Siblings of the Scale
A group of Dragonborn who got together to help protect their rights in the human dominated land of Caresnas.
Structure
To outward appearances the Siblings were organised into independent families. Each of these families was responsible for looking after their members in a particular town or region. Most Siblings were those who didn’t have the wealth or contacts to be able to stand up for themselves, and the help they were provided gave the Siblings a veneer of respectability amongst the Dragonborn.
If someone had to travel outside of their family’s influence they would be provided with a contact at their destination so that they could present themselves to the head of the family in that area. Such journeys were infrequent as most of those who sought out the Siblings did not have the time or resources to travel much.
The majority of the help from the families came from the elder siblings. These experienced members could be those who wanted to repay the family for help they had received or those with wealth and influence who wanted to assist their community. Many of those at this level were aware of the truth of the Siblings - that they were working towards the dragonborn taking over rather than aiming for equality. The lower level of the siblings was a rich recruiting ground for those with such a goal and the elder Siblings were able to approach new candidates with little fear of rejection.
Within the group that knew about the true goal of the Siblings was a smaller group of those who knew the truth behind the truth: that the Siblings were in fact controlled by a religious cult. Being a member of this inner circle was a requirement for becoming a leader of a family, though many of the elder siblings were unaware of this. The cult recruited members from among those who had already been made aware of the goal of Dragonborn supremacy. Unbeknownst to the other members the cult also coordinated the activities of each of the families.
Culture
The outer layers of the Siblings were relatively informal with a lot of members having little commitment to the group. People would join meetings when they needed help and forget about the Siblings the rest of the time. The inner layers on the other hand were highly secretive and used roundabout methods for bringing in new members.
Notes would be written by multiple members, frequently with their off hand or in capitals in an attempt to disguise the writer's identity. Instructions would also be in riddles or reference past events in an attempt to make them meaningless to those without the proper context.
Letter to Fenrick
Letter to Fenrisk
by
Tanai Cuinsear
A letter to Fenrick Garvanix from the Siblings This was found by Frostburn Company and led to unveiling of the Siblings true objectives
Public Agenda
On the surface the Siblings maintained their original objective of helping dragonborn who had been the victims of prejudice. While they weren't actively talked about, there was a certain respect from the dragonborn communities across the Kingdom of Caresnas.
History
The Siblings were created in Bellcross in 102 by Paeric Verdantscale as a way to bring together those who had suffered as a result of prejudice against the colour of their scales. Most of this prejudice came from other Dragonborn who tended to view those whose scales closely resembled those of a chromatic dragon as being inherently untrustworthy if not outright evil. Some couldn’t get work because of the colour of their scales and others found themselves accused of crimes with no more evidence than their scales.
Paeric found those who had suffered, offered them help in finding work, and introduced them to others who had experienced the same things. As Paeric’s network of contacts increased he began to realise that the prejudices of the more metallic looking Dragonborn were starting to infect the other races. He was debating what to do about this when his home was attacked by a large crowd who were demanding that all those of evil colours be turned over to them. Paeric refused to send anyone out and the crowd responded by trying to set fire to his home.
Fortunately Marianna Riles, a court wizard, and Lius the Spearmaster happened on the scene. They managed to drive back the mob and hold them off until a patrol of guards arrived to investigate. After learning of the cause of the disturbance Marianna offered to introduce Paeric at court so that he could petition the king. Paeric accepted the offer and within a few months he was known to be the king’s advisor on Dragonborn affairs.
Paeric and the king both realised there would be no easy solution and while several decrees were issued that made it harder for any overt prejudice to be shown, the underlying problem remained both within the Dragonborn community and across the kingdom. In order to reduce at least some of those problems Paeric started looking for metallic leaning Dragonborn who had suffered from prejudice themselves and tried bringing them into his group. While he experienced some resistance from those he had been helping before, a few well publicised cases of having silver and copper coloured Dragonborn help chromatics started to patch things up. This newly integrated group was named the Siblings of the Scale, and it became a place where Dragonborn could raise their concerns with Paeric who would in turn take them to the court.
After Paeric’s death the next leaders of the group distanced themselves from the royal court. As far as they were concerned years of Paeric talking to the king had produced very few tangible results so they decided to focus on addressing individual cases rather than attempting to change the kingdom. This new focus reduced their visibility to most of the public and the group was mostly forgotten about apart from amongst the Dragonborn.
The group continued to operate for another 70 years, gradually growing more secretive. However, in 183 they drew the attention, and then the ire, of the crown when they were found to be working with Andaxius' forces. It was also discovered that at some point the group had fallen under the sway of a cult dedicated to a dangerous deity of the dragons. Once Andaxius had been slain the forces of Caresnas, led by Dragonstrike Company, were turned against the Siblings.
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