The Council of Dragons
It is no wonder that the emblem of lost Atlantis was the dragon. The dragon soars high and sees all. The dragon is as wise as it is powerful. The dragon speaks only rarely, but its commandments are heeded whenever it gives them voice. The dragon abides patiently but, when its fury is roused, the dragon is great and awful to behold. Since the time of the Fall, there have been those warriors among the Awakened who have aspired to embody the many virtues of the Emperor of Beasts. In the Adamantine Arrow, these mages call themselves the Council of Dragons, and they are the order’s tacticians and philosopher-generals.
Structure
Arrows of the Council of Dragons are probably the most rigidly organized members of the order. As strategists, they realize that an effective military requires a clear chain of command. Adamant Sages and Banner Wardens are relatively common in this sub-faction, as are those Arrows who hold Consilium offices. When the order’s numbers will support it, willworkers in the Council of Dragons advocate a strong military hierarchy, with specialized duties and clearly delineated branches of service.
Culture
Beliefs of the Council of Dragons Outside of the general beliefs and practices of the Adamantine Arrow as a whole, the Council of Dragons subscribes to a few unique notions of its own.
There Exists a Second Wisdom
The Path of Wisdom, as the Awakened are instructed in it, is the practice of knowing what is right and acting upon that knowledge. By the reckoning of the Council of Dragons, however, there exists another sort of wisdom: the knowing of what is true and the power to act upon that knowledge. “Right” and “true” are often at odds, and the latter needs be just as closely observed in the command tent as the former. A skilled and worthy general does not seek to substitute the ideal in place of the real, whether upon the field or even just in his own mind. Some such Arrows say that Wisdom is found in understanding of the Supernal, while wisdom is found in understanding of the Fallen.
To assume that all combatants are moral people, committed to the use of force only when needed, and then only as much force as is required, is false. To act upon such a falsehood is irresponsible and certain to be to the detriment of those under one’s command. While the Arrow must hold herself to a higher standard of conduct, whether as a soldier or as a commander, she must also recognize that no such scruples exist among many of her foes, and that those who march on her orders will suffer for it if she permits herself to believe otherwise. Sometimes, a general must reconcile within herself both morality and expediency.
A True Warrior Is a Philosopher
Ethics are not instinctual, but must instead be taught and, further, explored and questioned. In becoming a philosopher, a warrior resolves to do more than merely assume that he betters the world: he asks himself how he does so and how he might further improve upon his efforts. By discussing these axioms with other warrior-philosophers, he exchanges ideas, learning and educating at the same time, and laying the foundation for tomorrow’s rules of war. As the Arrows of the Council of Dragons see things, such introspection and discourse are basic obligations of the Adamantine Arrow, as the lore of battle is art and science, and must be studied with appropriate discernment and reverence.
Many Arrows of the Council of Dragons keep journals regarding their thoughts, their tactics and their experiences. Similar to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War or Miyamoto Musashi’s Book of Five Rings, these texts are intended to encapsulate the Arrow’s beliefs on the nature of conflict and one’s place within it. Some of these books have become standard reference within the order, though many are simply handed down from Master to Apprentice, and the strategies and philosophies therein studied and expanded upon from one generation to the next. A small number of these collections have been passed down over the course of centuries, and a very few Arrows claim to have bodies of knowledge at their disposal dating back a millennium or more
Parent Organization
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