Grey Brotherhood

The Grey Brotherhood or *Palow Sakrodh* were a religious community that had the oldest origins among the Palowan or Pal, and lived in the sheltered Mushroom Lands or *Suomia* where Pal culture first arose. While retaining their core identity, the Brotherhood embraced many outcasts from other cultures over the course of the 7th century.

The non-violence and neutrality of the Grey Brotherhood was generally respected by other powers in the region, and the Mushroom Lands were regarded as a sanctuary and one of the most peaceful areas in Owlia.

As a spiritual organisation, the Grey Brotherhood was not a nation state - it did not guard territory, operated by customs and mutual agreements rather by law, and considered its doors open to outsiders.

**History and Literature**

It would seem that Grey Brotherhood developed gradually over the early 7th century, and in many ways their religious beliefs and philosophy kept evolving with the times. The earliest written history of the Grey Brotherhood dates back to the 610s, but records are very sparse until the 630s. By this point it is known that a settled, literate civilization existed in the Suomia. Important events and important visitors were recorded in the annals of the Brotherhood from that time.

The Brotherhood were the first literate branch of the Pal family and their writing system, borrowing heavily from the older scripts of Clifftown and Skulltown, later spread throughout the Pálowan world.

The relative importance and influence of the Grey Brotherhood began to decline in the late 7th century, in large part replaced by the Iron Brotherhood in much of the Palowan world, but they remained a founding keystone of Palowan culture.

**Culture and Beliefs**

The Grey Brotherhood followed a largely ascetic lifestyle, deliberately shunning wealth and luxury, and continued to live in simple grey stone buildings even when more advanced technology became available. They nonetheless practiced charity and hospitality to outsiders, regularly taking in the sick and weak and nursing them back to health. Leadership of the brotherhood was elective, with the Elder Brother or *Edhemos* being first chosen by a vote among the twelve most senior Brothers, then keeping their position until death or retirement.

Women were not excluded from the Brotherhood, with female members being called Sisters, but it was a male-dominated environment. Members were discouraged from marrying and having children, so as to focus on their spiritual paths and service to the community. Thus the population of Suomia remained small, and was supported by the regular arrival of devotees from outside, many of whom lived alongside the Brotherhood without being full-fledged members.

The Grey Brotherhood did not have a single religious dogma, but instead a set of unifying beliefs - chief among these being faith in a benevolent higher power, an interwoven inner spiritual essence of all things, non-violence, and a belief in the virtue of being humble and charitable towards others.

Scholars in the Landing region theorised that long-term exposure to Mushroom Stew has mind-altering effects, inducing a feeling of peace, calm and a trusting attitude towards others; more sceptical writers considered this the true origin of the Grey Brotherhood as a movement.

**Food, Climate & Geography**

The unique soil of the Suomia region was largely matted with fungus, dotted with towering giant mushrooms, and as such was ill-suited to conventional agriculture. This mattered little to the Grey Brotherhood, who saw farming as a practice which steals too much time away from more spiritual pursuits. Instead, members of the Grey Brotherhood were encouraged to put their trust in the divine and to ‘live off the land’ - catching fish and milking mushroom stew or *Swombude* from the semi-wild Mooshroom beasts that wandered the landscape. This is often accompanied by the fruit of imported spike berry bushes, which were the only plants traditionally cultivated in small plots of specially-prepared soil (indeed it is believed the Grey Brotherhood were responsible for originally spreading the Spike Berry from its natural habitat in the east). The staple dish of mushroom stew mixed with berries was known as *Namun*. During lean times, the population survived on dried kelp which grew in abundance offshore, and could also be burned as fuel to warm their homes.

The Suomia peninsula was surrounded by an upwelling of very cold water from the deep sea which, combined with glacial winds from the Landing mountains to the west, created the conditions for large icebergs to continually form in a rough, fractured arc around the coastline. This was by no means an impermeable barrier for experienced sailors, but these waters could be hazardous to the inexperienced, especially given the presence of wandering polar bears on the ice. The cold waters were nonetheless rich in nutrients, attracting an abundance of fish and squid. The dramatic and ever-changing outline of the icy ‘cradle’ surrounding their homeland was a continual source of wonder and inspiration for the Grey Brotherhood, and indeed for the wider Pal culture as a whole.

The Grey Brotherhood at times dug deep into the caves and tunnels that underlay the Mushroom Lands, removing large quantities of stone for their construction projects and iron for their tools. It is rumoured that the remains of an ancient mining complex, perhaps related to the ancient Wungarians, existed deep beneath the surface, and was haunted by venomous spiders, yet to be fully explored.

At some point in the mid-7th century, a narrow canal was dug through the western isthmus that connected Suomia to the mainland, to allow the uninterrupted passage of trading canoes. This technically made Suomia a large island, though the canal was narrow enough that it provided little obstacle to overland travel. It is unknown who originally dug the canal but it is likely to have been traders involved in the north-south trade along the coast of the Landing region. The Grey Brotherhood since sought to maintain the canal and to keep it open for all travellers.

**Settlements**

The main settlement of the Grey Brotherhood, and the oldest settlement among the Pal, was known as *Palow Kirkos*, or more informally as ‘Mushroom Town’ to outsiders. The town was located in the northern half of Suomia, occupying a commanding spot at the head of two sheltered inlets in the coastline - one facing north and one facing west, echoing the importance of access to the icy seas for the early Pal peoples. Although the buildings were made of simple grey stone, some of them were rather large and had been built to last the ages, with thick robust walls to stand up to the storms that sometimes sweep in from the icy seas beyond. The town composed a main temple and a library building, holding some of the oldest written scrolls in Owlia, surrounded by workshops and smaller dwellings. A religious monument stood on a hilltop overlooking the town, commemorating the founders of the Grey Brotherhood and acting as a focal point of religious processions.

Wandering traders and their llama trains were frequently to be found passing through Palow Kirkos, so much so that a significant population of escaped semi-wild llamas roamed the surrounding countryside.

The southern half of Suomia remained largely wild and unsettled throughout the Owlian golden age. Aside from the aforementioned mooshrooms, llama escapees, and rare visits from polar bears swimming onto the mainland, one could otherwise meditate here among the giant mushrooms, free from distractions.

**Overseas Monasteries**

Brothers and Sisters travelled extensively throughout the Pal cultural sphere, setting up small outpost communities. A few travelled even further beyond these coasts, and it is believed some voyagers may have established small monasteries in faraway lands, though it would have been hard to recognise them as such; the somewhat amorphous nature of the Grey Brotherhood’s teachings made it relatively easy to syncretise with other religions and cultures.