The Branders

The Branders, fully known as "Those Who Brand to Light the Way of Peril", is an organization that originated within the dwarvish Kingdom of Thor Bardam dedicated to the discovery and consolidation of arcane practitioners, specifically sorcerers and wizards. They were formed to find and identify those who have innate arcane power or those searching to build their own understanding of the way of the Weave, and they work to limit arcane understanding and often hunt down rogue mages due to the dwarvish superstition over the use of magic as a weapon.

Structure

• High Ferreteer: The High Ferreteer is the high leader of the Branders, identified by a pauldron that leads from their shoulder down to their wrist. They make all of the main calls and handle all mage-hunting cases.
• Spellstalker: Markers are ranged warriors within the Brander system, masters of using both crossbows and ranged divine magic to take care of targets at a distance. They are also incredible trackers capable of hunting down arcane magic users by the use of tracking, investigation, and in-depth understanding of arcane lore and the residues it leaves behind.
• Spellsunderers: Spellsunderers are the rank and file knights of the Branders, armed with magic devouring armor and weapons made to disarm, detain, and kill arcane magics. They are identified by red cloaks, made to oppose the naturally blue/purple formations of magic.
• Sears: Sears are the lowest rank in the Brander system, acting as the footsoldiers and retainers to the higher-ups as well as and providers of notice and urgency to families under suspicion. They are identified by a single Brander's Pauldron.

Public Agenda

The agenda of the Branders is to hunt down malevolent arcane practitioners, be they wizard, sorcerer, or whatever else lays out there in the realm.

Assets

• Farstone: The Branders are the main party in control of the provision, flux, and use of Farstone, the magic-nullifying metal of the Far Realm. They use it exclusively and each member receives as stone as an amulet upon becoming a Sear. This gem is then slowly integrated more into their outfit as they grow in rank, with some members even having the expensive, powerful ore tattooed into their skin, forgoing any use of magic in favor of being almost completely immune to its effects.

History

• The Founding: The Branders originally began as a free-form militia of dwarves and other races who united against a horrifyingly powerful circle of mages that ruled over their settlements, using magic for enslavement, experimentation, and entertainment. They rose up when their first founder, a cattle rounder and brander named Thobyn, discovered a powerful black stone within a cavern whilst hunting after one of his wayward flock in the forest outside his village. He kept it, wore it as an aesthetic charm, and thought nothing of it, until a group of his lord mage's enforcers came to collect a tax that he and his family could not provide. They sought to extract his sister as a slave for payment, and when he resisted and they tried to set him ablaze, the spell vanished right before his eyes as the stone seemed to consume the magic within it.
Before the mage could throw another bolt of flame, Thobyn took his woodcutter's axe and cleaved the mage's head off, his father and mother stopping the other from fleeing and killing them too. Knowing the lord would come to notice his supporter's absence, he revealed the stone's properties to his family and the surrounding villagers, and they set to work to finding other stones capable of absorbing magic. They would eventually find a small cache connected to the original cavern Thobyn had found, and set about arming themselves and starting the roll on the great resistance known as Thobyn's Rebellion. Using the magic-devouring stones as an ore for weapons and armor, they disarmed the liege lords of their magical power and over the course of two years, bought down the mage circle that ruled over them. Pledging to never let the forces of magic rule over them again, Thobyn and his followers formed the Branders as an active police against tyranny bought on by arcane practitioners.Recent research would come to discover that the original ore used now and today by the Branders originated from a meteorite that struck the realm eons ago, descending from the Far Realm beyond the stars. Thusly, the material would come to be named Farstone or Voidstone, and due to it having never interacted wit the Weave and its arcane forces, it was capable of consuming and nullifying magical auras, spells, and conjured effects.

Demography and Population

While the Branders started as a dwarvish organization, they have since expanded to the human Kingdom of Sonora and begun operations there, enough that their own sect has been formed within the capital of Alsace albeit with a more lowered persecution of magic due to the humans having integrated it so deeply into their lives.

Territories

• Rediron Tower: Rediron Tower is the headquarters of the Branders, a massive keep just outside of the Borders of Thor Bardam that is attached to the very wall surrounding the dwarven capital. It holds the Jail of Mages which holds illegal arcane practitioners awaiting trial or execution, and the Tower of Doctrine that holds all accumulated arcane lore taken, analyzed, and stored by the Branders. This has often been the target of many attacks and infiltrations in the hopes of discovering magical secrets.

Religion

While the Branders hold the dwarvish pantheon in high regard, they are known to revere gods such as Tempus and Helm, as well as any god that is designated towards elucidation and protection of the common people.

Light the Way of Peril

Type

Military, Special Operations Force

Capital

Mohmtorigg

Alternative Names

The Magefinders, Magekillers

Demonym

Brandish

Leader

Foula Brander

Parent Organization

The Kingdom of Thor Bardam

Location

Mohmtorigg