Upon their victory, however, Prometheus was concerned that mankind had a dubious future (some write that Zeus wished to destroy man and build a new race, though many contend this is pure speculation).

Prometheus hid fire in a stalk of fennel, and spirited it away to the lands of men, where he taught its use, and the use of all skills it involves. It can be reasoned that this spread quickly to the other races.

As punishment for this theft, and perhaps his general benevolence toward all mortals, the Gods had him chained to Mount Caucasus. Each day a giant eagle devoured his liver, which he regrew every night.

While he remained bound, all of his prior gifts became useless in the hands of men, giants, centaurs... the non-divine. Dark days, indeed.

We mortals are fortunately not without champions of our own lineage. Hercules himself, and the well known warrior woman, Xena, were both determined to rescue Prometheus. It was only through their combined efforts that they were able to overcome the trials on Mount Caucasus, and free the great Titan.

Zeus, however, would not allow the release of Prometheus from all of his bindings, but rather had him wear a ring of iron and stone in memory of his theft. Some write that this is why Mentors wear a copper ring around their arm (a symbol of membership in their order), though this has also been debated.

As Acheron of Corinth wrote, "That the Mentors follow an example set forth by Prometheus is assured, that he is the First of their number is certainly arguable."

The first mentors were not an organized group. They simply believed that they were helping others by teaching what they knew.

Each mentor had his or her own style of teaching, and in some cases, a particular topic to teach. They were scattered throughout the lands, eager to enlighten those around them. As soon as these teachers would learn something new, off they would run to teach someone else. They were too scattered though. Sometimes people who wanted to learn about a nuance of alchemy would have to walk for days, or even weeks, to learn from the only mentor in the lands capable of teaching that particular aspect of alchemy. Even more frustrating would be the times a student traveled to a mentor's village, only to find the mentor unavailable. When the mentors realized that these problems were occurring on a consistent  basis, they decided that must become more organized.

To this end, mentors began to communicate with each other.

Communication was fitful at best because the mentors had the same problems finding each other as their students had in finding them.

They decided to meet in Athens as a group. Once they arrived in Athens, discussions started in earnest. This first group knew that more mentors were needed, as there were so many things to teach and so many students who were eager to learn. Meetings were held regularly to discuss teaching styles, learning styles, and emphasis was placed on the teachings of Prometheus. Many mentors had learned from the writings of scholars, such as the Scribe, Hopleus, and held Prometheus in high esteem.