Let’s discuss the various orders that worship Aleara and how they fit into the worldbuilding. There are three orders: Order of Valor, Order of Justice, and the Order of Nature. They each serve a specific purpose.
Order of Valor: Paladins
These are the martial members of Aleara’s faithful. They are knights, known as paladins. When we think of paladins, most people think of how they are portrayed in role-playing games. There are similarities.
The Path of a Paladin
They start as squires, usually between the ages of nine and eleven. There is no precedent for being chosen. Some come from humble beginnings, while others are sent from noble families to receive training. It is a hard life. They spend their days learning the tenets of Aleara, training in the art of combat, and learn to listen to the goddess. At the end of the third year, they must be able to channel her divinity and cause a coin to light up. Success means being ordained as a paladin. Failure means they take the coin and return home or offer themselves to the royal army of Zel’Drea. Few return home.
Freshly minted paladins are called knight errant. There is no guarantee that they will be offered a position within the armies of the order. Knights errant may be asked to wander the continent, seeking to right wrongs according to the teachings of Aleara or serve as scouts to alert the order to incursions by the minions of Klydos.
If they are offered positions within the various commands, they then serve to garrison outposts where frequent sightings of monsters occur. The number nine is sacred to Aleara, and the paladins organize themselves into groups of nine, with a senior paladin leading them. This continues up to the level of battalions. Knight Commanders command those. When necessary, they organize into brigades, led by Lord Commanders. The nine Lord Commanders are led by the Grand Commander, who sits on the Council of Orders.
Paladins are assigned squires, taking their education on the trail. Knight Commanders and Lord Commanders may have as many as three squires attending them. It is a coveted assignment to leave the barracks at Godsdown and live with one of these leaders. Often, commanders select squires who have demonstrated unique abilities or a natural aptitude for leadership.
The Paladin in Battle
It is a wondrous sight to see them riding forth from Godsdown. Polished plate mail, richly adorned shields and helms, and finely crafted weapons can be seen as their formations sally forth. Many take the trail but never return, perishing in battle in service to their goddess. They live by a simple creed. Service to Aleara. They face the horrors that Klydos unleashes on the world so that the ordinary people can live out their lives with some semblance of peace. Shallow graves dot the landscape as a reminder that peril resides in the shadows and glens of the world.
In battle, they draw upon the divine spirit of Aleara, girding themselves in her strength. One might invest that divine spirit in their weapons, others will fortify their armor, while some manifest it as what we might call spells. However they choose, they choose to eliminate those who seek to destroy the world, glorifying Aleara through their actions. Good or evil is a grey area for them. They are guided by service to Aleara. That moral complexity will become clearer as you read Rise of the Veilbreaker.
Order of Justice: priests & priestesses
These are the priestesses and priests tasked with aiding the paladins and spreading Aleara’s word to the people. Also, gathered from low and highborn alike, they are tasked with learning all that the goddess has shared to interpret her will and ensure that humans live in harmony with nature.
At Godsdown, they have their regimen, dedicating a significant portion of their learning to mastering channeling divinity to glorify Aleara. A priestess might find herself healing the sick or adjudicating disputes related to how settlements harvest the flora and fauna of the world. Greed and power struggles are still present. A forester charged with a portion of the woods near a settlement may choose to take more lumber than is allocated to them, only to find themselves withering under the glare of a priest.
Some serve alongside the paladins, wandering battlefields, aiding the warriors, and healing those they can. Resurrection is not within their capabilities. Aleara has taught them that in death, they return to her and will be shaped once again into a new creation.
These priests have learned that the forces of Klydos do not care, so they will fight to protect themselves and those around them. They use Aleara’s divinity to wound and kill, regretting the lives taken but knowing that even the enemies of Aleara become anew in her. They are protecting creation, and anyone who opposes the safety of Binsmuth will be their foe.
Some may serve as village priests or priestesses, stepping up when their adopted homes are attacked. They might have a church or hold services in a nearby glade. From their ranks, a Grand Priest is chosen, and he or she serves on the Council of Orders.
Outside of the Order of Justice, there are nine High Priests or Priestesses serving in the sacred groves of Aleara. On Versevor, there are three such groves. One at Godsdown where the world was formed, one in the valley below Grimhorn Keep, and one in Drea, the capital city of Zel’Drea. They have priests and acolytes serving them. Some may have come from the Order of Justice, while others have grown up in the groves themselves.
Order of Nature: Druids
These are the guardians of the flora and fauna of the world. The paladins crave organization and rank. The druids avoid it at all costs. Throughout the forest, plains, and mountains, lone druids are protecting the lands, living solitary lives and spending more time talking to the nearby animals than any other human. Human settlements often leave offerings of food and drink on the edge of town, hoping that their resident druid will favor them.
When forced to protect their lands, druids will call upon the plants and animals first, resorting to a nearby druid, only reaching out to the Order of Valor out of necessity. Once the danger is past, they will encourage the knights to depart quickly so they can return to whiling away their time with the creations of Aleara.
These hermits live a spartan life, rarely building anything, instead relying on the forest canopy to shelter them from rain and snow or curling up next to hibernating animals to share a night. Some adorn themselves with sprigs and branches, blending in with the underbrush as people pass by.
They can communicate with the plants and animals. On request, vines will grow. Predator and prey will fight alongside one another when a druidess calls. They can call upon the sun and the moon to burn their enemies. As they mature, druids will often learn the behaviors of animals, transforming into them to use claws and teeth to stop intruders.
It is the rare druid that answers the call to go to Godsdown. If they do so, it is out of a sense of duty to prepare the next generation to take their place. The children brought into the order quickly learn that the lessons are few. They will either show the ability to serve Aleara or move on to other pursuits. Druids are the fewest of Aleara’s followers. They elect a Grand Druid. Few of their order will acknowledge any hierarchy, so the Grand Druid rarely calls upon them to act together. Seeing two druids together is an unusual sight.
Together, the orders weave a complex tapestry of service to the goddess. Members of one order view the others with respect, but without the constant threat from Klydos, they would stick to themselves and interact only as necessary. It is a strange camaraderie. They view themselves as part of civilization but separate. As you and I navigate our lives, raising families and surviving, those men and women have set aside their desires, focusing on the needs of the goddess.
I hope this has piqued your interest in my upcoming novel, Rise of the Veilbreaker, coming out September 1st. These orders play an important role in the worldbuilding, mythos, and plot. I look forward to learning how you immersed yourself within this cosmos.