The Order of the Swordmaidens of the White Oak
On an island in Fulton’s busy harbor rises a small monastery complex; in its central courtyard grows a mighty oak tree all of white, with pale green leaves. When the Guar were driven from Fultar and the current dynasty founded, the Mother Goddess Tya Nehru led a young noblewoman to this island, which at that time served as the customs house, and revealed to her the white sapling growing up through the flagstones of the courtyard.
Tya Nehru spoke through the sapling, and told the noblewoman, whose name was Eli Anna, that she had been chosen to found a new order, the Swordmaidens of the White Oak, whose duty would be to preserve the new dynasty, bind up the wounds of the bleeding nation, and spread the knowledge of the mother goddess’s love, under the protection of the royal family, around the world. The oak would be the source and sign of her power, and to this day it heals the sicknesses and wounds of any who spend a night sleeping under its spreading branches.
Eli Anna gathered together many of her friends, and they pledged themselves to the new queen, explaining their mission; and the Mother Goddess opened the queen’s heart. She granted them the island, and instructed her priestesses to teach them the healing arts, and her officers to teach them the arts of war. Since that day, the Order has served the royal family and the Mother Goddess faithfully.
Structure
The Order recruits exclusively young girls from Fultar’s noble families, and brings them to the island at the ages of seven to nine for training; they emerge after fifteen years, strong of body and mind and pure of heart. They swear a double oath of featly: to their goddess and their queen, and they are fierce in defending and promoting both; but also to the suffering and sick of the world, whose bodies they heal with medicine and magic and whose spirits they heal with the news of the goddess’s love.
The initiates renounce their titles upon joining the order, and many never again see their families, though the order does not strictly forbid this. Many noble families consider giving a daughter to the order a sort of religious duty, and indeed, a family whose daughter joins and completes her training is exempted from certain tithes for ten years. Among the more religious families, a daughter in the order is a badge of social prestige, while the pragmatic see it as a waste of a good resource for building dynastic alliances! When a Swordmaiden dies, if her body is recovered, it is returned to the family for burial in their family cemetery. It is not uncommon for a Swordmaiden to be resurrected, however; the Order tells its initiates: “One life is not enough to give your queen.”
The order has never been large; generally, at any given time, there are 60-80 paladins of the order in the world, including a dozen or so who are too old to fight and a dozen or so in training. There are also usually a dozen or so mid-to-high level priestesses who live at the Order’s headquarters, seeing to the spiritual needs and instruction of the paladins. High-level paladins often serve as escorts for members of the royal family or priestesses when they travel; they are prized as bodyguards because of their combination of healing and fighting abilities and genteel manners and social standing.
The political fortunes of the Order generally rise and fall with the particular queen on the throne; the greater her religious fervor and idealism, the more favor she shows to the order. The Order is not actually involved in the queen’s security, though a senior member of the order often travels with her entourage if she leaves Fulton. The Queen’s security is actually overseen by the Navy; an elite unit of guards drawn from ranks of the Marines and fighting sailors; and there is considerable mistrust and competition between these two organizations, as each strives to be perceived as more zealous in their protection of the royal family. A wise queen, of course, sees the value in this competition and strives to insure its continuance.
Culture
After their training, most members of the order are dispatched to the frontiers of the Empire, where they strive to fulfill both their oaths, by traveling from village to village in a broad area of responsibility, healing the sick and injured and keeping an ear to the ground for any mutterings of political dissent or other impending problems. They understand that their task is as much to keep an eye on the warlords and ambitious nobles who exercise the queen’s authority in these regions as it is to monitor any external threats! However, they are not a part of the Empire’s regular network of spies and agents, because their idealism and moral code ill suit them to the deceit and perfidy of such work. They are always open about their loyalties and their missions. This has led to conflict between intelligence agencies and the order.
Once a year they return to a stronghold of the Order to pay their tithes and deliver any treasures gathered, as well as for fasting, prayer, and training. Once every five years they return to the headquarters of the order for a comprehensive debriefing.
They often work in conjunction with priestesses of Tya Nehru, and may be based in a temple or monastery if the Order does not have a stronghold in the region. They do not directly proselytize, but they always make sure that the beneficiaries of their magic & talents understand that they come from the Goddess. They also sometimes work with and may even be attached to units of the army, especially in times of active strife.
For many years much of the Order’s energy has been consumed with the war in the Sua Hills, and every legion had a Swordmaiden attached to it. They often worked in “Hearts and Minds” operations, going amongst the Dwarven population and trying to build support for the Empire. This sometimes puts them at odds with the more bellicose Army commanders, and in fact there were several incidents in which Swordmaidens actually slew regular Army soldiers to protect Dwarven civilians, and at least one in which a Legion commander assassinated the Swordmaiden attached to his unit.
Swordmaidens are also present in the Miwian Islands, scattered throughout the Fultar Savannah, in the Fultonian colonies on the Nubian coast, and in the Celtic territories of the north. The Guar have never accepted the presence of Swordmaidens, and of all humans, it is the Guar who a Swordmaiden is least likely to be sympathetic to.
Tenets of Faith
ETHOS
Strictures
• Lawful good
• Magical item and Wealth limit: however, EXCESS WEALTH should be recovered and returned to the order, never discarded. “Our holy mother hates waste as she hates evil.”
• Tithing—tithes go to the Order
Edicts
• Issued by the Order, whose symbolic head is the queen; its practical head is always the highest-level paladin living at the time, who resides at the island-fortress headquarters.
• Also may be issued by any 7th-level or higher priestess of Tya Nehru if not in conflict with an edict or rule of the Order.
• Also may be issued by a 9th-level or higher officer in the regular, royal Army or Navy with the approval of a 3rd-level or higher priestess of Tya Nehru if not in conflict with the ethos or an edict of the Order or a higher-level priestess of Tya Nehru, in the judgment of the Swordmaiden.
Virtues
• Fealty: sworn to the queen and the central government and to Tya Nehru and her church. Put the interests of the queen and the church above any noble or other organization. Spread the values of Fultonian civilization and the love of Tya Nehru to barbarian lands. Glorify Fultar and protect and expand Fultar’s influence in the world.
• Mercy: a Swordmaiden lives to heal the sick and injured and ease the suffering of all good humanoids. She sees all good humanoids as children of the Goddess. Swordmaidens are also more likely than many paladins to feel pity rather than hatred for evil creatures, believing that nothing created can be wholly unredeemable.
• Courtesy & Humility: “Arrogance wins Fultar no friends.” A Swordmaiden strives to lead and teach by deeds, not speech.
• Valor: the Swordmaidens interpret this conventional paladin virtue somewhat differently than most. A Swordmaiden is expected to weigh the preservation of good more highly than the elimination of evil. If forced to choose between healing a wounded comrade or pursuing a fleeing enemy, she should always choose her comrade; she should remember that the Goddess has many children whose suffering will go unanswered if she throws away her life in futile combat. Nonetheless, like all paladins, Swordmaidens never flinch from any fight for the sake of their own safety; unlike other paladins, however, they may and should exercise discretion as the better part of valor.
• Honesty: a Swordmaiden never lies, not even in the furtherance of her mission.
• Honor: like all paladins, a Swordmaiden’s word is her bond. However, unlike most paladins, a Swordmaiden does not always accept challenges or duels to fight; rather, she attempts to use diplomacy and dialogue to resolve the conflict.
• Chastity & Celibacy: a Swordmaiden who wishes to get married may withdraw from the order honorably; however, those who break this vow are cast out. Swordmaidens do not participate in or respect the conventions of “courtly love.”
Strictures
• Lawful good
• Magical item and Wealth limit: however, EXCESS WEALTH should be recovered and returned to the order, never discarded. “Our holy mother hates waste as she hates evil.”
• Tithing—tithes go to the Order
Edicts
• Issued by the Order, whose symbolic head is the queen; its practical head is always the highest-level paladin living at the time, who resides at the island-fortress headquarters.
• Also may be issued by any 7th-level or higher priestess of Tya Nehru if not in conflict with an edict or rule of the Order.
• Also may be issued by a 9th-level or higher officer in the regular, royal Army or Navy with the approval of a 3rd-level or higher priestess of Tya Nehru if not in conflict with the ethos or an edict of the Order or a higher-level priestess of Tya Nehru, in the judgment of the Swordmaiden.
Virtues
• Fealty: sworn to the queen and the central government and to Tya Nehru and her church. Put the interests of the queen and the church above any noble or other organization. Spread the values of Fultonian civilization and the love of Tya Nehru to barbarian lands. Glorify Fultar and protect and expand Fultar’s influence in the world.
• Mercy: a Swordmaiden lives to heal the sick and injured and ease the suffering of all good humanoids. She sees all good humanoids as children of the Goddess. Swordmaidens are also more likely than many paladins to feel pity rather than hatred for evil creatures, believing that nothing created can be wholly unredeemable.
• Courtesy & Humility: “Arrogance wins Fultar no friends.” A Swordmaiden strives to lead and teach by deeds, not speech.
• Valor: the Swordmaidens interpret this conventional paladin virtue somewhat differently than most. A Swordmaiden is expected to weigh the preservation of good more highly than the elimination of evil. If forced to choose between healing a wounded comrade or pursuing a fleeing enemy, she should always choose her comrade; she should remember that the Goddess has many children whose suffering will go unanswered if she throws away her life in futile combat. Nonetheless, like all paladins, Swordmaidens never flinch from any fight for the sake of their own safety; unlike other paladins, however, they may and should exercise discretion as the better part of valor.
• Honesty: a Swordmaiden never lies, not even in the furtherance of her mission.
• Honor: like all paladins, a Swordmaiden’s word is her bond. However, unlike most paladins, a Swordmaiden does not always accept challenges or duels to fight; rather, she attempts to use diplomacy and dialogue to resolve the conflict.
• Chastity & Celibacy: a Swordmaiden who wishes to get married may withdraw from the order honorably; however, those who break this vow are cast out. Swordmaidens do not participate in or respect the conventions of “courtly love.”
“Smite my enemies with thy sword arm, and with thy other, bind up the wounds of my children.”—Tya Nehru to Eli Anna
