The Dealers

The Dealers are a female-only monastic religious order following The Way Of The Cards, composed of those who wish to withdraw from life in quiet contemplation. They do not marry, and may stay in the order for as short or as long a time as they wish.

Structure

• Director
• Director's Assistant
• Various departments of which little is known ...
• Dealers
• Dealers' Apprentices
• Initiates

Culture

The Dealers believe they are the keepers of the true religion.
The Dealers in Bridges also feel they are the guardians of the city, there to protect the city from its people. They have taken a vow to do so, no matter who or what might stand in the way.
Some of the Dealers turn to helping the poor, although others consider this foolish, believing that if someone plays badly they should be allowed to die so their cards can be given to someone who will play properly. This view is controversial, especially when young children are involved.

Public Agenda

Publicly, they live in and run the poorhouses around the Pot and the charity shops where they sell the donations people have given them. Their stated mission is to "show the Dealer's love to all who enter."

Assets

The Dealers have (publicly) renounced home, marriage, and riches. The true state of their finances is unknown.

History

The Dealers were established some time after the Catastrophe.
Over the generations, the Dealers encountered resistance, particularly by the patriarchal pre-Catastrophe sect known as the Krissins. Religious strife spearheaded by the Krissins was behind the genocides in 247 AC and 401 AC, leading to the Anti-Proselyzation Act of 423, intended to protect the Way of the Cards and other peaceful religions.
After the Act was passed, the Dealers founded communties in every settlement, and became a major religious group in Merca. The Dealers in Bridges were part of the planning for the contruction of the city itself.
It's unclear why the Dealers waited over 1400 years for the founding of Bridges to build their Cathedral. Yet once they did, it became the center of all worship of the Blessed Dealer.
After the sack of the Cathedral, the Dealers have repeatedly refused to allow any improvements or repairs, allowing it to remain in a broken-down state. It is currently being used as a brothel.

Religion

The Dealers follow The Way Of The Cards

Mythology & Lore

The Catastrophe upended the world. Food and sun were gone: on all sides, water prevailed. Men did terrible things to the women of the world, who cried out to the gods for help in their despair.
The Blessed Dealer heard their cries and came to the women in all her power, a shining, beautiful figure with hair like a stormcloud. She called out for the Shuffler to provide her with the Holy Cards, and it did so. Seeing the power of the Dealer, the Floorman bowed to her, providing food and drink to her worshippers where none was before.
The Dealer reached out her hand, giving the world the gift of the Holy Cards and the knowledge of their play. Through the Blessed Dealer, the women gained hope, grew strong again, and brought forth life, so that the world might continue.

Divine Origins

No one knows who the first worshippers of the Dealer were. But in the ancient texts some decades after the Catastrophe, a band of joyful women are mentioned bringing the knowledge of Card play to those women who feel so called.

Cosmological Views

The Void was empty and dark until the Great Mystery constructed the Sun, the stars, and all you see. But although the constructs had life of a sort, they had no Cards for their Hands. So no people drew breath.
Thus the Dealer came forth, and taking the Grand Deck, placed it into the Shuffler. Then the Dealer drew forth the Holy Cards as they were delivered to her, and the first Hands were created. The people drew breath. They could think, and feel, and play their Hands according to their natures.
The Dealer then called for the Floorman, who showed the people the way to food and drink and fire. The people rejoiced, and grew strong, and loved each other, creating constructs of their own that the Dealer might provide Hands for.
And they lived long, and prospered. When each died, its Hand was returned to the Grand Deck, to provide Cards for the generations to come.

Tenets of Faith

• The Dealers take no intoxicating substances, in order to play their Hands to the best of their ability.
• The Dealers are the only religious group allowed to handle the Holy Cards. 

Ethics

The Dealers worship in The Way of the Cards and dedicate themselves to excellent play of their Hands. They spend their time in charity, compassionate deeds, and in contemplation of the Holy Cards.
Men are expressly forbidden to touch the Holy Cards; this is considered blasphemy and abomination. Unconsecrated women are not allowed to touch the Cards either, unless they join the Dealers and have been instructed in the Holy Cards' use.

Worship

Worship of the Blessed Dealer once solely originated in the Cathedral. On the Holy Days of Solstice and Equinox, the faithful would arrive from every corner of the world to receive blessing and wisdom.
Before the fall of the Cathedral, children were traditionally brought to the Dealers for their blessing, the typical time for a blessing being on their seventh birthday. This involved the Dealer displaying the Holy Cards in a reading.
The blessing was both warning and encouragement to the child and was thought to foretell the areas which the child must strengthen and should spend his or her energies in.
After the sack of the Cathedral during the Alcatraz Coup, the Dealers withdrew to their poorhouses, refusing to perform their rituals on descrated ground. It is said that those who might pay still bring their children to receive the blessing.
Worship is now done in the home, with morning prayer and lighting of candles to the Blessed Dealer.

Priesthood

• It is considered a great honor to be asked to join. Aspirants may apply to the order and allowed to train as Initiates, but according to doctrine, this has no bearing on whether one is invited.
• Initiates to the Dealers wear white headscarves and robes. If they are invited as a Dealer's Apprentice, they take on robes and headscarf of pale green, and are cloistered for their first year.
• Dealers are often invited from the community without the person applying or showing any interest at all. A woman so chosen is socially expected to leave her family and home without question, even if she is married with small children. However, membership is in fact voluntary, and Dealers may stay for as long or as short a time as they wish to, even simply overnight.
• Men are forbidden from interfering in the woman’s decision in any way under penalty of imprisonment, and an invitation to the Dealers is sometimes used to aid a “beaten woman” of high standing.
• The term “one-hand lady” is used in a semi-derogatory sense for those who are invited to the Dealers yet stay for less than a year.
• Those who finish their Apprenticeship and wish to become Dealers take on robes and headscarf of forest green, simple and unadorned.
• Dealers may choose their station: silent meditation upon the Cards and service to the poor are those most frequently chosen.
• The Director of the Dealers and her Assistants are known by sight, and do not require the pomp and puffery men seem to desire.

Granted Divine Powers

The Dealers are able to perform divinations using the Holy Cards and foretell the future.

Political Influence & Intrigue

For all their modesty and outward poverty, over the centuries, the Dealers have developed enormous power and influence. Even an Inventor bows to the Dealers. It is said that the Dealers watch every aspect of city life, ready to intervene at a moment's notice. To some, this is frightening; to most, it is a comfort.

Sects

The least understood schizm which occured just before the Fall of the Cathedral was the decision of some of the Dealers to remain in place, even knowing they had no defense against the pillagers. It is said that the practice of prostitution in the Cathedral began shortly after. To the rest of humanity, this seems inconceivable, yet the rumors continue.
There are some minor disagreements in the Dealers over the decision to focus on helping the poor. Yet the group is remarkably unified, with questions about the rumors of separate departments in the Dealers met with stony silence.
The one group which might be considered a sect is not officially part of the Dealers at all. The Grand Order of Rational Respectability is the only sanctioned male group which follows the Way of the Cards. They do not touch the Holy Cards. Rather, they focus on helping men in need of food and shelter, and some provide counsel on addiction issues.

The Dealer's love to all

Founding Date

Sometime after the Catastrophe

Training Level

Elite

Leader Title

Director of the Dealers

Government System

Electocracy

Power Structure

Semi-autonomous area

Deities

• Lady Luck
• The Dealer
• The Floorman
• The Shuffler

Related Traditions

• The Way Of The Cards