The Church of the Law, the Disciplines, and the New Order

While they aren't updated as fast as some, I do enjoy reading the Kenzerco Kingdoms of Kalamar forums, just to see the different takes the fanbase has on the setting.

While I don't remember which thread it showed up on anymore, I remember a discussion some time ago about whether the Lawful gods were more organized than those of Chaos. I was somewhat surprised that many didn't seem to think there would be any difference at all. To me, it's obvious that there absolutely would be.

In my B/X Kalamar campaign, the three lawful alignments have each developed their own organized religions: The Church of the Law (lawful good), the Disciplines (lawful neutral), and the New Order, known in the distant past as the Elder Fane (lawful evil). Now, all of this is within the contexts of my merger of B/X's three-fold alignment system with the nine-point system assumed by the AD&D-inspired KoK books via Holmes (see A is for Alignment). To briefly sum up:

Lawful: LG, LN, NG
Lawful (evil): LE, overlapping NE
Neutral: Some NG, CG, N
Chaos: CN, CE, overlapping NE
Unaligned: None of the above, though some N are viewed this way 

In short, the nine-point alignments describe the groupings of the gods, while the three-point (or five-point alignment (Law vs. Chaos) is the way most humans are brought up to think of the cosmic conflict. As in real life, the world is usually more complicated than we'd like to believe.

The Church of the Law overlaps somewhat with the Neutral Good faiths, but while there is usually cooperation between them when an outside foe threatens, the Friends of the Fields, Peacemakers, Children of Love, Merciful Fates, and Journeymen are seen as schismatics, and the relationship is often a strained one, not unlike that between Catholics and Protestants in the centuries after the Reformation Wars of the late middle ages. This tension is often exploited by evil and Chaotic forces, who infiltrate both groups to stir up strife.

In practical terms, this means that a cleric may have a particular patron deity, or may simply be a servant of the powers of Law generally. There would be little problem with a cleric shifting his focus from one LG god to another, though there might be some real tension (on the earthly plane, if nothing else) if he turned to one or more of the NG gods--or vice-versa.

(Incidentally, not every priest of the Law is a cleric. Other priests, particularly if they have been long and faithful in their orders, may well be able to call upon the gods to perform miracles, and many of them can regularly produce miracles particularly associated with their patron: Truthseekers can detect lies, the Order of Light can use its lanterns to repel the undead, Friends of the Fields increase the harvest just by blessing it, etc. However, a cleric as described in the rulebooks, who can do multiple miracles a day that reflect the blessing of many gods, is a truly rare individual.)

The Disciplines, as they are usually called, are nominally allied with the Church of the Law, but rarely produce clerics. (The Seekers of the Three Strengths, however, do produce martial-artist monks.) Their focus is on knowledge and wisdom. Many of the Disciples deny that there is an afterlife in the Seven Heavens such as preached by the Church of the Law, but either believe in a form of reincarnation, or believe that after death, all souls are reunited with the First Soul in Nirvana, or some combination of the two. This belief is taken as heretical by both the LG and NG faiths, but there has never been a concentrated effort to stamp it out in modern times, perhaps because it is too esoteric to take hold in the common folk.

Many of the Disciples regard the gods as Platonic ideals of concepts rather than as living, thinking (albeit non-material) beings. When they use the proper names of the gods (particularly their own), they think of them as mortal beings who, by perfectly representing one of the Two-and-Forty ideals, Ascended as Divine Masters. These Masters each paved the way for others to become enlightened, and thereby achieve true Nirvana (either breaking the cycle of reincarnation, or else more perfectly reuniting with the Oversoul).

The New Order, as it is called by its current followers, is actually a revival of the Elder Fane which ruled the world in the ancient days when only the Dejy had yet crossed over from Svimolz to mainland Tellene. In the days before his imprisonment, Asha the Tamer taught the Dejy to domesticate animals, particularly the wild horses that roamed Tellene, thus enabling the Dejy to grow their kingdoms across the face of Tellene, culminating in the great empire that once bore their name (forgotten now to all but the Lathlani and the Adurek). As a result, even when forgotten by all but the elves, the Dejy have never fully forgotten Asha--indeed, his name lingers in many tribal and personal names, such as the Ashyr of Ek'Gakel.

The gods of the New Order are seen as related and married: Asha the Tamer (known in Kalamaran as E'Patali the Overlord) is both the brother of and the consort of Ojob the Jealous (Kar'soloti the Corruptor), while Lord Nyko Twilight (Lamas the Dark One, aka Mravroshkha-Kheilshor, the Devourer of Light to the Krangi hobgoblins) is the brother of and consort of Slen Iceheart (Pirabi the Flaymaster). When the Overlord was imprisoned, the others fled away and remained hidden in remote parts of the world, known only to their secret cults. Now that Asha has returned, the Elder Fane has reformed under a new name, and the nations who openly worship the Four are growing in strength.

The New Order teaches that in the afterlife, good and evil alike will reside in Hades, or Hell (differentiating the two is a more recent conceit of the philosophers). Those who serve the Order well will be given greater dominion in both this world and the next, while those who fall for the deceits of kindness, charity, and sacrifice are destined to be sheep in both worlds.

Much as the relationship between the Lawful Good and Neutral Good faiths, there is some strain between the Lawful Evil and the Neutral Evil. In ancient days, the two were joined within the Fane, particularly in the late Dejy Empire, where they managed to stamp out nearly all other faiths, but after the imprisonment of the Overlord, a split occurred. The New Order seeks to bring the Harvesters, the Gaunt, the Veiled Ones, and the Purgers under its dominion, but looks on them as shock-troops at best, and points to the fact that none of those priesthoods have true clerics as a sign of just how degenerate they have become.

And as for the gods of Neutrality (and Chaotic Good) and Chaos? For the most part, they work independently of each other, though they may ally briefly when it suits them. While not worshiped by completely organized churches, they do have both druids and shamans--and even many magic-users--who seek them out for their gifts or placate them to protect their tribes. Druids (the Fhokki term) and shamans (the Dejy version) in B/X Kalamar don't worship Nature in the abstract, but all of the gods of nature which aboriginal and "primitive" people depend on and fear. That will be a subject for a future post, if and when I ever develop a shaman class that fits with my vision of Tellene.

The Fine Line Between Enchantment and Death

In Tellene, this is the sacred animal of the Riftmaster, the Sorcerer Supreme:

And this is the sacred animal of the Harvester of Souls:

Though seldom admitted by the disciples of the Sorcerer Supreme, there is a intrinsic link between runic magic (the sort practiced by the Lathlani and most human users of magic) and death.

From the Myrad Gadal d'Magi Guldan Relcren:

The Sorcerer Supreme has appeared at many times and places in Tellene to teach his Art to its peoples. The Lathlani knew him first of all as Halobrendar, who taught the Fey Kin in mortal guise to channel their intrinsic control of Chaos (which warps and bends the moral world to a strong will) into constructive forms. In the legendary past of human history, he appeared to the Dejy as Djahn, King of the elemental spirits who bore his name (the Djinn). The Brandobians were taught the Art by an elf (though they themselves deny his race) named Emnon, while the great College of Magic in what would become Bet Rogala was established by one Hokalas. . .

Runic magic stands in the gap between Law and Chaos, ordering the flows of Chaotic Mana by formula which must be memorized and carefully spoken and worked. The nature of Mana is such that the channeling of it erases the ordering runes from the caster's mind, forcing him to re-memorize the forms all over again. True Enchantment (not the petty works of charlatans) therefore requires a careful balance between the two cosmic forces. A magic-user may be a champion of Law or a master of Chaos, but he is using a tool that can never be wholly of either. Indeed, since magic depends on the existence of Chaos, it is intrinsically corrupting, and one dedicated to Law who lacks a strong personality and a measure of wisdom will find himself drawn to the other side. . .

If magic is poised between the mortar of Law and the pestle of Chaos, it is even moreso arranged between the twin forces of Life and Death. Any user of magic who would become a true Wizard must first pass through the rank of Necromancer. We call the Riftmaster by many names, not least of which is the Gatekeeper. But what is the Gate that he keeps? It is the Gate that all mortals must pass through under the scythe of the Harvester. To pass into the true domains of magic, all must cross this Gate and learn to master it. Those who fail to master it find the Lord of the Underworld waiting to devour their souls.

Those mastered by the Harvester are consumed by death. The Dragon of Magic becomes stripped down to the bones of undeath, the darkest underbelly of the Art. They are both obsessed with death and fearful of it, sacrificing even their very souls to gain eternal undeath. These "Harvesters"--harvesting the souls of the living that they may attain the "privilage" of eternal undeath--inevitably carry the dark tome known as the Teleftaia Logon with them, and wear pendants and knotted cords to indicate their rank among the Congregation of the Dead.

In game terms, this means that the priests of the Harvester are not chaotic clerics, but magic-users who decided to go down the dark path. In addition to having access to special necromantic spells, Harvesters can wield sickles (d6 dmg) and scythes (d8 dmg, two-handed pole weapon), and can "turn" (actually, compel) undead as a cleric three levels lower. However, they can never be raised from the dead and are particularly susceptible to the corruption of Chaos.