Vorkahda, The

Healers on the field of battle, healing life or quickening deaths

The Vorkahda
The Vorkahda is a militant order within the church of Hospitika. They wear dark blood red hoods or robes and are often equated with vampires. Their magic and skill straddles both healing and wounding. They are seen on battlefields and they can be hated and feared by their own allies. The Vorkahda treat wounds amongst the fighting. By their own judgments, they heal the wounded or quicken the end by delivering the "Grace of Death." Enemies on the field will find them brutal as they ensure they quickly die when fallen. They even strike the fallen and presumed dead to ensure they die quickly and do not suffer. The Vorkahda breed fear as easily as hope, so commoners only seek them out when they are sure of what a Vorkah would do. The very ill seek them out for swift ends. Even rogues, cutthroats, or assassins can find a home within the Vorkahda, if they can keep to their codes without fail.
Blood is seen as the sustainer and drainer of life. A custom was to keep a small jar or vial of blood from each important or symbolic grace. This is not the blood of someone hunted but one graced by a Vorkah to their death. Each would have a name, such as the innocent, the sword, the thief, the mother, the beast, the killer, the lord. The rituals of achieving all the graces demonstrated the Vorkah had learned that a quick death is an ending that all deserve.

Type

Religious, Holy Order