The Protectors of HYL ("Hyle" rhymes with mile)
This order of mystics swear to protect and defend the helpess...although always for a price.
Structure
The Protectors have an established headquarters on Bluz, the Cathedral of HYL, which operates as a training school, administrative center, and job assignment clearinghouse. The Protector's leader, the Deacon, leads the order from here.
The remainder of Protectors are spread out across the galaxy, with no particular assigned geographic territory. There is no strict hierarchy, but Protectors respect experience and generally defer to their more senior member.
Culture
Protectors come from all species and walks of life, and so are as unique as snowflakes on Kalevala. However, they take their responsibilities seriously. Their unshakeable need to protect their charges often garners them the reputation of being reckless, or perhaps even careless, with their own safety.
In the pre-galactic days, Protectors were armed with slugthrowers and were limited in their ammunition. This limitation led to the unofficial rules "protect first, shoot second" and "better to strike your foe in the head once at the end of the fight than twenty times in the toe at the beginning." Even though most Protectors now carry energy weapons with much larger ammo capacity, these lessons are still taught and tend to inform a Protector's actions in battle. Thus, a Protector often comes across as the "thinking being's gunslinger" rather than an indiscriminate blaster.
Public Agenda
Protectors work as bodyguards to those that request their services. In deference to the fact that the Heroic Thirty Two were paid mercenaries, the Protectors of HYL always insist on being paid for their services. Payment is based on need for protection and ability to pay, but everyone pays something. The Protectors of HYL do not base their decisions on who to protect based on politics or personal opinion - according to their doctrine, everyone is worthy of protection.
Assets
Aside from the Catherdral on Bluz, the order owns very little by way of solid assets. Protectors are expected to be self-sufficient while operating out in the galaxy. Any Protector can ask for respite and sanctuary in the Cathredral and will be housed and fed there as needed.
History
On the Inner Rim planet of Bluz, in the planet's pre-galactic times, the indigenous people had a rich history of warfare between the Bluzian Factions, which were the governmental entities of the time. Most settlements paid tribute to the Faction that either offered them the best protection or threatened their destruction.
During that time, one such settlement was located between two Factions, and paid tribute to both, even though it left very little for themselves. One year, after a terrible harvesting season, this village knew it did not have enough to pay either Faction their tribute. Instead, they spent what little they had and hired a band of mercenaries to protect their village from Faction raiding parties that were sure to come once the tribute failed to arrive.
These mercenaries, now known as the Heroic Thirty Two, stood their ground as team after team of Faction soldiers tried to assault the village. It finally took an all-out attack by one of the Faction's main armies before the village finally fell. The mercenaries made the Faction pay for every inch in blood and lives - their battle cry of "Hold Your Line!" echoing again and again in the streets of the village.
Ultimately, the Heroic Thirty Two were slaughtered and the village fell and was razed. The corpses of the mercenaries were tossed carelessly into the village's drinking well, where, according to legend, they rose up and avenged the village, slaying Faction army commanders and putting their battalions to rout.
The local holy man, a deacon who had acted as the village's spokesperson and had hired the mercenaries, started the mystic order that lives on today. The Protectors of HYL was named, not for a place or a person, but for an acronym - "Hold Your Line." On Bluz, Protectors began to defend other villages and even diplomats that traveled in the name of peace. They gained a reputation as being a neutral force to be respected for their ability to defend those they were oathsworn to protect.
Once Bluz was discovered during the Republic Era of the Second Breath and joined the Galactic Republic, the Protectors expanded their acivities offworld. During the fall of the Republic and the war and chaos that followed, it is rumored that the Protectors of HYL added a new service - secreting people marked for death away from danger and giving them new lives and identities elsewhere in the galaxy. While only rumor, it is whispered that even the Serpent of Tallins, who most historians credit with being directly responsible for the Republic's fall, was provided just such a service and lived the remainder of her life in anonymity under a new name.
Granted Divine Powers
Protectors of HYL learn their powers through 3 levels of Traits:
Protector: A Protector is a mystic who has completed their training at the Cathedral and is ready to accept missions to protect and defend others. A character must have the Innate Power trait. A Protector has access to the following spells -
- Resolute Shield - 1 action to cast, automatic success – you count as having taken the Evade action and as having the Shield-Bearer Trait until your next turn. On a successful Standard test, you can cover another person instead.
- Heal the Innocent - 1 action to cast, Standard Test - If successful, the target creature is healed for 2 Hit Points. This Trait can also be used to cure poison, disease, and other physical ailments within reason. You must be next to the creature to heal it; you cannot heal yourself.
- Telekinesis – 1 action to cast, [Special Test] - As an action you may move any object weighing as much as you without Testing. To hurl it violently, you must make a successful Standard Test. To hurl any object heavier than you, you must make a successful Test with Disadvantage.
- Oathbound Connection - 1 action to cast, [Special Test] - As an action you may connect your life to your target. If the target is willing to make the conenction, the Test is made with Advantage; if the target is unwilling, the Test is made Disadvantage. Once a connection is established, it lasts until the Protector next rests. During combat, the Protector can split and share any damage taken between Protector and target.
- Sense Danger - automatic, all the time - you gain the Ambush Specialist feat.
- Always Armed - 1 action to cast, Standard Test - a successful test permits you to create a Light Melee weapon from mystical energy. Once created, the weapon continues to exist as long as you concentrate.
- Defiant Vision - 1 action to cast, automatic success - You do not suffer Disadvantage for having your sight impaired. This lasts for an entire combat or for one hour of non-combat time.
- A Good Offense - 1 action to cast, Standard Test - A successful test fires a blast of mystical energy at a foe, doing light ranged damage to the target.
- Be Somewhere Else - 1 action to cast (reaction), Standard Test - on a successful test, you can teleport a Oathbound target up to 5 squares away. As a reaction, you can teleport the target away from an attack before it is rolled. You can teleport yourself in the same manner, but only on a successful test with Disadvantage.
- Shield Wall - 1 action to cast, test with Disadvantage - a successful test shields your entire party with mystical energy, giving all allies (and yourself) Cover against all foes in one direction.
- Create Object - 1 action to cast, [Special Test] - As an action you may creat an object out of mystical energy. For objects small than you, the test is Standard, for objects larger (up to the size of a starfighter), the test is made with Disadvantage. The object is solid and occupies physical space. It can move, but does not have complex internal parts. For example, a Protector can create a tank which can move, but will not shoot.
- Ghost Martyr - free action, automatic - if a Protector dies in combat (fails his Death saving tests), they fall, only to rise on their next turn as a Ghost Martyr, an undead creature. Your undead body is slow to act, and you can only take 1 action each turn. You are incorporeal - you appear to have a physical form, but it is ethereal and intangible. This allows you to pass through physical objects and any successful attack gives you a test at Disadvantage to avoid. Successful attacks cause you to lose your turn, instead of taking damage. You remain a ghost martyr until either the combat is over, or your oathbound target is killed.
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