mind. In achieving this discipline, the Adept sheds connections with the physical. Material possessions are discarded, save for those necessary for the work. Physical needs are mastered and controlled; physical relationships are allowed to fall away in favor of intellectual and spiritual communion. Some Ascended Adepts retire to cloistered communities or hermitages during the early stages of their training, to gain the perspective and peace needed for their work. Others have a talent for standing alone even in the midst of a crowd, and do not need any such assistance. Ascension progresses with the subdivision of the Inner Temple into halls honeycombed with chambers, each holding a particular idea or recollection. Called "the Palace of Memory," this allows the Adept to order his mind and think more efficiently. Some connect the Palace of Memory with the Akashic Records, the universal memory. Finally, Ascended Adepts learn to transcend the body, freeing the mind to act on its own. However, the mind is still tied to the body, and must eventually return there.
Some Ascended Adepts are able to remain in states of deep trance for days before their wandering minds must return, but even they must attend to the body's needs on occasion. The ideal goal is to truly ascend to a higher plane, shedding the need for a physical body altogether, but such a mighty feat of magic takes incredible devotion and insight. Some say the apparent lack of Ascended Adepts who have achieved ascension to a higher plane is proof their way is flawed. The Adepts counter that the things truly worth doing are rarely ever easy. If everyone could transcend, they would have done so. If transcendence involves moving beyond the limits of the Fallen World, then few Ascended beings will be found there.
There are Ascended Adepts who say they have encountered the "Secret Masters" of their Legacy, abiding deep in the realms of thoughts and dreams, and that these enlightened few still guide those on the Path to achieving what they have attained. Outsiders are less sanguine about such tales, and speculate instead as to who -- or what -- these so-called Secret Masters may be. After all, the Exarchs may be said to have "ascended" as well, and there are more than a few Ascended Adepts among the Seers of the Throne.