The Lamplighters
Background
The Lamplighters are one of the newer gangs in the Five Barbs, and are certainly one of the most peculiar of all the gangs of Relvark. Basing out of Beaconton, the Lamplighters believe themselves to be arbiters of the faith and keepers of justice, fancying themselves more as vigilantes than criminals. They are driven by a holy zeal and a dogmatic belief in the laws of men and gods, functioning according the precepts set forth by these earthly and holy doctrines. While espousing the path of righteousness and extolling the virtues of justice, the Lamplighters are not without fault, despite what their literature would have the public believe. The Lamplighters are prolific organizers of debauchery, private liaisons, gambling rings, and all manner of organized, illicit activities. These actions are allegedly driven by a belief that if the right people are controlling the wrong actions, the sinning will be lessened in severity. The other, more earthly driver behind these illicit activities is the sheer amount of wealth flowing through Beaconton. The district grew swiftly with the Bicwidian conquest, and the prelates and priests who were at one point simple preachers jumped on the opportunity to become something more. Claiming divine inspiration to form a "Guild of the Faithful", the Lamplighters began their crusade against all that was unworthy in the city of Relvark. As their district grows in wealth, constructing higher and higher cathedrals, more and more do politicians want to see and be seen doing good works in the district. The combination of wealth, politicians, and power in the district creates ample opportunity for the Lamplighters to continue to garner wealth, bring politicians on-side, and gather more than enough blackmail material on any number of important people. All, of course, in the name of the Greater Good, and all directed by their current leader, Alcuin Godred. Godred claims to speak for the gods as their earthly conduit, the most recent in a long line of soothsayers and prophets that have led the organization. Whether or not the gods approve of his organization's less than divine acts has not been made clear, but for all their contradictions the Lamplighters do strive to bring a measure of order to the Barbs through their works. Official records of the Lamplighters are similarly opaque as to the legal status of the organization. The first documents citing the organization come from the early days of Bicwide rule of Relvark, citing a movement of the faithful against an alleged gathering of unholy agents infiltrating the city's walls. This is no doubt in reference to the annexation of Dun Row into the city of Relvark, an action which was widely protested by denizens of the other newly acquired district, Beaconton. The Lamplighters are mentioned by name as helping to rile up the crowds, but are not again discussed until the aftermath of the attacks when they offered food and clothing to the very people their mob moved against. Throughout the intervening centuries, the gang has done everything possible to spread their version of justice and order, while keeping up the guise of a holy order. In the process of achieving this goal they have been charged with extortion, corruption of public officials, gambling, infiltration of legitimate businesses, and tax fraud, though they claim innocence to all charges. Presently, the Lamplighters are the de facto head of Beaconton and oversee all illicit activity within the district.History
Beaconton used to be little more than a collection of temples and churches outside the city walls. During the days of the Nimloth Dynasties holy groves and sylvan shrines were preferred to constructions of stone and lumber as gathering places for the faithful. Consequently, while these elven places of worship were afforded room within the walls of Relvark, the gods of the traders and "far-off folk" were relegated to area outside the city. Pitching their temples next to trader's tents and docks, it seems the outcast faithful learned more than a thing or two from their neighbors outside the city. While these holy people performed good works and strove to help all they could, they also began to learn how to engage with the earthly facets of the faithful to draw in more and more worshippers. Over the centuries though these congregations grew slowly if at all. Up until the fall of the Nimloth Dynasties, these faithful were relegated to preach outside the city walls so as to not blend the interloping deities with the native elven gods. When the Elector Counts of Bicwide took over Relvark, however, the once foreign gods became integral to the pantheons of numerous state religions, and the once holy backwater was swiftly incorporated into the city at large. Immediately after the arrival of the Elector Counts to Relvark, Beaconton was established as a new district in the city. The formerly poor penitents began seeing donations, tithes, and gifts the likes of which were unfathomable to this point. Construction began on towering cathedrals, sprawling temples, and any number of ostentatious complexes for the faithful to venerate any number of deities. Shortly after this burst of construction the Lamplighters formed as an organization. Calling themselves a pan-religious group, they proclaimed to be focused on guiding all of the faithful of the city that had only recently accepted them. Their first leader, Clairvaux of the Reeds, proclaimed to all the city that the Lamplighters were a force seeking to bring the Greater Good to the Beacon on the Hill. This manifested in all sort of holy works of charity, compassion, clemency, and aid to a rapidly growing city. Initially the Lamplighters were seen as a positive force in a city unaccustomed to kindness and compassion. Elector Counts, city officials, nobility, and rich denizens would all compete to see and be seen in the district and with the Lamplighters, seeking morality by proxy. However, darker undercurrents soon began coloring the actions of the Lamplighters. The halcyon days of the Lamplighters ended shortly after they began, when Dun Row was incorporated into the city of Relvark. Fervently opposing the annexation of this district, when Clairvaux's pleas fell on deaf ears in the Greenwood Tower, he and his Lamplighters riled up a mob to deliver their own brand of divine retribution on the city. The result was a fiery animosity which still blazes today between Dun Row and Beaconton, and the first true sign that the Lamplighters were not the angels they claimed to be. As the centuries continued moving forward the Lamplighters still performed good works and claimed to serve the Greater Good, accepting all so long as they were faithful and able to pay their donations. However, the Lamplighters found the profitability in sin and sinful acts, profiting from their sermons on the pulpit and conversations in the confession booth. Praying on the faithful and their insecurities, the Lamplighters found an avenue for profit through indulging the city's base urges. Organizing all number of gambling rings and speakeasies through information they gleaned in their holy works, the Lamplighters have established an thriving underworld in Relvark's holy of holies. The good press that comes from association to the gods still draws the rich and powerful to Relvark, and the succor offered by faith still brings the masses to the temples, and the Lamplighters are more than willing to offer their brand of salvation to all.Recent Activity
The past fifty years have seen the Lamplighters lean into their roles as holy officials. There is a tenuous peace between the Lamplighters and the city officials which the other gangs of the Barbs do not enjoy. This is the result of the Lamplighters sending their gangs out to patrol the streets of Relvark alongside the city's sheriffs and reeves. Whether or not this is done for good publicity, information on rival gangs, or from misplaced morality, the Lamplighters are committed to these public displays of order in Relvark. Some have indicated this could be a sort of "penance" the Lamplighters have placed on themselves for their role in causing the Oxcar Melee, the closest the Barbs have come to all out war in the past forty years. The Oxcar Melee began as a brawl between members of the Sightless Seers and Lamplighters, but soon came to involve nearly every fighting gang, shire, and reeve south of the Oxcar River. The destruction caused by this event was widespread, and the Lamplighters were nearly ground out by officials from the Rookery and Bearfen as a consequence. Apparently, however, they had enough powerful friends to soothe public anger and enough capital to pay for wide-scale repairs and renovations, buying their salvation. Shortly after this event the former leader of the Lamplighters Bernard Pamaldus, who allegedly fomented the Oxcar Melee citing holy doctrine, was excommunicated from the gang and replaced by their current leader, Alcuin Godred. Godred has led the Lamplighters back to the path of righteousness through public acts, and restored their coffers through private crimes and illegal maneuvers. No one is sure quite what Godred has planned, but as the Lamplighters' sermons once again speak of fire and brimstone, hells and damnations, it may not be long before the Lamplighters once again spread their light throughout the streets of Relvark.Relations With Other Gangs
It may go without saying that the dogmas held by the Lamplighters do not make them the most likeable group in Relvark. Inversely, they are quick to judge others, and especially quick to judge others they deem in opposition to the Greater Good. The Lamplighters are therefore quick to make enemies and slow to make friends, leaving them one of the most polarizing groups in the Barbs. Their alliances and current good standing with the officials of the city affords them some protection, but they are at most times on the verge of entering conflict with any number of groups within the Barbs. The Lamplighters have are currently neutral with The Grove Guardians. They currently have a weak hatred of the Stone Dragons, and a strong hatred of the Sightless Seers and Hornwood Reclaimers. The Lamplighters and The Grove Guardians have something of a one sided relationship with one another. More specifically, the Lamplighters revere, almost venerate the Grove Guardians as model citizens at times, and espouse that all should model themselves on the manner set forth by the denizens of Hermit's Orchard and Beaconton. The Grove Guardians, meanwhile, do not seem to share this level of amicability with the Lamplighters. On numerous occasions the Lamplighters have been seen to side with the Grove Guardians, who in turn are reticent to reciprocate their support. Despite the oddities of this arrangement, the Lamplighters favor the Guardians likely because they represent stability, order, and tradition in a city which lacks all of these features. At the end of the day, however, the Lamplighters will not put themselves out in order to help the Guardians. The Lamplighters hatred towards most of the Barbs is likely due to the chaos these organizations bring to Relvark. The Stone Dragons escape the bulk of the ire of the Lamplighters largely due to the fact that many of the faithful who visit Beaconton live in Stonebower. Seeing it as bad for business and worse for publicity to outright decry the masses that worship in their temples, The Lamplighters take a more subtle approach towards conflict with the Stone Dragons. As a consequence, small scale brawls and widespread conversion attempts are the common tactic used when fighting the Stone Dragons. The Hornwood Reclaimers used to be favored by the Lamplighters in a fashion similar to the Grove Guardians. The bucolic life promoted by the people of Eardham coupled with the emphasis on tradition espoused by the Hornwoods made Earders an optimal flock for the Lamplighters to tend. However, the ascent of the Revenant has caused the Lamplighters to change their views. As the Hornwood Reclaimers seek so ardently to sow chaos and destroy Relvark wantonly, the Lamplighters have decried them as corrupted beings possessed by devils and spirits sent from the Sightless Seers. The Sightless Seers and the Lamplighters have a deep and abiding hatred toward one another, and the Lamplighters do everything in their power to eradicate the Seers whenever possible. Using every tactic from political orders to holy rhetoric, the Lamplighters sow as many tales as they can about the evil, hellish, and otherworldly nature of the devils Relvark has allowed into its midst. As both of these factions stand against the order and law the Lamplighters so eagerly promote they have been deemed enemies of the Greater Good, and therefore the Lamplighters. If the Lamplighters run across members of either of these factions, open hostility will soon occur.We Bring the Light
Type
Illicit, Gang
Demonym
Wickie / Wickies
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