Order of the Beleaguered Shield

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Original Notes:

"Based in the fallen lands of Dwarden, the Beleaguered Shields fight almost exclusively within those lands. Dwarden is a hellish land beset with undead, a result of a pagan god's curse. That god's avatar itself still lives within Dwarden. The Beleaguered Shields' mission is to cleanse this land of its curse. Paladins of this Order gain the ability to turn undead, however most steeds fear these rugged holy warriors."

Symbol: A weathered steel shield with reinforced bolts, crossed with a hammer over a sworn coming before the Yathamian trefoil. The Yathamian trefoil bears the golden halo of the Spirit and the silver halo of the Voice, but with both under the iron halo of the Power.

Foundation: 6th century A.M.

Basic Concept and Structure

The Order of the Beleaguered Shield is the sovereign national military order of Dwarden. Due to the centuries-long existential crisis in this land, the Order is the effective government for the entire nation. It is composed of four classes: knights, chaplains, serjeants and men-at-arms. Knights of the order are composed strictly of paladins, which is to say that no non-paladin will ever become a knight of the Order. Chaplains are priests that serve the Order specifically. Serjeants are chevaliers and non-knightly leaders of the Order, serving in important command and administrative posts. Men-at-Arms are those men who have sworn allegiance to the Order. All are dedicated to the destruction of all undead in their lands, especially the arch-enemy of Dwarden, the lich priest-king Thagdion the Mad. The Order traces its roots to the ancient landed knightly class which has always been part of Dwarden society and war. The Order of the Beleaguered Shield is in the 9th century AM an order which unifies the Dwarden resistance against the lich-king Thagdion the Mad. Although there still exist lords and knights with private domains, it is the Order which is by far the bulwark of defense against Thagdion. All the lands not under Thagdion thus fall within the domains of either a bailiwick or priory, led by a member of the Order. Lordly domains and independent knightly lands fall under these jurisdictions. The entire resistance falls under the command of the Grand Master of the Order. Although religiously oriented and extremely close with the national Church, the order is technically secular, and is furthermore sovereign in that it draws no charter or authority from any king or lord. The Order does not intend to rule after any theoretical extirpation of the undead. The basic administrative hierarchy of the Order is represented by the chart below.

Grand Master

Grand Priory

Priory

Bailiwick

Commandery

In effect, the Order governs the lands of Dwarden not currently fallen to the undead. The Order functions under the theory and the auspices of a permanent national military emergency.

Faith and the Church in the Order

Within the lands of Dwarden, the secular clergy (those clergymen not officially members of the Order) and the regular clergy of the order exist side-by-side. Within towns and villages, the secular clergy often sees to the spiritual needs of the common people. In the ancient tradition of St. Yathamian, almost all members of the secular clergy are deacons, especially in the east of the country, although due to Thousierisan influence, priests and even bishops provide services to the west. However, in many if not most communities in Dwarden, it is the regular clergy of the Order ("regular" indicating those members of the clergy whose faith and conduct are regulated by a religious order) who shepherd and protect the faithful of Mandador. Generally, both the secular and regular clergy work in concert with one another, and in practice there is little friction between the two institutions of the Faith.

Save for rare outliers, almost the entirety of the regular clergy of Dwarden are members of the Order of the Beleaguered Shield. Ultimately overseen by the Chaplain-General of the Order appointed by the Grand Master himself, the regular clergy of the Order are referred to collectively as the Brothers-Militant. Almost all the Brothers-Militant live under the Rule of St. Karant, the cleric-lawgiver who in the late 6th century laid down the religious rules and customs that now govern the clergy of the order.

Organization, Subordinate Orders and Hierarchy in the Order

The Lay Brothers-Militant and the Brothers-Militant-at-Sword are considered to be their own unique sub-classes of either cleric or crusader. All of them enjoy a +1 bonus when attacking any form of undead, and gain a +1 bonus to saving throws involving the undead, death spells or necromancy

Lay Brothers-Militant

The lay brothers-militant are by far the most common of the monks of the Order of the Beleaguered Shield. Although specialty orders with specific rules, habits and powers exist within the Order, almost all the brothers-militant are generic clerics, level 1-4. Almost all such monks are simply addressed as "Brother" in common speech, or as Brother-Militant in formal matters. They are officially designated as Monks-Militant of St. Karant.

Most lay brothers of the Order fall under the rule of an abbey, ruled by its abbot-militant. Sometimes however, abbeys are too small, and having less than nine brothers are not authorized an abbot, in which case they are considered "conventual" abbeys, and are instead ruled by their senior brother. Abbeys of the Order are either independent, or subordinate ("obedientiary") to a Commandery of the Order.

Lay brothers-militant are generally from the lower classes of Dwarden. Selected by brothers- and friars-militant in their youth, usually between the ages of 9-12, they are trained at the abbey in prayer and faith, labor and toil, and shield and mace. All of them learn and specialize in at least one task, such as farming, masonery, blacksmithing, carpentry or other mundane tasks. As men of lower classes, they are rarely afforded the opportunity to learn to read and write, and instead are trained to see to the everyday tasks needed for maintaining an abbey and any attached lands. Their lives are tightly controlled under the Rule of St. Karant, watched over by their seniors. They are however trained thoroughly in combat, drilling at least once a week, often very harshly. It is not uncommon for boys to be removed from the Order for failing to attain the martial discipline of this training period. The boys are generally segregated from the lay-brothers who have taken strict vows and entered the novitiate, but as the years pass and they mature, they slowly graduate in the tradition steps of postulant, petitioner and aspirant.

By young manhood, aspirants may or not be offered the chance to take their formal vows and become novice lay-brothers in the Order (1st level clerics). After having spent ten years or more in becoming aspirants to the novitiate, most of these young men are eager to enter formally into the Order, for if they do not they will generally return to their life as a peasant, which they have abandoned for those many years. If accepted, upon taking their oaths, aspirants are laid on hands by a friar or abbot and become novice brother-militants of the Order (1st level clerics).

Some men of the community, including those not selected for the novitiate, are offered the opportunity to become affiliate-brothers, and assist in the work of the abbey. Such (0th level) affiliate-brothers can often be important members of the abbey, but are not offered the same opportunities. Occasionally, retired men-at-arms of the Order find sanctuary later in life as affiliate-brothers.

Lay brothers-militant advance from novices (1st), to initiates (2nd), to brothers (3rd), and then to senior-brother (4th). After this, some brothers may advance as brothers-superior and stay within the purview of the abbey. Alternatively, senior-brothers may advance to become friars (5th+), and thereby become free of the rule of the abbey and granted the right to defend the faith and faithful in Dwarden as they see fit in the world abroad. More rarely, senior-brothers may be offered the chance to seek ordination and gain holy orders as a sub-deacon, and thereby become a choir monk in the abbey, and thereby pursue the possibility of eventually becoming a chaplain to the commandery, an abbot, or other positions still higher in the Order's hierarchy. Lastly, some brothers-superior rise to become trainers, managers and even commanders, all with various roles and titles, in senior levels of the Order, with some even serving at the Council-Militant of the Grand Master of the Order.

Choir Brothers-Militant

Choir-brothers are those monks who have taken up holy orders and become ordained clerics of the Church of Mandador, thereby making them automatically superior to all lay-brothers of the Order. Men of the equestrian class or nobility may train at the abbey as youths under the tutelage of choir-brothers militant, and there learn to read and right, and train to become educated clerics of the Order. Those of junior equestrian status who successfully become novices are generally immediately awarded minor orders, advancing as an ostiary, lector, exorcist and acolyte, until being awarded holy orders and made a sub-deacon (5th level). As a sub-deacon, they are now considered choir brothers-militant, and as such are among the leading members of an abbey. Some of these are selected to become chaplains to a commandery, vice-abbots, or abbots. The senior brothers of the Order are always choir brothers-militant.

The Brothers-Militant-at-Sword

On occasion throughout the Order's history, military necessity and the desire of powerful priests in the Order to build more combat effective forces have gained permission from the Grand Master of the Order to appeal to the Patriarch of Dwarden to relieve an abbey or priory of the limitation on clerics of the faith from using weapons designed to draw blood in combat. Rarely given, these exceptions are however permanent and passed down for as long as the monastery stays in righteous service. Such abbeys and priories train soldier-clerics, crusaders, whose fighting skills are put at a higher premium than their works of faith. Their labor is almost totally of a martial nature, and their monasteries are more akin to military camps. They are almost always commanded by senior brothers-militant-at-sword, who do not use the title of abbot, but rather brother-commander, or prior-commander. They advance similarly to traditional lay-brothers, which they are, but they have no friars as they are never released from their oaths of obedience to a commander. Upon reaching the rank of brother-superior, they are often given subordinate commands or other positions of responsibility, such as Brother-Superior of Artillery, or Brother-Superior of the First Band, or Brother-Superior of the Column. Some brothers-militant-at-sword are seconded to traditional abbeys and priories as trainers, councilors or guards, and some rise to senior positions in the Order as a whole. Brothers-militant-at-sword can never receive holy orders.

Brothers-Militant of the Shield Perilous

A specialized order within the Order of the Beleaguered Shield, the Militant Order of the Shield Perilous is composed of specially selected and volunteer brothers who undergo advanced training in combat and faith. Steeped in extremism and fanatical defiance of the undead scourge of Dwarden, these brothers-militant are especially empowered to combat the unliving. Training for this order can be extreme, but it is open to all boys who receive the recommendation of both their abbot and prior. Many are found wanting through the training, and are compelled to return to their original abbeys. All brothers-militant of this order are awarded holy orders upon reaching 1st level.

Brothers-Militant of the Shield Perilous are all composed of sub-deacons, deacons and arch-deacons. They have one bishop, who is the Brother-General of their order, and who sits at the Council-Militant of the Grand Master of the Order.

Brothers-Militant of the Shield Perilous are all considered specialty priests. Members of this order gain the THAC0 advancement of warriors, certain defenses and immunities against undead, and a powerful array of granted powers to combat the undead as they advance in level.

Knights of the Order of the Beleaguered Shield

Knighthood

A knight commander can grant the basic knighthood, but only bailiffs and above can create a knight commander. Knight grand commanders can be created by a grand prior. A Knight of the Grand Halos can only be created by the Grand Master. Knighthood in the Order is not equivalent to the hereditary knighthoods of Dwarden, which are technically knights banneret. Knighthood in the Order does however elevate one and his perpetuity to the equestrian class, often allowing first-born sons to enter into the serjeantry, whether in the Order or with lords and knights banneret of the land.

Knight of the Grand Halos

Knight Grand Commander

Knight Commander (granted the honorific "sir")

Knight

Powers of a Knight of the Order

addition: saves against level-drain, ageing and other necromantic/death spells and powers that normally allow no saving throws

addition: turn undead as cleric

addition: instead of curing disease in others, paladin may instead forego that power and restore in himself or another character a drain of one level or drain of __ years, if he successfully makes a saving throw vs. PPDM with a +2 bonus. Must be done within one day per level of the paladin from the time of draining.

addition: gain sphere of white necromancy for casting spells

addition: +1 bonus when attacking undead; at 2nd level choose undead type for +2 bonus to hit

addition: circle of power against undead and necromantic magic -2 penalty to attacks against him instead of -1

edit: sense undead, not evil

edit: turn fiends at -2 penalty to rolls; turn them as normal paladins

edit: cannot call war horse (but may ride them, although generally they must be specially trained for his aura reeks of the undead)

edit: -3 reaction adjustment outside of Dwarden culture, or to strangers

The Council-Militant of the Order

The Chaplain-General

The Chaplain-General of the Order is entitled the Grand Prior of the Church of Sts. Kalakran and Tarmayn, of which he is Grand Arch-Deacon. He also retains the titular archbishopric of Kalnak, a great castle of ancient kings. He leads the Sacred Order of Sts. Kalakran and Tarmayn, a small but elite force of selected clerics, crusaders and specialty priests.

...

Men-at-Arms of the Order

Serjeantry

Since the Thousiersian invasion, the institution of serjeantry has become a major element in the Order. Effectively of the yeomanry, this Thousiersian social class quickly became an important part of the Dwarden social order, filling in the void of the ever decreasing size of the knights. Before serjeantry, men-at-arms served the Order of the Beleaguered Shield, serving knights of the Order. Unfortunately for the Order, knights and the knightly class from which they came were becoming rarer with the passing years, and an institution was needed to help fill the gap. By Cecil's time, serjeantry is a respected social class, with serjeants filling numerous important posts. Legal advocates, important vassals, fortress commanders, supply managers and many other important positions are all filled by serjeants. Most serjeants are however but other warriors, junior to knights, who serve individual knights or knightly commands. Dwarden serjeants should not be confused with the military sergeants of Pompiersian armies. Serjeants are not simply noncommissioned officers, and many are more military than administrative. Those of knightly wealth and position, but not able to achieve knighthood through paladinship, are more likely to earn serjeantry than men-at-arms without such social status. It should be noted that many serjeants are the non-paladin sons of powerful Order knights, whom without the paladinship are unable to achieve knighthood. Thus barred, they may pursue ever more increasingly important and powerful positions of serjeantry.

Examples of Serjeantry:

Serjeant of the Fisc

Serjeant Seneschal

Serjeant of the Armory

Serjeant of the Fair

Serjeant of the Hunt

Surgeon-Sergeant

Grand Sergeant of the Seal of the Order, a position currently held by the Barons of Karthane