This ancient group of people once studied both the defensive and 
the offensive arts of warfare. Alas, however, they were not able to 
complete the training they worked on for so many years. As a 
result, they were able to learn both defensive spells and offensive
skills, but because they were not able to complete their training they 
were only able to learn these things moderately. During training for a
short period, they studied with scribes and learned the art of writing 
some spells onto paper. They will never become very  powerful in any 
one skilled area, but will remain moderately balanced in all aspects 
of their training. 

You can learn your spells and skills through using them on the mud.