The Heartmenders
Tenets of Faith
Heal the injured, cure the sick, show compassion in the face of suffering.
This tenet forms the core of all Heartmender beliefs. Clerics of The Healer are placed in the world to use their skills and talents on their friends and enemies alike. In a world where bloodshed, chaos, and destruction have become commonplace, it falls on The Healer’s Chosen to help those in need without regard for compensation or reward.
Share your knowledge, your experience, and your time with those in need.
There are often times where someone needs healing but no clerics of The Healer are available. Small villages, isolated hamlets, and individual farm families, for example, cannot rely on the presence of a healer. It is appropriate and necessary for all Heartmenders to share their skills, but also their knowledge, with anyone interested. Amongst the faith of The Healer there are no secrets where the healing arts are concerned.
The Healer’s clerics take time to train and teach people how to set broken bones, mend torn flesh, fight off fevers, and remove blood poisoning. They are called to share their knowledge with the town healer, the village Wise Woman, and the family’s herb-gatherer. Her clerics are always looking out for someone with natural talent, and many of her clerics take on one or more apprentices. Often, these apprentices go on to become clerics, but just as often they return home to serve their community.
Seek out, gather, and protect knowledge of the healing arts.
Clerics of The Healer are charged with the task of seeking out and gathering every scrap of medicinal lore they can find. Heartmender clerics scour old libraries and ruined monasteries in pursuit of even the tiniest piece of healing lore. They must remain willing to learn new techniques (which are, in fact, old techniques lost or forgotten by others) from village herbalists, healers, and Wise Women. The Healer calls upon her clerics to retain an open-minded attitude and follow a spirit of humility; no one person can ever know all there is to know about healing and medicine. You never know when you will learn something new or something superior to what you already practice.
Worship
Traditional Worshipers:
Clerics, Paladins, Investigators, Alchemists
Priesthood
A Heartmender cleric’s duties are, at least on the surface, obvious. In the simplest terms, The Healer’s clerics seek out those in need and provide what help and healing is possible.
The Healer’s Faith is no longer unified across Caelestra; individual temples are essentially separate and often isolated from the temple in the surrounding communities. The hierarchy that once dominated the church has faded into obscurity, and each temple is fundamentally on its own. Despite this, most temples still cling to some of the traditions and practices of the unified church, including how different clerics function in The Healer’s name.
The majority of Heartmender clerics remain affiliated with one community or segment of a settlement (such a neighborhood within a city). They live their lives mending and treating a congregation and any visitors to their community. They birth babies, cure sickness, treat injuries, and watch over their charges like a mother watches over her children. These clerics operate both as healers and as spiritual guides to their congregation, always watching for a promising individual to join their order and pass on the traditions.
The once entirely pacifistic Heartmender clerics have adopted weapon training into their regimen – at one time an inconceivable notion. Although most Heartmenders never wield a weapon in anger, even the lowliest and mildest acolyte is required to learn how to defend himself and those under his care. Most Heartmender churches do not allow their priests to wield bladed or edged weapons, as they consider these most offensive. Thus, most Heartmenders wield clubs or maces when they must carry a weapon.
Limitations & Sacrifices:
Heartmender clerics are called to make considerable sacrifices in their time and energies. Wherever they travel, they encounter seemingly endless multitudes of the sick and injured. Everyone has a pain, a wound, or a complaint for which they seek relief. A cleric could easily become overwhelmed by the needs of even the smallest community. A Heartmender cleric must nonetheless do what he can to help those in need, and do so without concern for recompense, reward, or recognition. That being said, the cleric must remain aware of his physical limits. There must come a time when the healer must care for his own needs to avoid fatigue and resultant sickness; an exhausted healer provides benefit for no one.
Like clerics of many faiths, Heartmenders are required to control their behaviors. Although they are permitted to drink alcohol, they must do so in moderation. Dangerous drugs or other substances are forbidden.
Along similar lines, Heartmenders are required to remain in good physical and mental health. They must avoid excesses of any sort, including excesses of material possessions or wealth. Although Heartmenders do not object to valuables or coin, they are taught to rise above such earthly considerations. In most instances, a Heartmender cleric donates much of his wealth to the local hospital or temple, carrying only enough to provide for his needs.
Sects
Some of The Healer’s priests, on the other hand, feel called to travel the world. They travel from settlement to settlement, offering their healing services without charge (it is considered customary for a local community to provide free room and board to a Heartmender, but a Heartmender will not ask for these things). These clerics also offer their knowledge to local healers and physicians, and seek out new practices from these individuals. These “Wanderers” are among the bravest clerics of any faith. They travel into dangerous, war-torn, or plague-ravaged regions with the intent of helping in any way possible, without little regard to their own safety, without consideration of reward. A Wanderer is truly one of the most remarkable and spiritual of individuals.
Heartmender Wanderers sometimes connect with military units, mercenary companies, and adventuring parties. Such clerics are unusual even amongst the remarkable Wanderer sect; most Heartmenders avoid situations involving imminent bloodshed – they are more concerned with the aftermath of combat. These unusual Heartmenders have been known to take up arms and fight to protect their comrades.
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