Excerpts from the Aspirant’s Treatise - Revised Edition

The Order of the Anointed

Without the breeze I am breathless, without the brook I am bloodless, without the Spirit I am soulless. Let the wisdom of the World anoint me, and amidst my ribs take root.

- Song of the Anointed, Fifth Stanza

The identities of the founders of the Order of the Anointed are not truly lost to history, but are largely abandoned by the Order itself. This was an intentional choice to emphasize the Order’s principles of faith and philosophy above any potential reverence for the mere mortals who happened to organize its beginnings. Out of respect for the preferences of the Anointed and their forebearers, I shall not print here the names of those intended to be forgotten.

The aforementioned principles of faith and philosophy are not so much a list of specific vows, creeds, or beliefs as they are a set of intentions passed down through songs. It is often mistaken by those reading about the Anointed that this means that one must be possessed of hearing, and voice, and the willingness to sing, in order to become a member. To the contrary, simply possessing some ability to interact with language and understand it is sufficient. I have heard it said that the songs shared by the Anointed are sung in one's heart, not in one's throat.

The first of these songs, and the one memorized by aspirants in every sect and pocket of the order, is the eponymous Song of the Anointed. The Song of the Anointed is a ballad composed around the precepts of faith in the World Spirit - a faith now preserved more strongly by this order of Motive Knights than by any other group in our present era. To practitioners of such faith, the World Spirit is an intangible will that suffuses and permeates all natural things. The less natural a thing becomes, the less suffused by the World Spirit it becomes. So, contraptions and artifice are somewhat less natural than their unworked components had been, and of course people, creatures, or objects corrupted by the influence of fiends even less so than that.

This faith in the World Spirit forms the underpinnings of the Order's goals and techniques both. Whereas most other Orders focus their efforts in opposing the corruption and demonic influences within civilization, the Order of the Anointed opposes these forces instead specifically amongst the natural world - civilized or otherwise. They are, if you will, the protectors of the brooks and fields, forests and oceans, mountains and deserts - and the many naturally occurring creatures among them. The Anointed do not disdain society - at least not as a rule - but rather simply direct their efforts in a manner that is focused on preservation of the natural above the preservation of the artificial.

"You're not likely to hear the Spirit's song over the din of a dockyard" - or so they say.

Accordingly, many members of this Order choose to live either alone in rural areas where they can both commune with and patrol the untouched natural spaces (hoping to keep them that way), or as hunters, guides, fishers, shepherds, or other professions who enjoy a ready excuse to spend much of their time travelling into the natural spaces nearby. 

Aspirants

Though the Order of the Anointed does not hold a strict hierarchy of command or authority, it does rely heavily on mentorship. Generally, aspirants to the Order will find an existing member and apprentice with them, sometimes for several years even before becoming a full member of the Order. Among the Order, referring to another member as your "mentor" is considered a display of respect, and as such most members will refer to the member(s) who trained them and lead them into the Order as "mentor" indefinitely regardless of how their situations may change over time.

When an aspirant's mentor deems them ready to become a fully inducted member of the Order, they will take the aspirant, along with at least one witness (usually another member of the Order, but in a punch a trusted family member of the aspirant may be used) to a natural groundwater spring to perform a ceremony of Anointing. In some cases this is a simple day trip, but for some it may require a long journey if their immediate area is not known for such springs. The details of the ceremony are a secret of the Order, but I have heard that before aspirants undergo it they are made to gather and prepare a number of elements including a fermented cup of tree sap.

Songs of the Spirit

The Paradigms within the Order of the Anointed arose through the practice of complex songs, forms of life-long meditation empowered by one's Awakened Soul.

Song of Companionship

Those who meditate upon the Song of Companionship find themselves attended by a Natural Companion. The exact shape of each companion changes from one knight to the next, usually fitting the shape of some natural fauna - or rare ambulatory flora - native to the knight's homeland. Some mystical intervention of souls surely takes place between the knight and their companion, allowing the companion to rise above the capacities of their kind, but there's little denying that the companion remains a piece of the natural world, bound to the knight by choice.

Knights of the Anointed who hold the Song of Consecration in their heart find themselves spiritually empowered, and gain a wholeness of the soul that immunizes them against certain ailments. This empowerment, and how each Consecrationist connects to it, is unique. Many describe the feeling as a fullness in the heart or a humming, shuddering sensation of energy and elevation.

Those whose souls sing the Song of Fury wield the wrath of nature, lashing out with all its power and beauty against the follies of the exploiter and the corruptor alike. Whether calling upon the wave, the wind, or the awe-inspiring destructive power of a bolt of lightning, the Song of Fury leaves little room for doubt which side of a battle the forces of nature have taken.