Order of the Spirit Slayers

The Slayers recruit human women who show the right calibre and loyalty to Arnhelm as young adults. Often women who have served as valuable informants to the Order are the ones approached to join the sisterhood. These women are trained in the Red Citadel, via strictly guarded secret training methods, but once such a woman dons the Red Leather Armour, she has gained the ability to shrug off much of the battle magic cast against her.
The Slayers have no mages among their ranks, and tend to spurn reliance on magic in discharging their duties. The Collars and Keys used to regulate Formal Magic are enchanted by mages of the Order of the Dark Vigil. If a Slayer learns how to cast magic, she is immediately stripped of her rank and treated as any other Mage. This is the law of the Order, but it is not a law that has ever needed to be put into practice in recorded history.
Any Slayer is empowered to police the use of magic wherever she comes across it, irrespective of the social standing of the mage. When travelling, they will often check in with local Mages and Healers Guild chapters in an area, and observe the mages for a few days before moving on. If an unbranded person is found casting magic within the borders of Arnhelm, they are immediately given a choice: face execution, typically by Obliteration if available, or receive the Mage Brand, permanently marking the mage as a caster. No excuses will be heeded, and the only exception made is for recognised ambassadors from other nations, but in such cases the ambassadors capable of casting magic are each assigned two Slayers to accompany them at all times, standing by to slay the ambassador if they determine that they are using magic in a manner detrimental to Arnhelm and her stability.
A mage capable of casting Formal Magic rituals will have a Mage Collar affixed to his or her neck, with the Key to the collar being held by a Slayer with the rank of Nexus. Each Nexus holds no more than 25 Keys. If a Key is activated by a Nexus, the Collar severs the mage's connection to the Planes and thus removes the mage's ability to use magic in any form. The Collars cannot be removed other than with the Key, and are Spirit-Linked to the mages to ensure they stay attached even through death and resurrection.
The colours of the Order of the Spirit Slayers are red and black, and Slayers favour leather armour in these colours. Each Slayer also has a special Slayer Pendant that serves as a badge of office. These pendants are forged in the Red Citadel and Spirit-Linked to their Slayer. Faking or stealing this pendant is a crime punishable by Obliteration.
Slayers are sworn to be celibate as are their Dark Brothers. While this is not rigorously monitored, any Slayer found allowing personal relationships to interfere with her duties will be disciplined by the Order.

Structure

The ranks within the Order of Spirit slayers are:

Nexus:

The keepers of the Keys of Formal Mages. From their ranks the Mage-Bane is chosen by the King.

Spirit Slayer:

Spirit Slayers often serve as elite travelling Slayers who patrol large stretches of Arnhelm by themselves, with only an initiate or two to back them up.

Guardian:

The bulk of the members of the Order, they make up the footsoldiers of the Order, they are often sent to capture rogue mages or guard foreign diplomats.

Initiate:

The eyes and ears of the Spirit Slayers, Initiates aim to ensure that no mage casts without being noted and monitored.

Culture

Slayer Vows Taken:

Though the Mage is powerful, I shall not fear him. Arnhelm's people are my first and only concern, And no mage shall bring evil to them. I shall remain the Watcher, the Guardian, The Slayer when the need arises.. I shall know no man's touch, I shall know no family. My sisters stand by my side, My family sleeps peacefully in every house across the land. From now until Death claims me, I shall guard against the treachery of Magic. I am a Spirit Slayer.

Public Agenda

The Order of the Spirit Slayers guard Arnhelm against the internal threat of magic, and ensures that no mage ever again uses magic to seize power and dominion over the people of Arnhelm the way that that Mad King Seward, now known as the Undying King, once did. The Order is responsible for policing magic within the Kingdom, and is given complete authority in this respect. The Slayers ensure that all practitioners of magic in Arnhelm wear the Mage Brand, a brand or tattoo marking and identifying mages. The Order of the Spirit Slayers is the sister organisation to the Order of the Dark Vigil, which guards the Great Wall against the external threat of magic.

Assets

The material and secret of forging Mage-Collars, which can sever a mage from the elemental planes, rendering them incapble of casting magic.
The Red Citadel: The Red Citadel is situated in Rotheim next to a crater where a meteor fell in ages gone by. It is built of red stone and rises forbiddingly over two smaller buildings, the Mage's Guild House and the Healer's Guild House which are located nearby. The Red Citadel is where all training of Slayers takes place and where the Mage Collars are forged from iron mined from the meteor.

History

In the wake of the defeat of the Undying King Seward, two orders were founded. One, the Order of the Spirit Slayers, was an all female order charged with ensuring that no mage like Seward could ever rise to power again. The other, their brother organization, the Order of the Dark Vigil, was charged with ensuring that Seward and his undead could never return to Arnhelm. King Erik chose to locate the Spirit Slayers' headquarters in Rotheim, the duchy famed for magic even in its noble lines, so as to be able to keep a close eye on the duchy. The ultimate location of the Red Citadel was sited alongside a meteorite crater, as it afforded the Slayers access to a high grade of iron from which to forge the Mage Collars that Formal Mages wear. While the Red Citadel was under construction, the Mages Guild House also needed rebuilding due to the sacking of Byrnholm during the War, and the Slayers recommended that the Guild House be relocated next to the Red Citadel. In time, some 240 years later, when the Healers Guild fractured away from the Mages Guild, the Slayers saw to it that the Healers Guild House was also situated alongside the Red Citadel. One of the first concerns of the Order was to monitor the use of magic, to ensure it was not used against the State. At first the Slayers used actual brands to mark those capable of magic, which is why the term "Mage Brand" is still in use, but by 270 AE, it was more common to tattoo a caster than to brand a caster. While branding is still a valid method, the last time a mage was branded rather than tattooed was over a hundred years ago. There was a brief mage rebellion in 149 AE, but the Slayers quelled it brutally, without requiring any military intervention. With an excellent network of informants, they rounded up every member of the rebellion in a series of lightning raids in a matter of days, and then sent for loyal Dark Vigil mages to have each and every offender executed via Obliteration. While there was public concern over the methods, the implementation had been too swift and effective to allow for such objections to be relevant. Since then, while mages may grumble about the broad power Slayers exercise over them, they do not grumble too loudly.

Guardians Against Magic

Founding Date

20 AE

Type

Government, Law Enforcement

Alternative Names

Slayers, Bleeding Bitches, The Red Eyes

Leader Title

Mage-Bane

Location

The Red Citadel

Controlled Territories

• The Red Citadel