Custodians of Kismet Heritage

"Sorcerers and sorceresses can be born anywhere, including into families and cultures that do not revere Greymoria properly. They can even be born into cultures that are distrustful or hostile towards our Dark Mother.   This means many sorcerers and sorceresses do not venerate Greymoria.   We do not bear them any malice. Whether they realize it or not, all sorcery stems from Greymoria and she works in mysterious ways. Even sorcerers who choose to shun Greymoria often end up advancing Greymoria's will indirectly simply by virtue of their existance.   While we do not offer aid or support to sorcerers who shun Greymoria, neither do we hinder them. We hope that in time, the heathen sorcerers will see that the sorcerers that align themselves grow strong and prosperous with our aid, and will thus choose to align with us in the future."   -Glynnis, Swynfaredian Priestess of Greymoria

"Unofficially the Custodians of Kismet Heritage seek to curb the spread of wizardry and warlock pacts by social pressure and propaganda but also through covert violence. This is the main reason the Custodians and their sympathizers get a poor reception in Greymoria temples under the sway of other factions.   Outside of Greymoria's faithful, the Custodians have few friends outside of Swynfaredia. Many secular princes who happen to be fond of their wizard courtiers or Fair Folk courts who happen to be fond of their warlocks. These potentates do not appreciate the more clandestine actions of the Custodians, so outside of Swynfaredia, most Custodians keep their faction affiliation under wraps."   Carcelli Fumayan Priestess of Greymoria

”During the First Age, all arcane magic stemmed from sorcery so there was no need for Greymoria worshipers to specifically promote it as this was part of all Greymoria worship.   During the Second Age, other inferior forms of arcane magic began to crop up though sorcerery remained the most common and most powerful. dragons were proportionally more common so many elves and other Second Age mortals had sorcery through draconic blood and the energies from the First Unmaking still radiated the world so ambient magic spread sorcery wider still.   Warlocks were much rarer andthe various forms of Wizardry we know today were in their infancy so their mystic might paled compared to those of sorcery though the wizards and warlocks gained some ground as the Second Age progressed, forcing more and more of Greymoria’s Children to take steps to preserve the sanctity and prestige of sorcery. In a sense, these were the spiritual predecessors of the Custodians of Kismet Heritage.”   -Glynnis, Swynfaredian Priestess of Greymoria

by Eron12 with Hero Forge

-Carcelli Fumayan Priestess of Greymoria

 

”Every religious group likes to claim an ancient heritage but anyone who has read a history book can tell the Custodians are blowing more hot air than an asthmatic dragon.   the Second Age elves were generally distrustful of sorcery and many kings and queens outright promoted the study of Wizardry. There might have been a few oddball pro-sorcery Children in the Second Age but not enough to have a real organized group. Certainly not enough to have an organized group that somehow survived the Second Unmaking with their specific traditions and protocols intact.

  There were so few priests and priestesses of Greymoria surviving the Unmaking that our spiritual forebears all abandoned their former factional ties and were just grateful to work with any fellow worshiper of Greymoria. They had to rebuild Greymoria's temples, liturgy, and practices from scratch. Greymoria priestly didn’t really start to emerge until The Little Unmaking was already over and done with.   In the early centuries of the Red Era, the dragons were a lot more promiscuous than any time before or sense. There were a lot of half-dragons running around and these half-dragons often tended to be pretty rapacious littering Scarterra with bastards that had vaguely draconic features. This of course caused a swelling of unaligned sorcerers and sorceresses. A few Greymoria priests and priesthoods tried to capitalize on this and rally them. I don’t know at which point they started calling themselves the Custodians of Kismet Heritage.   The Swynfaredian Children don’t like to talk about it much, and the Dragonbloods like to talk about it even less, but Swynfaredia is not the first nation built around a sorcery wielding nobility. These proto-Swynfaredia’s tended to not last very long. The most successful of the proto-Swynfaredian groups wasn’t actually a nation. There was an extended group of sorcerers and sorceresses called the Zauberesh Clan. They didn’t buy into pure bloodlines or any skyte like that. They let any sorcerer or sorceress of potent magical ability to marry in, regardless of their background. The Zauberesh Clan rarely controlled territory instead acting as elite mercenaries and kingmakers throughout a wide swath of West Colassia, quietly gaining a lot of wealth and prestige. The Custodians of the Kismet Heritage emerged in their current form riding the coattails of the Zauberesh Clan. This was a good partnership until the Zauberesh Clan took some heavy losses backing the wrong side in a civil war or two. The final nail in the Zauberesh coffin, pun intended was brought on by vampires. Vladimir the Conqueror tried to recruit them and not all Zauberesh were keen being vampire puppets or being actual vampires and the clan tore itself apart. Many Zauberesh sorcerers tried to remain neutral but these mages ran afoul of both Vladimir’s minions and Vladimir’s enemies. This almost wiped out the so-called Custodians of the Kismet Heritage. They had very few members and had difficulty meeting new recruits and they almost disappeared before they were tossed an unexpected lifeline. That is until, the so called “Four dragons” founded Swynfaredia. The Custodians had absolutely nothing to do with the establishment of Swynfaredia, but once they heard about it, they almost all flocked to hitch their wagons to Swynfaredia and then with the backing of the Dragonbloods, they supplanted the other Children of Greymoria in the area.   Now while the Custodians of the Kismet Heritage are practically synonymous with “Swynfaredian Children”, there are a few Custodians running around elsewhere. There are a couple small organized sorcerer groups in Penarchia and these groups have a few Custodian hangers on. Elsewhere, you might be able to find a few Children that are sympathetic to the Custodians goals and methods but you aren’t going to find any actual Custodians."  

“Many use the terms “Swynfaredian Children” and “Custodians of the Kismet” interchangeably. This is understandable as the vast majority of our members and temples reside in Swynfaredia. Some of our priests and priestesses seeking to encourage sorcery elsewhere. Some but not many, and many of them choose not to publicly announce themselves.   Swynfaredia also houses Children in their borders who are not formally affiliated with the Custodians. Some but not many, and many of them choose to not publicly announce themselves”   -Glynnis, Swynfaredian Priestess of Greymoria

"Much like Greymoria herself, the Children have a well-deserved reputation for belligerence and spite, often acting as a proverbial thorn in the backside of the rest of the Nine.   The Children often spend a lot of their time sabotaging the works of the rest of their local Nonagons throughout Scarterra.   The Swynfaredian Children, despite having more numbers and resources than most other Children enclaves, the Swynfaredian Children rarely throw their weight around to hinder and bully the rest of the local priesthoods. They are too busy toadying for their dragon blood masters to worry about what the rest of the Nonagon is doing...usually.   I'm not saying they never engage in cloak and dagger mischief with other priesthoods, they are just usually too broiled in the secular conflicts of the dragon blood houses to have much time to bother the Children's traditional theological rivals."   -Revered Father Broderick, Swynfaredian Guardian

by Eron12 with Hero Forge

”The Swynfaredian Children refuse to take bold action against the Guardians and Lanterns, or even the Tenders. Not without a writ of permission from their dragon blood masters.   This has cost them allies. Swynfaredian Children have managed to thoroughly alienate themselves from their traditional allies in the Masks and Testers. They still get along okay with the local Stewards. Stewards don’t mind allying with weakling cowards.”   -Enfys the Rainbow of Death, Bearer of the Ill Wind

”The Custodians of Kismet Heritage are often accused of being nothing more than a political arm of the kingdom of Swynfaredia.   Our religious order existed long before Swynfaredia was even a dragon’s fanciful dream and we will persist if Swynfaredia is swallowed by the dust of history.   But since Swynfaredia’s founding, the Custodians and Swynfaredians recognized that a political marriage between our organizations would benefit both parties as we both try to make things better for sorcerers in different ways.   But every married couple fights sometimes. We have some religious tenets that conflict with the Dragon Blood’s political tenets. Mainly, we do not hold draconic sorcerers above non-draconic sorcerers though we usually have to bite our tongues around high ranking dragon bloods about this. Also, while we encourage sorcerers and sorceresses to marry and have many children, we don’t put as much as stock in the purity of specific blood lines and have advised the dragon bloods to broaden their genealogical base. These pleas generally fall on deaf ears.   It is not a coincidence that we tend to get more support from the bloodlines and lesser houses than we usually get from the four founding houses.   We Custodians also favor outreaching to Greymoria friendly sorcerers among the so-called barbarian and savage races, a move opposed by most but not all dragon bloods.   -Glynnis, Swynfaredian Priestess of Greymoria

by Eron12 with Hero Forge

-Carcelli Fumayan Greymoria Priestess

 

“All Greymoria temples require it’s members to have at least a little bit of magical power to be considered a full priest or priestess, and the Custodians, heretical as they are, do not break this rule.   Not counting non-magic wielding acolytes and apprentices, Most Greymoria temples are about an equal mix of theurgists and mages. Among the Custodians, barely one-in-ten of their priesthood is made up of people with actual sorcery.

  Real piety take sacrifice and struggle and the Custodians treat sorcerers and sorceresses with so much reverence that they rarely push them hard enough to make them willing and able to become priests. Though they tend to throw honors at sorcerers if they are even slightly pious towards Greymoria.   They tend to recruit their members from squibs and other sorcerer wannabes. Hypothetically, if they wanted to join one of the other temples of Greymoria, we would be happy to help any Greymoria-fearing Squib to learn wizardry but few seek this out as they’ve been brainwashed into believing wizards are inferior.”

Outside Swynfaredia our order aids almost any sorcerer or sorceress in need without asking anything in return, with the hope that they will honor Greymoria out of gratitude.   Inside Swynfaredia, where sorcerers are more common, we are a little bit more miserly. We provide divine magic services and wise counsel to those houses and bloodlines who properly venerate Greymoria. Those that do not worship the Dark Mother properly, we withhold our aid. We hope in time they will see that the houses and bloodlines that honor Greymoria prospering and will choose to join the protection of Greymoria's mighty mantle of their own free will.   We do not harm or hinder sorcerers and sorceresses who do venerate Greymoria, outside of self defense. Our sacred traditions forbid this. Greymoria works in mysterious ways. Even sorcerers and sorceresses that do not venerate Greymoria indirectly advance our Dark Mother's goals.   -Glynnis, Swynfaredian Priestess of Greymoria

”The Custodians of Kismet Heritage’s sacred traditions declare it is a grave insult to Greymoria for one of them to harm a sorcerer or sorceress outside of extreme exceptions such as self-defense.   Unfortunately, while Greymoria forbids on her Children participating in the actual assassinations of sorcrerers and sorceresses, Greymoria seems to be much more lenient on her followers participating in character assassinations of sorcerers and sorceresses.   Spells are one way to obtain power. Weapons are another. Secrets are a third way to gain power, and the Children, both within Swynfaredia and without, are no stranger to the powers of secrets.”   Gwendolyn ap Numaness, Queen of Swynfaredia