Ordem da Manutenção

Os Monges de Igreja de Morrow

The Morrowan faith has been associated with martial traditions almost from its inception. The image of a knight of Morrow bravely fighting for light and justice is an icon across western Immoren. Common people in the Iron Kingdoms are only vaguely aware that the Church of Morrow’s defenders do not all wear heavy, ornate armor or march to battle in rank and file. Preferring to serve in quiet obscurity, the Order of Keeping leaves the songs of bards and the adoration of the people to the knights.

In the days following Morrow’s ascension, his followers began to wrestle with the implications of their leader’s apotheosis and their persecution by the Menite priest kings. In these circumstances, the protection of Morrow’s few materiel possessions was a matter of grave discussion. Chief among these items was the Enkheiridion, the assembled collection of both Morrow’s and Thamar’s journals. Orellius I, who would become the first primarch of the nascent Church of Morrow, took the sacred tome into his own keeping, but another of Morrow’s followers began the task of gathering Morrow’s other possessions. Austa Gellon, a skilled swordswoman who had once fought alongside Morrow, saw it as her duty to preserve any remnants of Morrow’s life for posterity. Morrow left no physical remains after his ascension, but Gellon believed that any item associated with him might provide insight into the path that led to godhood.

Some of these items have in fact manifested miraculous properties, for reasons not entirely understood by theologians. Some believe these items were imbued with holy power as a result of their long proximity to Morrow, while others believe they gained these attributes when exposed to the ascension event itself.

Morrow had wandered across much of western Immoren during his life, and Gellon spent years attempting to retrace his steps. It is believed that Gellon chronicled this journey herself, but those journals have been lost to time and it is not known if she succeeded in gathering Morrow’s surviving possessions. What is known is that Gellon did unearth some of Morrow’s ancillary notes and journals, which the early church found invaluable in providing commentary about the Enkheiridion. Modern church scholars believe that Gellon also succeeded in acquiring a few of Morrow’s other possessions, including the sword and mace he once wielded as a soldier.

Gellon eventually deposited the collection of relics at the Divinium, the first monastery devoted to Morrow, deep in the Wyrmwall Mountains. It was there, safe from the depredations of the Menite clergy, that the Church of Morrow began to coalesce from a group of lay followers into the dominant religion that it would become. Gellon herself spent much time guarding the relics that she acquired. As she grew older she became concerned with ensuring that the items in her charge would be guarded in perpetuity.

It is believed that Gellon made several journeys in search of acolytes who would be worthy of protecting both the holiest Morrowan relics as well as the religion’s nascent priesthood. These original guardians were mostly priests of a martial bent, some of whom went on to found their own orders within the Church.

As time passed and more men and women ascended, the order became increasingly dedicated to finding the relics left behind by the ascended.

Some acolytes walked the face of Caen, searching for the physical remnants
of Morrow’s life. Others among them dedicated themselves to protecting these relics. While the Menites continued to persecute them, the Morrowans found that others seemed to have an even less-savory interest in the holy relics of Morrow. A pair of acolytes had journeyed to the city of Fharin, where they believed that a bone from the hand of Ascendant Ellena had come to rest in a hidden cave. It was in this shallow cavern that the acolytes were ambushed and slaughtered by a group of Thamarites, who left their defaced bodies to be found months later by a group of acolytes sent to investigate. The ultimate fate — and even existence — of the relic is still a matter of debate within the Church of Morrow.

The group was a precursor to the Shroud of Thamar, who were intent on destroying Morrowan relics and preserving those of Thamar. Throughout the following centuries, they plagued the guardians of the Church of Morrow, and many shadowy battles were fought over the possession of sacred items. This new threat led to an increased number of Morrowan acolytes, who continued to explore and perfect the meditations and fighting stances passed down from Gellon and Taros.

Decades later, Gellon’s former acolytes had further codified and expanded on her teachings, but it was not until the ascension of Katrena that the group was organized as an official arm of the church. Veneration of Katrena led the fledgling order to take a more active role in protecting Morrowan holy sites. Primarch Orestag I recognized these priests as the Order of Keeping in 1805 BR. The primarch expanded their responsibilities and authorities, allowing them to establish monasteries for both the protection of Morrowan relics
as well as to provide strongholds for others of their faith.

Due to continued persecution by the Menite clergy, these first few strongholds were invariably in remote locations, not unlike the Divinium itself. These duties brought the order into close contact with the Morrowan artisans who helped design and construct their monasteries. The order has remained relatively obscure by choice, but this ancient relationship continues today: the order often maintains close relationships with lay followers who are masons, architects, or those who possess other skills relating to preserving monastic structures.

During the first centuries after Morrow’s ascension, the scrutators
of the Menite faith ruthlessly executed Morrowans on charges of heresy. Because of these dangerous circumstances, Morrowan clergy exhibited extreme discretion in their travels. Almost 300 years after Gellon’s death, the order had effectively become another knightly order, simply one that emphasized the guarding of relics and clergy. It was at this time that one of the order’s most expert combatants and bodyguards, Nallus Taros, set
the order on a new course. A brilliant warrior skilled with sword, shield, and mace, Taros began to focus on his unarmed combat skills, discovering that without obvious weapons he could more easily escape the attention of Menite scrutators and other authorities. By his late 40s, Taros had walked the length and breadth of western Immoren, escorting the most important members of the Church of Morrow in secrecy.

Traveling unarmed and often alone across the wilds of western Immoren was dangerous even without the fear of religious persecution, and Taros walked hundreds of miles increasingly in meditation. In a few years, almost every waking moment of his life was spent in silent contemplation of both Asc. Katrena and Morrow. While walking along a remote road near the Bloodsmeath Marsh, Taros was assaulted by a group of bandits. In the aftermath of this skirmish, with the broken bodies of half a dozen brigands before him and the survivors fleeing, Gellon realized that his meditation had not been broken by combat — his contemplation of Morrowan doctrines had become so complete that even battle could not interrupt it. Indeed, he had fought with incredible prowess, surprising even himself. Taros later described that it was as if Ascendant Katrena herself had guided his hands and feet as he struck down his foes.

When he next returned to the Divinium, his apparent enlightenment was startling even to the primarch of the day. There was no doubt in Taros’ actions; it was obvious that his every thought and deed were in total accord with both Morrow’s ideals and Katrena’s battle philosophies. In the following years, Taros passed on much of what he had learned to the other guardians of the order. When he finally died of old age, his body was interred in a place of special reverence, adjacent to the holy items that had been of such significance to both Taros and Gellon.

The Order of Keeping slowly grew into its expanding monastic role. As more singularly holy individuals ascended, the number of holy relics grew accordingly. Though few items were imbued with the true power of a relic, those that were often served as the kernels from which entire monasteries were founded. The threat of Menite persecution rose and fell over the centuries, and because many of these monasteries were founded in secrecy, the order maintained its emphasis on unarmed combat and weapons that could be easily concealed or justified. Despite their best efforts, some monasteries and early churches, known as basilicas, were found and destroyed by enemies of the church. Some of them seem to have been wiped from the face of Caen itself, and whatever relics they might have housed vanished with them. Early church records are incomplete in many places, and even in the today ruined Morrowan basilicas are sometimes discovered in the remote wilds or hidden deep beneath some of the older cities.

During these early centuries the order found itself as concerned with protecting relics from Menite authorities as they were with the rise of necromancy, particularly among Thamarites. Necromancy is particularly abhorrent to the members of the Order of Keeping, who find the idea of a corrupted soul and body after death a true nightmare. That early Thamarite necromancers succeeded on several occasions in debasing Morrowan relics for their own purposes made the order one of the most radically anti-Thamarite groups within the early church.

The next major change to the order came in 1250 BR following the assassination of Primarch Loricharias. By this time the Church of Morrow had grown into a true religious and political power in western Immoren. The church counted followers among all the kingdoms of man, and its members began to worship openly. When Primarch Loricharias announced that the Morrowan Church would no longer tolerate religious persecution, the Menite Synod responded by dispatching Scrutator Khorva Sicarius on a supposedly diplomatic mission. Sicarius was the first Menite ever invited to visit the Divinium. In fact, Sicarius was no Menite at all, nor was Sicarius her true last name. Khorva was, in truth, an assassin and enforcer originally from the criminal underworld of Korsk. The details of the plot that led to her arrival at the Divinium are lost to history, as is her true last name.

The false scrutator and the primarch met in the center of a large meeting chamber. The knights and guardians, Menite and Morrowan alike, were unarmed in accordance with ceremony. It was this ritual disarmament that prevented the numerous Morrowan paladins in attendance from saving the primarch when Khorva struck him with a ceremonial mitre. As the primarch fell dead to the floor, Ascendant Katrena materialized and smote Khorva, who was immediately claimed by Thamar during her own ascension, even as the slain primarch was taken into Morrow’s reward as an archon. This event
has been marked as one of the most notable manifestations of the divine on Caen in the last two millennia. It also clearly demonstrated to the church the vulnerability of its highest clergy and the need for additional protection.

In the days that followed, the Order of Keeping was charged with protecting Morrowan clergy in addition to their other duties. Experts at unarmed combat and subdual, the order was superbly equipped for this task, one traditionally given to the faith’s paladins. These groups began to work in closer accord as different but equal guardians of those chosen to preach the words of Morrow. It was also later considered that the tragic death of Primarch Loricharias had served the greater good, for the holy manifestations surrounding this event had forced the Menite Synod to recognize the Morrowan faith as legitimate.
It was not until the Orgoth Occupation that the order experienced another important change in its philosophies. The ruthless Orgoth tyrants cared little for the culture of the region, and the monks of the order preserved a great deal of knowledge that would have been otherwise lost to antiquity during this dark age. The order’s emphasis on subtlety and discretion served the Morrowan church well; in many places, the Orgoth forbad the Immorese from carrying weapons, a restriction that barely affected the monks of the Order of Keeping from doing their duty.

It was during the occupation that the order gained its secondary patron.
An Orgoth governor martyred Ascendant Rowan for protecting a group of beggars from execution. As the occupation went on, Rowan gained popularity as the protector of those seeking shelter from oppression. The Order of Keeping often worked to hide Morrowans during these times, and Ascendant Rowan’s asceticism appealed to the monks. Many monasteries adopted her spare and simple lifestyle as their own. Some Morrowan monks have since gained a reputation for generosity and mendicant lives, giving what they earn from begging to the truly needy. Even those branches that do not so exactly adhere to Rowan’s asceticism often donate time to their local communities to aid in projects that help the less fortunate.

Though the order has not undergone any radical changes as a whole since then, individual monasteries often develop their own unique cultures
and philosophies influenced by later ascendants. Monasteries that are closely associated with a particular ascendant tend to develop monastic lives in keeping with their patron’s nature. As such, two monasteries can be geographically close to one another but still vary significantly in outlook.

The Ordic Monastery and Tomb of Ascendant Markus located within the city of Midfast and the monastery on the site of Ascendant Gordenn’s tomb 100 miles away outside Merin, for example, nicely illustrate these divergences.
The monks in Midfast are among the more blatantly militant Morrowan branches of the order. Charged with guarding the remains of Ascendant Markus, who died defending the city, the order has taken him as their patron over any other ascendant. To best honor their patron, the monks consider the defense of Midfast to be a holy duty. Abess Verona Rendasi (female Tordoran Mk14) emphasizes grueling drills and other combat training, a fact for which the Ordic Army is thankful. Monks of this order are almost an official part
of the Ordic Army and Midfast’s own militia.

The quality of their combat training is so esteemed that the Caspian Sancteum often uses monks from Midfast when assigning bodyguards to the most important clergy. Several of the primarch’s own protectors are from the Monastery of Markus.

In stark contrast to its militant brothers and sisters of Midfast, the Monastery of Ascendant Gordenn is less concerned with fighting and more intent on Morrow’s desire to help the common people of Caen, particularly in times of famine or drought. Located a few miles east of Merin, the simple building commands an impressive view of Ord’s agricultural heartland from atop a steep hill. Though the monks there take their duties as the guardians of Gordenn’s remains seriously, they are also deeply involved in the lives of the neighboring farmers. The monastery is most famous for the excellent wine they produce from the “Santo Gordenn” vineyards they maintain. Some of the proceeds from these wines is spent to maintain the monastery’s modest needs, but most is donated to various charitable projects, many of which directly benefit the farmers of the Merin region. The monastery also crafts some excellent beers, which benefit from the high-quality hops and fruits available in the area. In fact, the monks of the order have a reputation for enjoying the good life a little too much. It is perhaps an exaggeration, but many visitors to the monastery leave with the memory of an aged monk sitting beneath a tree, enjoying a beer and smoking a hand-rolled cigar.

The Order in Khador
Though the Khadoran Morrowan Church has always had a smaller Order of Keeping presence, several of the order’s monasteries in northern Khador have existed for centuries. By a coincidence of fate, most of the ascendants lived their lives in the southern part of the Iron Kingdoms, and there are simply fewer monasteries dedicated to Morrowan relics in the north. For the most part, the order is respectful of one another regardless of national origin.
A major exception to this amicability is the divide between Cygnaran and Khadoran Morrowans regarding the proper resting place of Ascendant Katrena. Katrena was born in what would one day be Khador but spent the last days of her life protecting the primarch. When she ascended, her remains were interred within the Divinium itself.

Given the place of her birth, the Korsk Vicarate Council claims that her body and associated relics are rightfully within the jurisdiction of a monastery in the northern mountains of their own nation. Due to the current state of near-open warfare between Cygnar and Khador, the issue is unlikely to be resolved any time soon, but the return of Katrena’s remains is a point of national pride for the ranking members of the Khadoran branch of the church.

Fonte: No Quarter 28

Uma organização importante que serve à Igreja é a Ordem da Manutenção, um grupo de monges que guardam relíquias da fé. Estes monges são raramente vistos fora de seus remotos monastérios nas montanhas de Cygnar e Llael. Atualmente liderados pelo Arqui-Abade Griffi n Murdoch (povo-do-meio Mon21), cada monastério é supervisionado por um abade. Devotados ao seu treinamento marcial, principalmente em combate desarmado, os irmãos e irmãs da Ordem da Manutenção ocasionalmente atuam como guardacostas para membros de alto escalão da Igreja, em particular quando viajam em missões importantes. O Primarca e os Exarcas são sempre acompanhados por Mantenedores e Cavaleiros do Profeta.

Fonte: Guia dos Personagens dos Reinos de Ferro

Order of Keeping The Order of Keeping is a largely reclusive monastic order dedicated first to the preservation of the church’s holy relics, and second to the recovery of holy relics when they have been lost or stolen. The first and most revered site preserved by the Order of Keeping is the Divinium, which served as the spiritual center for the Church of Morrow in its earliest days and for centuries before the Sancteum was built. The archabbot of the order lives in the Divinium, but he makes a yearly pilgrimage to the Archcourt Cathedral to personally verify the condition of the original Enkheiridion, which only he and the primarch are allowed to touch.

The order maintains numerous monasteries in remote locations, including six scattered throughout the Wyrmwall Mountains, two in northern Llael, and three in the mountains of Khador. Each of these locations preserves significant relics as well as many holy tomes of the faith. Individual monks of the order are sometimes assigned to watch over and protect specific relics elsewhere, such as in major cathedrals. In some cases this becomes a lifelong duty. The heavily armed and armored knights of the order are highly educated in spiritual lore. They train in one of several fighting regimens of the order so they can act to protect their charges if need be.

This is deemed a necessary precaution, since relics are often targeted by enemies of the faith seeking to desecrate or destroy them. Priceless relics have been lost to the more destructive branches of the Thamarite faith as well as radical Menites. Some members of the order specialize in the recovery lost relics, whereas others specialize in their protection.

Fonte: King, Nations and Gods