Brotherhood of the Sun¶
Contested
Named in the open question Rakkar's pantheon and the Kalari founders. The 2018 plot notes call this order both the Brotherhood of the Sun and the Brotherhood of Light, and the Proturan documents use "Brotherhood of Light" for a different body, the Kalari faction that the newest of them names the Children of the Light. This page follows the order as the Broken Sea material describes it.
A Kalari religious brotherhood of the Fifth Age that keeps the legacy of the dead gods: it guards temple sites, recovers relics, and hoards holy artifacts and books. Its members are scattered across the Broken Sea and into the Imperium itself, and so many of them are agents of other powers that the order's vaults have become a hunting ground. The latest account remembers it as "a once-secret society of relic hunters, Soulcruxes & Imprisoned Eldritch" (S078).
Also called: the Brotherhood of Light (S141, S127); "the Brotherhood" (S133, S138, S163).
Faith and purpose¶
The Brotherhood "follows and worships Kalar, Orandos and Anariel. They collect, preserve and protect Kalari history" (S319). It is made up of "Kalari priests, ex-priests, faithful believers, etc." whose "mission is to preserve the Kalari legacy" (S152). Its stores include "many ancient Kalari relics which are still imbued with the creator's power", and it works "to advance and protect the Kalari faith" (S319). Among those relics are the soulcruxes in which the gods bound the shattered spirits of the Eldritch, which is why so many others want into its vaults (S141).
Organization¶
Ordinary members are "normally kept in secret, but the leadership of the brotherhood is well known and have headquarters among the kingdoms. Their headquarters is in Ozau, and Ozaustein is a significant patron of the brotherhood" (S152). Four officers lead it, each bearing a title of light:
| Office | Holder | Charge |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Master of the Sun | Gerart Hyacynthe | Head of the order and its operations |
| Master of the Light | Lowell Rambault | Finances, recruitment, training |
| Mistress of the Lantern | Amfrie Rahal | Temple defense, storage and protection |
| Master or Mistress of the Candle | unknown | "Responsible for undercover brotherhood. Identity is unknown." |
(S319; S152.) The renowned relic hunter and witch slayer Gabriel Benardin works alongside the order, "often joins up as a mercenary when relics may be involved", and keeps what she can (S152, S319).
Reputation¶
The Brotherhood has "a generally favorable reputation among the kingdoms, but [is] outlawed in the Imperium" (S319). To the Sancturi it is a band of "infidels" sitting on ruins that hold imperial artifacts (S150), and the campaign notes offer parties the chance to "stop (or join) a small Brotherhood terrorist attack against Sancturi" (S133). One such plot, the Poison Pill, aims to turn a Vigil in a large imperial port town against the Imperium by sabotaging its runes and assassinating the head monk, "the only one experienced enough to recognize and repair the runes"; the Brotherhood has found a willing Namakan runecaster, whose price is his family's freedom from slavery (S131).
Its badge also carries weight. In one adventure a rival tries to take a Kalari relic from a thieves' guild "by posing as a member of the brotherhood of the Sun" (S149), and a captain the Sancturi campaign fought on the road carried "an Anarial figurine, Amulet of Brotherhood of the Sun" (S180).
Infiltration¶
"Unfortunately, while many are true believers, they have been heavily infiltrated by Sancturi, Asmodean and Eldritch agents" (S152). Each wants something from the vaults, and all three want the Astral keys:
- Sancturi agents seek "to destroy the legacy" and the Astral keys.
- Agents of Asmodeus seek the Mithis Heartstone and the Astral keys; "Asmodeus has infiltrated the Brotherhood of Light to help him collect these relics" (S141).
- Eldritch agents seek "Eldritch soul anchors and Astral keys" (S152).
The Mistress of the Lantern, who controls the order's storehouses, is herself an Eldritch agent (S152), one of the many humanoid agents paid or blackmailed by the Eldritch Allannia Vaj'zaelin, who "are not aware of what she is" (S147). Gabriel Benardin has grown suspicious after a "particularly strong" relic she recovered vanished; Amfrie told her it had been moved, it was not at the new location either, and Gabriel has asked the Grand Master to investigate (S152).
Kilmarn¶
The best-recorded field operation is at Kilmarn, where "the Brotherhood of the Sun controls part" of the vast underground temple complex while the Hollowlord Urk'maggo holds another (S163, S164). The Brotherhood wants the holy relics in the sealed Vault of the High Sun. Outsiders are "looters and profiteers" to them, but "to avoid a fight, the brotherhood will try to pay off the group and offer them their fair share of anything that is not a 'holy relic'/consecrated" (S163). A team it sent into one chamber never came back (S163). Urk'maggo, for his part, has been summoning something "to deal (temporarily) with the Sun and overrun the brotherhood" (S164). The Sancturi campaign met the Brotherhood's party there under Captain Bendrik (S163), and one recovered piece went "back with brotherhood" (S165).
The order is also said to keep guard over a ruin holding a Sancturi artifact that a Sancturi lord wishes to recover (S138, S150), and the "brotherhood of light is investigating" the troubles in Alghert (S127).
Later¶
The Proturan documents of the later Fifth Age remember the Brotherhood only as a legend attached to the Children of the Light, beside the Light of Kalar and the White Fire: "a once-secret society of relic hunters, Soulcruxes & Imprisoned Eldritch" (S078). A Proturan campaign option lets a character have been "a member of a cult: Sancturi, Brotherhood of Light or Ravenlocks" taken in a failed raid on a Proturan outpost (S077); which body that name means there is not said.
Gap
No source says when or by whom the Brotherhood was founded, how its members are recruited or initiated, what became of it after the fall of the Sancturi Empire, or how a "once-secret" Broken Sea order came to be counted among the legends of the Kalari in Proturas.
Earlier accounts¶
The 2018 notes name Rachel Garinfried as Mistress of the Candle (S152); the 2019 account leaves the office's holder unknown (S319). The same notes spell the Mistress of the Lantern "Amfrie Rahal", the 2019 account "Amfrie Rahl".
In Play¶
The Brotherhood is a patron, a rival and a trap in one. It pays well for relics and will bargain rather than fight, but any party that trades with it may be dealing with Sancturi, devils or Eldritch wearing its colours.