Legend, traditions, histories and biographies describe sages who lived alone or in small groups in the wilderness, to remove themselves from the corrupting distractions of society and pursue the strict Shufrantei disciplines of prayerful meditation.  These were the forest saints, similar to the sages of Buddhist and other Eastern traditions.

The legends also described not-so-friendly sorcerers who retired to the caves, clefts and deep forests to practice magic, a shamanic remnant of an earlier layer of culture, the archaic pre-Neolithic layer populated by hunters & gatherers.  

The construction of temples and the organization of priesthoods did not eliminate the shaman's way, but rather altered it and benefited from it.  The shamans of the pre-literate, pre-urban did not go away when the first cities were raised up.  Some became magicians, sorcerers, physicians of the spirit, powerful men.  Such men are described in the great ancient chronicle called the Mineoathi, especially with regard to the destruction of Atlantis.  In ancient times it was supposed that sorcerers proliferated the earth.   Sorcerers helped keep evil at bay in the great wild times after the destruction of Atlantis.  Some protected the tribal remnants of humankind on Bergonia, while others used their gifts for vainglorious and petty purposes.   

More demonstrably, the pre-historic shamans evolved into the hermit sages of historical times who lived deep in the forest away from cities and towns. 

The religious quest:  The hermit, especially the Shufrantei hermit, was devoted to purifying his soul and finding union with the god-head.  This he did through a regimen of fasting, prayer and chanting, and varieties of meditation.  He might experience visions, though the disciplines taught that many visions experienced in such states were illusory.  Other times he had visions which were clear openings into other, holier worlds.  He might acquire great power-- astral travel, distant vision, telepathy, seeing auras, spell casting, even telekinesis.  If he is a man of ego, he might succumb to the lures of such power and descend into sorcery, but if he is a true holy man such powers are incidentals, mere trifles, virtually irrelevant to the real pursuit.  

The ascetic life: The sage of legend wore either rags or nothing.  He ate what the forest offered, fruit, nuts and wild greens.  He owned nothing, except maybe a wooden bowl in which he crushed acorns and mixed the acorn flour with water to make gruel.  He drank water from the creek and bathed in the creek.  (Even the hermits in Bergonia washed-- as purification and washing has always been central to the core cultural sensibilities.)  He slept in a cave, under a lean-to, or in the open.  Many if not most real hermits lived a little better than this, and a few stimulated some scandal by living in comfortable cottages with a servant or two.  The average hermit lived in a lean-tos or the smallest conceivable hovels, but in proximity to a village with which he had a good, helpful relationship.  Villagers often gave him bread, cooked bans and squash, and even some clothes.  In exchange the hermit brought them baskets of greens, berries and nuts, prayed for the villagers, taught a little of the disciplines to them, did a little physical labor with the villagers, and acted as their eyes and ears in the forest and over the hill.

ascetic communities:  Many so-called hermits lived in clusters-- perhaps five to twelve living within the same half square mile of woodland.  Though their disciplines were largely solitary, a number of them sometimes slept and ate together in small huts, in order to conserve resources.  Even hermits often found irresistible the pull of the social instinct, and invaluable the mutual reinforcement that community provides.  Sometimes the distinction between "hermit cluster" and monastery was blurry.

the "forest tradition":  Many hermits took time to wander the land, and became visitors at temples or monasteries, and roamed through the forests and the hills making contact with other hermits.  Over the years the hermits generated a tradition of wisdom that became very important to the entire body of Shufrantei, which included practices and techniques of prayer, meditation and fasting.  This became called the "Forest Tradition."

Both the temple priests, including the priests in the palaces and cities, and the religious men of the villages and forests shared the same gods and the same ideas about religion, but showed their devotion in very different ways.  The "temple priests" belonged to hierarchical orders and practiced precise rites.  There was a certain degree of collegial exchange between the hermit sages and the temple priests.  Often individual temple priests retreated into the forests to visit the hermit sages and learn from them.   

hermits today:  Yes, there are a handful of hermits now, in our time.  They are Miradi practitioners.  Modern capitalist society, in which every square foot of soil is owned by someone, precludes and outlaws the hermit.  Christ could most probably not go now into the wilderness for 40 days & nights without criminally trespassing.  There is a tradition of hermits suffered to live on English manorial estates, but they are not very religious.  Throughout Bergonia's colonial and republican days Miradi devotees persisted living as hermits, despite prosecutions for trespassing.  They retired into the deep forests.  When the loggers came in the 1800s they moved into the high mountains, and earned some heroic notoriety in Miradi newspapers.  The socialist government now indulges them, and they are allowed to live (within limits) in any public wilderness or forest.