Flametender

A flametender is charged with maintaining the many fires that are seen as necessary for the day-to-day operations of a'drekh communities. Fire occupies a sacred place in a'drekh society and there are prescriptions about the proper ways to strike, tend to, and snuff fires depending on their purpose. While most a'drekh are aware of the proper protocols for fires that they use in their daily lives, flametenders are trained in all the protocols that exist. As such, they are revered and treated as quasi-religious figures by their fellows.
Flametenders are such central figures in a'drekh society that most settlements that play host to a sizable population of a'drekh will have at least one, even when the a'drekh are a minority. In the a'drekh homeland, most communities have at least two or three while more sizable ones can have up to a dozen. In the largest a'drekh settlements that are home to the elders and leaders of the Flights, flametenders comprise a caste unto themselves.
The specifics of flametenders' duties vary from one Flight to another, but the broad strokes are largely the same. Whenever and wherever a fire is needed to serve the public good—such as hearthfires in public buildings or public cookfires—there is a flametender to be found. Ritual fires for special events, religious observations, and holy days are only ever lit and extinguished by flametenders. In more modernized a'drekh communities, flametenders are in charge of lighting street lamps when the sun sets, whereas in some of the older, more established a'drekh settlements, they are also responsible for maintaining a perpetual flame that is used for the a'drekh's most sacred rituals.
Flametenders are not simply responsible for igniting, maintaining, and extinguishing flames. Part of their training involves learning the ability to manipulate fire in ways that go beyond what their typical duties might require. From more mundane applications such as controlling the size, intensity, temperature, and rate of fuel consumption of a fire, to the more fantastical such as weaving stories with fire or using it as a means to defend, few mages are as adept as flametenders when it comes to using fire.

Red Flight

In most Flights, only a few of the most dedicated members of the community can become a flametender. It is seen as a position of prestige, respect, and lifelong dedication undertaken from youth. The Red Flight is notable because most of its members know the ways of the flametenders. With few exceptions, children of the Red Flight learn the ways of the flametenders through their young adulthood but not all are expected to formally take upon the mantle.
The Red Flight is also unique in that the flametenders of most Flights will spend their lives in the communities of their birth with only a few notable exceptions. The Red Flight, on the other hand, encourages its members to journey far afield from home, to bring the sacred fire to even the most wayward of their people—and perhaps, even to other peoples.
It is for this reason that the eristur sought the Red Flight's assistance in their expedition to establish a settlement in Noltêrrë. Though most members of the Red Flight have never braved the harsh climes of the region, their ability to control fire is nevertheless vital to continued survival there. The prospect of bringing their flames to the reaches icy north had always struck a chord in the Red Flight's collective cultural fantasy and the notion that they might be able to bring their ways to a place where they are more important than ever was enough to inspire the Flight's wholehearted support for the endeavor.
Eager mantled flametenders and would-be explorers signed up in droves for the venture. Their assistance was pivotal in ensuring safe passage through the northern sea and during the harrowing early days and weeks before proper shelters had been constructed at Dallikton. Even now, the Red Flight are instrumental in keeping the settlement livable and the job of working as a flametender in Dallikton—despite the remoteness of the region and the distance from home—is so popular that the elders have had to instate a rotation just to prevent unrest.

Type

Religious