The Order of the Sword
Within the Hundred Kingdoms there exists an order of monastic warrior monks, called the Order of the Sword. The brothers of the Order are also referred to by the term 'swordbrother.' The Order is divided into Chapter Houses, and each Chapter House resides in a duchy or citystate, owing fealty to the sovereign. There are several provisos to this fealty, however. If at any time the Order, or that particular Chapter House, votes that the sovereign is not worthy of fealty, i.e. is of a morally degenerate nature, then the Order may withdraw its support from that sovereign.
A swordbrother makes several vows. Their First Vow is to the Brotherhood. Their Second Vow is to Keep the Code of the Order, to embrace chastity, poverty, and charity toward the poor and weak, to not use violence against anyone but those on the field of battle, i.e. knights or sellswords, and to never kill another swordbrother. Their Third Vow is to obey their Lord and Sovereign, insofar as doing this does not violate their First or Second Vows.
It is also quite common for individual swordbrothers to seek out a sovereign to serve as an individual, rather than as a group within a Chapter House. However, in this case, a swordbrother in this situation is required to have regular contact with the closest Chapter House, to ensure that he is keeping the Code of the Order.
The Order of the Sword is largely ambivalent about religion. A swordbrother is free to worship any good deity.
Swordbrothers have a reputation for fierceness but astounding fairness on the battlefield. A swordbrother maintains a level of politeness and courtesy even when engaged in a deadly duel.
There are rumors that the Order of the Sword are either A) waiting for some obscure supernatural event to occur, whereupon they will declare their fealty to someone or something and cease to be as neutral about geo-political matters, and/or B) conducting a secret quest for an as yet unknown ancient and powerful artifact.
Their history is largely unknown to outsiders, other than that they were formed soon after the War of Foundation when the House of Bareth came to Landskhar.
A swordbrother makes several vows. Their First Vow is to the Brotherhood. Their Second Vow is to Keep the Code of the Order, to embrace chastity, poverty, and charity toward the poor and weak, to not use violence against anyone but those on the field of battle, i.e. knights or sellswords, and to never kill another swordbrother. Their Third Vow is to obey their Lord and Sovereign, insofar as doing this does not violate their First or Second Vows.
It is also quite common for individual swordbrothers to seek out a sovereign to serve as an individual, rather than as a group within a Chapter House. However, in this case, a swordbrother in this situation is required to have regular contact with the closest Chapter House, to ensure that he is keeping the Code of the Order.
The Order of the Sword is largely ambivalent about religion. A swordbrother is free to worship any good deity.
Swordbrothers have a reputation for fierceness but astounding fairness on the battlefield. A swordbrother maintains a level of politeness and courtesy even when engaged in a deadly duel.
There are rumors that the Order of the Sword are either A) waiting for some obscure supernatural event to occur, whereupon they will declare their fealty to someone or something and cease to be as neutral about geo-political matters, and/or B) conducting a secret quest for an as yet unknown ancient and powerful artifact.
Their history is largely unknown to outsiders, other than that they were formed soon after the War of Foundation when the House of Bareth came to Landskhar.
posted by Peter at 11:53 PM
1 Comments:
Interesting that the first Vow is to Brotherhood, rather then their code.
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