Maals Holy Orders

The courts of Maal have two great holy orders: the order of justiciars (joo-STISH-ee-urs; the clergy) and the officers of Maal (holy warriors). A third order, the talesmen (TAYLZ-muhn), has few members, none of whom involve themselves in court matters.
The Four Justices of the faith act as its central authority, and consist of two highest ranked justiciars and the two greatest known officers of Maal. The Four control the faith from a central court located in a small city, far from prying eyes.
The order of justiciars has four levels of status: justiciar, high justiciar, prolocutor (pro-LOOK-yuh-tur), and their two Justices. The officers of Maal are also divided into four groups: swords, shields, hands, and their two Justices. The talesmen are only ever talesmen, and never for long. The high justiciars oversee the activities of the courts. The clergy below them see to the court’s judgments, and the officers see to their enforcement. Justiciars who do not serve at a court mostly concern themselves with finding the Sacred Laws, and officers not found at court bring justice to the world through the strength of their blades.
The average court has one to three high justiciars, and eight to ten justiciars. There are usually five, ten or fifteen swords of the officers of Maal (almost always a multiple of five), and three to five shields. The prolocutors and hands are charged with wandering the world and spreading justice, so the most powerful members of the courts are rarely found within their walls.

Justiciars of Maal

The justiciars are the clerical order of the courts of Maal. They keep the court systems operating, with the high justiciars overseeing the individual courts. They are looked to for their wisdom, good judgment, and counsel. The deepest purpose of the order is the recovery of the Sacred Laws, and this is what concerns most prolocutors, who are generally wandering, powerful clerics seeking these ancient artifacts of their god.
There are only two major alignments among clerics of Maal—lawful neutral and lawful good. Lawful neutral justiciars are the largest contingent of the courts. Their foremost concern is finding the twelve laws of Maal. While their complete dedication to legality makes them excellent judges, they often allow unfortunate outcomes by the standards of goodness, as they feel the preservation of the law is of paramount importance. For this reason, in cases where someone has broken the law but has done so for a good or very understandable reason, lawful neutral justiciars still condemn the criminal, and are uninterested in vague concepts such as “right” or “context.”
Some people complain these justiciars do evil by adhering to law so completely, but the justiciars respond that the anyone who breaks the law for some shortterm good will likely do a profound evil, in the end. Lawful good justiciars, however, are much beloved, for they believe that law exists to better the lives of people. They are the “live and let live” sort, associating themselves with people who, perhaps, bend the letter of the law to achieve great good. While they themselves do not stray from the law, and while they certainly try to explain to such people the importance of maintaining laws, one can find a lawful good justiciar adventuring with chaotic good heroes. Such justiciars are paragons of virtue, seeking to aid others through their wisdom and strength. They do not lie, do not swear, do not strike others in anger, and do not raise their voices.
All in all, they seek to be exceptional figures of morality, temperance, and wisdom, as Maal is. Lawful good justiciars typically do not rise far in the court system, and it is rare for one of them to sit as one of the Four Justices. There are lawful evil clerics who call Maal their lord. Likely receiving power from an infernal source instead of the god they proclaim, these deluded few believe life is misery, and save people from it by sending them to Maal.


Forms of address for the justiciars are varied, but all are introduced by name and position among the justiciars, such as, “Wilhelm, prolocutor of the courts of Maal.” When referred to without his name, a member of the order is called “a justiciar of Maal,” regardless of his personal title, or more formally, “a justiciar of the courts of Maal,” since the most important detail about them is that they serve the courts and can mediate disputes. They represent the faith and their order first, in all things.
Justiciar

New justiciars keep busy. Several justiciars operate in even the smallest courts, as running one involves a fantastic amount of work, given that most courts hear daily petitions from local people asking for help in serious matters such as resolving disputes and remedying cases of injustice. Justiciars operate as assistants to high justiciars, and must obey their superiors.
New justiciars rarely adventure far from home, but it can happen when it involves court business. The courts consider it acceptable for justiciars not suited to minding the courts to defend the principle of organized laws abroad. Justiciars are addressed as “honored justiciar.”
High Justiciar
With sufficient experience, justiciars can attain the rank of high justiciar, and might be given authority over a court. In major population centers, several high justiciars work in a single court. They form a council and ponder their decisions, but one justiciar is given supreme authority over the court from the Four Justices. High justiciars rise from the ranks of the justiciars after a time automatically, and without needing approval from higher church officials, but they must petition the Four Justices in order to run a court. Petitions can take a great while to grant, with some waiting up to five years before receiving an assignment.
If a high justiciar can build a court with her funds, or funds raised, she automatically gains authority over the court. High justiciars are addressed as “lord justiciar,” or “lady justiciar.”
Prolocutor
High justiciars who distinguish themselves are eventually hailed as prolocutors and are henceforth placed above dayto-day matters, such as operating a court. Prolocutors travel the world, quest for the Sacred Laws, visit distant lands, and bring law to the world, speaking the will of Maal to any who would listen. Prolocutors speak for Maal. When they declare something unjust, anyone with a shred of sense listens. Those prolocutors who prefer not to wander find the Four Justices interceding, instructing them to put aside their mundane labors and do Maal’s work abroad. It is rare for this admonishment to be required. A prolocutor is addressed as “most honored justiciar.”
Four Justices
When one of the two Justices from the order of justiciars steps down or dies, a prolocutor receives a mysterious spiritual call to sit on the council of the Four Justices. They simply know it is their time. No more than one prolocutor has ever answered the call; the faithful believe Maal chooses the Justices. The call doesn’t always summon the strongest justiciar, and some join the Four Justices just months after being named prolocutors. The call can sometimes tell a Justice to step down, too. A Justice from the order of justiciars is addressed as “supreme justiciar” and might be introduced as, “Supreme Justiciar Mord, one of the Four Justices of the courts of Maal.”
Joining the Justiciars
Prospective members must undergo years of legal training before they can join the justiciars. Those already familiar with the law could become a justiciar without additional training, but otherwise a character would have to stop adventuring for two to four years while he learned the law. Upon completing training, they become clerics with the Balance domain . Most justiciars favor the longsword to symbolize the sword Justice, which Maal has wielded since the war with Kador.
Officers of Maal It is one thing to pass judgment or to demand that the law be followed, but quite another to enforce that judgment, or those demands. When criminals must be pursued or judgments enforced, the officers of Maal perform such duties.
They do so because of an abiding belief that laws make the world better for everyone. It is not possible to become an officer if one secretly harbors a perverse pleasure in punishing people, or has too much love for her authority. Officers of Maal must not lie, cheat, or in any way knowingly allow an injustice—great or small—to be done. The exception is in cases of tragedy, where an injustice would occur no matter what the officer does. In such cases, the officer must minimize damage to the innocent. Officers of Maal obey legitimate laws, and bring them to the lawless. Officers of Maal oppose anarchic magic or anything else that takes away the rights of mortals to stand before formal justice, or Maal’s presence after they die.
Officers of Maal tend to be most interested in their companions’ goodness. They do not expect everyone they know to be tireless champions for law, or the rights of the downtrodden. However, they stop associating with anyone who uses anarchic magic, and do not work with those who flaunt just laws. A rogue who ceaselessly violates the laws of a corrupt city to overthrow their tyranny, while using methods the officer might not use herself, is certainly an appropriate companion.
Members of the order are introduced with title preceding name, followed by, “an officer of the courts of Maal.” So, a shield named Gwaithin would be introduced as “Shield Gwaithin, an officer of the courts of Maal.”
Sword

New officers of the court of Maal are called swords, and addressed as “sword.” Having gone through exhaustive training, swords serve courts. Most courts have five swords, each given a separate duty. The high justiciar might say, “You, Sword Pavel, serve as bailiff, to keep order and escort prisoners to and from proceedings,” or “You, Sword Hellyne, serve as a bodyguard to young justiciars whenever they journey beyond this court.” The swords serve and obey the high justiciar of the court, or any lesser justiciars they’re ordered to serve.
More mystical members of the court system refer to each sword as a “finger,” with each of their duties likened to the duties of the fingers of the hand. The sword who serves the bailiff is like the thumb, the anchor of the hand. The sword who helps victims find and prosecute their attackers is like the index finger, which indicates evil, and so on. This is an old-fashioned way to think of such things, but what remains of this tradition is that when five swords go out to capture a dangerous criminal, they’re called “fists.”
The courts of large cities employ several organized fists, alongside a few unassigned swords. Some of the most promising swords don’t belong to fists. They go on adventures that, while not lofty enough for shields, still serve the courts of Maal. These “unsheathed swords,” as they are called, are the envy of other young officers of Maal, and are usually the very best of the order, allowed to wander because it would be wasteful to shackle them with bureaucratic work at a court.
Shield After serving many years as a sword, officers go forth and protect people. The high justiciar of the court administers a mystical test involves strange visions and mysterious questions. The high justiciar casts a spell called the test of souls on the promising sword, and delves deeply into her very being to affirm she is ready to serve Maal independently, protecting the innocent and preserving the right to justice.
If the sword fails, she can never become a shield, though she maintains her status and powers as a sword of Maal. It is no great shame to fail the test; Maal simply wishes the failure to remain a sword. One who passes becomes a shield, expected to fight against lawlessness and anarchic magic, under the guidance of Maal himself. Shields obey high justiciars and, certainly, any edicts set down by the Four Justices, but are no longer subservient to a single court, and do not have to be involved in day-to-day legal affairs. Several shields often band together and form minor holy orders, though these are culturally specific and left to the GM to create. A shield is addressed as, “shield.”
Hand of Maal

After a shield survives many adventures, she might be moved to make the journey, no matter how far, to the Court of the Four Justices. There, she is tested by the Justices to see if she’s ready to be a hand of Maal. This time, the test of souls ritual includes fifteen hours of interrogation, culminating in the ultimate question: Is the shield prepared to stand before Maal? If so, she is given a drink of deadly poison. Upon her death, she goes before Maal for judgment. Four days after, the Four Justices bring her back from the dead. While no officer who has experienced this speaks of her time in Maal’s kingdom, it is clearly excruciating to return.
The restoration to life works only on willing participants, and by the time one is a ranking officer of Maal, the rewards of the afterlife must be rich indeed. A hand of Maal puts those awards aside to walk once more in this imperfect world, so profound is their desire to better mortals’ lot. Sometimes officers refuse to return, though such occasions are rare and spoken of sadly.
Once brought back, the shield is elevated to the title hand of Maal, because it is said she is now the sword, shield, and hand of the King of Souls on Earth. She receives rich gifts from the Four Justices. Hands act as living agents of Maal’s will. They lead armies, topple evil kingdoms, slay terrorizing dragons, and perform other epic works of heroism in the name of law and justice. A hand is addressed as “grim lord,” or “grim lady.

Four Justices
When one of the two Justices from the officer order dies or steps down, a hand is supernaturally called to sit upon the council of the Four Justices, exactly as happens for the justiciars. A justice from the order of officers is addressed as “supreme lord” or “supreme lady,” and might be introduced as, “Supreme Lady J’oinelle, one of the Four Justices of the courts of Maal.”
Joining the Officers of Maal
Officers are selected by Maal himself, it is said, for their goodness of heart and their courage to do what must be done. Thus, nearly all officers are lawful good. When it comes time to swear their sacred oath, they usually take the Oath of Vengeance.

Talesmen

The courts sometimes refer a third order, the talesmen. In ancient times, when Maal delivered his first laws to the mortal races, some cultures gave criminals a right to trial by jury. Whenever a jury needed to be convened, the lord of the area would issue a “writ of tales,” or an order commanding all those capable of appearing at the lord’s court to serve as a potential jury member.
Once the candidates responded to the writ, lots were drawn and twelve talesmen, or jurors, were selected to hear the case. While the writ of tales is now rarely used, the talesmen remain. From time to time, a crime happens that is so profound, the gods cry out for justice. It might be a crime somehow hidden from them for millennia through powerful magic, or it might be a recent atrocity committed against the worshipers of several of the gods, such as if a major city was wiped out by an evil sorcerer. When such an event occurs, the gods petition Maal for justice, demanding he find an impartial champion, or several such champions, to right the wrong.
These champions must not serve any of the gods as clergy. Upon selecting a champion, Maal sends a writ of tales through one of his servants. If the champion accepts they become a talesman, and courts of Maal throughout the Material Plane consider it a duty to aid them in any way possible. A member of the order receives no titles, and none but members of the courts are likely to even know what a talesman is. When seeking aid from the courts, a talesman need only say “I serve the writ,” and whatever they might need will be provided.
Becoming a Talesman

One does not choose to become a talesman; rather, Maal scours the world for a worthy champion to right a grave wrong. Maal selects only those of non-evil alignments who do not cast spells from a divine source, so no clerics or paladins qualify. Candidates must demonstrate exceptional skill in the areas necessary to battle the injustice. If this wrong can be righted by stealing a powerful ring, Maal would choose an exceptionally gifted rogue. Since these requirements depend on the specifics of the wrong, there is no one path to receiving a writ of tales, but those selected must be powerful enough for the gods to have noticed them.

Talesman Abilities If chosen to become a talesman, the character gains all the following benefits for the duration of the quest. Divine Nature: Your alignment changes to unaligned, and you count as having no race or type for the purpose of targeting you with spells. For example, you could not be the target of a charm person spell. You also gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons. Magic Resistance: You have advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Protective Aura: Creatures attacking you have disadvantage on their attack rolls. Divine Wrath: You may call upon the wrath of the gods to become instilled with terrifying power that lasts for 1 minute. Until the effect ends, you are immune to being frightened, you make Strength and Constitution attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws, and at the start of each of your turns, you gain temporary hit points equal to your level. Once you use this benefit, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest

Type

Religious, Holy Order