Senleya Order

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Senleya Order
Senleyaorder.png
Order
Pronunciation Sen-le-ya
Origins Decentralized
Grandmaster None

The Senleya Order, also known as the Sentinel Order in Common, is a pan-Elven secret society with a Freemason aesthetic. It was founded by the Lanlath and various other anti-Allorn groups just after Cataclysm upon the realization that their attempts to topple the Allorn Empire might have gone better if they had cooperated at their pivotal moments instead of waiting and letting one another fall. Since then, it has expanded far beyond its original message to become an organization intent on opposing the cause of tyranny and darkness around the world, albeit with a distinctly Elven bent. Despite this, not all Elves associate with the Senleya, especially the ones whose beliefs diverged too far. Because the Senleya are just a society and not an official military Order beholden to feudal authority, they do not count as an actual Knights.

Design

Senleya Knights don't have a clear design ethos like many other Knights, because they are such a varied group of individuals with slightly different motivations for working together. Senleya can range anywhere from using heavy or light armor, ranged or melee weapons, or magic or none. The Senleya Order does not have a Knightly Code to abide by officially, but it has an internal Moral Code that is optional.

  • Senleya Knights must be Elves (not Kathar).
  • Senleya Knights are mostly Estelley, but if not, should be at least Estelley Sympathizers in other Religions (never Evolism).
  • Senleya Knights have no limitation on Magic Alignment, but should not use Sinistral Magic or be Afflicted.

Chapters

All Senleya Knights are members of a single Chapter, which grants them a free non-combat-related Mechanic. Changing Chapters (unlike in other Orders) is not permitted due to their backstory niches.

Palemoon Chapter
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The Palemoon Chapter are the origin of the Senleya as a whole, various Allorn nobility and citizens who came together after Cataclysm. They declared that they had seen the light, that the past was behind them and the future ahead, and that the evils of the Allorn Empire could never be allowed to repeat themselves. While the Palemoon Chapter originally held a political role as coordinators, they have ceded this to the Athentol Chapter with time and taken up an espionage role, especially with the Allorn Empire's return and its Blue Moon intelligence service, which delights in hunting them down and killing them. Palemoon Chapter adherents are tasked to be spymasters who carefully gather information about any dangerous movements in Elven groups as a whole. Despite its role having changed over the years, the Palemoon Chapter is also responsible for making sure the other Senleya remain responsible and in line with local law, minimizing bickering.

  • Palemoon Mechanic: Palemoon Knights are not limited to Knighthood only, they can be a member of a Guild while hiding their Senleya Status. They also cannot be discovered from the Knight Registry.
Brightmoon Chapter
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Despite not being its founders, everyone thinks of the Brightmoon Chapter when they think of the Senleya. A holy order directly answerable to the Lanlath Empress, they are a host of zealous, claymore-wielding Estelley Paladins turned loose on the world to defend the faith. Brightmoon Knights seek to defend the good name of the Estelley religion on a social level by doing outreach, public works, and negotiation, while at the same time defeating its traditional enemies in combat, and protecting its holy sites. Separate from the Order as a whole, the Brightmoon Chapter has a long history appearing in wars across the Elven world on the side the Lanlath directly support, and it is said that their arrival is a tacit sign of their Empress' love for one's cause. Flying on white-feathered wings and frequently bedecked in heavy armor, they try to lead by example and preach by example, but require the other Chapters' social and intelligence support.

  • Brightmoon Mechanic: Brightmoon Knights can have Wings (Angelic only), allowing (Elytra) flight (+use of Rockets). Combat or Ability usage immediately disables flight.
Lanternlight Chapter
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In Suvial society, there was always an undercurrent of those more loyal to the original pacifist teachings of their founder Sanraan than the political realism of the Suvial Princes. The Lanternlight Society as it was called, a group of Suvial dedicated to trying to reintroduce these values to Suvial society at large, became the Lanternlight Chapter when they integrated into the Senleya. While they are looked on with scorn by those Suvial embroiled in the political situation in the West, they look on in scorn back just as much. Within the Senleya, the Lanternlight Chapter occupies a scholar-priest role, both recording internally and preaching externally. Since their integration they have broadened recruitment past the original Suvial population and take in people from everywhere. It is a hopeful goal of the Chapter to someday reform Estelley in line with the idea of Sanraan as the more important prophet, even if this feels very far away now.

  • Lanternlight Mechanic: Lanternlight Knights generate 1 Auto-Divinium every 2 Months, which does not stack, and refreshes every second first day of the Month, even if unused.
Ularen Chapter
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While most Maquixtl left for Guldar, some stayed behind to live in the region called the Ularen Steppe, the desolate plains between large Allorn successor cities. The ruling Princes had social and familial bonds, that upon the return of the Allorn Empire and their mass imprisonment, resettlement, and expulsion became formal and petitioned for inclusion to the Senleya, which was granted. The Ularen Chapter are hunters, trackers, and wilderness experts who give the Senleya ranger and forest expertise that the more urban varieties of Elf usually lack. Many Ularen Chapter members share in their noble patrons' wishes to see their homeland reclaimed from the reborn Allorn Empire, but others join without that desire, merely having a compatible skillset. In Regalia, the Ularen Chapter can frequently be found working in the Gloomrot, sometimes with the local Guild and at times against it, to hunt down the enemies of the Senleya there.

  • Ularen Mechanic: Ularen Knights count as Mounted even while not Mounted, allowing them to buy and use Abilities from Mounted Point Buy while on foot.
Athentol Chapter
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For the Senleya to reach into Regalian society, they had to bargain with the Solvaan Elves, who were already more than instrumental in brokering good relations between the Regalians and the Lanlath. This included the inclusion of the Athentol Society in the Senleya, named after the most important Solvaan city of Athentol, a group of politicians focusing on the lot of Elves in the Regalian Empire. While it is the responsibility of all Senleya to look after each other, the Athentol Chapter specifically focuses on a political role, getting as many Elves, Elven Nobles, and especially as many Senleya members as possible into positions of power and advisory around the City and sometimes the Empire at large. While they like the rest want to forestall an Allorn return, they feel that everyone could benefit from the benevolent input of wise, long-lived Elves, and want to be in a position to offer that counsel.

  • Athentol Mechanic: Athentol Knights have a support network of Aristocrats in Solleria backing up their work. They count as Red Blood in Wealth, despite not being Registered.
Tidewatch Chapter
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The Tidewatch Chapter are mostly veterans from Ilha Faiaal, but also Selevaan Salei and the other Finullen States in Daen and Solleria that do not agree with the Talean return, and prefer to lend their significant fighting skills to the other side. Individual champions and bodyguards, called glory-hounds by some, the Tidewatch Chapter specializes in bodyguard work and directly serving compatible Noble patrons, even those who are not Elves. The Tidewatch pair well with the Athentol Chapter, in that the former protects the desired important figures that the latter helps propel to popularity. Due to the Fin'ullen overbearing fondness for trial by combat, there is also a secondary role for the Tidewatch Chapter to be found as lawyers well equipped to defend their clients from assaults in the court just as well as in the flesh. Separately, there is also a quiet rivalry between the Tidewatch and the Basileon Bloodcast chapter, due to Gladiator overlapping roles.

  • Tidewatch Mechanic: Tidewatch Knights gain the Morrlond Religious Mechanic from Evolism due to Morrlond's hand in Fin'ullen folklore and his love for Sinnavei.

Internal Conflict

The Argentum Order, while ostensibly unified in their desire to destroy or dethrone Regalia as the world's pre-eminent Empire, is not always as cohesive as the strictly disciplined other Orders. For example, some of the Chapters want to outright destroy the Regalian Empire, while some only want to change its policies and culture to fit their own preference. Naturally because of the time-span of the server and the general player population, the goals set for each of these chapters is a dead-end, these things will never happen in Roleplay. That being said, the Characters can still impact the Empire and make it unstable at times, but how they go about this, may differ from Chapter to Chapter. It is not unthinkable that some Chapters may even sabotage efforts of the others, or side with gray-morality pro-law Characters (not other Knights, because they would be committing treason) against a particular Chapter. Fighting among the Chapters is also possible because while they are ostensibly allied for the same goal, there is a great deal of ego and vanity among them that sometimes causes them to duel for honor or brawl for the sake of it. Whatever happens, at the very least, Argentum Order Knights never kill each other. That is the one unspoken rule that if anyone crosses, they become an enemy of the Order at large.

Glory Code

The Argentum Order Glory Code is similar to the Honor Code of the other Regalian Knight Orders, but different in that it is optional. Argentum Knights have a concept of Glory that applies to how venerable or respectable their actions are. Generally, they praise bravery and brazen disregard for self-preservation in the face of pure ideological adherence. While they are certainly capable of subterfuge, they are less keen on skulking and sneaking, being a total unknown non-threat to anyone, or worse, failure. There is no real consequence to not following this Glory Code, aside from the fact that Order Leaders/Gods may positively interact with those who stand by the Code.

  • All Argentum Knights should ensure that harm comes to the Regalian Knights of all Chapters, and especially the Viridian Knights when an opportunity arises.
  • All Argentum Knights should ensure their name, or that of their pseudonym, are widely known and feared or respected by their adversaries, and not to be an unknown.
  • All Argentum Knights should ensure a drive and ambition to achieve, and to have achieved even small things leading to big things, and to not be a nothing-doer.
  • All Argentum should disavow dirty tactics like stabbing in one's back or pocket-sand because only weak people have to resort to weak gestures to win.
  • All Argentum should disavow attacking the weak, the ill, the infantile, and the defenseless, for priding to defeat weaklings is in itself weak. Unless they give lip.

History

The Argentum Order is about as old as the Kathar Empire itself, though its very nature has changed over the centuries. What once started as a collective to gather all the highly praised Kathar military orders, eventually broached beyond by the inclusion of many disparate groups that wanted to ensure the Kathar Empire's supremacy. Eventually, these groups became so numerous, that their unifying gesture had less to do with the Dread Empire, and more to do with breaking the Regalian Empire down, which at the time continued to be the biggest competitor to the Dread Empire. The Rustbound were the first to join, disgruntled by the Regalian Empire's claim over several lost Skyborn treasures. The Truth Hounds followed during the Skagger Wars as Velheim separatists became more prominent, and the Darkstar Chapter somehow wormed their way into the Order without anyone even noticing. The Old Ones and Oathbreakers joined together around the same time and continue to be the two most reluctant members who shy away from their more murderous counterparts. The last to join was the Vilecrest Chapter in recent years, which formally separated the Order from Dread interests due to the overwhelming diversity. The Order is still led by a Dread Empire Silver Tear Paladin, but no actual Silver Tear Paladin is a member of the Order, and this Paladin is more like a diplomatic figurehead who tries to keep the peace for the sake of the common mission, rather than hand down orders from the Dread Empress herself, which is only obeyed widely speaking by the Silverwatch Chapter.

Trivia

  • The Irony of the Argentum Order, is that the more threatening it actually becomes due to the acquisition of new Chapters, the less threatening Regalia pretends it is. As a result, the Order often gets falsely mocked.
  • Argentum Knights go largely unnoticed by Dragons. Why the Dragons are blind to them is unclear, though the expectation is that Triton is protecting them somehow from the Dragons who literally cannot see them.
  • Argentum Knights are in many ways the anti-Knight, but they do consider themselves a social caste in and of themselves. Few Argentum Knights for example marry outside the Order, as outsiders are weak.

Accreditation
Writers Okadoka
Artists MonMarty
Last Editor OkaDoka on 07/9/2024.

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