The Temple of the Exploding Head

THE GRAND ORDER OF HOSPITALERS and their various Sub-Orders are the Warrior/Healers of the League. The Hospitalers are an old sect, second only to the Sisterhood of Light. They are also the only Peasant Sect to achieve a very high position of power in the League. Originating in the city of Figg on Onaris centuries ago, they started as group of fighting valets and porters. They served their Blue Vith lords and were their trusty companions. Powerful fighters, the Hospitalers earned a reputation for their speed and fierceness in battle, using a strange silver weapon called a Jet Staff instead of usual swords, pistols or axes.

The Elder-Kind were engineered to remain young and disease-free throughout their lives by the Elders during the CX time epoch on Cammara (200,000 years prior). Freed from the ravages of age and sickness, the Elder-Kind lost their lore of the medical arts over the ages and became rather infantile in their knowledge of their own bodies. They had no need for it any longer.

The EX time epoch saw a return of war and armed conflict with the coming of the Xaphans and the Great Blue Lords died on the fields, often bleeding out from the various wounds they received. On the forgotten wastelands of some churned-up battlefield, the Hospitalers put down their Jet-Staves and began trying to attend to their master’s wounds. Through persistence and practice, they perfected techniques in binding wounds, clearing blood poisoning, re-attaching fallen limbs and so forth. Little by little, the Hospitalers re-learned most of the knowledge that had been previously lost. Their influence grew so great that even the mighty Sisterhood of Light turned to them for medical help when it was needed, sharing with them some of their most guarded secrets that the Hospitalers have never divulged. The Hospitalers have always worn black and silver. They adopted the silver winged helmet of the old-earth god Mercury as their symbol. Their silver tools and medical instruments are considered marks of pride and honor and they wear them prominently upon their person.

The Xaphans had nothing like the Hospitalers for a long time. Often times they tried to recruit them with promises of wealth and other pleasures. When recruitment efforts failed the Xaphans often resorted to kidnapping, pressing them into service with the penalty for refusal being death. Eventually, the art of Xaphan Cabalism came into being, serving the same role as the Hospitalers did in the League, only the Cabalists tended to make use of more arcane methods of performing healing.

There are a number of Sub-Orders within the Hospitaler circle of influence. Some of the more notable ones are:

The Ephysians are an order seeking to expand the Hospitalers knowledge. They often go outside of the Sisterhood’s approved lines of teaching to gather their knowledge and their methods are often called into question. The flamboyant Morgan-Jeterix, Lady of Thompson is a notable member of the Ephysian Order.

The Eyrnes were an order dedicated to promoting healing and enlightenment through Weed-fueled sex and other such pleasures. They were eventually kicked out of the Hospitalers, though the order remains active.

The Jones are a branch of Hospitalers located on Bazz. As per typical on Bazz, the Jones grew away from the main circle of Hospitalers and went off in its own direction, becoming more “Bazz-like” in the process. The Jones’ ongoing mission is to locate a bizarre creature known most commonly as Bellathauser and study/worship her. Bellathauser is said to be the pinnacle of human perfection.

The Knickerbaums are the Hospitaler group most often associated with shipboard Fleet travel. The Knickerbaums are dedicated to discovering, treating and documenting new maladies. Ennez of Innari and Bethrael of Moane are two notable members.

copyright 2011, Ren Garcia