Ibrandul
Ibrandul
Creed: Guard perfectly, attentively, and with forethought; be ever vigilant. Guard what you are ordered to guard, including that on which your charge depends. If ordered to guard the king, guard also the throne and the castle around the throne. If ordered to guard a man, keep safe also his family, his drinking water, his food, his liveli¬hood, and whatever else he holds dearest. Be alert for slow and subtle attacks, not merely bold fron¬tal challenges.
Yet let not your guardianship extend into offi-ciousness and attempts to use your status or office to control others. Be prepared, know your foes, and be fair and farsighted in the performance of your duties. On duty, do not stray, sleep, or allow yourself to be distracted or lured from your post. Consider weaknesses in guardianship and deal with them. Corrupt or false guardians must be exposed and replaced. Be ever watchful for cor¬ruption, even among fellow Vigilators. Guard with your life; Helm expects no less.
Secular Aims: Helmite clergy are colloqui¬ally referred to as the Watchful, and are formally known as Vigilators or Hands of the Vigilant One. They are trained military personnel who keep themselves and their weapons, armor, and other gear in the best of shape and readiness. “Other gear” includes a dagger with a magnifying lens in its pommel and a far-seer, which is a sturdy tele¬scoping spyglass. Frequent drilling with weapons and the establishment of handy caches of hidden backup weapons are church requirements.
The Vigilators have always hired themselves out as guards of both persons and places. Thieves and intruders have long known that to slay a Vigi- lator guard is to court Helm’s disfavor—and his priesthood’s, too. “If you slay a Watcher, no one who knows about it will guard and protect you,” as the old folk warning goes.
Vigilators strive to be exactingly attentive to the orders they are given when guarding and protecting, and the church itself is a disciplined hierarchy. As such, corruption within its ranks tends to occur only in the upper echelon of offi¬cers, who consider themselves to have some room for interpretation of orders, and for particular tac¬tical and strategic determinations.
One early Vigilator who fell from grace was the Archancel (arr-chan-sell) Rhordren Thar- dras, who came to believe that some groups and individuals had to be protected against them¬selves. This belief led to his giving orders that had Vigilators commanding during a crisis and then openly ruling those they were protecting. Several Vigilators since then have succumbed to similar sins, believing that various folk need to be ruled by priests of Helm for their own good or their own protection. “Commanding in a crisis” is now frowned upon within the church.
The Supreme Watcher is the highest office in the church of Helm. The post has been long va¬cant, since Helm saw evil awaken within the last three holders of the office and thus decided not to affirm another Supreme Watcher for a time. Below (and nowadays in lieu of) the Supreme Watcher, four Archancels meet in council to steer the faith. Each commands the faction of the clergy of Helm that operates in a certain quarter of Faerun. Traditionally, the first-designated of these quarters includes the Sword Coast as far south as the northern boundary mountains of Amn, everything west of that in and across the
Sea of Swords, and everything east of that as far as the western fringes of the High Forest. The second of these quarters contains the North as far east as Rashemen and as far south as the north¬ern shores of the Sea of Fallen Stars, and from the north shore of the Dragonmere west to the northern boundary mountains of Amn. The third contains everything west and south of the north¬ern boundary of Amn and the south shore of the Dragonmere and Inner Sea, to the Chondalwood and the Landrise. The fourth quarter consists of everything east of the first three quarters.
The four Archancels are nominally equal, but have precedence among each other based on per¬sonal seniority, which is determined by length of service combined with personal standing in the regard of Helm. Reporting to each Archancel are four Chancels, who serve as personal agents and envoys. Chancels oversee Vigilator activities in their Archancel’s quarter and investigate matters of internal discipline.
These Vigilator activities include the making of arms, shields, and armor. Vigilators don’t exclu¬sively use church-made armor and weapons, but instead have over the years founded many armor¬ies to equip fellow Watchful, and also make armor and weapons for sale. These sales have proven to be ongoing sources of minor corruption, as Vigilators sometimes sell to one side in a conflict but not another on the basis of “offerings to the church” made by one side that are really personal bribes.
Below the Chancels are varying numbers of Bishous, each of whom administers to a realm, a region, or a city-state. Below the Bishous are Lec¬tors, who are local investigators and Helmite force commanders; Ardeacons, who train and spiritu¬ally guide lower ranks of Vigilators; Prelates, who are Helmite force unit commanders; Vicarphs; Pryats, who are priests; Novices; and Honored Laity, who are nonclergy holding offices in Hel¬mite churches and other properties.
As Ardeacon Baeryk Halholdaun famously said in 1236 DR, “Our zeal is oft our undoing. We see the flaws in those we guard, then seek to address them because they are weaknesses that make our guarding less perfect-—and in our seeking we stray over the line into tyranny, or into causing strife, and so drift from the purpose and grace
As Elminster added dryly, “Helmites mean well and are the best of sentries—but almost all of them are human, and so are forever drifting away from Helm.”
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