The Writ
The Writ is at the same time the most sacred relic of the Order and its fundament. In it we find gathered all the wisdom and ingeniosity of the great Lords of the past. It tells us where we come from and where we have to head. It covers everything from the Order Background, the Goals that we seek to achieve, the internal Structure of the Order to the mysterious Oath of the Seekers.
Background
There is something both threatening and enticing about the concept of the “End of the World”. Whenever we set foot on a new world we declare “war” on that concept. There is no limit to our possibilities, no constraint that we are not willing to challenge and break. Wherever we go, unknown lands await to be charted, treasures are buried for us to retrieve, dragons are there to be slain. Like the wise man says “The man who dares to cross what cannot be crossed becomes a rich man”. We will build our empire on the challenge to the white spots on our maps, and armed with our courage and wit we dash off into the storms, often just armed with our a sword and a grin. Women and men alike swoon at our charms and other adventurers tell tales of our journeys with a mixture of envy and admiration.
In technical terms, we serve no one but our lust for adventure and adventure. Yet, times are harsh and often a living needs to be made…and a lonely explorer searching for years at an end for some imaginary treasure yields no great income. In order to pay our bills, we sometimes sell our services to a wealthy patron. Our speciality is reconaissance and gathering information. We make the best and boldest scouts one could wish for. Along with that we often offer escort through dangerous, if possible uncharted territories, hunting down and retrieval of rare and precious items.
Our alignment would be considered by most as “Chaotic Good”. We do not serve evil patrons or subject to evil goals, no matter how high the payments are. Our ancestors were honorable men and women and we will always hold to that. On the other hand, we are not here to rid the world or all that is evil, that is the business of the paladins and the likes of them, and doing so most certainly does not fill their bellies. Due to the nature of our Search, we are not as warlike the other warrior tribes or as arcane as the famed eastern mage academies..survival itself forces us to be jacks of all trades, and often enough master of none.
On the other hand we have to be versatile in order to make our ways through the harsh worlds that we travel, and we have to be strong in order to not be crushed by the more powerful warrior and predator clans out there.
Goals
In the early days the Order of the Storm Seekers served the sole purpose of following the trail of the Great Wolf Moragai, Father of the Gods of our ancestors. Yet, since the Great Writ Revision by Arghail Firebeard, the Second Lord Founder, the purpose of our Quest has been widened. Our Search is not for a single God anymore, it is a search for perpetual innovation and adventure. Wherever there are mysteries and secrets to reveal, we are there to reveal them. Wherever there is fear and anxiety of the unknown reigning, we are there to prevail over it. As Arghail himself postulated in the Writ:
“Against the dragons of ignorance and fear, the Order of the Storm Seekers raise their swords and unfurl their maps”.
We accept and often seek payment for our service, after all, if we are outstanding, why not make a profit out of it? Yet, as our common sense dictates, we often help without expecting rewards when dangers that would affect us too threaten the worlds and people we live in.
And of course we are still looking for Moragai. In every little thing that we explore we might find a trace of his passing. Although lately the Search for the Great Wolf has become more of a symbol, his words are still sacred to all of us and we will leave no trail that has even the slightest possibility of revealing some clue regarding Moragai unexplored.
Structure
The Order of the Storm Seekers consists of three main divisions, each of them well-established within the guild and serving its own, more or less arcane purpose.
The original Order core group has evolved into the division that nowadays call themselves “The Seeker Cabal”. These are the people that come the closest to the idealistic explorer image that the ancient Lords had in mind when they devised the Writ. The members of this division are eager, dynamic and very energic individuals, often head-strong, sometimes egoistic, yet always on the lookout for a new adventure, for a new challenge, for a new match. The Seeker Cabal has no titles and ranks for its members, and since the Seekers are more of a big brotherhood than a regular division, they would consider titles only a burden. For administrative purposes and times of war, the Seeker Cabal has one of its members as a leader, and this leader represents the interests of the Seekers in the Order Council.
The seventh Order Lord, Lord Fenrir Wyrmbane, was among the first to recognize that while the Seekers were the ones that were infusing the Order with energy and driving them all forward, they were more of a wild bunch, a funny and sometimes hilarious collection of indvidualists rather than an efficient and well-structured army. Since all his efforts to change this failed due to the thick-headedness of most of the Seekers, he went a different way and recruited from their ranks the ones that were craving for that form of organization and leadership and gave them their fixed place within the Order. It was especially during the late days of the reign of Fenrir, during the first Orc War of Klaneth, that this measure payed off imensely. The former explorers acted as a tightly organized and highly efficient strike force, protecting the Order from most of the harm those wars caused. In recognition of their brave deeds and sacrifices, they were given their permanent place within the Order, in the division that was later called “The Hammers”. To this day the Hammers form the “military Arm” of the order. While every Storm Seeker has to be able to defend himself and his gathered treasures, the Hammers are the ones that have made an art and main purpose out of fighting. Do not be mistaking in considering them to be fighting and killing machines though. In them burns the same fire and the same desire for exploration and adventure as in all the other Order members, they just feel a stronger call to arms than the other Seekers.
The leader of the Hammers bears the Title of Warlord and has one permanent seat in the Guild Council. His direct subordinates bear the titles of War Captains. In times of war the Warlord leads the Hammers into battle, and each of the War Captains has command over a War Band that consists of up to 10-20 warriors.
Skarl the Grey is a name that not many Order records mention nowadays. It was him that, driven by a mad desire for knowledge and power, submitted to a pact with a powerful demon and plunged the Order in a civil war that lasted for ages, and almost ended in its total destruction. Yet, Skarls reign was not totally in vain, for during the golden days of his leadership, he established the “Grail Keepers”. Having been a wise and thoughtful man once, Skarl realized that with great knowledge and great power come great responsability. And as such he ordered that all information and discoveries of “sensitive” nature should be compiled into secretly archived libraries..for while in the discoveries were often powerful, even more often they were proving dangerous in some way, either corrupting through their use or leading to some form of greater evil. And while it would have been a sin to destroy such power, it was too dangerous to be left available at the hands of the unprepared. The Grail Keepers are recruited among the most strong-willed and determined Order Members to serve as guards and keepers for this sort of lore. Forced by the nature of their work they are reclusive and quiet people, and their secrets and catacombs accentuate these traits. Some of the Seekers tend to mock them and joke around about their rituals, purity seals and all the other weird insignia that they display, and yet they all know that without the hard and dangerous work of the Grail Keepers many a “holy” relict would have spawned a demon in the hands of an unsuspecting seeker and wreaked havoc upon them. The members of this division are often shunned upon by the others, since they often have to conduct tedious and intimidating investigations that very often end up in confiscating some powerful artifact or rare manuscript…
The leader of the Grail Keepers bears the Title of Maester and is entitled to a permanent seat in the Order Council, ranked below him are his Officers, or “Tribunes” as they are called within the Division, and the regular members of the Grail Keepers call themselves “Disciples”. The freshly recruited members are called “Initiates”.
The leaders of the three divisions outlined above form the Order Council, which is governed by the Lord of the Order. Together these four people form the supreme Order command. Each of the division leaders has the freedom to command his division as he sees fit, and the Lord of the Storm Seekers is more of an integration figure, responsible for pursuing the uttermost order interests. Strictly hierarchically speaking, the Lord of the Order is superior to each of the division leaders, yet the cases where a Lord has to intervene directly in internal division business is very rare, as he usually fully trusts each of the division leaders.
The Council issues war declarations, debates and decides upon accepting contracts of employment and comes up with Writ interpretations and enhancements when necesssary.
The Storm Seeker Oath
This is the holy Oath of the Storm Seekers, the sacred promise that each of us has to pledge upon being acknowledged as a full Order member.
“I follow the storm
The rain on my brow
The wind in my hair
The horizon ahead.
Stories untold,Legends unheard,
Treasures unsought,Mysteries unfold,
I follow their call,
I follow the storm.
I fear no one
I am free
I follow the storm…”