The Lawful Brotherhood: A Concise History

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The Lawful Brotherhood: A Concise History
by Giampaolo Agosta
The Lawful Brotherhood is now defunct, but its scions - the Order of the Ruby and the LB Trading Co. - are both important, in their own way, in the quest for removing the Curse that lays on this land.
Luis de Manzanas

One of the major issues with the Savage Coast is, at least for me, the incoherence between the "trade tongue", Slag, which should be a Thyatian dialect, and therefore basically a variant of Latin/Greek/Italian, and the "common tongue" of Bellayne and Cimarron, which is - and should remain, due to the specifically British and American flavour of the two nations - English. This article provides an overview of the history of the Lawful Brotherhood, and proposes theories that explain the origins of the language of Bellayne and Cimarron, as well as the religion of the Savage Baronies and Bellayne, based on the hypothesis that the Lawful Brotherhood was the main influence behind both.
Historical Overview
The Lawful Brotherhood was founded by followers of Ixion as a reaction to the domination of the Temple of Chaos in Hule, around 2100 BC.
At that time, the Temple of Chaos was not dominated by Loki and his entropic cronies, but Ixion seemed to foresee that the benevolent chaotic Immortals, like his lover Valerias or Faunus, would not be able to contain the Entropics, especially since other members of the Temple of Chaos, such as Rathanos did not seem to be overly concerned with the entropic threat. Therefore, Ixion promoted the formation of a pantheon of Lawful Immortals, called the Way of the Law.
As the followers of Temple of Chaos begun religious persecutions against the followers of Lawful Immortals, these were forced to leave the area of the Nine Kingdoms¹ and took refuge in the northern foothills of the Black Mountains, in a region that became known as Kavkaz.
The Immortals of the Way of the Law gathered a group of followers in a priestly order that was called the Brotherhood of Order, and later also the Lawful Brotherhood. Members of the Brotherhood were sent among the people of the regions north of Hule to proselytise, and found acceptance in the Midlands and, of course, in the Kavkaz. Two centuries after the foundation of the Lawful Brotherhood, new strongholds of Law were created in Dvinzina² and Sardjikjian³: the Sublime Octagon Order and the Blue Temple.
In the space of a century, the nations aligned with the Way of the Law were united in the Bright Alliance, only to be defeated by the coalition of three of the nine Hulean kingdoms. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood worked to convert the many nomadic tribes of the Midlands and then to counter the invasion of the Beastmen hordes from Urzud.
Only in 1380 BC, after the goblinoids had been chased from Sardjikjian and religious unrest had led to the eradication of the non-entropic Immortals from the Temple of Chaos, did the Lawful Brotherhood send new missionaries to the northern Hulean kingdoms, followed soon by armies of the Sardjik and the Dvinzinan.
However, the Quest for the Blue Steel led Wogar's Tribes to the Midlands, forcing the Lawful nations to retreat, and the emergence of Bozdogan as the new leader of the pantheon of the Temple of Chaos gave new impulse to the Hulean clergy under the leadership of Hosadus, leading to the expulsion of the Lawful Brotherhood from Hule in 1241 BC, after the battle of the Green River. At the same time, however, missionaries were sent north to establish missions among the Northern Barbarians⁴ that lived on the far shore of the Yalu sea.
Meanwhile, elsewhere the Taymoran Empire was collapsing, and the Nithian Empire was rising. Taymoran refugees added to the Temple of Chaos their knowledge of the secrets of undeath⁵, while the Nithians arrived in the Gulf of Hule as colonists, and moved north and west.
When the Nithian Pharaohs were corrupted by Thanatos, many of their subjects in the colonies decided to rebel. Those in the Hulean colonies were discovered, and forced to flee to the Kavkaz, where they joined the Lawful Brotherhood. As the Nithian Empire was destroyed by the Immortals, they lost all memories of their origins.
With the Nithian colonies gone, the Gulf of Hule became a contested area, and the Lawful Brotherhood soon sent its missionaries to prevent the expansion of Hule in the region⁶.
Between 160 BC and 300 AC, the Lawful Brotherhood missionaries organised the resistance of the native elves and humans against the Hulean forces, thus keeping the Hulean Empire from throwing its entire might against the Kavkaz nations in the Second and Third Kavkazian Wars, slowing the conquest of the eastern Gulf of Hule and paving the way for the Crystal Pact victories.
In 211 AC, the elven prince Cymorrakk led a coalition⁷ of elves, Kavkazan nations, Midlands nomads and Northern Barbarians against the forces of Hule, causing the Second Hulean Empire to collapse⁸.
During the Sixty Years War, the Lawful Brotherhood Trade Tongue, a simplified version of the Antalian language of the Northern Barbarians created by missionaries for use in spreading the teachings of the Way of the Law in the north came to be used as a ``neutral'' diplomatic language between Midlands nations, Kazkaz nations, elves and Northern Barbarians.
In the following centuries, contact with Traladara, Minrothad, Sind and the Flaemish lands was established by Sardjik merchants, bringing new ideas, and knowledge of distant lands. Even though the Crystal Pact did not last⁹, the Hulean Empire was far from recovery, and the Lawful Brotherhood took advantage of the relative weakness of the Temple of Chaos to move towards the western Savage Coast.
The LB Trade Tongue was now used by all Lawful Brotherhood missionaries, regardless of their national background, as this helped the Brotherhood remarking its detachment from national interests. LB posts were established in modern Bellayne, at the Old Fort in Cimarron, and at Dunwick.
As this expansion coincided with a time of peace in the Kavkaz, the Lawful Brotherhood missions evolved towards a more mercantile attitude. This attitude was especially pronounced in the Savage Coast - by 800 AC the Lawful Brotherhood did no more exist as a monastic or missionary institution, but rather as a thriving trading company.
Meanwhile, the Trade Tongue continued its evolution. The arrival of Thyatian-speaking colonists added Thyatian vocabulary to the language, which assumed its modern structure only in the last century. Dialects of Bellayne and Cimarron also emerged, as the local influences became prevalent.
In recent years, philosophy-oriented members of the Brotherhood rediscovered texts of the original Lawful Brotherhood. This led the Brotherhood to a split. The philosopher, led by the first Inheritors, created the Order of the Ruby, while the mercantile group took the more neutral name of LB Trading Co..
Meanwhile, Hule was wrecked by the last conflicts between Entropic and non-Entropic factions in the Temple of Chaos, while the northern branches of Lawful Brotherhood remained more faithful to their origins.
The Lawful Brotherhood and the Modern Baronial Pantheon
The Way of the Law was originally founded by Ixion. To his banner flocked, in time, other Lawful Immortals, such as Vanya, Tarastia, Thor, Ilsundal and even Masauwu.
Another major influence on the Baronial and Bellaynish religion came from the Elves. The original Elven Immortals in the Savage Coast were Calitha, Ordana, and Ilsundal, though later Mealiden was introduced by Ilsundal.
Last came the Thyatian settlers. The Ispan were followers of Ixion and Vanya¹⁰, but had also knowledge of the other Thyatian Immortals, especially Thor and Tarastia¹¹.
When the Lawful Brotherhood engaged in a massive missionary enterprise in the northern Yalu sea and in the Gulf of Hule, it established its pantheon using generic names, designed to easily convey the idea of the represented Immortal's portfolio to the converted people. Names such as the Inquisitor, the Judge, the General, the Ambassador, and the Sun were devised.
The Elves and Oltec humans of the Savage Coast assumed the pantheon of the Lawful Brotherhood, adding Mealiden, Calitha and Ordana from the elven pantheon, and using the Oltec name for Ixion, Otzitiotl.
Later, the Thyatian settlers arrived, bringing with them their own religion, but accepted some of the names established by the Lawful Brotherhood. They revered Ixion, Vanya and Valerias, which were kept with their Thyatian name, but used ``The Judge'' for Tarastia - which they originally knew as Pax Bellanica.
In Bellayne, the Rakasta accepted Ordana and Calitha, which were worshipped by many of the local Elves, and two Immortals which were popular both in the Way of Law and the Thyatian pantheon. However, they translated the name of these Immortals, often using Thyatian names like Felidae or Pax Bellanica. This was due both to the disappearance of the Lawful Brotherhood as a religious institution, so that no control was exerted over the evolution of the Bellaynish pantheon, and to the arrival of new colonists from Thyatis.
Footnotes

... Kingdoms ¹
The Great Valley, or Hule.
... Dvinzina ²
A nation in the Kavkaz, near the Hulean border.
... Sardjikjian ³
The most prominent nation in the Midlands, right north of the Kavkaz.
... Barbarians ⁴
These barbarians were the ancestors of the Eusdrian and Robrenn people.
... undeath ⁵
Some Necromancer Kings allied with Bozdogan, and were led to Hule, where they took over the Holy Men, establishing a secret network of Nosferatu, led by the current Master of Hule.
... region ⁶
482 BC.
... coalition ⁷
Known as the Crystal Pact.
... collapse ⁸
The Huleans were defeated in the Battle of Lost Hopes, 216 AC, and in the subsequent Sixty Years War, 231-295 AC
... last ⁹
It was disbanded in 308 AC.
... Vanya ¹⁰
Vanya was known to them as Faña
... Tarastia ¹¹
Tarastia is the original name of this Jennite Immortal. She should be known as Pax Bellanica in Thyatis: this name is also used in Bellayne, but it is clearly Thyatian in origin.