Inevitably, there are those who sought solitude not only for protection, but to avoid interruptions from the so-called "real world." These gathered in remote mountain fortresses, or domes under the sea, or anywhere else that they were unlikely to be found, and created their own havens: soaring towers full of laboratories and libraries, solid houses containing entire Horizon Realms, underwater fantasies where neither air nor assassins could reach.
These strongholds of the knowledge of the ages mostly remain untouched by time, although certainly most of them have noticed the Sun and some of His effects. Some have begun to send their members who still possess a degree of wanderlust out into the world to see if they still need to fear assassins and other annoyances, and to see what the state of civilization is like.