Bonus Preview: Order of Amber Informational (Patreon)

To explain what this is quickly, as I've managed to regain a buffer (two chapters ahead again!) I'm looking at my informationals, which are in dire need of updating.

This one is an organisation post detailing the Order of Amber, it's not exactly formatted here but I am giving it to you guys first because I should. Also, you get to offer suggestions on additional subjects/information that you think might be appropriate for the informational.

Part of the purpose of this is to be a 'setting bible' for myself so that I can keep track of the Order and what's going on with it in the future. Something I really need as things get more complicated.

My notes are decent, but they need consolidating and structuring.
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Order of Amber

The Order of Amber is the organisation of the Witches of Gilneas, a druidic and shamanistic force that follows ancient traditions that can date back to before the sundering. 

Founded: The Order of Amber as a formal organisation was founded in the year 2818 After the Arathorian Empire, AAE, (19 After the Dark Portal, ADP), but has existed in one form or another for close to six thousand years. While witches existed on the Gilnean Peninsula prior to that they were scattered medicine men and women for the tribes, with no association beyond that of the tribes themselves.

Structure:

While a normally formed organisation, with the aid of those who are part of more longstanding groups of magic users the Order of Amber has a number of defined structures within itself. More are expected to be added as the order grows, with the thought of joining with other remnants of the Old ways across the human realms.

Leadership:

For millennia the Witches of Gilneas have followed a loose structure of diarchy in the form of the Speakers, who represent the great animal gods that have long been part of their traditions. With the reformation to the Order of Amber there is some consideration as to whether a new role is necessary to lead them, but for the moment they hold to past traditions.

The Three Gods: While rarely directly interfering in the activities of the Order of Amber, the influence of the three living gods of the order – The Fox: Lord Renard, The Raven: Maiden Rokkri, and the Great Tree: Talloren – cannot be underestimated. Talloren’s presence at all major meetings of the order means that its will, should it disapprove of a course of action, can be tangibly felt by all but the most magically dull.

The Raven has largely distanced herself from the witches over recent centuries, considering them no longer useful tools. Whether the reformation of the witches into the Order of Amber and their discarding of their secrecy changes this attitude remains to be seen.

The Fox remains more involved in the activities of the witches than The Raven, but still holds himself at a distance. During the Brightest Day his children can be seen all around Talloren’s glade and he is known to invite those that he finds particularly interesting to meet him. Further, he pushes for his speaker to learn, to bring him stories of the wider world.

Speaker of Ravens:  The Speaker of Ravens is always female, representing The Maiden of Dusk and her children amongst the witches. The speaker surrenders their voice to the ravens, giving up the right to voice their own opinions if they are in contradiction with The Raven, and in exchange speaks with the authority of The Raven herself amongst mortals.

The Speaker of Ravens chooses their own successor, the only requirement being to be a True Raven.

Fox Speaker: The Fox Speaker is always male, representing The Silver Tongue and his children amongst the witches. The Speaker vows to speak to the foxes for the witches, and bring them all knowledge they learn of the world. In exchange they speak with the authority of the Fox himself amongst mortals.

The Fox Speaker is chosen by The Fox, brought before him and tested until he is satisfied with their suitability. Then, they are set to be trained by the current Fox Speaker for the role, or if there is none available, one of The Fox’s elder children.

Meetings:

While the Witches of Gilneas have been gathering in various groups amongst themselves for thousands of years, all but a few of the ancient gatherings have died out. Gathering such as the Mistfall of the Duskmist Plains, when the Autumnal storms bring a flood of fog and rain fell out of favour when the land became too settled for witches to easily hide themselves on the fringes of society.

The Ember Rights in the Ember Hills survived until the beginnings of the Crowskin Conspiracy, where a single witch slowly subverted much of the surviving peoples and turned them to dark causes in a dream of toppling the Church of Dawn and reclaiming Gilneas for the Gilan Peoples.

When the Inquisition followed that dark time, the number was reduced to but three: the Spring Mingling, the Darkest Night and the Brightest Day; all of which sheltered under the protective embrace of Talloren.

The Spring Mingling: Every five years during the Spring Equinox the Witches of Gilneas gather in the heart of the Blackwald under the flowering boughs of Talloren. It is a time of reconnection, a time for young people to find partners and companionship, of mothers or fathers to show off promising children, and for future connections to be made amongst the next generation of witches.

A significant part of The Mingling is the ritualised gathering for those unmarried, otherwise lacking a partner, or simply desirous of a Mingling Child. Sexual encounters are encouraged not just socially but with the production and distribution of aphrodisiacs and fertility aids as well; there is little expectation of permanence from such intimacy but some partnerships do grow from it. 

Children of the Mingling, conceived under Talloren’s flowering boughs and with another witch, are generally considered to be more likely to display witchcraft of their own than a child with a civilian.

Due to events at recent Minglings the Order of Amber has instituted rules to discourage non-consensual drug use at the meeting.

The Raven’s Night: Each year on the shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice, the female half of the witches gather at Talloren to initiate their apprentices into the fellowship of the Witches of Gilneas. With the founding of the Order of Amber in the year 2818 AAE (19 ADP) the situation changed such that male witches were welcome to attend the Reven’s Night gathering for the first time in centuries.

As part of the initiation rights apprentices are made to walk upon the still warm ashes of a fire and receive visions of the witches past, their duties and legacy, from the Great Tree Talloren.

Prior to the formation of the Order of Amber, this gathering was simply known as the Winter Solstice, and considered part of Winter’s Veil. The name was changed as part of the formalisation and reformation of the Witches of Gilneas into the formally recognised religious organisation the Order of Amber by Fox Speaker Aderic Longtooth.

The Fox’s Day: Each year on the longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice, the male half of the witches gather at Talloren to initate their apprentices into the fellowship of the Witches of Gilneas. With the founding of the Order of Amber in the year 2818 AEE (19 ADP) the situation changed such that female witches were welcome to attend the Fox’s Day gathering for the first time in centuries.

As part of the initiation rights apprentices are stood close to a blazing fire which they feed with blessed branches of blackwald wood before receiving visions of the witches past, their duties and legacy, from the Great Tree Talloren.

Prior to the formation of the Order of Amber, this gathering was simply known as the Summer Solstice, and considered part of the Midsummer Fire Festival. The name was changed as part of the formalisation and reformation of the Witches of Gilneas into the formally recognised religious organisation the Order of Amber by Fox Speaker Aderic Longtooth.

Ranks:

Prior to the formation of the Order of Amber there was no true ranking structure amongst witches. A child was an initiate, an apprentice, a son or daughter. A witch was someone who had gone through the initiations. Even the Speakers were considered ‘just witches’ in many ways, though it was known they spoke for the gods.

With the formation of the Order of Amber, a number of traditions and practises were formalised into a more coherent system that clearly delineates those within the order.

Apprentice: Anyone training under or taught by a witch is an apprentice, usually a direct apprentice to a specific witch, though there have been considerations for some more suited to the role to take up training those who wish for their children to learn but are less than exceptional at imparting knowledge.

The largest proportion of apprentices are direct children of active witches, with the rest being made of orphans or nephews, nieces, or cousins of witches. A very small amount have no relation to any witch at all.

Most apprentices are children. To remain an apprentice into adulthood is considered a failing.

Initiate: An initiate remains an apprentice, but one that has gone through the process of initiation during either the Raven’s Night or the Fox’s Day. They are formally recognised as witches and members of the order, and are expected to keep and learn the traditions of said order carefully. 

Most initiates are teenagers, with occasional pre-teens. To remain an initiate into adulthood is considered a failing.

Witch: Once a teacher deems their apprentice has completed their education, that they are able to work alone and without supervision and know all they need to know of the witch’s culture, they are brought before their peers and judged whether they are worthy of being accepted as an adult amongst the witches with all the duties and responsibilities of one.

There are two ways to avoid judgement of peers: The first is to make one’s own way to Talloren by following the feel of the forest, which is now considered Talloren’s blessing for their acceptance. The second is to receive the blessing of either the foxes or ravens, dependant on whether it is the Fox’s Day or the Raven’s Night. While rare, either is considered a sign of potential amongst the Order of Amber now.

Most initiates become witches before they are twenty, and never rise higher.

Witches are expected to take on apprentices and initiates of their own, most often their own children or children of family. Orphans have often been inducted this way as well. Of late, some children outside of witching families have been taken as apprentices, but there is something of a stigma to it; there is also a stigma against men training girls and women training boys.

True Foxes/Ravens: A secret rank whose membership is only known by the speakers, possibly each other, and the gods of the Order of Amber. True Foxes and Ravens are those that can take on the animal forms associated with the bestial gods of the order, becoming more than just the appellation of a man being a ‘fox’ and woman being a ‘raven’.

There are less than ten True Foxes or Ravens within the order at present, but as knowledge is shared and training improves, more may distinguish themselves and gain the attention of either god.

Speaker: The Fox Speaker and the Speaker of Ravens are the two appointed leaders of the Order of Amber, forming a diarchy which governs the Witches of Gilneas. At present there are only two speakers, but as membership, duties, and activity grows, more speakers may be granted titles to allow smoother operation of the order.

Jokingly, a gnomish mage by the name of Frazzle Tindersnap has been considered for the title of Speaker of Paperwork thanks to her assistance with the formulation of the order’s structure and laws.

Services:

Healing: Life magic, as wielded by the witches of the Order of Amber, is well suited to healing. Using and altering natural processes of the body one can regrow limbs, restore lost hair, cause scars to fade, banish infertility, bolster fortitude against illness, and cleanse poisons from those struck ill. 

Work against plagues, disease, and common sicknesses is less effective than direct healing, due to ill-targetted Life magic bolstering the sickness as well as the sick, but still sufficient that a witch is an effective healer of such issues. Further, many witches are adept alchemists, knowing remedies to a myriad of ills that their magic cannot cure. 

In this witches face the most direct competition with the Church of Dawn, whose healing services have been a long established part of the role in Gilneas.

Harvest Blessings: Ever since the Harvest Miracle of 2818 AAE (19 ADP), witches have been seen in the light of blessing the harvests and causing them to grow full when they might otherwise falter. With the ability to bless a field of grain to resist blight, to grow vegetables larger and tastier with magic, imbuing the soil with magic so that it will not turn fallow, many a farmer wishes for a witch to grant them their own personal Harvest Miracle.

In this, there is no competition for witches. Those who were once poor find themselves offered good sums to see a prized orchard well, to aid in competition against neighbours, or just to grow a grander crop for the future. 

Even animal husbandry sees this use, with witches suited to the role able to care for animals in ways that a shepherd or other farmer might find difficult. Some rumours speak of how the Misthorn Goats came to be, an old breed of goats cared for by a witch long ago on the Duskmist Plains, which escaped to breed in the Duskrocky Peaks. Whether such a thing is true or merely a tale told in response to the rise of witches and the thoughts of new magically imbued animal breeds becoming the norm, no one can tell.

Raincalling: While part of a good harvest blessing, Raincalling is an art apart. Speaking to wind and sky, predicting the weather, calling wind to fill sails, rain to water fields, or diverting flood waters are all things a Raincalling witch might do. 

Still in its infancy as part of the Order of Amber’s portfolio, many liken it to the Tidesages of Kul Tiras and their famed abilities. Though the lack of a Gilnean Navy to take advantage of such abilities, and indeed the loss of Gilneas’ fishing fleets to the king’s decree, leave many grumbling over the waste of such talents.

Raven Messaging: Used extensively during the Harvest Miracle, the ravens of Gilneas have found that they will paid handsomely in food to carry messages between one witch and another. Insightful civilians, or enterprising witches, realised that such a service could be used otherwise as well; while hardly as extensive as to cover the entirety of the nation messenger birds can carry a letter from one end of Gilneas to the next faster than the fastest courier.

Save, perhaps, Lord Darius Crowley’s daughter, Lorna Crowley and her gryphon Donovan.

Laws:

At their core, the laws of the Order of Amber are the laws of Gilneas. There are some issues where the thoughts of the order do not align with mainstream society, such as in the use of mind influencing potions which are considered the norm at the Spring Mingling, but gauche by wider Gilnean society. Sex outside of marriage and bastard children have no lesser standing either, encouraged as they are by said Mingling.

Law of the Harvest: As the Harvest Miracle is considered to be the first great display of the Order of Amber’s capability, it is no surprise that the usage of magic to undermine a harvest, even the harvest and crop of a single farmer, is considered a crime by the order. 

Censureship for minor offences, with a fine paid to the victim of the attack, and outright banishment and shunning for larger offences are outlined by the law.

Law of Consent: With the usage of mind influencing potions amongst the Order of Amber being relevant, and a near disastrous incident during its founding, the Law of Consent makes clear that secretly providing an individual with a potion such as Mingling Tea or a Peacemind Brew are against the code of the order. 

The punishment can vary from some task ordered by the victim, within reason as decreed by a jury of peers, to banishment in the worst of cases.

Law of Crowskin: The use of mind influencing magic, not potions direct magic, upon other witches is banned outright. The spectre of the Crowskin Cult that brought about the Inquisition upon the witches of Gilneas and culled their number greatly looms large, and any seem to be using such magic upon fellow witches, under any circumstances, will result in mind stripping and outcasting of the perpetrator.

Even offences against outsiders will see the order collapse hard upon the actor, with witch in question mind stripped at given to the Gilnean authorities to answer for any further crimes they committed as part of their actions.

Further, the worship of crows is banned. The Raven disallows crows within the Blackwald and witches are not to suffer pretenders under threat of censureship.

Law of Talloren: No blood may be spilled within Talloren’s glade. While this is largely taken to cover all forms of violence, the edict passed down from Talloren itself is explicit on the form of the matter – should blood be spilled it will not be the witches who punish the perpetrator of the crime, the forest itself shall see justice be done.

Reprimands and censureship are the punishments for spiritual breaches of the law that do not invoke Talloren’s wrath, with the severity depending on the circumstance involved. 

Punishments:

Censureship: An official reprimand by one of the speakers with the caveat that all witches of the order are to treat the punished as no more than an initiate for however long the censureship lasts. Any apprentices or initiates of the punished are no longer theirs to teach, even children, and should be trained by another – less undesirable – witch.

Depending on the type of crime, may include direct restitution to the victims of the punished.

Banishment: Outcast from the Order of Amber in such a manner that they are to have all ties severed, all links cut, all social groups shun them, and all aid denied to them. A complete refusal of association to the punished which is expected to include even their children, spouses, siblings, or parents if they are initiated members of the Order of Amber.

If the crime in question also breaches Gilnean Law, they may be reported to the authorities to be punished under the auspices of the Crown. However, such an act sits ill amongst witches who remember stories of prosecution and witch hunts that have hounded their people for centuries.

Mind Stripping: Through the use of alchemy the punished is stripped of all memory of magic, how to use it, where they learned it, seeing it used, and even the locations of Talloren or other witches. Lovers, children, family, if it touches upon Life magic it is lost as part of the process.

Used only on the most heinous of criminals, those who deserve a fate worse than death. Children who were raised in a family of witches may even lose the ability to speak as part of this process, as they were taught by parents or siblings who used magic in their daily lives.

Details:

With a history stretching thousands of years, and a not-insignificant membership, there are a number of details about the order important for many individuals to know.

Holy Sites:

With the diminishing and the seclusion of the witches over many long centuries there are few places that remain sacred to the Witches of Gilneas, and only two are worth the name anymore. The Great Steeles of the Giants were shattered two millennia ago, the location of Tyr’s Tomb forgotten, the Wending Isle now home to the Wendwater Palace. Much has been lost and little may be regained after so long apart from the world.

Talloren: Deep in the heart of the Blackwald lies the Great Tree Talloren, sometimes known as Tal’Doren or Ótamdrasil, which was planted by the Dreamweaver long before the birth of humanity. A living monument of Life and the Wild Places of the world, Talloren is a guardian of the Witches of Gilneas and is their most sacred location – it is also the most magical place in all of Gilneas, with the surrounding forest more alive and aware than the mundane mortal realms beyond.

Talloren’s Glade is the secret meeting place of the witches, where outsiders can only be brought at the invitation of the Speakers or their chosen successors, and this secret is kept by placing outsiders and those who are not yet fully witches in a magical slumber during their journey to the glade.

No blood may be spilled in Talloren’s glade, on pain of Talloren’s wrath. Those who survive never wake from the punishment enacted upon them.

Hollow Hill: Known in modern times as Aderic’s Repose, the Hollow Hill is the place where it is said the very last giant who guided the ancient Gilan peoples and guarded them was buried. It has long been out of reach of the Order of Amber, held as the resting place of the Greymane Kings, but so long as it remains a place for the honoured dead there is little issue.

Whether the Last Grave is truly located here is unknown, any truth of the matter faded even from The Fox’s long memory. If he knew at all.

Tomb of Tyr: It is known by the Witches of Gilneas that one of the ancient Watchers, the Gods of Gods, the ones who built and made the world… died. His tomb lies somewhere, but any truth as to its location is lost to myth and legend. A secret that none know and few think will ever be found again.

Membership:

As with any group of humans that has a membership that enters the double digits, cliques, factions, and sub factions form. Differing interests and belief systems which try to pull the whole in directions that, while not wholly contradictory, are at least not complimentary.

Longtooths: A small number of witches live amongst the wilds of Gilneas, shunning permanent residence in a ‘civilised’ home and living as their ancestors might. Few completely shun civilisation, using goods and materials that make life simpler, such as a good steel knife, but they hunt, forage, and gather for themselves that they need to live.

Most who live this way see themselves as protectors of the wild, with close ties to the Woodsmen and Woodswomen who make a living hunting in Gilneas’ wilderness. The rugged beauty of Gilneas is something to be treasured in their minds and it needs caretakers – but, in the well settled Gilneas, there are few such people. The Northgate, Ember Hills, and Duskrock Peaks are the few places such people survive.

Though the Fox Speaker Aderic Longtooth, for whom they are named, is a prime example of a Longtooth, they are too few in number to have a great influence on the Order of Amber.

Harvest Witches: After the success of the Harvest Miracle, by far the greatest number of witches would fall into the grouping known as Harvest Witches. Those who live and work openly with their communities, aiding and receiving aid in return. Celestine Tolbecker is a prime example of a Harvest Witch, above all others, and cleaves to the belief that witches are supporters of their communities.

When times are bad, a witch should step in to help. When times are good, a witch prepares for when times go bad. They advise and guide but don’t lead; they aren’t rulers just caring elders that stop fools damning themselves by draining a marsh that prevents flooding, plants trees to stop soil eroding away, puts an end to monocultures that threatens blights. 

For the most part Harvest Witches are a content lot, happy with a simple life that fits in with their vision of how witches were treated by the tribes in ancient times.

Isolationists: Isolationists after the Harvest Miracle are somewhat depleted, the great doom threatened by losing their secrecy not coming to pass. But there are still those fearful of the changes wrought and the nobility or church knowing about them and their kin. They lean towards the Longtooths and the Harvest Witches in many ways, but try to maintain distance from wider society.

Alys, being a victim of one of the Church of Dawn’s bishops, is a clear isolationist. Arguing that they need to at least keep their meetings and gatherings apart from the outsiders that might wish them harm.

Even if things are safe now, kings and nobles don’t last forever. Nor do bishops or archbishops. Things change and will change for the worse again… or so the isolationists believe, feeling they need to be prepared for the inevitable time they must go into hiding once more. If they ever even left it.

Wanderers: Some witches don’t have a permanent residence, wandering from village to village, subsisting on offerings given to them for their work. Most common in the Headlands and Ember Hills, such witches live on the fringes of the fringe of Gilnean society. In many ways they are similar to Harvest Witches but are rarely so content with their lot.

Always wanting to move, to see what is over the horizon, to go just that little bit farther and explore more of the world. One of the more progressive groups of witches, though not the most progressive, they are quite happy with the changes brought about by the Order of Amber.

To them, the Harvest Miracle was everyone following their way of life for a time.

Court Witches: Practically the invention of Gwyneth Arevin, a Court Witch is a witch that serves and interacts directly with the nobility of Gilneas to do work across a wide area, or in service to a specific purpose rather than what comes to them. Where Harvest Witches tie themselves to their local communities a Court Witch spreads out farther, involving themselves in more of Gilneas’ wider society.

Leaning far closer to the idea of aiding Gilnean society in a way that benefits the people of Gilneas, Court Witches are the primary cause and vector for integration with the Gilnean nobility or the Church of Dawn. 

Outside of a few historical examples of witches acting this way, Gwyneth Arevin, her students, and her fellow teacher Heather Rosethorn, could be said to be the only Court Witches in Gilneas at present. This is likely to change as more are enticed by the offers of coin to enter the service of nobles, gaining a status that cannot easily be competed with by other ways of life.

Symbol:

Amber Blessing: There is no single sigil or symbol for the Order of Amber, but each witch that has been accepted into the whole bears a bead of Amber taken from the Great Tree Talloren. A mark of favour that blesses them and their order.

Worked into a shape of the witche’s choosing it allows fellows to recognise each other easily, though to outsiders it would be little more than a minor magical trinket.