The Squires of the Broken Bough

**Requirements:** Wyrd 2+, Resolve 3+, Weaponry 2+

**Origin tales:**

1. Once there was a bear. This bear rescued many others from Arcadia and hid them in a secret place. None knew their location save himself and so the Others sought him. He bargained with all the things on the earth but none would take the burden. So instead he bargained with his blade and made oaths. If only death could keep them safe, he would fight for them and when he fell the oath he swore would keep the Others from learning from his corpse.
2. A Summer Courtier once championed off to Arcadia and saved many people only to return home to find in his absence that raiders had killed his family and friends. He took the broken branch of the tree outside his house as a crutch and limped after them, his own blood dripping on his sword at his side. He swore vengeance with every beat of his heart and the oath he swore that day echoed. While he perished upon that battlefield from his own untended wounds, the oath was carried in his blade and soon others would swear their own oath of vengeance.
3. She looked like a tree but had the strength of an ogre. At her freehold, she saw how the other changelings were scared to fight the Other’s minions and so she promised them she would fight for them. One by one, her own mortal friends fell to the battles she fought and soon she had nothing to live for. She abandoned her mortal side to become a full protector and swore the original oath. Upon her death, they found within her broken limbs countless metal blades and from them come all other tokens.

**Legends:**

1. Standing side to side with their brothers, shields overlapped with each other, they waited for the forces of the keeper to march against them. Their friends, freehold, and family were in the Hedge gate behind them. They only needed to buy time for the ritual to be completed. Just one day so the perimeter could be set up and prevent the Keepers forces from overrunning the city and taking everything they held dear. The army marched on the shield wall and were repelled. After suffering great losses the army was repelled. They gathered themselves and pushed again against the stalwart Shield wall, being repelled again, each battle buying time for their allies. Slowly the clock ticked and slowly the wall fell. Finally when the Squire stood by themselves. The army marched again and the Squire stood there by themselves, bloody sword in hand, they fell. As their sword hit the ground the blade snapped in two, their oath complete, their family and friends safe.
2. Once there was a Squire who had decided they wanted to kill a True Fae that had plagued the world. They knew this Keeper stalked through battlefields and so day after day, battle after battle, they fought for one army against another, always looking for the True Fae that would drag away the dying men. One day, in the midst of battle, they fought a man of no regard whose blade was of iron, beaten into shape. When the changeling parried, his token blade shattered against the iron edge. Sensing Its chance, the True Fae struck. The Squire now compelled the soldier to strike, holding the Gentry for just a moment as the soldier attacked. As he died, he took the broken bit of blade left to strike one final blow.

**What We Do in the Shadows:**

The Squires are respected by other members of their freehold, but also generally avoided; after all, the degree of devotion that they show to their ideals frankly tends to make other changelings a little bit nervous. The Squires don't mind, particularly; if others don't get close to them, they will not mourn so much when a Squire finally dies. Instead, most of them turn their attention inwards, interacting with others on a purely professional level, and considering only their fellow warriors as family.

The Squires spread into freeholds that are facing major threats, or those plagued by corruption and pain. A freehold that faces only political or social threats is one that the Squires have no interest in, and a peaceful freehold, by definition, has no purpose for them. They recruit from those who have lost everything that they cared about -- usually to the Others but sometimes due to other causes -- and who have no reason left to live, and they give them something worth dying for. Their purpose is simple and straightforward: they will fight so that others can rest, and die so that others will live. Their lives have no other purpose, and every drop of blood shed will be accompanied by rivers of blood from their enemies.

The final ending for a squire almost always plays out in one of three ways. If they find a reason to survive they can pass the blade on to another, leave the blade behind while breaking the oath of their entitlement or they die with the blade in hand. Passing the blade to another is rarely done but possible. A broken oath does not destroy the blade but it will leave the Wild Oath waiting for the next changeling to pick it up. However, when a squire dies fighting their oath is not broken and their blade breaks, symbolising the end of the oath.

**Mask & Mein:**

Whatever their natures, the Squires' miens always change gradually and unstoppably. They grow worn-down, their clothing showing signs of frequent and partial repair, their skin growing rough and calloused, their hair faintly uneven, and their eyes shadowed. No amount of careful groom ing can undo this wearing, and as the character's Wyrd grows, she appears more as though she is working herself to the bone.

The second sign of the Squires is their scars; the hands of a Squire always bear the twin scars of their initiation, scars that flush red as the Squires do battle and become subtly more pronounced as her Wyrd score grows. These scars never impede a Squire's movements or cause pain, but they sometimes appear as though they should. The final symbol, and the one that most Squires point to, is the blade that each of them carries; no Squire would be caught without her weapon if she can avoid it, and when forced to leave them behind, they tend to be ill-at-ease and jumpy.

**Bequeathal:**

The Squires are extremely careful about those they let into their ranks. Many changelings, when they first return from the Hedge, feel like their lives have been shattered, and many more are willing to share rash oaths in the aftermath of tragedy (as, some whisper, did the Rowan Knight himself). Because of this, it is a flat rule in every domain inhabited by the Squires that the apprenticeship period must last a minimum of three months, and existing Squires may not directly attempt to recruit their charges; the recruit must approach the Squires to join himself. During those three months, the Squire tests the new recruit, training her to defend herself and pushing her to see reasons to stay alive. Many recruits find this philosophy a strange one, as the Squires seem to try to discourage others from joining them regardless of their qualifications, but the Squires are more interested in recruiting those of a particular mindset than with padding their numbers. At the end of the season's training, all existing Squires within the freehold gather and secretly voice their opinion, beginning with the prospective recruit's primary trainer. Anyone that the majority feel are too suicidal, or too attached to life, is denied entrance to the Squires. Only those whose actions reveal a willingness to die for a cause are allowed entrance.

If the Squire is accepted, she is brought before her new companions, and told to bring a bladed weapon of her choice. As she swears the oath of allegiance to the duties and principles of the Broken Bough, she grasps the blade of the weapon with her hands until blood runs down its surface, and lets her fervency empower it. At the conclusion of her oath, she is left with faint scars that will never fade, and the blade of the Broken Bough.

**Token: The Broken Blade [1-5]**

To mortal eyes, the Broken Blade appears to be nothing more than whatever type of weapon it was forged from, be it a simple knife or an elaborate sword. Beneath the Mask, however, it is more impressive; the weapon is cracked and seems as though it could break at any strike, and tiny beads of blood dot its sides. The weapon can be wielded normally, in which case it behaves as a mundane item of its type.
Activating the token is simple. When activated, the beads of blood along the sword start to flow, running down the hilt to the wielder's hand and along the blade, giving it a viciously sharp edge. Upon a successful activation, the character may boost the weapon's damage bonus by the points in this merit for two turns.
Note: The Broken Blade always uses a Longsword’s stats, no matter what its form is.
**Action:** Reflexive
**Catch:** The character coats the blade in his own blood, suffering one lethal damage per use.
**Drawback:** The damage bonus granted by the Broken Blade is not free; it draws on the life and power of its wielder in order to focus that power into killing force. At the end of the scene in which the Broken Blade is used, the character takes bashing damage equal to the token’s rating. This damage cannot be healed with magic. If the character took enough damage, this is fully capable of killing her.
**Blessings**

* [1] This blessing lets the changeling regain 1 Glamour whenever she regains Willpower through her Needle in direct pursuit of her role. She may spend the Glamour immediately on anything she likes or store it in her heraldry token for later use. The token can store up to her Wyrd in Glamour. If she can neither spend nor store it, it’s lost. All stored Glamour empties at the end of the story.
* [1] Choose one of the following specialties: Athletics (Chase Scenes, Horse Riding), Empathy (Despair), Occult (“Hedge Ghosts”), or Weaponry (Outnumbered). The chosen speciality also gains exceptional on three successes instead of five.
* [1] Additional Thread.
* [1] Refuse to Go Down: The Squire gains a bonus to all stamina checks to resist falling unconscious or asleep equal to Wyrd/2 (Round down). If a supernatural effect would force either sleep or unconsciousness there is a clash of wills. (Conditional)
* [1] Certain Doom: Gain the 8 again on all contested Resolve rolls to resist being forced to flee the battlefield or to stop fighting and gain a +2 to all resisted rolls.on stamina rolls to remain conscious when your health bar is full of damage (Conditional)

**Touchstone:** A mortal who has been imprisoned for life.

**Clarity Curse:** Clarity attacks suffered while watching an ally suffer add damage dice equal to ranks invested in this Merit.

**WP:** Once per scene, gain a Willpower if you're the first injured in combat.