The Ark of the Unknowable was initially established as the Bureau for the Reconciliation of Interplanar Affairs. Its founding came in the chaotic aftermath of the Dragonbone Vanguard's destruction of the Bukhara Spire Gateways, an event that scattered extra-planar threats and artifacts across Coia. The Bureau's charter, a masterwork of bureaucratic obfuscation, aimed to catalog, contain, and ultimately neutralize these residual dangers.

Over centuries, its mission subtly shifted from active intervention to one of monastic preservation. The Bureau transformed into a monastery, its agents became monks, and its original purpose faded from public memory, known only as a place of quiet contemplation. Yet, this serene facade conceals a profound truth.

The monks of the Ark are the silent inheritors of the world's most perilous secrets. They meticulously document phenomena deemed too dangerous for public knowledge, ensuring these threats remain contained and understood.

The monastery itself is located in Willowbrook, nestled on the fringes of the once-dreaded Chichingia region. It stands upon the ancient foundations of a former House of Silk archive, with its lower vaults still holding the chilling records of that sinister regime's depravities.