Mithril Rose

The Order of the Mithril Rose is an organization of Clerics, Druids, Rangers, Paladins, and others, devoted to the service of the goddesses Kunnia and Kukka. Its members are strictly of Good alignment and almost exclusively Lawful or Neutral in ethics. The Order seeks to bring healing and protection wherever it is needed, often serving to spearhead relief efforts in the event of a catastrophe or war, and safeguarding those efforts once begun. The Rose supplies food and provisions, healers, and temporary shelters for those in need, and because of their specialized readiness for these events, can often reach isolated areas more quickly than Royal or Imperial aid.

Lord Protector
The Mithril Rose is headed by the Lord (or Lady) Protector of the Rose. This post is usually held by one of the priests of Kunnia or Kukka, though a few particularly devout Paladins have risen to the office. Chosen by the Council of Five from among the leaders of the different sub-Orders, the Lord Protector serves for life, or until he or she chooses to step down. While an outgoing Lord Protector can and usually does suggest a successor, the Council is not obligated to adhere to these wishes. In the history of the Order, the number of ‘chosen successors’ actually confirmed numbers a mere dozen. In the policies and day-to-day operation of the Order, the Lord Protector is largely a chief administrator, sitting as the Chair of the Council, and presiding over the decisions reached. He sets the agenda for each session, and may bring any matter he likes before the Council, as well as offering advice on decisions to be made, but the Lord Protector cannot directly vote on any matter unless (by virtue of abstinence, absence, death, or other reason) the Council itself is deadlocked, in which case he casts the deciding vote. The Lord Protector is also the Commander of the Order’s martial assets in time of need. In this capacity, his or her decisions are not subject to the dictates of the Council, though improper use of the Order’s assets in this manner may prompt an inquiry by the Council. The current Lord Protector is Maris Onnaker, one of Kunnia’s clergy.

The Council of Five
Beneath the Lord Protector sits the Council of Five. Each member of the Council represents one of the sub-Orders of the Mithril Rose, and may submit any item to the Lord Protector for inclusion on session agendas. During votes, each Counselor is given the opportunity to speak his or her mind on the matter at hand before the Council tenders a decision. The Council is also empowered to investigate allegations of wrongdoing on the part of the Lord Protector, and to convene an inquiry into any matter it does not feel has been satisfactorily resolved by the Tribunals of the sub-Orders. The Council, with the Lord Protector presiding, is also the final court of appeal for members of the Order who feel they have been wrongfully disciplined by a Tribunal.

Sub-Orders
The body of the Order is divided into five sub-Orders, each varying in vocation and focus, which each contribute one member to the Council. Each of these sub-Orders serves a slightly different purpose, and conducts internal administration in a slightly different way. These sub-Orders are:

The Healing Hand – Comprised largely of less militant clerics and many of the Order’s member druids, the Healing Hand serves as the primary caregivers of the Order, overseeing hospices and missions, and organizing and operating field clinics when necessary. The Hand is currently led by Kerran Martokssen, a servant of Kukka.

The Eyes of the Rose – Containing many of the Order’s rangers and almost all of the bardic members of the Order, the Eyes of the Rose function largely as scouts and messengers, performing tasks from keeping the lines of communication between Regional Commands open to providing safe escort for relief caravans as outriders and scouts, and functioning as the primary searchers after disasters or other grievous incidents where the injured may be lost or hidden and helpless. The Eyes are headed, as they have been for nearly a century, by Ela Greymantle, an elven druidess in Kukka’s service.

The Heart of the Rose – Home to almost all of the remaining bards and druids in the Order, as well as many of the monastic members, the Heart of the Rose focuses on research into the mysteries of the body and non-magical healing arts. This sub-Order maintains a few small hospices and clinics within larger cities, which often function as places for battlefield chirurgeons to learn their trade. The Heart of the Rose is headed by Warrij Mossarn, a human monk and alchemist.

The Thorns of the Rose – Home to approximately half of the Order’s paladins and a large number of rangers, the Thorns are the Order’s troubleshooters. Thorns, as its members are called, function largely as Knights Errant, moving about as need and their vocation guide them. Each Thorn will return to the Order’s central stronghold in a region at least once per year to report on their activities and learn of other developments in the area. While in the field, Thorns are often seen as adventurers, righting wrongs and aiding those in need. The current Knight Commander of the Thorns is Amaris Tingael, a half-elven paladin.

The Shieldbearers – Made of up the more martial clerics of Kunnia, and the remainder of the Order’s rangers and paladins, the Shieldbearers serve as the closest thing the Order has to a standing defensive force, providing the heavier escort elements for relief caravans, as well as much of the initiatory martial and self-defense training for novices to the Order. Anna Wastiri, a human cleric of Kunnia, is the current High Marshall of the Shieldbearers.

In addition to these sub-Orders, the Order maintains small communities of monastic teaching at each of its strongholds. Two distinct schools of monastic thought have arisen as the Order has developed, one emphasizing the teachings of Kukka, whose adherents call themselves Disciples of the Rose, preferring meditation and mediation to peacefully resolve conflicts, and the Aegis of the Rose, identifying more with Kunnia and favoring a more active defense of the downtrodden. Both see physical conflict as a last resort however, and prefer to seek resolutions to differences that bring people together, rather than split them apart. Though not a true sub-Order in the sense of separate representation on the Council, many monks of the Order will identify themselves as belonging to one of these two traditions, such as ‘Hirgon Mensch, Disciple of the Heart of the Rose’ or ‘Brother Vannis Krianna, Aegis of the Shieldbearers’

Of the sub-Orders, only the Shieldbearers and the Thorns use the appellations ‘Brother’ or ‘Sister’ with any frequency. Many have speculated that their emphasis on martial training and the close-knit ties of battle foster this sense of unity more than in the more loose-knit sub-Orders.

Strongholds
The Order maintains central Keeps in many of the regions where a notable presence is felt. Some of these lands were gifted to the Order by local lords and rulers who saw the benefits of having a considerable force of protectors and healers available in the event of a disaster or war.

Having no peasant serfs, the Order often uses less than half of its lands at any location for agriculture, dedicating the rest to training grounds instead. The acreage that is farmed is worked by yeomen, often the families of members of the Order, or sometimes novitiates who found themselves not up to the trials of martial and spiritual training, but still wish to aid the Order as they might. One half of the crops grown by these yeomen are collected by the Order, and used to stock the Keep’s stores, as well as providing humanitarian aid and food supplies to be sent out in relief caravans to settlements in need. Against the possibility that the Keep’s own yeomen find themselves short in the winter stock, the Keep’s grain stores are open to all members of the community, and in many ways functions very much like a village silo.

Each Keep provides housing and supplies for the members of the Order in the region, and usually houses at least two to three dozen healers, and as many guards and scouts, to be able to dispatch caravans as needed.

Unlike some other aid organizations within the Empire, the Mithril Rose is sponsored by neither the Empire itself, nor the Pantheistic Church. This separation, while occasionally requiring the Mithril Rose to go to slightly greater lengths to ensure the safety of its hospices (as there is no guarantee of Imperial Legions in the area to rely upon) also allows the Order more flexibility and freedom to serve the wishes of its patrons. In accordance with Kukka’s wishes, Mithril Rose hospices treat all who come for aid, and relief caravans have been known to be dispatched to aid stricken settlements of goblinoids, orcs, and ‘monstrous’ humanoids. If some of the healers and workers also work as missionaries, this of course is purely coincidental.

Lord Protector of the Rose
Maris Onnaker, Lord Protector of the Rose, Cleric10/Divine Healer 6

The Mithril Rose in Vintermor
Situated just over twenty miles due north of Lefwine, in the Duchy of Worrill sits the fortress of Kragshold. Center and home to the Order of the Mithril Rose in the kingdom of Vintermor, Kragshold overlooks a sheltered valley from high upon the southern slope of Mount Kyrmij. More truly a small castle than a simple keep, Kragshold is large enough to provide housing for fifteen hundred people and close to two hundred animals and livestock. These numbers can swell to nearly twice that at need (such as a siege) though not comfortably.

The stronghold is approachable by a wide road that doubles back upon itself several times as it runs up from the valley floor. Along the road sit pillars of rock, each topped with a stone orb that has had Continual Flame cast upon it to provide light, even in the most inclement weather.

Below the slopes of Mt Kyrmij, the valley itself is lush and green, providing excellent farmland. The broad, rolling hills and woodlands on the edges of the valley serve as training grounds during many a day, rain or shine, for both novices and more experienced members of the Order.

Away from Kragshold, many of the settlements of the kingdom are served by the Order’s clergy, either through hospices and clinics in the major cities, or by itinerant healers who travel from one village to the next, tending the ill and injured. In times of crisis, those who can be spared from their normal duties return to Kragshold to assist with the supply and relief caravans: Healers form the bulk of these caravans, with an escort of Shieldbearers, while the Eyes and any Thorns available at the time serve as scouts and outriders, wary of potential ambush.

The regional heads of the various sub-Orders maintain contact through Kragshold, and meet at the stronghold four times a year to discuss matters of import. Under normal circumstances, however, they remain somewhat spread out around the Kingdom, each seeing to his or her own efforts to help the people. The only two who spend most of their time at Kragshold are Sister Kathryn Djunaic, the Knight Argentis for Vintermor’s Thorns, and Brother Olaf of Kunnia, the Captain-General of the Shieldbearers. In the event of a dire emergency, however, they are as likely to personally oversee the organization of relief efforts as they are to order the dispatch of a caravan, then set off from Kragshold immediately with a smaller group to render aid to the afflicted area more rapidly.

The current heads of the sub-Orders in Vintermor (and their locations) are:

Prestige Classes of the Mithril Rose
Mithril Champion