Setting Details - Orginizations

I briefly mentioned in a previous article the Red Knights, and I thought perhaps I should elaborate more on some of the organizations you're likely to encounter in your travels. Let me know if you have some organizations or types thereof you've come up with or want to see.

The Red Knights - The Red Knights have long been a sort of paramilitary force that has kept the peace in northeastern Nurtland. They are considered by many to be the best warriors around, as their recruitment process and job details actively weed out anyone not up to snuff. They pick new members from exemplary Nurtland soldiers or nobility wishing to improve their position, ones with certain qualities of character that meet the Red Knight's code of conduct. A few of the tenants that all members must abide are:

1. Suffer not those who harm the sanctity of citizen or country.
2. Protect the Royal Family at all cost.

3. Never jeopardize your fellow Knight. Consider every possible option before acting on a situation.

4. Prostrate to those greater than you. Your service will reward you.
5. If you fail to uphold the honor of the Red Knights, your retribution will be swift and just.

 

The Knights have several chapters, even within their own designation as a major force among the Nurtland military. They are fully backed by religious and political leaders in key Nurtland cities. Officers limit their recruitment strictly to loyal, and more importantly, human, citizens, though on more than one occasion they have made exceptions for Elves and Therians of high standing among the general populous. They have never had an orc member; since the founding of the Knights they have been almost zealous in their misalignment to the orcs of Tigris. Since the Fyrissians aren't within walking distance, they don't much care about them.

Pact of the Wood

Out in the wilderness of Lemuria there is a myriad of potential threats, and long ago a group of capable wizards and men-at-arms put the time in to make sure those threats never bothered them. After a series of brutal and deadly skirmishes, the creatures of the bogs and rot decided it would be best to agree to an armistice rather than face a route from Agartha. Since then, followers of the Pact of the Wood have been able to toss their stake into Falling Leaves, a place of wilting and putrid plant life, a city of many magical opportunities. Falling Leaves is where many alchemists and apothecaries go to gather precious materials used in many medicines and magical draughts. It is a mushroom mecca, where the seekers of the most potent drugs and hallucinogens gather to trip out on magic fungi and reap the benefits of the spore-laced airs. Staying just one hour in Falling Leaves is enough to cure even the most pervasive ennui, it is said.

To become a follower of the Pact, one need only undergo the Trial of the Grass, to see if you are truly adherant to the peacemaking contract set by the first Agarthan visitors to Falling Leaves. The upcoming follower is made to swallow several alchemical mixtures and wear various unguents that will impart startling visions and align the participant's spirit to the realm of Falling Leaves. If the engaging person is able to pass the Trial, they forever become immune to plant-based poisons whether magical or natural, and they are allowed passage to Falling Leaves. Failure to pass means death, as the hopeful Pactbound's body is filled with innumerable mundane and magical poisons and toxins, until their body becomes compost.