The Sisters of St Lucretcia
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
The Order of the Sisters of St Lucretcia are one of the more fascinating and odd militant religious chapters to spring to life in Terrania. Devoted to the Helm Saint, Lucretcia Lornheart, a cleric that sacrificed herself outside the Raylance pass during one of the first major demon excursions stemming from the The Great Cataclysm of the Darnelles . Their fortification, known as the Lucretcian Bulwark sits on the very spot she perished. The sisters are deeply devoted to the ideal of their lady, and what she represented. Luckily for Terrania, those ideals are for the good of humanity.LUCRETCIA LORNHEART
The heroine whom the Order is devoted to. There are three sources which we pull our information from; The Bassoint Temple of Helm archives, Lord Rouen Reoncoeur's journals and the Gospel of St Lucretcia. From the archives, it is known she was a Cleric of Helm. She had been an orphan and therefore spent much of her life in the Temple. The records make note that Lucretcia was a fairly remarkable scholar and student, who showed a strong conviction for Helm and his principals. Her records in Bassoint end noteing she left the temple with a small entourage of fellow Helm Devotees to pilgrimage to the Seyneux Mountains; but was never heard from again. The journals of Lord Rouen describe the actions of Lucretcia during the Siege of Roussignon. He witnessed firsthand her arcane and martial prowess, stating she and her devotees slew many demons, and on two occasions, singled handedly stopped breaches by Kugarth's horde from entering the city. As the horde fled from the field, Rouen admits he took the wrong advice, his Chamberlin's, over Lucretcia, when deciding which direction Kurgarth had fled. Later, he reports the moment Lucretcia's representative; Audrey Dupont caught up with him and relayed the news. He turned his army south and engaged Kurgarth's rearguard. After the battle, he noted he found the bodies of the other devotees, at least a thousand vanquished demons, the smoldering remains of Kugarth, and the last vestige of Lucretcia; a leather glove adorned with a lace embroidered eye. The Gospel of Lucretcia, written by Audrey Dupont, and maintained through the years by the Scribes of the Lucretcian Bulwark, provides a slightly different account of the lady. It posits that Lucretcia was in-fact the manifestation of Helm. He returned to this plane as Lucretcia in our planes darkest hour; the Catacylsm of the Darnelles. Lucretcia left the Temple because they refused to listen to her warnings about what was festering in the Darnelles. So, she took her disciples and headed south to confront the evil head on. In the end Lucretcia's life and sacrifice was a reminder to humanity of Helms will, and to provide a model for us on how we should carry ourselves.STRUCTURE AND GOALS
The Bulwark is part orphanage, part religious school, part military academy. The temple takes in female orphans from around the land providing shelter and an education. When the individuals reach the age of 16 they are given a choice, to continue their service to the lady or return to society. Those who chose to remain on the Lucretcia path are trained in theology, the arcane and the martial. Through rigorous testing and based on their own capabilities, each initiate is eventually divided into three paths: the robe (priestess), the quill (scribes and teachers) and the sword (protectors). Those of the Robe spend their days conducting religious ceremonies and completing pilgrimages to Temples of Helm across Terrania. Those on the path of the quill focus on record keeping, maintaining the gospel of Lucretcia and teaching future generations of sisters within the Bulwark. Those on the Path of the Sword over their lifetime will complete 5 acts; and its during these acts that the folks of Terrania might encounter the armored heroines.Act of Resolve - Master the martial and arcane techniques of Lucretcia's Gift
Act of Mercy - Help the border towns threatened by the Abyssal hordes from the Darnelles
Act of Radiance - Spear into the Darkness of the Darnelles and complete a feat.
Act of Sanctuary - Complete a great deed in Lucretcia's name in a foreign land.
Act of Sacrifice - Emulate Lucretcia’s final gift Most Sisters in the path of the sword spend their days helping the besieged towns and settlements across the Toussaint lands near the Darnelles fight off demon raiding parties. But those completing their Act of Sanctuary have completed some remarkable deeds. As the Sisters consider Saint Lucretcia as a physical manifestation of Helm, this has created friction with their Helm Temple brethren. The central Helm church considers the order heretical but based on their good intentions and deeds in the world, turns a blind eye. There is one official agreement between the two entities. The training the Sisters go through turns them into substantial instruments of destruction. To prevent sisters who lost their path during their Act of Sanctuary creating trouble, The Temple of Helm assists the Order by hunting and putting down rogue sisters through the use of the shadowy organization known as the Cinder. It's unknown how many rogue Sisters have been taken care of, but according to only documented account, the task is considerably destructive. In 1697 AC, the city of Regengau reported a massive fight between four individuals; one of them a woman with exceptionally pristine and ornate armor, that destroyed at least five city blocks. Only two of the figures were seen leaving the city.
HISTORY
The Order was founded in 1500 AC by Lord Rouen Reoncoeur and the last remaining survivor of Lucretcia Lornheart's entourage, Audrey Dupont. Lord Rouen bequeathed to Audrey the land around the site of Lucretia's sacrifice. He also provided a large endowment to build a monument to Lucretcia and orphanage for the many orphans created by the cataclysm. Lord Rouen had come to this conclusion as when he and his men helped the survivors leave the pass, he noticed a significant amount of them were young girls. Their families had been slaughtered, and many of the young boys had already been taken in by local farmers, mercenary chapters or sent off to religious orders. Within the first year of the Order's establishment, two important figures arrived: The Helm Battle Cleric Eloise Laurent and The Helm Temple Scribe Alienor Fournier. They both said they heard the story of Lucretcia's sacrifice, and later on saw a vision of Lucretcia who told them to travel to the Raylance Narrows, and help grow the Order. They along with Audrey set up the foundation for what the Order would one day grow into. By the 1550s AC, Sisters were starting to be seen in and around Southern Toussaint, helping towns and villages fend off demon raids. A handful of them were even reported to have participated in the Climatic Battle of Boudion's Ridge during the 2nd major wave of Abyssal Horrors from the Darnelles. The exploits of the Sisters were never more glorious than during the Siege of Angoux in 1623 AC. The Order sent the largest detachment of Sisters seen up until then to help the battered defenses. The siege lasted for over a year and those 51 Sisters were key to the city holding on as long as it did. Eventually, the city fell but right before it did, a small number of surviving Sisters were able to slay the ArchDemon leading the horde. And while they too perished after their final bravado, the act did prevented the horde from pushing any further South. The Current Order is definitely at the peak of its power. They along with the combined efforts and forces of the cities of Chavonlisse, Roussignon and Marlillie, have stopped the tide, slowly recovering much of the land lost to the destruction and corruption of the Horde. The sacking of Angolume in 1730 AC was the last major settlement lost to the Cataclysm.
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