Cleric Corps

Medics of the Royal Dwarven Military

While their classmates train with weapons and drill maneuvers, these students sit in classrooms, learning the anatomy of their people, of mules, dogs, and birds. Their lessons focus on specific spells and salves that can be used in specific instances, how best to set a broken limb, how to pray over one that is dying. From the outside looking in, this schooling is not nearly as enjoyable or as interesting as those that will eventually join the Hammerfalls. Still, it is this book learning, the hours memorizing anatomical drawings, ingredients for potions and balms, and finding the proper bedside manner that will be crucial during the worst of times.
The Cleric Corps are the division of the Scriptwroughts that specialized in healing, religious duties, and all things animal-related. The men and women who choose to attend the First Furnace and eventually join the Cleric Corps are considered to be those of strong stomachs, but even stronger convictions. In many ways, those who join this division must have the greatest knowledge as what they do is not simply magic. Magic cannot teach one to be calm in the face of a dying patient, nor can it teach one the proper bones that need set in certain circumstances. Joining the Cleric Corps is not for the faint of heart.
It is believed that the Cleric Corps was formed long before the Scriptwroughts. No military can exist in any capacity without healers, without medics ready to enter battle to save their comrades. While the Cleric Corps did not exist under that name, the earliest Royal Dwarven Military was not without its medics, veterinarians, and chaplains. As partial magic users, the Cleric Corps came to fall under the Scriptwroughts when that corps and the First Furnace were formed. Because of this, it is not uncommon for these people to fulfill the same roles in peacetime, serving in temples, stables, and hospitals across the Dwarven Kingdom.

Structure

While the Cleric Corps specializes in a specific type of magic and healing, it does become a catch-all for the Scriptwroughts in terms of people who are not considered combat Mages. Healers, veterinarians, chaplains, animal trainers, some reconnaissance, and more fall under the banner of the Cleric Corps. It is common to find magic-adjacent professions under this division.
Those who wish to join this division will have to announce their intention to fill a support role early on in their career. Pathways are established at the First Furnace to either specialize in broad combative magic or more specialized areas, such as those filled by the Cleric Corps. While those who join the Scriptwroughts are given more time to make a decision on their specialty than those in the Hammerfalls, it is more beneficial to choose a path earlier on, especially if one chooses the Cleric Corps.

Medical

Medical by Crest via Armoria, created by RiverFang

Medical

Medics are the most common profession associated with this division. Most of the men and women who serve in the Cleric Corps are well-trained Clerics who follow the teachings of Crommel, hence why the division is named the Cleric Corps. The medical personnel in this division range from Clerics to traditionally trained doctors, herbalists, and even a handful of Alchemists. If a person specializes in the healing of other people, no matter the method, that person becomes one of the medics.
The Dwarves utilize a variety of methods of healing on and off the battlefield, but under the teachings of their creator, they do not allow any type of necromancy as a form of healing. While other groups will use necromancy as a last resort, the Dwarves believe in training for decades and being educated on anatomy and physiology as well as herbalism and magic is the only proper way to save a comrade that has paid the ultimate price for their people.

Veterinary

Alongside medicine, veterinary medicine also falls within the purview of the Cleric Corps. A small subset of Clerics and herbalists will invest their time in learning the anatomy of the various animals the Royal Dwarven Military may use, both during war and peacetime. These often include animals such as ponies, mules, dogs, birds, and other small mammals that are comfortable moving through cramped spaces. Those who practice veterinary medicine will spend a great deal longer on their education as more traditional healing methods are used on animals.
Magic does not necessarily work the same on animals as it does on people. In the case of injury, magic is used to speed up one’s healing factor, quickly fixing the issue. With animals, modifications to their healing factor, no matter how slight, have the chance of sending the creature into shock, often aggravating the issue or ending in death. Animals are extremely valuable to the Dwarves and are treated with the utmost care.

Veterinary

Veterinary by Crest via Armoria, created by RiverFang

Chaplaincy

Chaplaincy by Crest via Armoria, created by RiverFang

Chaplaincy

Much like all races of the world, Dwarves are extremely religious. Those who choose chaplaincy as their profession are meant to be the teachers and purveyors of Crommel's word. Joining the Royal Dwarven Military was not their first career choice, but many find it to be their calling later in life. Most often these men and women are Scholars, Paladins, and Clerics who provide spiritual guidance to Soldiers, but their most important job is one that they do not wish to perform.
Those in the chaplaincy are tasked with giving last rites to any who may die in battle. It is their job to comfort the dying and then inform the family at the soonest possible instance. A chaplain may then serve as a support system for the family of the deceased. Along with Mortuary Affairs, a part of the Quartermaster Corps, the chaplain will then help plan the funeral of the deceased and help in any way possible.

Animal Handling

Animal handling and training is a newer addition to the Cleric Corps as it was once part of the Quartermaster Corps. As each corps of the Royal Dwarven Military developed more specific specializations, certain professions have moved around to where they better fit. Because veterinary medicine is part of the Cleric Corps, it made sense to many of the higher-ups to place animal handling under the Cleric Corps as well so that the two groups could work more closely together. This change has strengthened the animal handling program overall and has allowed for a wider variety of animals to be trained.
Those who choose animal handling as their specialty often work closely with ponies, mules, Mine Canaries, and dogs. Other birds and even cats are sometimes utilized but the Dwarves prefer working with animals that are comfortable in cramped spaces and are more at home in the tunnels and caverns of their homeland.

Animal Handling

Animal Handling by Crest via Armoria, created by RiverFang

Type

Military Order

Training Level

Professional

Veterancy Level

Experienced

Ruling Organization

First Furnace

Parent Organization

Scriptwroughts

Location

Great Furnaces

Related Species

• Iron Dwarves

Related Ethnicities

• Iron Dwarf Culture

Iconography

While most other divisions tend to have similar crests and symbols to their corps, this is not true of the Cleric Corps. The crest for this division bears more similarities to that of the Royal Dwarven Military as the Cleric Corps sees itself as somewhat removed from the Scriptwroughts.
Each specialty of the Cleric Corps wears a gold button with a red cross of some sort to mark their specialty. The medical group wears the most simplified cross so that it can be easily identified during battle.

Military Education

All who enter the Cleric Corps, along with the rest of the Scriptwroughts, will gain a majority of their education from the Dwarves' magic academy, the First Furnace. The core of the Cleric Corps specializes in healing, something that is commonly done with magic, but other knowledge of anatomy is necessary to fulfill the duties of this division.
When the Cleric Corps were formally moved to be part of the Scriptwroughts, classes on anatomy and physiology, herbalism, and other healing methods were added to the academy’s curriculum. Before this, those who studied those topics often apprenticed under accomplished healers to learn their trades. Over time, the education was more formalized, becoming a rigorous program that would take a decade or more to complete.
Animal handling is the only topic not covered by the First Furnace. As this was once part of the Quartermaster Corps, those who pick this specialty train at both the First Furnace and the Golden Anvil, the academy of the Hammerfalls.