There are a handful of long-lasting groups in The North Holds whose history goes beyond all that is presently known. These exclusive, enduring societies and chapters exist in secretive enclaves and hidden places. Not all yet survive for righteous reasons, though. For the player, these groups may be a goal of distant ambition, a source of fear, or a thing to be destroyed for vengeance overdue. Either way, these are the orders, guilds, and trusts of note in the realm.
- There is a small order of stout folk who live between the Copper Peaks and the Frog Marshes. These dwarves were long ago shunned by their Ullur kin, cast out as âlowland dwellersâ or even called âmud muttsâ by their own kind. They are a unique hybrid of dwarven resolve and froggish fi ghting style⌠stout folk in wicker hats, using curved blades, who follow a long-lost code of honor unlike any in the stout kingdoms.
- The Heron dwarves employ super-heavy armor, seldom removed, and the largest froggish weapons such as the odak, curved-blade spear, and gourd hammer. They are a secretive, formidable lot who prize personal honor and duty over all else, even loyalty to king or land.
- Beyond serving out errands of service to prove their courage, they seek a long-lost book called âOdakai Tomo,â or âGiant Sword Book,â which is believed to explain their banishment so long ago.
- Before time was measured by men, fragments of a starfaring vessel fell from the sky. How it happened is lost, but one such shard was forged into the mightiest great sword ever known: Ruin.
- Ruin has had many stewards over the centuries, all of them meeting terrible deaths in its service. It has had many names, and even more stories. A blade larger than a northman, light as a feather, and sharp as a dragonâs fang.
- Ruinâs Children are those who study its history, devote themselves to serve those who dare carry it, and ensure the blade is not lost, destroyed, or mistreated. Know their gathering places by the symbol of a bladedown sword marked with a crude hourglass.
- Many are the disciples of Lord Royce the Avarice. Not all are vampires, or murderers, but they see doom as the best outcome for The Holds. They see Royce as a cleansing agent, a restart. They see death as the worldâs custodian. This makes them dangerous, and hated.
- The infl uence of vampires and their servants can be found throughout the north, but it has reached an epidemic level in The Redwoods, Jayâs Rock, and Ashtown. Matters have only gotten worse after the recent eruption of Volcan, which has darkened the sky in the far Northeast.
- The goals of Royce are many: fi nding Orgidex the Watcher, forging intelligent swords, killing the infamous Admiral Akarov, and conjuring dimensional gateways to far-off realms.
- To join the Blood Drinkers, one need only pledge loyalty to one of its members, either by the spilling or drinking of blood. The latter does not offer immediate vampiric power, though. Those who walk that path move through a series of ghoulish stages: the blind, the houndmaster, the cryptkeeper, the eater-of-dead, and fi nally a fl edgling vampire proper. Disobedience or insolence during this slow transformation is met with burning-at-the-stake. This gruesome practice has dotted the northeast lands with terrible, charred landmarks.
- The âNomadsâ Guildâ is a widely known organization of travelers, paid adventurers, highway guards, caravaners, and cartographers. Most towns have a waystop for their members, where job boards and supplies are made available with annual dues. This guild is not exclusive, requiring only that members adhere to standardized bookkeeping to build the ever-growing repository of maps and geographical data kept by the guildâs headquarters in Rivergate.
- Foremost in Ordo Viatorâs endeavors is archaeology. The chaos of the Bloodwing War is not entirely documented or understood. The loss of history in the Ruinmoor area, the fall of Rock Island just west of there, the destruction of the Ogre Neck peninsula, the disappearance of the Skandahar, and the fall of the ancient cathedrals of Temrin in the far south are just a few of the mysteries they seek to uncover.
- Ordo Viator is funded by a cabal of wealthy lords and private interests, with vast treasure holds in various towns.
- Law is often lost in worlds torn apart by war and decay. Not for these stalwarts, who hold the timeless nature of law as a personal vow. They are headquartered in Stonemark, where a council of whitebeards keep enormous stone-spined books of âLaw Eternal.â To become a member requires a series of trials and errands, which repel most applicants. Those who prevail in these ordeals are awarded with equipment, authority, and magical secrets from lineages too old to fully recollect. Such graduates are known throughout the realm simply as Arbiters.
- Folk, especially in smaller settlements, look to Arbiters to hear and resolve all manner of trouble. It is not always a glamorous quest for justice, but these keepers-of-law do enjoy creature comforts wherever they travel.
- In recent years, corruption has stained Udinâs Hammer. Some Arbiters have gone too far, twisted the ancient spirit of law, or defi ed their vows of service to the whitebeards.
- As seeds serve the tree, as the river serves the stones, so these folk take it upon themselves to maintain the balance of nature. Their confederation is loosely kept, membership only being counted at each equinox in secret sabbaths known only to the sensitives and intuitives in their ranks. There is no clear path to join The Ring of Leaves, but its benefi ts are many.
- Calling themselves simply âleaves,â the members of this group are visited by none other than the mighty Greentooth, eldest being of The Holds, at an appointed time in their membership. It is said they are shown wonders, imbued with subtle powers, and made one with a pact as old as the stones on which they stand.
- There are those who see Greentooth and her leaves as an unchecked power: a thing too powerful to control and too neutral to trust. The new king of eastern Elves, Ithamel, is such a malcontent. He has ordered his agents to hunt down and destroy The Ring of Leaves. Many see this as treachery, and a schism is forming in elven lands. At the perilous head of this confl ict is Elayna, Ithamelâs queen, delicately maintaining the balance of it all, much as the leaves hold stewardship over the streams and groves of the hidden world.
The Ridersâ Guild
- Horses are rare in The North Holds. Almost as rare as flint-and-gunpowder fi rearms. In the case of the Ridersâ Guild, the two go together. Membership here focuses on care and training of horses, as well as construction and use of blackpowder weapons.
- Unlike many orders in The Holds, The Ridersâ Guild is skewed to a specifi c lineage, namely that of Proudfoots, who comprise most of its membership. Others are welcome, but seldom apply.
- The political and social purpose of this guild is somewhat unclear. They prize the protection and respect of their way of life over any alignment or loyalty to king or country. For this reason, some consider them outlaws or ruffi ans.
- Find their headquarters in the remote town of Hakburg, where a âtown circleâ of members considers petitioners, âwhoopinâ and a-whompinâ in a ritual of revelry and fellowship.
The Holy Order
- The matter of gods and divinity has, over the centuries, coalesced in its various forms into a group called The Holy Order. This order has some novelty in that many gods and forms of worship are represented under a single âroof.â Clergy here ponder and practice many faiths.
- The Holy Order fi nds much of its spiritual practice and contemplation in famed steam baths. This environment of wellness makes a sacred, and enjoyable, milieu for divine discourse. Almost every abbey has such baths, where the many faiths coexist.
- The abbeys of The North Holds are also home to powerful and experimental magic research. Many, dangerous, and ambitious are their projects.
- To join The Holy Order, one need only show a resounding faith in a deity or deities, and pledge to serve an abbey in whatever way one is useful. When this service is complete, the aspirant is sent abroad to spread faith, wisdom, and the âtruth of many truthsâ to the world.
- The Holy Order isnât strictly stated as anti-infernal, but they have little love of the demonic or the undead. Despite this, their magic ambitions have led them down some dark corridors of late, causing a stir in the clergyâs leadership, and a new blight on their otherwise spotless reputation of piety.