The Rangalan Chateaus

From The Musings of a Wanderer by Bevel Dart

Introduction

The Rangalan Chateaus are a mysterious organization… church…? Fancy buildings, closed doors, high fences, odd symbols, and those cryptic cross-body sashes full of ribbons… And of course this nosy wanderer had to know. May I introduce you to myself, a member of the High Rangalan Chateau of Dreza. Former member. They kicked me out. They don’t like when you keep breaking out in chortles during their rites.

So with a free tongue… quill… I hereby unsecret some of the Chateau’s secrets.

Membership

The Rangalan Chateaus are a series of clubs for people with money. High dues and expense adornments tend to keep the “rabble” out. The cost of a single ribbon for your sash could feed a family for a year!

Chateaus are found across the continent, and membership in one provides visiting rights to all of them. Useful when one goes a’quest’n.

You can usually get yourself inducted by paying the high initial dues and memorizing some mumbo jumbo about brotherhood through competition. It worked for me.

People join for the beliefs but the connections are worth their weight in gold. You can hardly operate in the high stratas of society without this association. In the ranks of nobility, what you don’t know will kill you, or worse, ruin you.

Beliefs & Induction

Competition, and backstabbing, are core within the Book of Rangal. Take the initiation rite as an example. The Initiate is pitted against several other recent inductees in a series of challenges. Challenges include puzzles, mock diplomacy, and memorization. If the Initiate wins a few of these challenges, she is in. But! If a recent inductee loses too many times to new Initiates, they are stripped of their sash and booted.

The Book of Rangal speaks to the privilege of power. Power is earned. It is acquired, maintained, and expanded by deals, words, and cunning.

Order within a Chateau is kept through strict protocol and rank. (do not call the Master-at-Arms a canoodled nincompoop who can’t pick a pumpernickel)

Due to the organization’s usefulness in establishing connections and its exclusivity through cost, the Rangalan Chateaus are the domain of nobility and prosperous merchants. Other powerful organizations also have a showing, including the Slaver’s Syndicate, the Guardians of Tomorrow, The Clerks”, and the The Ion’cavar. Chateaus are considered neutral ground, so even houses with blood feuds can be found seated in the same room. If you want to make it into high society, the only way is through a Chateau. Just know that you will be swept up into the schemes of others of vaster power and tenure. And don’t chortle when they start reciting opening hymns over a brick…

Symbols - Bricks, Shields, and Quills

Speaking of bricks, the Book of Rangal is heavy on symbolism - specifically bricks, shields, and quills, the sacred tools of power. I still have my fancy ceremonial quill. I didn’t care about the sash when they stripped me, it didn’t even have a single ribbon, but the quill I kept up my sleeve as they tossed me out the front gate.

Beliefs & The Book of Rangal

Many of the nobility take this religion very seriously. The Book of Rangal is a holy book. It preaches that power is fought for and earned, and thus those who have earned it are entitled to the luxuries of power. The Book is quoted regularly in court settings as justification of special treatment for the upper class. Negotiations begin by intoning Rangal’s name. Those who rise in the ranks of nobility are known to have Rangal’s blessing, and those who fall are said to have deserved it - not worthy of Rangal. For, you see, there are only so many who may stand immortally in The Rangalan Chateau in the life-hereafter.

Rangal

Anyways… perhaps the most fascinating time I had in my playing a Rangalan was meeting Rangal themself. Rangal is best thought of as a single Divinity with two bodies, one male and one female. They travel, separately, throughout Aropria and take immense pleasure in advising on the machinations of their members. Sometimes they hole up with a few recent inductees, such as yours truly, and guide them on how to overthrow the enterprises of the senior members. It keeps the senior members on their toes, in true Rangalan form.

But beware the moments when both of Rangal’s forms meet at the same Chateau, and for the love of Eos, do NOT chortle when Rangal begins to entone the meeting’s opening rites.

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Notes to Writers:
The Rangalan Chateaus are modeled after Freemasonry. Rangal is an immortal Divinity that delights in plotting and scheming. They like to play powerful mortals against each other and see who comes out on top.
Rangal operates simultaneously in a male form and a female form, which is useful when you advise opposing merchants, houses, estates, or nations against one another. They share the same mind in real time across any distance.
When both forms of Rangal appear in the same place, something momentous is in the works
It should also be noted that Rangal takes special delight in sabotaging the plans of members of The Pantheon. Rangal is not on a direct mission to keep The Pantheon locked away, but rather delights in disrupting the plans of power entities, be they man or Divinity.