Frăția de Cenușii
| Frăția de Cenușii | |||
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| Headquarters | Brațav | ||
| Official language(s) | Sarnechi, Istvanistani | ||
| Type | Fraternal organisation | ||
| Leaders | |||
| - Supreme Templar | Ser Mihai Cântiscu | ||
| - High Templar | Various | ||
| - Main assembly | Knightly Assemblies | ||
| Establishment | 1689 | ||
| Membership | >10,000 | ||
| Organisation website | |||
| Organisation forum | |||
The Frăția de Cenușii ("Brotherhood of Ashes"), sometimes referred to as the Grey Brotherhood, is a series of local fraternal organisations claiming to originate in and be the successor to the Brotherhood of the Order of Saint Roderick, a Flemic militant order that presumed jurisdiction over the enforcement of Flemic law in addition to the Flemic Inquisition. Despite the Grey Brotherhood claiming succession to this order, the Brotherhood remains largely secular, though traces of its Flemic roots remain as ceremonial and allegorical pieces of processes such as rites and initiation ceremonies.
The Brotherhood is organised into local Garrisons, the distribution of which is not regulated or controlled by higher authorities, though they are usually grouped into the smallest level of national organisation utilised by whichever nation the Brotherhood happens to inhabit, though if the nation does not have a sufficiently small level of organisation Garrisons tend to form based around the outer limits of settlements, like villages and cities. Local Garrisons are administered and subservient to Citadels, which have jurisdiction over Garrisons within a certain large boundary, usually coterminous with some sort of national organisational structure, such as a state, province, district, or the national border itself if the nation is small enough. Citadels are charged with the administration of a certain land area, not its population, and therefore members of Garrisons belonging to a particular Citadel that move outside of the range of that Citadel will assume subservience to whatever new Citadel they are now in the area of. Technically, all Citadels are subject to the Grand Palatial Citadel of Ufini in Nova Caradia, however this position is mostly ceremonial and has little real power.
Initiates to the Brotherhood are admitted by degrees, beginning with the degrees of Initiate, Adept, then Knight. Future degrees of membership are determined by one’s role within the Brotherhood, mainly being split into whether or not one maintains membership in the auxiliary Corps of Scribes. Other than this, the highest degrees of Templar, High Templar, and Supreme Templar, which are the offices of those who serve in the upper echelons of Citadels, are not split, and are available to regular Knights and Scribes.
Etymology
The name "Brotherhood of Ash" is derived from the Reformed Church of the Black Flame (BRFN), and its credo to "Păzește Cenușa, Aprinde Jarul" ("Guard the Ashes, Kindle the Embers"), with regard to the fallen Flemic Church. As the Reformed Church commonly refers to itself as the "Ashes of the Flame", the Brotherhood, which was founded by members of the Reformed Church seeking to create a modern successor to the Brotherhood of the Order of Saint Roderick, confers onto itself the "Ashen" title, though it later was allowed in general to admit members not of the BRFN. The "Grey Brotherhood" nickname originates from the Sarnechi words for "ashen" and "grey" being the same.
Members of the Brotherhood are often referred to as Grey Brothers, regardless of gender, or Grey Knights, though members of the Initiate or Adept degrees referring to themselves as Knights before their raising to the degree of Knight is forbidden in most Citadels.
Garrisons and Citadels
Garrisons are the bottommost unit of organisation within the Brotherhood, and most routine functions of the Brotherhood are operated by them, including the initiation of new members and the election and appointment of officers and other promotions. Garrisons meet regularly, typically once per week, though the exact interval is determined by each individual Garrison, and discuss and organise clerical considerations, such as the Garrison’s budget, and any local events, whether interior private events within the Garrison or public events, being held soon. Garrison meetings also typically involve the Garrison’s members of the Corps of Swordsmen drilling in militia tactics by the Garrison’s Knight-Captain. Meetings at citadels take place once per month, and consist of all full Knights of Garrisons beneath the Citadel, and function similarly to Garrison meetings, with bills and Citadel level event planning most often being the order of the day, as well as the occasional ceremony promoting to Knight-Commander or High Templar, the only two Citadel level promotion ceremonies. Citadels also organise correspondence and cooperation with other Citadels.
Local Garrison meetings are also responsible for ceremonies and rituals raising members to new degrees. These ceremonies are only attended by those of an equal or higher degree to the degree that the member in question is being raised to, as the content of these ceremonies is kept strictly secret. Though the Brotherhood is not typically considered a "secret society", the specifics of the ceremonies and rituals of degree advancement are considered to be almost sacred, and are therefore not to be known by non-members and those of a lower degree. To this end, the Garrison’s local Swordsmen are often requested to patrol the Garrison’s land area during a ceremony to prevent unwanted guests from entering, and the Knight-Captain, as the Garrison’s most senior officer of the Swordsmen, and as such already having been initiated into all ceremonies performed at the Garrison level, guards the Garrison’s gates. Citadels, by contrast, only have upper officers of their Corps of Swordsmen guarding ceremonies, and they have their Knight-Commander guard the doors to the ritual room, as they are the highest rank of Swordsman at the Citadel level.
The actual structure of a Garrison is different between different areas, but most consist of a gated courtyard with a stone or brick single-room shelter or "shrine" at its centre. Some Garrisons may have other structures within the courtyard, the most common of these being a weapons shed, where the Garrison stores weapons, be they ceremonial blades or for-use firearms, used in ceremonies and by the Corps of Swordsmen. In contrast, Citadels are much more formidable and substantial structures, being structures modeled on stone castles and fortresses of antiquity, though not all are actually fully constructed of stone.
Leadership of Garrisons is held by the Garrison’s Templar, an officer usually elected by an assembly of the Garrison’s Knights, though in certain jurisdictions Templar are appointed by their Citadel’s High Templar. They usually serve for life, presiding over the Garrison’s collective votes and ceremonies, often being the particular individual directly performing ceremonial actions themselves. Citadels are administered in much the same way, except instead of the entire body of the Brothers at that level participating in leadership as in Garrisons, Citadels are led by Knightly Assemblies, which are composed of the Templar of all Garrisons within the jurisdiction of the Citadel. These Knightly Assemblies elect one among them to serve as the Citadel’s High Templar, which serves much the same purpose in the Citadel as the Templar serve in the Garrisons. Citadels have little control over their Garrisons in their jurisdiction beyond general regulations on ritual conduct and coordination of Garrisons with regard to coordinated events.
The Brotherhood as a whole is nominally headed by the High Templar of the Citadel of Ufini, officially called the Grand Palatial Citadel of Ufini, who holds the title of "Supreme Templar". The Supreme Templar holds more of a ceremonial role that represents the Brotherhood’s genesis in the district of Ufini, and does not speak for the Brotherhood as a whole nor regulate the actions of Citadels or Garrisons outside of Ufini.
Joining Process
A prospective member of the Brotherhood who wishes to join must first request an application from a current Knight, usually through some form of social gathering organised by the Brotherhood or through a charitable institution established by the Brotherhood. It is roughly split 50/50 between different Garrisons whether the responsibility for an individual beginning the joining process is placed upon the prospective member needing to ask or a Knight of the Brotherhood giving an invitation. In either case, the question of whether the member is admitted is almost always determined by a meeting of the Garrison in full (barring Initiates), who vote on whether the new member would serve as a valuable member of the Garrison and its Citadel, though there are some cases of Garrisons delegating the role of deciding upon new members entirely to the Garrison’s Templar, who serves as an absolute judge in this respect. Garrisons that do put this decision to a popular vote have different ways of going about it, however, ranging from a necessity for simple majority to a demanding full unanimity.
The only universally accepted requirement for new Initiates to the Brotherhood is the prerequisite of being "of age", though this age is not defined in the Coduri de Cenușă, the technical governing documents of the Brotherhood, and is therefore open to interpretation by local Garrisons. The most commonly accepted lower age limit is 20, though some Garrisons have the limit set at 21 or 18.
Initiation ceremonies are the only publically-held rituals in the Brotherhood, and are thus the only ceremonies whose process is known to outsiders. In these rituals, the Garrison Templar will burn a wooden carving of a sword in a ceremonial brazier, before using the ashes of the fire to inscribe markings on the new Initiate’s face. The Initiate will then recite an oath of loyalty to the Brotherhood, swearing to aid fellow Brothers in danger and uphold the ideals of the Brotherhood (insofar as the law and "the conception of universal good" permits). Following this, the individual is officially an Initiate of that Garrison, and is selected by a Brother of Knight rank or higher to be their "patron" and apprentice under. In Garrisons that use the invitation form of initiation, the Brother that invited the individual is usually their patron. Apprenticeship at the Initiate rank largely entails effective internship at events and projects organised by the Garrison. Initiates are not permitted to attend Garrison meetings, which is the only privilege that differentiates the rank from the Adept rank. Initiates may advance to Adept, usually by a vote, only after a recommendation from their patron. At the Adept rank, members may attend Garrison meetings but may still not vote in any thing that requires such. Accession to the full rank of Knight requires the confidence of the Garrison, who usually vote collectively whether to advance any of the Garrison’s Adepts to the rank of Knight at each meeting. Once an individual is a Knight, they are a full member of the Garrison and are afforded all of the permissions and responsibilities this entails.
Regulation
Regulation of the Brotherhood is extremely loose and decentralised, with Garrisons deciding on and encoding almost all of their own rules. Because of this, exact composition and procedures of rituals, meetings, and chains of authority are differing between individual Garrisons and difficult to generalise.
Originally, as the Brotherhood was meant to be a successor to the Brotherhood of the Order of Saint Roderick, membership was intended to be limited strictly to members of the BRFN. However, as leadership quickly devolved to the Garrison level, this restriction became very uncommon throughout the original Garrisons in Nova Caradia. The Grand Palatial Citadel of Ufini still retains a restriction on non-BRFN members being members in its jurisdiction, however it is the only Citadel to do this.
The most common regulation (other than age) in the Citadels is the banning of political discussion at Garrison and Citadel meetings. According to the first Supreme Templar of the Brotherhood, Ser Mihai Cântiscu:
Politics, being of a volatile, fractious, and ultimately irrelevant nature to the Brotherhood have no place in our Citadels. The only thing that would be accomplished through discussion of the subject in our halls would be the splitting of Garrisons into political camps. This is not our purpose. We exist here to serve the Brotherhood and our communities, not political ideals.—Ser Mihai Cântiscu, Manifesto of the Ashen Brotherhood
Activities
The Brotherhood is mainly known for its charitable activity, often centered around community works, with the most famous of these being medical clinics and hospitals whose construction funding is organised by the Brotherhood. These medical facilities are typically the first charitable projects undertaken by any particular Garrison, as adequate healthcare is considered to be one of the most fundamental rights by most Brothers.
These projects are mostly funded by public fundraising events held by Garrisons, such as the ubiquitous "Sărbători de Onoare" ("Feasts of Honour"), which are public formal dinners held at the Garrison proper. Brothers of the Garrison holding the feast are expected to provide the meals for non-member guests. Garrisons also occasionally organise local fairs and other such public events. As with regulatory rules, no two Garrisons have the same method of fundraising.
The Brotherhood also regularly engages in recruitment campaigns called "cruciade" that usually involve the Corps of Swordsmen holding a parade through the local settlement and Brothers that are skilled orators delivering speeches about the merits of the Brotherhood. Recruitments do not generally occur at these events, as they serve more as self-promotional activities, especially in Garrisons that require invitations for entry, however some Garrisons that only require an inquiry by interested individuals do set up temporary stations where applications to the Brotherhood can be made.
Corps of Swordsmen
Other than charitable works, the most prolific public activity of the Brotherhood is its operation of the Corps of Swordsmen, a cadre of militia leaders who undertake training of their own men in self-defence and in militia tactics in the event of an incursion in the Garrison’s area by any hostile force. As part of its devotion to being a credible source of defence training, the Corps of Swordsmen prohibits members from acceding to the command ranks of Knight-Captain (in charge of the Corps of Swordsmen of a Garrison) or Knight-Commander (in charge of the Corps of Swordsmen of the jurisdiction of a Citadel) unless they show proof of having served in any nation’s military.
Beyond being a self-contained militia force, the Corps of Swordsmen also regularly organises self-defence courses and classes on the use of firearms for both non-members and Brothers who are not part of the Corps of Swordsmen alike. These courses range from classes on self-defence martial arts, to tactics one can use in the event of an attack from a hostile nation or armed banditry, to firearm safety lessons for children. These courses are usually paid, and serve as another fundraising method for the Brotherhood.
Corps of Scribes
The Corps of Scribes is a Citadel level entity that does not itself participate in Brotherhood public activities, but is vital to the function of these activities in general. The Corps of Scribes’ main and constant occupation is the upkeep of the Citadel structure in the time between meetings. However, the more significant function is the coordination and implementation of event plans by Garrisons under the Citadel’s jurisdiction. They are also responsible for record-keeping and much of the actual clerical work undertaken by Garrisons. Garrison Templar are required to report critical information such as planned activities, budget and expenses, new members, and other such information to the Scribe-General of their Citadel after each Garrison meeting. The Corps of Scribes at the Citadel is then tasked with processing and recording the given information before providing council to the Templar about how best to act on the information given, which the Templar is expected to relay to their Garrison at its next meeting. The Scribes are therefore vital to the orderly and effective operation of multiple Garrisons in tandem, ensuring that costs are properly balanced and plans are coordinated to maximise efficiency of these plans.
Ranks
The Brotherhood carries a strict order of ranks, which is one of very few things mandated by the Supreme Templar. These ranks are always the same between every Citadel and every Garrison in order to prevent confusion.
| Initiate | |||
| Adept | |||
| Knight | |||
| Scribe | Lancer | ||
| Senior Scribe | Senior Lancer | ||
| Master Scribe | Knight-Captain | ||
| Paladin | |||
| Scribe-General | Knight-Commander | Greater Paladin | |
| Templar | |||
| High Templar | |||
| Supreme Templar | |||
Initiates and Adepts are the ranks of new recruits to the Brotherhood, and have very few permissions available before advancing to full Knights.
Knights and above ranks are addressed with the honourary title of "Ser", and have full membership permissions in their Garrison and Citadel.
Membership as a Scribe and its subsequent ranks are available, usually by application, to all regular Knights of Garrisons below the Citadel they would be serving at, and it may invalidate their obligations to regularly attend to their Garrison in order to properly perform their duties as a Scribe of the Citadel.
Lancer and Senior Lancer are the two ranks used by regular militiamen serving in the Corps of Swordsmen. Knight-Captains are the highest ranking and commanding Swordsmen at local Garrisons, and Knight-Commanders are the highest ranking and commanding Swordsmen at the Citadel level.
Paladin and Greater Paladin are honourary titles that come with no responsibility and are given to Knight-Captains and Knight-Commanders respectively that retired from the position due to old age.
The three ranks of Templar are leadership positions, with Templar serving as the leaders of Garrisons, High Templar of Citadels, and the single Supreme Templar as the ceremonial leader of the Brotherhood on the whole, and of the Grand Palatial Citadel of Ufini directly.
