Knights of the Raven

==Knights of the Raven==
===Devices and Uniforms===
The Knights of the Raven traditionally wear the symbol of the cult of Vashna, a white trilithon on a black field, on their armor and weapons. Black robes or tabards are traditional, though the Prophetess Samira (Sammy Jarnot) downplays the importance of uniform appearance. It is considered more important that the Ravens wear somber clothing which outwardly reflects their inner desire to humbly atone for their crimes. Fashionable or expensive clothing is discouraged, since it suggests unrepentant pride and tends to offend the folk the Ravens are meant to serve.
Initiate-Convicts (see Divisions, below) also wear an iron collar as a reminder of the fact that they are condemned men. In the simple promotion ceremony after a year and a day's service, the collar is removed.
===Deity===
Ravens usually serve Vashna, Goddess of Death and Passages. However, only the most devoted members of the Order worship her, as the Knights know they may serve her for eternity after death if they worship only her. Many of the Knights worship other deities, hoping that the atonement they perform in Vashna's service will earn them forgiveness with their own god. Indeed, many Ravens serve Vashna only in name, since they were pressed into service as an alternative to execution.
===Goal===
The primary goal of the Knights Raven is to serve the Prophetess as an honor guard and ensure the continued growth of the cult of Vashna. Other priorities include the destruction of the Undead and guarding burial grounds and graveyards from tomb-robbers.
===Territory===
The Knights Raven consider all Xaria to be open to them, but they are primarily based in the Purple Duchy of Quivera and in Irroquin, where the largest temples of Vashna are located. Given that their leader travels constantly, some Ravens are knights-errant, traveling where they are directed. However, most are sedentary, assigned to guard a particular community's cemetery. Given that many of these Knights were condemned men before entering the Order, their communities often feel they should remain nearby, to give back to the community that they took a life from. This means that, when not actively preparing for battle, many Ravens do humble labor such as farming and, of course, grave-digging.
Ironically, the site of the cult's most ancient shrine, in southern Dakkor, is uninhabited due to the monstrous troops of Uragoth which now occupy that land.
===Genesis===
Though this is a recently-formed order of monastic knights, the order has an ancient history. According to the Prophetess Samira, in the ancient days of the faith, the early Dakkorians often gave men and women condemned to execution the opportunity to instead serve as a Knight of the Raven. This was primarily reserved for those who had committed murder, as a means of atoning for their crime. Those who served well would be blessed by Vashna upon their death, and those who truly sacrificed themselves were given the chance to ascend to the realm of one of the other deities. Those who rebelled, deserted, or otherwise failed in their service would be condemned to the Underworld.
===Past===
When the Elf Nae'del, who the Dakkor called The Treasured One, defeated the Dragon Coldheart, the descendants of the cult of Vashna formed House Urth, a major house of the explosively growing Elf Cult. Knights of the Raven were no longer appointed. Worship of the primal goddess Vashna died out but for backwoods gatherings and peasant superstitions. Even these pockets of nonconformity were eventually converted or wiped out by the dominant Cult of the Treasured One. Vashna's shrines were dismantled, converted into Elf Cult shrines, or fell into ruins whose original purpose was forgotten.
===Present===
In the late summer of 499 AY, Sir Garret Luchese of Quivera (Andrew Gaughen) ventured into the southern lands of Dakkor, which were being claimed by the Black Duke, Rooken of Daggermoor. There he found an unholy plague upon the land that prevented the dead from resting. The last remaining temple of Vashna was discovered there by one amongst his company, Samira. She was named Prophetess by the temple's Caretaker, who had been kept alive by Vashna since the destruction of her cult. By the new power of the Prophetess, the Undead were destroyed, and the ground consecrated once more.
Since then, the Prophetess has traveled Xaria, founding shrines and forming the new Order of the Raven.
===Alliances===
The Knights of the Raven are a small and obscure order, and so their list of allies is brief. Sir Garrett of Quivera is considered a patron of the Order, though he is not formally involved with the cult's leadership. The Ravens will ally themselves with any order who shares their ethos, considering themselves to be the servants of other deities' servants.
===Enemies===
Ravens seek out and destroy Undead creatures. They consider it their holy duty to preserve the natural order of life and death, and tend to think of themselves as the only allies among the living that the dead have.
Necromancers, while not automatically considered evil, are treated with close attention until a judgment can be made regarding their character. Ravens will most often attempt to convert Death Mages to the worship of Vashna, where their interests may better serve her (and they may receive the blessing of her Divine Magik). If these efforts fail, Ravens will do what they can to prevent Death Mages from using their magiks openly. Those who raise Undead are opposed by any means necessary.
===Leadership===
Ultimately the Knights of the Raven answer to the Prophetess. Hierarchy below that is in accordance with years of service. Those who have served longer have the authority to give orders to those who have served less time, regardless of age or ability. This is meant to encourage a sense of humility and to reinforce the concept of membership as atonement.
Thus far the Order is small enough that this model has worked, though there are concerns that if the cult grows, more rigid and stratified protocols may need to be developed.
===Divisions===
The only divisions amongst the Ravens are that of Initiate-Convict and Knight-Penitent. A year and a day of faithful and humble service is required before an Initiate-Convict may be dubbed Knight-Penitent. In that initial term, the Initiate-Convict may be expelled from the Order upon the word of any other Knight-Penitent, and delivered to the authorities for execution. Initiate-Convicts are not allowed to travel abroad.
Ravens, when in communities, live communally, taking their meals together, sleeping in the same quarters, etc. Ravens become accustomed to being watched, as well as watching over each other. When afield, if they travel in groups (and it is rare for a Raven to travel alone; to do so is a sign of trust by his fellow Ravens), they continue to live the same way. This can give them the appearance of being clannish and secretive, when in truth they will openly interact with others given the invitation.
These titles are only used amongst members of the cult of Vashna. To all outsiders, they identify themselves as Ravens.
===Code & Prohibitions===
Though unquestioning servitude is not required of a Raven, humble service is. If a Knight disobeys an order, he must have a very good reason for doing so, and must answer to his fellow Ravens for his decision. Expulsion and execution awaits any Raven who demonstrates himself unrepentant of his crimes.
Knights Raven are encouraged to convert or otherwise rehabilitate murderers and Death Mages, though this is not a written law; it comes, rather, from the mindset of a typical Raven, who understands the weight of guilt, the importance of repentance, the benefit of atonement, and the horror of the Underworld. The code of the order does, however, demand that Ravens must prevent the abuse of the dead - including necromancy - by any means necessary.
===Recruitment===
One of the appeals that the cult has made to the communities they visit is that those who have been condemned for murder may still be of use to the people they have wronged. Victims of murder leave behind bereaved families and wounded communities who must make up for the lost labor both the victim and the murderer once contributed. By an arrangement with local authorities, these condemned men and women may be allowed to serve in the Order of the Raven to atone for their crime. Usually this is for a period of time agreed upon by the Order, the authorities, and the community in question.
Priests of Vashna have become quite skilled at making impassioned pleas for these condemned individuals, hoping to give them a chance at avoiding a dark fate after their death. When their appeals can succeed over the desire for vengeance, a Knight of the Raven is made. The newly dubbed Initiate-Convict is held until nightfall, when he is taken to the community's cemetery, tombs, or other place where the dead are buried. There he undergoes a ritual at the hands of other Ravens, a representative of the local authorities, and those closest to the murder victim. The Initiate-Convict is bound and gagged, and laid down into an open grave where he is made to listen to the grievances of the murder victim's loved ones. It is impressed upon the Initiate-Convict that he has forfeited his right to live, and deserves to die. Then, once all has been said, they close the lid of the coffin and bury the Initiate-Convict alive. When they reason that enough time has passed, they dig him out and pull him from the grave, welcoming him into the Order.
Though the rules of the Order may seem restrictive and coercive to outsiders, the important thing to remember is that membership is more or less voluntary. Ravens are encouraged to let their consciences guide them rather than rigid rules (unless regimented living is what the individual Raven thinks they need). Emphasis is placed on redemption, not incarceration. This is surprisingly effective in practice, but then, most candidates that will not abide by the strictures of the Order surrender themselves to execution before they can reach the rank of Knight-Penitent.
===Typical Member===
The average Knight of the Raven is a man or woman who has committed murder at some point in their past, and regrets having done so. At the very least, even those who do not regret their crime understand that justice demands their life in return. Most Ravens murdered as an act of passion or by accident. They tend to be keenly sensitive to the tenuous barrier between life and death, and value life very highly. However, they generally do not consider death something to be feared, only the consequences that may come afterward based on their deeds in life. Ravens tend to be morose and contemplative, though they are not necessarily antisocial or without a sense of humor.
===Generally Known===
Those who recognize the Ravens at all know them to be a gloomy and reclusive order, skulking around graveyards and taking an interest in anything to do with death. Many are those who mistake them for necromancers. Residents of lands where the Order thrives may know more, understanding that they're an order of convicts working out their sentence instead of being executed. Those in these lands who have lost a loved one to murder will likely know the Raven in question; whether they feel that justice is being done or that the killer is being coddled may vary...
===Tavern Talk and Scuttlebutt===
"They don't say much, not to anybody what doesn't wear their standard, anyway. Usually they sit in the corner, mumbling to each other and sipping their drinks - never very much, mind ye; I've ne'er seen a Raven drunk afore. One time, though, Drake's boy - Hamfeld - comes runnin' into the tavern, face as white as a sheet, and tells his Da that he's seen a will o'wisp out in the fens. Let me tell you, those Ravens were on their feet and out the door as if their breeches were afire. Next morning I hear tell from Drake that those Ravens had been muckin' about the fens until sun-up. Never did find anything, I guess, but now he says every time he goes afield to work, he sees one of them Ravens just standin' there, lookin' into the fens with his hand on his sword."
- Overheard at the Red Rose Inn, Listwich, Quivera
===Out of Game===
Ravens are almost always Fighters or Rogues. Mages are very rare amongst the Knights of the Raven, and are usually watched over with more scrutiny since they can potentially do more damage if they go back to their old ways. Those very few Mages among the Ravens are Divine Mage worshippers of Vashna or reformed Death Mages; the latter will avoid most spells which may conceivably disrupt the natural order of life and death, and will outright refuse to raise Undead. Most PC Ravens will be Knights-Penitent, though an Initiate-Convict may make an interesting character native to the game's setting, or even bound to a Knight-Penitent PC. Ravens encountered in-game are almost never of the unrepentant type, since TRUTH spells and constant supervision tends to root out those who are faking their atonement. Having said that, some Ravens understand that there may be a bit of initial rebellion, and see it as one stage along the path to redemption, and so may allow a degree of sass.
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