Order of Baruth
Legends of Baruth, Lord of the Icy Wastes, Seer of Souls
The legend of Baruth says that he was once a mortal man, greater than most, but mortal nonetheless. He lived on the edge of the land of eternal winter, his clan surviving in the harshness of snow and ice. They began to be troubled each year by a fearsome creature of the night, it came seldom, but when it came, none could stand against it. With a mere touch it could freeze a man solid,- it's breath would roll in on the village, a fog of such denseness tales tell of men swimming to move, not running. The carnage left in it's wake shattered men's spirits.
Having fought the creature in vain, Baruth, as Clan leader, could no longer stand the creatures predations and vowed to track this creature to the ends of the earth. He left, taking only his friend Talon with him into the waste. Three winters passed, with the attacks continuing,- the village assumed that the men were lost to the cold or the beast and mourned their passing. As is the way when hardship abounds, there is never much time for mourning, life went on.
In the winter of the fourth year, a blizzard of unbelievable ferocity set in and blew for 2 weeks without cease. At midnight of the fourteenth day an indescribable animal roar ripped through the village striking all who heard dumb with fear and levelling half the settlement. The wind stopped dead.
In that lull, the clouds cleared, revealing a full moon to light the scene. Those men and women that could, struggled from their homes into the pale light expecting to fight the beast and die, but fight nonetheless.
Baruth stood at the edge of the ruined village, a hawk on one shoulder and a snowy owl on the other, mist seeming to roll off him. Striding into the village clad only in thin furs, he bade all to stay back from him. Those who did not felt an icy cold pierce them through to the bone. His eyes were said to have shone azure blue from a cold, white face.
The birds took flight and mist rose around Baruth spreading to cover the whole settlement. When it cleared, all sign of damage and injury was gone, as was Baruth. Just the hawk remained, circling high in the air, silhouetted against the moon, watching over the village.
Many tales abound of what happened to Baruth, how he lost his friend Talon, his continuing fight with the beast who was not killed, only injured, and many others. He has mastery over all creatures of the sky, seeing all from afar. We are reminded of his presence every winter, when his closeness is felt by every mortal, biting through any protection.
The Order of Baruth.
Formed during the years of strife fighting the barbarian warrior scum from the East, the order of Baruth is made up of it's knights, the holy order and the seers. Created as it was, in the tempering of battle, the knights of the order survived through both strength of arms and forethought. Many was the time where the enemy were superior in number, with better training and tactics winning through. As is probably apparent from the tale above, the greatest tenets of the Order are to protect the weak, to exact bloody retribution when necessary and to never give up on a fight they believe in as a lost cause.
The Talons of Baruth are the elite group of knights fighting beneath one warrior priest. They guard the sacred texts of the Order, 5 of the 8 magical Talons of Baruth, as well as continuing the quest to seek the means to end Baruth's eternal struggle with Throck, Beast of the North. A sword of great power was lost to Baruth in the great struggle, Frost was it's name, to fight ice with ice. It has never been found though many have tried and died in the wastes, whilst questing. They govern themselves and are answerable to no-one but Baruth himself.
Order colours are sky blue and snow white with the Chapter house symbol superimposed, if any. The symbol for the Order is a bird of prey with outstretched wings, usually a hawk or eagle.
All who follow Baruth know the value of order in battle, but are strongly individualistic, placing free-speech high on their lists.
Recent Times.
Since their positioning at the Chapter houses in Caledonia some years ago, the Caledonian influence has seeped though into some of the culture, with beer and good cheer now being higher on the lists of priorities. This has not dulled their sense of responsibility or their loyalty. Assigned to queens bodyguard, no queen has been captured whilst the Order was on duty. Their fealty has always been sworn to the Battlemaster or War leader of the Bears. First sworn to Thorfinn for 5 years, he was taken to the Gods as a hero by Valkerie's. Lord Wraith was war leader after Thorfinn, thus we swore to him. Though he broke his word to the Queens, we had sworn to guard him for 1 year. Guard him we did, and again, whilst on duty, no harm came to him. He was killed when the Order was elsewhere, when he discovered that his other bodyguards were slightly less than effective.
The position now remains that the Order of Baruth has not sworn to the new war leader, as they keep on getting themselves killed. It is the responsibility of the war leader to ensure that he dies last, not first in a battle. After all, they can't have all the fun !
Notable Events of Recent History.
For assistance in services rendered, protecting the Queens, capturing the enemy banner and enemy leader's heads, the Order of Baruth was gifted lands and three chapter houses- Barothness, Torness and Wrathness. A mages tower was also to be built for Azar Cor Avon.
The Order of Baruth quested for the Quel e Ar-Cane (Kellyarcane !) for Lord Wraith (which he then gave to the Queens), a mighty artefact for ritual magic, for which he generously gave the group one gold piece. This did not improve relations much.
Recently, Hamish McLoony inquired as to whether the Order had a fleet. As this was not the case (barring a few small patrol dinghies !) the Order has been given the command of the now named "Wings of Fury" to serve with the fleet and protect the coastal Chapters.
Members of the Order, have been making inroads into Guild politics, with two members (Azar Cor Avon and Dakken) now being heads of the Department of External Affairs (DEA) for the Mages Guild, holding the ranks of Apprentice and Adept respectively with (ex) Colour Mages for masters (Masters Yellow and Green respectively). There is now the availability of scroll production, transport circle use and access to the Arcane Library. Other members have also progressed well in the Incantor's and the Healer's Guilds. We have consistently won or come second in the Mages Guild competition for the last 3 years ! Between the two of us we held 1st in 1095, 2nd in 1096 and both 1st and 2nd in 1097. However, as most of this time has been spent in the Guilds, we have probably been less visible around the faction.
The composition of the Order of Baruth at the Gathering has changed somewhat over the time it's been at the Gathering, from heavy infantry to light infantry and magic users.