Order of Taliesin (tæl iɛsɪn)

The Order of Taliesin is an unusual druidic circle, in that it is composed in a large part of bards, not just druids. The members worship Arammu, Eresu, and Sinnis as the sacred trinity of nature. Its members wander the world, seeking out the beautiful places of nature, and recording the history of the world.

Structure

The order does not have a hierarchical structure unlike most organizations. Those who are invited to join the order are taken through a brief ceremony where they swear to uphold the tenets of the order and then are considered full members. There are no ranks within the order with younger members deferring to elders. Likewise the order has no overall leader with the eldest member of a group either taking charge or recommending a more capable member to take charge as the situation warrants.

Public Agenda

The organization’s agenda is two-fold. To preserve the lore of intelligent races and to protect the natural wonders of the world from despoiling. Preserving lore is not just a matter of protecting old records, though the order does do that, but more importantly lore is converted to verse and memorized by the members who trade it back and forth so to prevent the lore from being lost should a disaster destroy one of their record sites or kill a bunch of members. In addition, written records, the few the order keep, are stored in carefully constructed cairns almost always located in places of natural beauty and usually guarded by a druid. Preservation of places of natural wonder is accomplished by members guarding such areas and travelling the world in search of new ones. While they do not oppose the spread of civilization, they do encourage races to work with nature, and not against it. To this end the routinely share the lore they have collected with any who are interested. In particular lore on how to do more with less, allowing the civilized races at least, to exist with a smaller footprint.

Assets

Apart from the collected lore of the members the order has few assets. However, the value of this lore is not to be overlooked. Even rulers have sought the knowledge kept by the members when treaties or succession is at stake. And fortunate is the ruler who can find a member of the order to serve as tutor to his or her children. Consequently members of the order are welcome in homes high and low and many rulers readily give ear to members of the order.

History

Taleison was a half-elf bard born not long after the first human settlers arrived in the new kingdoms, orphaned as a babe, and raised by a circle of druids. Raised in the Green Faith he chose to become a bard and not a druid, much to the surprise and initially disappointment of his “parents”. However, he never forgot his early training and as a youth travelled the New Kingdoms seeking lore to add to his collection. He even made a journey to the Old Kingdoms and was shocked at the lore he found there that was unavailable in the New Kingdoms. So, he made it his mission to make sure that lore would be preserved for the ages. In time he gathered a band of like-minded individuals around him. In addition, throughout the Old Kingdoms he saw the many natural wonders that had been destroyed in the name of progress and vowed to do everything in his power to prevent this from happening in the New Kingdoms.
He made his disciples swear an oath to protect not just the lore they collected but the places of natural wonder. Soon his followers spread throughout the New Kingdoms collecting followers of their own. Not just other bards, but druids as well began joining the fellowship as their influence spread. AS the volume of lore they collected increased they began to store written records hidden in carefully concealed caches throughout the Kingdoms. After several generation people began to come to them seeking the lore they collected. People high and low realized that they usually had the knowledge needed, or if the member did not know it themselves, they could find someone who did.
Naturally when settlers began making their way to the Frontier Lands the members of the order made their way there as well. Collecting the lore and protecting the places of natural wonder, they generally stayed out of history preferring to quietly record events rather then set them in motion. However, on occasion a wisely spoken word or a shared bit of lore could set the path for more notable individuals.

Mythology & Lore

The vast majority of the members of the order are followers of the Green Faith, with the few who aren’t largely venerating Eresu and Emku. As followers of the Green Faith they believe that nature itself is older than deities, or at least the worship of them. They believe that nature itself is a sort of deity at least a power to be venerated. As such they celebrate nature in all its splendor refusing to even attempt to anthropomorphize it.

Political Influence & Intrigue

As keepers of lore, often venerated by rulers, the Order has influence that belies its size. As a general rule, the Order avoids overt machinations preferring to give a little nudge here and there. Most often these nudges are in the forms of advice given to those in power, though it’s not uncommon for the Order to bring up an all but forgotten treaty or the like when its crucial. Mostly the Order works to protect the natural world and preserve knowledge seldom involving themselves in temporal affairs for other reasons. This is another reason that their advice and counsel is widely accepted by rulers who are familiar with the Order. Consequently, the Order is careful not abuse its power and on very rare occasions has censured and once even excommunicated members who misused this influence.