Fumayan Guardians

Hallisan has more priests and spell-casters in Fumaya than most of the rest of the Nine but even then, the local Guardians are spread pretty thin.  Every Duchy in Fumaya has a chapel.   The Revered Mother in charge of all Fumaya’s chapels to Hallisan believes that A Swynfaredian Invasion of Fumaya is all but inevitable.  Most of the Guardians theurgists and holy warriors have been deployed to the southern border to reinforce the Fumaya Armed Forces there.   Because of this, the main temple in King's Lake and most of Fumaya's Hallisan chapels are currently under the administration of low ranking acolytes.   This has sort of left the northern lands of Fumaya high and dry and there is an upsurge of monster attacks and hostile orcs which has bred resentment against the Guardians by peasants and princes that were originally well disposed towards them.

Structure

The Fumayan Guardians jurisdiction begins and ends at Fumaya's borders.   There are roughly 100 fully fledged Guardians. About half of the Guardians are considered Adepts. There are about 40 honorary priests and priestesses which is far more than Fumaya has every had at one time before.   There are 30 children and adoloscent acolytes on a traditional training regimen and about 20 adult acolytes on an accelerated training regimen.   All members are expected to know the basics of theology, self-defense, and some of form of a skilled trade but are only required to excel at one of these things.   Roughly 40% are trained as warriors, 60% are trained as clerics, and about 40% practice some form of skilled trade. This adds up to more than 100% because fair number of Fumayan Guardians are overachevers who excel at more than one thing. For instance Sister Ragani is a scholary theologian and a powerful, if unorthodox warrior.   The temple in King's Lake/Duchy of Linijka is the ruling seat, presided over by Revered Mother Frymar.   There is a chapel in every Fumayan duchy and one in the County of Polnoc.   The chapels in Duchy of Nerozik, Duchy of Palbuc, and the Duchy of Zimoz are fairly large.   The chapels in Duchy of Wiern, Duchy of Frymar are fairly modest and the one in Polnoc is very modest.   Below Revered Mother Frymar are six elders each with jurisdiction over a chapel.   Below the the Adepts which represent who Guardians who do not run a chapel but are recognized as being good at what they do be it combat, liturgy/scholary pursuits, or working with one's hands. Adepts are split into include Masters and Captains. The Masters are further subdivided into Master Craftsmen and Master Theologian though both are addressed as "Master". It is possible for a Guardian to be a Master Theologian and/or a Master and/or a Captain.   There are seven "vice elders" who are the right hands of the elders and revered elder. On paper "vice elder" is a temporary position, but in practice vise elders can hold their position for a decade or more. Othertimes, vise elders are deliberately cycled through quickly so a wider variety of guardians can get a taste of leadership and responsiblility.   Vice elders do not have to be Adepts though a majority are. Technically elders do not have to be Adepts but it is extremely rare for non-adepts to be promoted to the head of a chapel.

Culture

Revered Mother Alexandra Frymar rang the alarm bells of Swynfaredia's ambitions to annex Fumaya before anyone else did.   Since then, she has switched the Guardians to a state of military readiness.   As of the end of 1838, pretty much every Fumayan Guardian skilled as a warrior has either been sent on missions or reassigned to the borders with about 60% of them assigned to the southern border, 10% to the County of Polnoc and 10% to help secure the newly liberated allied Border Baronies of Wooly Slopes and Blue Peaks.   20% of their warriors (generally the "old but spry" ones) are being helping train the newer militia recruits of the various dukes and counts.   Any elder with combat ability or tactical acumen has been "voluntold" to put a vice elder in charge of their chapel, so they can help secure the borders or train the militia. With the Fumayan Guardians on military footing, this also means they have ceded more day-to-day Hallisan worship rituals to the Cult of the Compact.   Every Guardian craftsman has been assigned to making military goods. In 1836, there were only ten or eleven honorary priests and priestesses. As 1838 draws to a close, there are about 40.   Alexandra Frymar is always sitting on a large "Maybe List" of names of potential honorary priests and priestesses. Any warrior or blacksmith that demonstrated noticeable Hallisan piety on this Maybe List has recently been inducted. A small handful of Hallisan-fearing wizards have recently been inducted as well.   Most of the Fumayan Guardians acolytes join as children with adults wanting to join later in life having to go through a more thorough vetting process, but Revered Mother has cut the red tape here and inducted twenty promising new militia members as acolytes. A couple have already joined the ranks of the anointed.

Public Agenda

Their official stated agenda is to faciliate Hallisan worship in the state of land of Fumaya.   The unofficial but not at all secret agenda is to defend king and country at all costs.   All of Fumaya's Nonagon wants Fumaya to resist Swynfaredia's aggression, but the Fumayan Guardians are the only priesthood that doesn't have a stated contingency plan for what to do if Fumaya falls.   No one would dare question Revered Mother Frymar directly, but not everyone is seemingly on board with her presumed plan to fight to the last man.

Articles under Fumayan Guardians



Cover image: Guardian Icon by me

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