Aelrrigan Order

Aelrrigan Order
Order
Pronunciation	Ail-ree-gan
Origins	Kintyr
Grandmaster	Ffiontirre of Wythwaite
Symbols	Unionist eye, flaming sword, feathered wings
Colors	White, Dark Gray, Sky Blue

The Aelrrigan Order is a Knightly Order primarily occupied with fighting the negative effects of Magic on the world, though by harnessing and teaching as opposed to repressing and peaceful cleansing instead of eradicating. Among the Aelrrigan Knights, Magic usage is very common, and they even provide safe ways to teach responsible Magic usage to others. Inversely however, the Aelrrigan Order has some of the most ruthless Mage-Hunters who track down what they call Renegade Mages (sometimes also called “Goz” for the Breizh word for mole, or just Renegade). Beyond their enforcement of responsible and moral usage of Magic, the Aelrrigan also hunt down Artifacts of Magic in order to keep them out of the hands of the common people, and lock them up into a fortification called an Enemohér, which those who speak Common often refer to as a Magi-Vault or Mohér. The Aelrrigan ply their craft somewhere between the laws of the land and their own moral codes, never quite being fully recognized and legalized in the same way the other Knight Orders had been, but still finding ways to fulfill their divine mission. The Aelrrigan follow the Dydd y Farn, which is loosely translated to the Doomsday Prophecy in Common, an extremely rare instance of three religions all convening for a common goal and concept, to warn the world about dangers and instructing their followers on what to do about it. The repository of all played Knights can be found here. When you make a new Knight character, please file a ticket in the Discord Ticket Bot to have them recorded. You only need to provide their name and Order.

Design

The Aelrrigan Order is a Knightly Order that specializes in positive enforcement of good Magical conduct on the people of the Empire. Aelriggan Chapter houses are some of the few rare locations in the Regalian Empire where one can learn Magic and be taught Magic by practicing teachers without requiring extensive paperwork and documents to prove legality. The Aelrrigans teach their students ethical Magic usage, not to treat magic like a toy, to be respectful, and to only use it when necessary and not overly self indulgent, and to guard the mind and soul from Demonic corruption. The Knights of the Aelrrigan Order also hunt Renegade Mages who use Magic to harm and corrupt, perform kangaroo courts, and punish those who court evil with Magic. Their final task is also to secure wayward Artifacts and keep dangerous Magical objects out of the hands of the common folk who do not understand such terrible power. With regards to Occult Status, the Aelrrigan Order is primarily Occult and Non-Occult, allowing both Void and Exist Magic usage. However, the Aelrrigan Order does not induct or allow Ordial Mages. Aelrrigan Knights mostly fight with sword and shield, or with Magic and ranged weapons, but they never use Firearms.

Internal Aelrrigan Code

The Internal Aelrrigan Code contains additional Honor and Behavior Codes for Viridian Knights that are supplemental to the Common Code described on the Knights Page.

1. Aelrrigan Knights must champion both vocally and physically the cause of protection of the repressed (legal) Occult.
2. Aelrrigan Knights must protect from attack the repressed (legal) Occult and combat the Lothar Order in their purging.
3. Aelrrigan Knights must investigate and track down Renegade Mages for judgement to sever their connection to Magic.
4. Aelrrigan Knights must assist those learning or wishing to learn Magic to learn it safely with good discipline.
5. Aelrrigan Knights must teach the wider public the dangers of unrestrained Magic usage and the Doomsday Prophecy.
6. Aelrrigan Knights must hunt down Spirits and Demons or corrupted souls and purge them back to the realm they came from.
7. Aelrrigan Knights must administer the Danna Magica Artifact Law, and take Artifacts out of the wrong hands.

Renegade Mages

Renegade Mages are a concept unique to Aelrrigan Knights, that has some nuance to it in how they are judged and approached. While many groups and societies label Mages as wholesale dangers, Aelrrigans have a strict set of specifications by which they decide a Mage is a danger to society only if they use Magic to hunger for power and the suffering of others or attacking the Aelrrigan Order, making them Renegades. If a so-called Renegade Mage is captured and given their first Trial, the Aelrrigans go through their crimes, and how to repent and change, sending the Renegade Mage off with a final warning. Following this first trial, they are no longer expressly considered a Renegade Mage, but the Aelrrigans are expected to generally keep a close eye on them because they are part of a problem group in society. Mages who do not change their ways, and continue to cause harm to society at large are labeled a "Stage-Two" Renegade Mage, which is the point at which the Aelrrigans decide that the only way to deal with them is to sever their Magic semi-permanently if they are caught.

Danna Magica

Danna Magica, which is Breizh for Artifact Law, is a collection of written expectations and behaviors that dictate how Aelrrigans must interact with Artifacts in circulation among the population. Regalia has (always) had a fairly loose law concerning Artifacts, cognizant of the fact that many nobles see them as something prestigious to own, and Mages see them as powerful boons to use, but not feeling motivated enough to get involved in the infrequent fighting over these powerful objects (and not wanting to be responsible for the collateral damage). As such, the Aelrrigan Order has effective free range to apply their own laws over Artifacts and enforce them, even if they are not recognized as State Laws, and the State Metropolitan cannot assist them in their duties for them. A lot of these rules are circumstantial, so they should be read in order. Aelrrigans are expected to be aware of what Artifacts are in rotation, and to decide in meetings which Artifacts should be taken from which people, and who should be allowed to keep their Artifacts. Artifacts can also be stashed in the Vault, opening them up to Vault Raids. For Vault Raids, see the Crime Rules section.

History

Aelrrigan Order history is closely linked with Breizh cultural history, as its founding location was the Kintyr lands in the Regalian Archipelago. Its foundation is linked to the Dydd y Farn, a term that is loosely translated to Doomsday Prophecy, but rather than a set of tenets and beliefs, it actually refers to a highly unusual meeting and the events that came as a consequence of that meeting. To understand the event however, it is important to understand the context in which it took place. Kintyr at the time was one of the most divided but also populous regions in the Regalian Archipelago, which was nonetheless troubled by the Elven slave raids in the surrounding lands. Kintyr was unable to properly unite a common force against the foreign invaders because their land was so bitterly divided over religion. In almost equal numbers, the Breizh people were Draconists of Regulus, Fornoss followers of both pantheons, and held a unique religion called the Weards of Eirlys, with all three religions making up roughly a third of the total population and splitting it three ways. An often unspoken about topic that also bothered them, were the Void Conduits. A Conduit happens when a large amount of Void Magic or Exist Magic converges in an area to saturate it to such a degree that it becomes cancerous to anything living in the area, and rots anything that comes in contact with it. Void Conduits happened more and more as the world came closer to the Void Invasion, though obviously the denizens of the world did not yet know it was coming. These Void Conduits manifested all over the Regalian Archipelago but also in Kintyr, because of the rampant Magic usage halfway across the world in the Allorn Empire.

The Dydd y Farn refers to a meeting of the three Religions in the valley called Meysydd Siarad in Kintyr. First came the Dragon Regulus assuming Ailor form with long black hair, silken robes and purple eyes. Second came Eirlys, white feathered wings with songs of the fae from the clouds, and third came a pairing of Fornoss gods, riding a long thunderous strike. Which pairing of gods this was is probably the only unclear part of this legendary meeting, but guesses range from Bard and Svol to it instead being two Arken acting on behalf of the Fornoss pantheons as representatives. The meeting is well recorded, because the faithful took effort to announce this coming meeting ahead of time, meaning hundreds if not thousands of people were present to witness it from all faiths. During the Dydd y Farn each divine representative of their Religion made a verbal agreement and demand of the Kintyr people to set aside their religious differences, and unite against the threat of the Void Conduits, which were causing a plague on the land called the Black Mold, a high contagious disease that was caused by inhaling Void corrupted spores, with guaranteed fatality. The divine entities made it abundantly clear that this unification was necessary, to prevent utter calamity. This event is exceptional for each Religion even, as Dragons were not known to interact this much with their own worship which they often disregarded, and it is also the only recorded time in history when gods of different religions were present in the same area, let alone preaching a common goal.

Each of the divine beings demanded a unified effort on the part of the Breizh people, to form the Aelrrigan Dathonair, the forerunner of the modern Aelrrigan Order. Each of the royal houses (which would later become the Ducal houses as petty Breizh royalty wasn't the same as Imperial royalty) swore fealty to the Dathonair, giving their second born sons up to the Order to be guided by the Gods. In return, the Gods taught the Dathonair the complex and dangerous rituals involved in cleansing the Void Conduits, calling upon a mixture of Dragon, Fornoss, and Wearden powers to bring a halt to the Black Mould plague that was sweeping the region. It is mostly this event and subsequent formation of the Dathonair that modern scholars credit as the reason why nobody really remembers just how awful the Void Conduits were, as they were so successful, that after 200 years, there were no Void Conduits left. Some even dare speculate that because the Dathonair cleansed the lands, by the time Cataclysm happened (which in itself was a very destructive magic-caused event) there wasn't enough magical energy on the Archipelago for the Cataclysm to erupt like a catalyst, thus preventing any major natural disasters in the area and setting up the Regalian Empire with an easy start five years later.

The Dathonair continued their work even into the founding of the Regalian Empire. The Wearden of Eirlys as a standalone Religion would soon cease to exist, as the Concilly Council incorporated the Wearden into Dogmatic Unionism during the first schism, after which the second Emperor of Regalia re-confirmed the commitment of the Everwatcher to uphold the pact made by Eirlys during the Dydd y Farn. In essence, Unionism took over the responsibility of the Wearden of Eirlys, as Unionism replaced said Religion, while Draconism and Fornoss worship remained in place, with various priests of both Religions also ratifying the succession of Unionism which holds more or less to this day. With the Empire's somewhat loose attitude to Magic early on, the Dathonair were able to continue doing their work, but also found because of their efficiency, that little work had to be done. This in turn invited complacency among Regalian officials about the need of the Dathonair. This came to a head roughly 70 years after the first Unionism Schism, when anti Evintarian sentiment and the concept of magical mutations and evolutions gave rise to strong purist sentiments.

The dark times for the Dathonair truly set in when anti-Magic Regalian sentiment peaked in 100 AC with the creation of the Azure Order, allowing Grand Vigil Nicholas to implement his anti-Magic reforms. A true purge followed where many non-Magi signed up to the Azure Order and spread out across the Empire to hunt down Magic users, including Dathonair Mage-Knights. Many of the Dathonair Sanctuaries and Chapter houses were burned, with the Knights slain or imprisoned in the Azure Spire in the City of Regalia. Few of the Order survived without being captured, and most of the Bayor tapestries recording the history of the order were lost, or hidden away and soon forgotten as their protectors were slain elsewhere and taking their location with them to the grave. In 140 AC, the Azure Order declared the Dathonair destroyed, with the burning of Grandmaster Robwyn of Coltyr, being the last captured Dathonair who hid away in the mountains of Alstyr in Kintyr.

The spirit of the Dathonair was kept alive by those proud Ducal families who had once been the first to pledge their allegiance nearly 1200 years prior, hiding their bayor tapestries that recorded the codes and conduct of the Dathonair. They even kept alive knowledge of the rituals and artifacts used to cleanse Conduits, even though none of them were actually trained how to use them. It is during this time that some Fornoss and Draconists blame Unionism for radicalizing and breaking the Dydd y Farn, but reality is far more complicated. By this time, Draconists had also soured on Mages, with the notable Gray Witches in Anglia becoming extremely xenophobic towards Magic users and infected, refusing to even cure simple magical ailments. Similarly, the Fornoss worshipers in the region had been dealt a heavy blow by Magic-using Solvaan who supported the Regalian Empire in the Skagger Wars, thus increasing anti-magical sentiment (also because Elves were very popular among the Dathonair, and commonly lived in Kintyr also). With the death of all Dathonair and the loss of know-how to destroy Conduits, the Azure Order that once hunted the Dathonair now turned their destructive means on the Conduits, causing a lot of collateral damage in the process as they started appearing more and more as time passed further since the death of the last Dathonair.

It was however Unionism that also breathed life back into the compact, during the reign of Emperor Justinian II. Emperor Justinian along with the succeeding Kade dynasty, would later be known as the People Realists, or ruling entities that were more aligned with the needs of the people, than the needs of the Nobility. In doing so, Emperor Justinian II became acutely aware of the effect of Azure cleansing on the people. Far from the Dathonair cleansing rituals of old and the healing of the local population, the Azure Order would call down an extermination order on areas which housed Void Conduits, using cannons and explosive barrels to turn the area into a massive crater, thus denying the Void any matter to hold onto, while also hunting down any person who would have come close to the Conduit and putting them to death as a precaution for Void Demon infestation. This had a huge toll on the local population, and turned sentiment against the Azure Order at large.

Despite severe protests from the Azure Order, the ban on the Dathonair was rescinded by Justinian II in 270 AC, which immediately resulted in the Conclave of Coltyr, where all the major Ducal families brought the remnants of what they had hidden of the Dathonair together, and re-founded the order. This time, to distinguish it from the past, it was referred to as the Aelrrigan Order, leaving the history of the Dathonair in the past. The struggle over influence between the Azure Order and the Aelrrigan would continue until the former's destruction at the hands of the Deathling Occupation. Emperor Alexander I simply never renewed the charter for the Azure Order, and as such, the Aelrrigans had essentially outlived their foe, and were free to formally exist as a Knightly Order without organizational enemies, who would nonetheless later re-appear as Lothar Knights.

Trivia

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Accreditation
Writers MonMarty Artists MonMarty Processors HydraLana	Last Editor OkaDoka on 11/19/2023.

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