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Addmendum: The Order of The Hammer and The Metal Age

 

The past year has seen many events. The fall of the Woodsie Lord has upset the Balance, as we knew it would, and the forces of order and progress now threaten to overwhelm the scales. As was predicted, the Order of the Hammer has been unable to resist the changes that this has involved, and is now a shadow of even its former, deteriorated self.   

In the course of the destruction of the Trickster, the Hammerite Temple, the centre of the Order since the fall of the Cathedral, was ruined and desecrated by his minions. Many Hammerites were slaughtered, among them some of the most learned and most senior of the Order. The desecration of the Temple, and the failure of the Order to prevent this, led to a plunge in morale that left the Hammers at their lowest ebb since the loss of the Cathedral. The crisis had the effect of encouraging the development of the factions already within the Order, who had widely varying ideas for the future course of Hammerite practice. Some, looking back to the days of co-operation with the Baron, wanted a renewal of these links. Others took the events as a sign from the Master Builder, and wanted increased devotion and piety, and an even stricter adherence to doctrine than ever before contemplated. Still more wanted the Order to place increasing emphasis on the development of technology to give an advantage that could be exploited economically, and attract adherents interested in the mechanical arts.   

The High Priest, Markander, a weak man in any case, and traumatised by his experiences at the hands of the Trickster’s beasts, was incapable of suppressing these factions. Splinter groups began to form that fragmented the Order. Markander was increasingly limited in his options, possessing neither the power nor the authority to suppress these groups. Most burnt out of their own accord, but one proved the spark that completed the fall of the Order of the Hammer. Brother Karras, a fervent believer in the value of technology, gathered a group of likeminded Hammerites around him, and set up a splinter group he called the Mechanists. Through research and development in the neglected fields of alchemy and clockwork his order developed new technologies that could be sold at a considerable profit.   

These new inventions were eagerly snapped up by the nobility, ever willing for impressive baubles with which to outdo each other. The Mechanist Order grew rich, and gained the protection of several powerful nobles. Markander was unable to suppress it, and Karras’s order was swelled by Hammerites disillusioned with the strict lifestyle of their former order. The growing wealth and power of the Mechanists attracted many others from amongst the population, and as they grew in power the Hammerites continued to decline. 

The situation has now been reached where the Order of the Hammer, despite its long, distinguished history, is on the verge of collapse. Acolytes are few, and talented acolytes even fewer. Cragscleft remains operational, but with a skeleton staff. There are no enough Hammerites to patrol the gaol, let alone patrol the streets. Money is at an absolute premium, and most of the Hammerite temples and chapels throughout the City have been closed or sold off to raise enough to keep those still open running. The lack of competent staff has meant that the Order no longer produce their own hammers, but contract out all of their limited business to the secular armourers. The vast revenues that the Order used to gain have gone as land is sold to provide funds, and a bare trickle of money comes in from the few who remain faithful. Usually such people are old and poor, meaning that income from this source is minimal. 

The Order of the Hammer balances on a knife-edge. If it cannot weather this dramatic fall in its fortunes that it will undoubtedly collapse and vanish completely. Threatened from all sides, its doctrines are increasingly inadequate to deal with the modern world. The Order has entered terminal decline, and it remains to be seen what, if anything, can reverse this trend.
 

Keeper Jorebee

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