Shambala Sanctuary is an ancient monastery hidden in the mountains east of Soviet Kazakhstan and not far from the frontier with China. Long ago, Shambala was populated by peaceful monks who practiced an unknown religion that may have originally been Zoroastrianism, though later evidenced to have also incorporated extreme mysticism and the magic learnings of the Babylonian priest Urgon; it is unknown if the monks had already some understanding of magic or if Urgon enlightened them himself.