Fair Fellowship of Aymara
A beautiful order, the fair fellowship focuses on love, song, and celebration. The amount of song and celebration varies by culture. Dwarven lyceums might stand out among their people because their clergy smile on occasion. Elven lyceums are even more filled with song and delight than the average elven household—and that’s quite an achievement.
A member of the fair fellowship who is hit with tragedy tries to rally against the darkness with delight. However, some lose the mirth necessary to be a member, and might wander away to pursue other interests until they find their hearts lifted once more. The fair fellowship has no place for the grim, conniving, heavy-hearted, ponderous, and sad. Of course, there is room for seriousness among the fair fellowship.
Tragedians, dramatists, balladeers, and epic poets who deal with very serious topics are all welcome in the order. There is only difficulty when sorrow infects the person to the point where work becomes impossible.
Most fair fellows are chaotic good, and such members do not think much of elaborate systems of governance. Most authority is threatened by the raw honesty of real art, and fair fellows test their limits. If a line is drawn, they cross it artistically, and they strongly believe the lyceums are places for such expressions. They dedicate themselves to good, though, and never promote evil in their art. They desire all to be free and happy, and to live in abounding love. Since societies fail to fulfill these desires, the fair fellowship works to uplift people toward these goals with its art. The lyceums are thus places of freedom and goodness, where each person can explore what they need to find love. Outside the lyceums, they promote art and love in all the people they meet, convincing peasants to sing and dance, or nobles to recite poetry.
Some fair fellows are neutral good, and do not have the same rebellious streak common among Aymarans. Nor are they focused on each person’s individual quest for joy. Instead, the ideals of art and love interest them. These fair fellows want great art to fill the world, so they go to great artists and help them. They want love to fill the world, so they find people consumed by hate, and free them of its bondage. While most fair fellows believe it sensible to wander the countryside teaching farmers to dance, neutral good members of the order focus on their pursuits, finding the places in need of beauty and love, and dedicating themselves to working there.
A vocal minority of the order is chaotic neutral. These fair fellows focus on revelries of art and of love. They perform bawdy comedies, drink heavily, sing ribald songs, and proposition anyone they find appealing. They believe Aymara is best represented by lives free of modesty and convention, and that all people should experience physical love, song, and dance on a regular basis.
Singer
Most members of the fair fellowship are called singers, and addressed as “kindly brother,” or “kindly sister.” They are introduced by full title. Upon induction into the order, singers are usually charged with spreading delight, love, and beauty in the world. They go abroad, learning the songs of distant cultures, and performing dramas for people in remote lands. Singers who remain at their lyceums assist the celebrants with day-to-day ceremonies and tasks.Celebrant
Time and experience allow singers to become celebrants in a splendid ceremony of song and comedy. The ceremony culminates in a performance by the celebrants or a display of their work, after which the faithful lift them on their shoulders and carry them around the lyceum three times. Finally, they’re bathed in a fountain, or a great cauldron of cool water. This ceremony represents the legendary return of Aymara to Heaven after she converted one of the forefathers of the dragons to the path of good. She rode around Heaven three times on Arathelle’s back and then bathed in the river divine, at the foot of the Heavenly mount. After the bathing, all proclaim the fair fellow to be a celebrant, at which time he rises from the water and takes on a new name. The name may come from a famous song, play, or poem, or might even be a musical instrument, a type of music, or a dramatic device. Celebrants take names based on the area of the arts that most interest them. The new name is placed before the celebrant’s birth name, and she is henceforth referred to with both names (such as Andivae Corallyn above, named after the famous comedic rascal, Andivae, but maintaining her birth name, Corallyn). Celebrants are world-renowned artists, and critics of art. In them, bards have loving patrons, and those with a tale to tell find a ready audience among them. They are addressed as “fairest brother” or “fairest sister,” and are introduced by full title. To the eyes of the world, there is no higher authority in the Aymaran faith than the celebrants. All celebrants are equal and decide matters by unanimous consent, or majority rule when unanimity is impossible. Most celebrants stay within a lyceum, which is nominally controlled by a council of all its resident celebrants.
