roleplaying:hero:ws:orders
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+ | ======Religious Orders====== | ||
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+ | =====The Arm of Thor===== | ||
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+ | **Also known as**: The Hammers, Hammer, Hammerites | ||
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+ | **Symbol**: A Thor's Hammer (particularly decorating a shield) | ||
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+ | The Arm of Thor is a male-only martial order, charged with defending the faithful of the Western Shores from external threats. The Arm has relatively few temples, but an extensive ' | ||
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+ | When a knight takes his oaths to become a full member of any martial order, all his (or her, for the Shields) possessions become the property of the order. This leads to many elderly nights bestowing much of their lands on their sons just prior to taking orders. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Arm of Thor are known to occasionally be at odds with the Hand of Odin over some issues, and there are persistant rumours that Thor himself is far more direct in his control of the Arm than other gods. While Thor is obviously the patron god of this order, they also venerate Baldr and Tyr. | ||
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+ | The Hammers are generally the most popular of the martial orders amongst the common people. They just plain look like the good guys! | ||
+ | =====The Brotherhood of Cunradus===== | ||
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+ | **Also known as**: Cunradan, Cunradans | ||
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+ | **Symbol**: A needle and a bowl | ||
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+ | Originally an offshoot of the Children of Geofon. Cunradus of Steyerberg founded a new monastery in 3014, nestled in the hills near Neußen. An outbreak of plague in Neußen in 3076 brought a priest of Eir to the town, and he decided to settle in the Cunradan Monastery. This lead to a change in focus for the Cunradans, and the brotherhood now follows Eir, Geofon and Eastre combined. Cunradans have since taken to travelling extensively. All Cunradan Monks spend several years on pilgrimage, with no set goal, other than to take their healing skills wherever they may be needed. There are now a handful of Cunradan Monasteries, | ||
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+ | Cunradan brothers take an oath of poverty and spend six years as a novitiate, training in healing magic and medicine. After their initial training, they start a regular cycle of pilgrimage and re-training, | ||
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+ | Cunradans officially take no money for the healing and other religious offices they provide (weddings, name-givings, | ||
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+ | Given their structure, the majority of Cunradans at any one time are wandering Friars, with less than a quarter of the entire brotherhood actually resident in monasteries. | ||
+ | =====The Children of Geofon===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Also known as**: Children, Geofonites, Goody-goodys | ||
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+ | **Symbol**: A bowl, marked with the rune [[roleplaying: | ||
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+ | One of the oldest monastic orders, The Children of Geofon are widespread across the Western Shores, with small monasteries to be found wherever there is poverty and suffering. The Children devote their lives to helping the poor, providing minimal food and temporary accomodation for the most needy in society. | ||
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+ | Geofonit monasteries are always small, and lacking in ostentatious decoration. The Geofonites serve their god by growing and preparing food, sharing all extra food with anyone who asks. They concentrate on quantity over quality, so the fare a traveller can expect from a Geofonite monastery is not much better than basic trail rations. Abuse of the Geofonites' | ||
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+ | The Children maintain close ties with the Brotherhood of Cunradus, providing food and lodgings for travelling Cunradans, who return the favour with medical services and training in basic nursing skills. | ||
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+ | =====The Eddas Skalds===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Also known as**: Skalds, Librarians, Saga's Quills | ||
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+ | **Symbol**: a scroll with the rune [[roleplaying: | ||
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+ | The Eddas Skalds are the official historians and lorekeepers of the Western Shores' | ||
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+ | Elder Skalds are often slightly distrusted by other orders, especially the Hand of Odin. No one can spend so much time among so many books without becoming a little fey, after all. The patron gods of the Skalds are Saga, Brego and Mímir, but there are rumours that Skalds also venerate Hegl. | ||
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+ | The top echelons of the Skalds have the greatest understanding of the Gods and their magic. | ||
+ | =====The Hand of Loki===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Also known as**: The Hand, Loki's Servants, Loki's Priests, The Demon' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Symbol**: A hand with a spiral | ||
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+ | Created by Loki partly as a response to Odin's creation of the Inquisition, | ||
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+ | Members of the Hand are actually Priests of Loki. They talk to the god himself and administer his ceremonies, though often surreptitiously, | ||
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+ | The Priests of the Hand walk as part of the general population. Their power lies in the fact that no-one really knows who they are. They are the famous, the nobodies, the rich, the poor, the masters, the servants. Anyone could be a member-and they often are. Famously, Count Otho of Irolo, a rich, respected man and personal friend of the great, was, after his death some 100 years ago, discovered to be a member. No-one had suspected. This of course led to a number of intense trials by the Inquisition, | ||
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+ | The Priests of Loki have many missions and aims, from counteracting the spread of order, to promoting anarchy to simply getting people to take life a little less seriously. Their acts range from light-hearted, | ||
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+ | No-one is entirely certain how one becomes a member of the Hand. What is known for certain is that the Hand do not have open training schools or monasteries, | ||
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+ | Though the Hand are generally considered ' | ||
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+ | A few current famous members of the Hand abroad in the world include: | ||
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+ | * **Ethelred the Anarchic**, a vicious warrior extraordinaire, | ||
+ | * **Yvonne the Prankster**, | ||
+ | * **Elgan, Master of the Gloom**, the most daring thief in the world; said to have stolen the Eyepatch of Odin from his greatest temple-something denied hotly by the Inquisition. | ||
+ | * **Varin, the Serpent of Loki**, an honourable though ruthless spy, thief and assassin; known for his ability to get into seemingly inaccessible places-much to the regret of many. | ||
+ | * **Ceolwulf the Manic**, an assassin, joker and foolhard, known for his love of wine, women and song; the Harem of Rufus the Mighty still sigh over him. | ||
+ | * **Herogar, Loki's Eye**, a man who people believe can be everywhere and anywhere, often at the same time; possibly the leader of the Hand, if there is such a man. | ||
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+ | Whilst the famous members of the Hand are anonymous in identity outside their activities, they are known to leave calling cards, or symbols scratched/ | ||
+ | =====The Hand of Odin===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Also known as**: The Inquisition, | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Symbol**: A hand with an eye | ||
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+ | A cross-order group. Composed of mostly clerical, but occasionally also secular individuals from all walks of life. Primarily this group is composed of followers of Odin. Those in the Hand of Odin fall outside of the usual rank structure and diocese rules for the clergy. The Inquisition is one of the few orders that is more united in policy and ideals across the Western Shores and frequently have better organisation than the nations in which they live. From Brondheim to Irolo, The Noose stretches. | ||
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+ | However, this is not to say that every nation' | ||
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+ | There are two main branches to The Hand of Odin (Mage Finders and Monster Hunters), and a minor branch responsible for licensing of Alchemists and hedge mages (The Order). Each has a minor variation added to the symbol for the Order. | ||
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+ | * **Mage Finders** include those specialising locating disciples of Loki, Helia (also known as Hecate) - Witch Finders (**Symbol**: | ||
+ | * **Monster Hunters** are occasionally called on by Mage Finders for particularly recalcitrant heretics, or if creatures are discovered in the course of their investigations. This branch specialises in anti-magic and physical prowess. Their titles include Paladin, and Church Knight. (**Symbol**: | ||
+ | * **The Order** polices secular magic. Minor magic users that are in common demand (and would cause an outcry if they were ever stopped) such as Alchemists, and hedge mages - those with minor skills that are useful to their professions. The Order has been known to hunt down and impound powerful magical artifacts, as well. (**Symbol**: | ||
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+ | The Hand of Odin is feared only by those that have come in contact with it. Many of the population praise their efforts in keeping peace - the people remember the dark times when powerful sorcerers walked the land causing chaos with large armies of undead. | ||
+ | =====The Shields of Freyr===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Also known as**: Shields, Freyr' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Symbol**: a yellow tower on a green field, or the rune [[roleplaying: | ||
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+ | The Shields are a unique martial order. For a start, they accept female members as well as male, and their best actual fighters are all female (Freyr' | ||
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+ | The greatest defensive works in the Western Shores were designed by Shields, and any noble embarking on an extended military campaign will welcome any Shields who choose to to accompany them, and likely pay whatever fee they can afford. | ||
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+ | A substantial segment of this order find their calling in less martial directions, and many revolutions in civil engineering have a Shield or two at their heart. | ||
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+ | Freyr is the patron diety of this order, but Hretha and Hana are also highly venerated. | ||
+ | =====The Sisters of Eir===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Also known as**: Sister, The Sisters | ||
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+ | **Symbol**: A grapevine leaf and a goblet | ||
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+ | A female only order that has established cloistered nunneries throughout the Western Shores, Sisters are also retained by some noble families as nurses or on-call healers. The sisters of Eir charge fairly high prices for their services, which are far beyond those available from any secular doctors, for obvious reasons. This does put their services outside the reach of most commoners. The Sisters' | ||
+ | =====The Swords of Saexneat===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Also known as**: The Swords, Sword | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Symbol**: a sword, point up, marked with the rune [[roleplaying: | ||
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+ | The Swords formed originally in Daria, though they have since spread across most of the Western Shores. Swords are quite distinct from Hammers on the field, with blue tabards and shields emblazoned with a white sword and Teiwaz rune (in black). The shields are very similar to the Hammers, though they lack a lot of the popularity the Hammers enjoy amongst commoners, and they tend to be far more responsive to direction by the Hand of Odin and Yggdrasil. | ||
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+ | While Saexneat is the official patron diety of the Swords, in practice they venerate Tyr over Saexneat, and Baldr is also highly venerated | ||
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+ | =====Yggdrasil===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Also known as**: The Church, Buds, Leaves, Wands, Branches, Trunks, parchment-scrapers | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Symbol**: A willow tree | ||
+ | |||
+ | Yggdrasil is the main administrative body of the church. Where the Hand of Odin is often more visible in their actions, Yggdrasil is more pervasive. Taking its name from the World Tree, Yggdrasil venerates no particular god or goddess (although Njordhr, Snotra and Freyja are quite popular amongst its members), and both male and females form its ranks. Yggdrasil is a strict hierarchy, forming a vast bureaucracy. Members of other orders sometimes move to Yggdrasil if they find they aren't completely suited to their original order. Sometimes this is less than entirely voluntary on their part. | ||
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+ | Members have the ability, with power drawn from a conglomeration of the gods, to communicate with each other over vast distances. Unfortunately, | ||
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+ | Yggdrasil acolytes are known as Buds, with monks called Leaves, and so on through Wands and Branches. At the head of Yggdrasil in each country is a Trunk, and all the Trunks of Yggdrasil, along with leaders of several other sects, come together once every ten years in conclave to discuss church policy and elect a supreme High Priest of the church, known as The Yggdrasil. The Yggdrasil is charged with the duty of being the ulimate arbiter, in any case where the gods have declined to make a direct commandment. | ||
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+ | (Note: while The Yggdrasil holds a similar position to our world' | ||
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+ | All other orders officially come under Yggdrasil' | ||
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+ | Yggdrasil maintain shrines to any gods not having their own orders (even small, tucked-away-in-an-alley ones to Loki), so that members of the public can leave offerings to whichever gods they need to appease. | ||
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+ | ======Secular Orders====== | ||
+ | =====Ordo Custodes Ars Magnum===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Also known as**: [unknown] | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Symbol**: A triangle containing a stylised " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Order of the Keepers of the Great Art (Ordo Custodes Ars Magnum) began as an attempt to reign in some of the depredations of magicians who believed their powers placed them above the moral constraints of " | ||
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+ | However, under mounting persecution from the Church (ironically caused in no small part by acts of the unscrupulous mages that the school opposed), the school was forced to disband and its members flee or go into hiding - at least that was the public perception. In fact the founders and graduates of the school simply changed their tactics. Concealing any display of or association with magic, the members of the group assumed the guises of other roles and professions, | ||
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+ | The Order of the Keepers of the Great Art has two major divisions. Actual members, who are fully aware of the Order' | ||
roleplaying/hero/ws/orders.txt · Last modified: 2023/12/18 22:48 by curufea