Excerpts from the Aspirant’s Treatise
The Order of the Sunken Tower
In times such as these, no creature great or small with the will and ability to make its own path in life can hold both a clear conscience, and the knowledge that it has spent nothing more than breath in opposition to The Adversary.
- Thoughts of a Dying Soldier
- Legate Willowflint
The Order of the Sunken Tower is the newest of the Motive Orders, having only arisen within the last thirty years at time of writing. One benefit of this recency to the creation of this text is that I have had the pleasure to speak directly with one of its founding members, who was quite open regarding the Order's history and purpose.
Founded by a handful of Orderless Knights, the Sunken Tower began as little more than a strike team hoping to see a local despot deposed. After an eighteen month war of espionage, theft, and infiltration, the knights launched a two-day offensive against the lord's castle that culminated in the destruction of the castle's central tower, killing the aforementioned despot in its collapse.
In the wake of this victory, the self-titled Legion of the Sunken Tower decided to expand their philosophy and tactics into an Order. In particular, these 'Legionnaires' as they called themselves at the time, were perturbed by the emphasis which the Elucidation and the Liberation had placed on self preservation and defensive tactics. With these two being the most well-known of the Orders, the disgruntled founders of the Sunken Tower saw this relative inaction as endemic to the steady decline which Motive Knights have suffered now for decades and for the lack of progress against the Adversary.
The Order of the Sunken Tower does not, of course, encourage Knights to risk death or discovery frivolously. But it quite fervently rejects any aspirant who is unwilling to risk their life and limb in the war against evil. And, in fact, the Order of the Sunken Tower has been known to strike bold blows against corruption only to immediately disband its local presence and evacuate its members to other cells in neighboring areas - effectively trading its local presence for a time in exchange for the opportunity to eliminate powerful demons or remove corrupt leaders from power.
Aspirants & Ranks of the Order:
Aspirants hoping to join the Order of the Sunken Tower must complete combat training aimed to determine what manner of combat function the aspirant will be best able to fill. This training also includes instruction in manipulation and subterfuge which the Sunken Tower considers a core necessity for battling the Adversary and its forces in this bleak era.
Once their training is complete, an aspirant is subjected to what is known as the Twenty Day Curse, a grueling malady developed by the Order itself to prepare members for the stress of battling demons. Finally, if the aspirant is still willing to dedicate their life and freedom to the war, they are inducted as members of the Order.
The Order of the Sunken Tower is the most strictly organized of all the orders and maintains a rigid command structure. Each cell of this order is referred to as a Cohort, and despite their leaders' grand designs a single Cohort rarely grows to more than ten or twelve members even in relatively large cities.
Aspirants within a Cohort are known as Recruits and in addition to their training are charged with cleaning and caring for any communal spaces and equipment operated by their Cohort, such as meeting halls, medical facilities, and training equipment.
Newly confirmed Knights of the Order are known as Legionnaires. Legionnaires are charged with undertaking the day-to-day duties that keep the Cohort running. This includes cooking, sourcing supplies (secretly of course), and keeping watch. For Cohorts that operate a business as a front for their operations this also usually means doing the work of that business. Furthermore, Legionnaires make up the rank-and-file of the Cohort's fighting forces, and therefore Legionnaires are expected to be ready at a moment's notice to do battle with the forces of The Adversary.
Experienced members of the Order are known as Centurions. Centurions are charged with taking command of the Legionnaires, and are usually responsible for training any recruits. This means that a Cohort's Centurions are the ones on whom the burden of ensuring the safety of Recruits and Legionnaires falls, a responsibility that is taken very seriously. In the midst of battle, Legionnaires are expected to look first to their Centurion for command, even when more senior members are present. Recruits ideally are not involved in combat, but if the worst happens they too would be expected to take commands from their trainer - more than likely a Centurion.
Senior members of the Order are known as Praefecti. A single Cohort has at most one Praefectus, unless another is visiting or has had to retreat to a neighboring Cohort for safety temporarily. The mission of a Praefectus is to organize a Cohort and to identify, select, and oversee operations to oppose The Adversary. Generally, this means that a Cohort's Praefectus will identify missions, disseminate these to their Centurion(s), and then oversee the Centurions' conduct of the missions with the aid of the Legionnaires under their command. Only in the most extreme of scenarios does a Praefectus take direct command of Legionnaires, usually when their Centurion is indisposed or dead, or when the Cohort is conducting a particularly sensitive or delicately planned mission.
The highest level of leadership in the Order are known as Legates. Legates command entire regions or nations, usually with three or more Cohorts reporting to them via their Praefecti. Legates facilitate the distribution of recruits, work to ensure that each Cohort has the resources it needs, and ensure that Cohorts are not impeding one anothers' goals and missions.
Maledictions of the Legion
For some Orders the Paradigms within their tradition represent specific sects, branches of their organization, or modes of personal connection to their goals and central philosophy. The Order of the Sunken Tower has organized itself into Paradigms based on combat roles, each of which focuses on the development of a different Malediction. Each Malediction is a form of potent curse which a warrior can lay upon their enemies at a moment’s notice - oftentimes even in tandem with an attack from a blade or musket.
Malediction of the Artillery
The Malediction of the Artillery is the Sunken Tower's preferred focus for archers, cannoneers, musketeers, and even sappers. Knights of the Sunken Tower prize and protect their practitioners of this Malediction as they oftentimes prove to be among the most strategically valuable warriors on the battlefield.
Malediction of Command
Those the Sunken Tower expects are destined for command practice a Malediction with which they can afflict entire formations of enemy soldiers.
Malediction of the Vanguard
The most daring members of the Order of the Sunken Tower practice the Malediction of the Vanguard, empowering their attacks in close combat and debilitating anyone foolish enough to do battle with them.