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A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

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Interlude DCCCXCIX: The Order of the Golden Shields Part One
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    • The Order of the Golden Shields Part One​

    History: Founded a little over four years ago following the return of the Laughing Lion from its journey to Valyria the Golden Shields were designed from the ground up not as a mysterious cult or an institution of learning, but as a means to police and control emerging magic, to direct those adept in its use against malevolent Powers and the dynastic foes of House Lannister. It's first year was marked with scandal, not least from vassal lords too cowardly to face Tywin Lannister yet who found his younger brother and new scandalous bride much easier targets.

    Partly through human folly and partly through infernal meddling, the issues were amplified when several hedge mages taken into service were found using their powers attempting to blackmail important Westerlander lords. I know not the precise identity of the lords involved, only that they were discreet or frightened enough of Lord Lannister to keep the matter from becoming public. Regardless, the incident would have ended with five swift executions were it not for the fact that one of the plotters, who had been apparently been acting in ignorance of his companion's motives, had thrown himself upon his teacher's mercy.

    At that point, as one might expect, the Old Lion would accept nothing less than a geas-bound oath, and so the Circles of Oaths were born.

    Organization: The outermost circle of the Golden Shields is that of the Dutiful Apprentices and minor spell-casters, those lacking the power to cause significant harm even should they wish to. To advance in rank to Guardian one must either accept a geas for however long it is deemed suitable or prove oneself loyal and skilled enough that one is allowed to advance to Assessor, the Third Circle. The fourth and final circle comprises the Honorbound who bear no geas, though show their honesty in swearing oaths to lord and crown, meaning the former far more than the latter is verified by arcane means.

    Training: While the Golden Shields do teach sorcery, alongside strategy, diplomacy and a host of other skills important in carrying the Lannister banner, most of their most skilled mages are awoken using a mechanism that draws on the planar energies of the Deep Earth beneath the Rock. I have had but a brief amount of time to study it, even that was hard bargained, but the focus seems to be a combination of genie-craft and ancient altar of learning discovered on the spot. While most of those woken are sorcerers, later honed by experience to be roughly on par with Scholarum graduates, six of these mages have learned how to tap into the deep wellspring of knowledge and lore which Lanna herself tapped, though none of them are her equal.

    Numbers: The Golden Shields count roughly three hundred mages worth the name, two thirds of those among the Dutiful; hedge mages, healers and minor artisans mostly who should be easy enough to incorporate into the Scholarum after the conquest. Guardians make up about four fifths of the final hundred; better trained, equipped and possessing many skills that allow them to function with limited or no support, whether that be exploring an ancient barrow or gathering information at court. In many ways the final twenty are trained to mirror Lanna and Gerion, who experienced traveling across the world. Looking back on the matter I suspect the drive to create mages of many talents may have cost them dearly in the end.

    OOC: Don't worry guys, this won't be like the fey, part two will include weapons and we are done.
     
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    • DragonParadox said:
    While the Golden Shields to teach sorcery, alongside strategy, diplomacy and a host of other skills important in carrying the Lannister banner most of their most skilled mages are awoken using a mechanism that draws on the planar energies of the Deep Earth beneath the Rock. I have had but a brief amount of time to study it, even that hard bargained, but the focus seems to be a combination of Genie-craft and and ancient altar of learning discovered on the spot.
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    We'll need to pry Jazirian's altar out of there. I wonder how Zathir claiming fragments of his ancient power would look.
     
    Given the focus on indoctrination, I'm expecting 10% losses on the lesser mages, 50% on the initiates and a full 100% on the higher-ups. Having one of the Sha'ir defect would be neat though.

    None the less, anyone above the least rank should get a Geas post-conquest to ensure that they don't cling to old loyalties.
     
    Azel said:
    Given the focus on indoctrination, I'm expecting 10% losses on the lesser mages, 50% on the initiates and a full 100% on the higher-ups. Having one of the Sha'ir defect would be neat though.

    None the less, anyone above the least rank should get a Geas post-conquest to ensure that they don't cling to old loyalties.
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    All of them should get Inquisition files and locks of hair taken as insurance. But yeah, if they behave they'll do fine. Unless a mage is terminally stupid there's no way they stay poor in the Imperium.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    The Order of the Golden Shields Part One​

    History: Founded a little over four years ago following the return of the Laughing Lion from its journey to Valyria, the Golden Shields were designed from the ground up not as a mystery cult or an institution of learning, but as a means to police and control emerging magic, to direct those adept in its use against malevolent Powers and the dynastic foes of House Lannister. It's first year was marked with scandal not least from vassal lords too cowardly to face Tywin Lannister, yet who found his younger brother and new scandalous bride much easier targets.

    Partly through human folly and partly through infernal meddling, the issues were amplified when several hedge mages taken into service were found using their powers in attempts to blackmail important Westerlander lords. I know not the precise identity of the lord involved, only that they were discrete enough or frightened enough of Lord Lannister to keep the matter from becoming public. Regardless, the incident would have ended with five swift executions, but for the fact that one of the plotters, who had been apparently been acting in ignorance of his companions' motives, not thrown himself upon his teacher's mercy.

    At that point, as one might expect, the Old Lion would accept nothing less than a geas-bound oath and so the circles of oaths were born.

    Organization: The outermost Circle of the Golden Shields is that of the Dutiful apprentices and minor spell-casters, those lacking the power to cause significant harm even should they wish to. To advance in rank to Guardian, one must either accept a geas for however long it is deemed suitable or prove oneself loyal and skilled enough that one is allowed to advance to Assessor, the Third Circle. The fourth and final circle comprises the Honorbound who bear no geas, though their honesty in swearing oaths to lord and crown, meaning the former far more than the latter, is verified by arcane means.

    Training: While the Golden Shields do teach sorcery, alongside strategy, diplomacy and a host of other skills important in carrying the Lannister banner, the majority of their most skilled mages are awoken using a mechanism that draws on the planar energies of the Deep Earth beneath the Rock. I have had but a brief amount of time to study it, and even that was hard bargained, but the focus seems to be a combination of Genie-craft and and ancient altar of learning discovered on the spot. While most of those woken are sorcerers, later honed by experience to be roughly on par with Scholarum graduates, six of these mages have learned how to tap into the deep wellspring of knowledge and lore which Lanna herself tapped, though none of them are her equal.

    Numbers: The Golden Shields count roughly three hundred mages worth the name, two thirds of those among the Dutiful, hedge mages, healers, and minor artisans mostly, who should be easy enough to incorporate into the Scholarum after the conquest. Guardians make up about four fifths of the final hundred. They are better trained, equipped, and possessed of many skills that allow them to function with limited or no support, whether that be exploring an ancient barrow or gathering information at court. In many ways, these final twenty are trained to mirror Lanna and Gerion's experiences traveling across the world. Looking back on the matter, I suspect the drive to create mages of many talents may have cost them dearly in the end.

    OOC: Don't worry guys, this won't be like the fey, part two will include weapons and we are done. Not yet edited.
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    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.
     
    Azel said:
    Given the focus on indoctrination, I'm expecting 10% losses on the lesser mages, 50% on the initiates and a full 100% on the higher-ups. Having one of the Sha'ir defect would be neat though.

    None the less, anyone above the least rank should get a Geas post-conquest to ensure that they don't cling to old loyalties.
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    I don't think Geasing them will be necessary, not with our intelligence apparatus and the magic available to our forces. I won't fight y'all on it, but it seems counterproductive in the long run. Better to subsume the former Golden Shields in the Scholarium's culture, IMO.

    That said, I'm also in favor of comprehensive initial screening to weed out potential troublemakers before they can be a problem. Those can be quietly disappeared into and their corpses incinerated.
     
    Goldfish said:
    I don't think Geasing them will be necessary, not with our intelligence apparatus and the magic available to our forces. I won't fight y'all on it, but it seems counterproductive in the long run. Better to subsume the former Golden Shields in the Scholarium's culture, IMO.

    That said, I'm also in favor of comprehensive initial screening to weed out potential troublemakers before they can be a problem. Those can be quietly disappeared into and their corpses incinerated.
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    I was thinking about a Geas akin to:
    "I will not aid or abet those who still hold loyalty to the Lannisters or plan treason against the Imperium and report such people to the Inquisition."

    Just a little fail-safe that we can take off after half a year as a sign of trust.
     
    Azel said:
    I was thinking about a Geas akin to:
    "I will not aid or abet those who still hold loyalty to the Lannisters or plan treason against the Imperium and report such people to the Inquisition."

    Just a little fail-safe that we can take off after half a year as a sign of trust.
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    That is pretty tame. I still prefer to rely more on thorough screening and frequent Divination checks, but it isn't the onerous type of Geas that would chafe against one's mind. I can live with that.
     
    Well, it's either that or the chopping block in most cases. Or they can try their luck with Yss, in that case the chopping block is kinder.
     
    ryuan said:
    Well, it's either that or the chopping block in most cases. Or they can try their luck with Yss, in that case the chopping block is kinder.
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    We're being insanely merciful, circumstances considered. Most of the Lannisters will be alive, just stripped of their name, titles, and lands. And if they're smart they actually have a chance at working their way back up in the world, albeit under a new name.
     
    I feel like Lanna has been whammied, seeing as how 'suddenly' from Marwyn's perspective she did a 180 big enough to push him away.

    The question is, how could Tywin pull a fast one on her except by using some kind of item that constantly maintains an effect that doesn't have the same giveaway of domination that other magic gives, and doesn't present opportunities to Save against it again like most similar spells would? Even the Red Dragon Orb, a Major Artifact, has a limited but long duration. And it is obvious the target is mind whammied.

    @Goldfish, @Azel? Just feels like to me we should be looking around for unique items to loot from the Lannisters. Their one advantage for a long time was having money, and people they could hire to go looting for silver bullets.

    Obviously they didn't find a silver bullet for us, or not one dramatically good enough to try using it offensively rather than using it reactively. But a bullet against Lanna, who Tywin didn't trust, because she was a woman with power noncomparable to his own who he was reliant on?
     
    Crake said:
    I feel like Lanna has been whammied, seeing as how 'suddenly' from Marwyn's perspective she did a 180 big enough to push him away.

    The question is, how could Tywin pull a fast one on her except by using some kind of item that constantly maintains an effect that doesn't have the same giveaway of domination that other magic gives, and doesn't present opportunities to Save against it again like most similar spells would? Even the Red Dragon Orb, a Major Artifact, has a limited but long duration. And it is obvious the target is mind whammied.

    @Goldfish, @Azel? Just feels like to me we should be looking around for unique items to loot from the Lannisters. Their one advantage for a long time was having money, and people they could hire to go looting for silver bullets.

    Obviously they didn't find a silver bullet for us, or not one dramatically good enough to try using it offensively rather than using it reactively. But a bullet against Lanna, who Tywin didn't trust, because she was a woman with power noncomparable to his own who he was reliant on?
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    There are of course spells that can cause long term or permanent personality shifts, but they're generally not particularly subtle. It's possible Lanna was subjected to one or more of them, though. Or she could have just seen some shit in the last couple years that really wore her down.

    Some sort of variant Mirror of Opposition is a likely culprit, too. The duplicate created by the mirror could be cooperating with Tywin to insure its own existence, since he could easily destroy the mirror or kill Lanna (who would still need to be alive, likely bottled, turtled, or otherwise inconvenienced) to end it as well.

    An even darker possibility is that Lanna is dead, has been subjected to a Greater False Resurrection spell, and is now being piloted around like a meat robot by a Belier Devil.
     
    The Lannisters lack high lvl divine mages outside of Lanna and other potential high lvl Shai'r. Nothing but sorcerers for full casters and the npc mage classes (adept/hedge mage/magewright/etc.)
     
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