Broken Shield
The Broken Shield is a covin of Curcalen obsessed with chivalry and honor. Members of the Broken Shield see themselves as righters of wrongs and defenders of the innocent. They are not necessarily less concerned with clandestine dealings and political conquests than any other covin, but they are more convinced that they're doing what they do for the right reasons.
Philosophy
The Broken Shield prides itself on being the most noble and altruistic of the covins, holding itself to a strict standard of chivalry. Members believe that their covin is a bastion of good in an often corrupt world, and important force for justice and relief. In practice, while many members of the Shield do do their best to live up to the principles its code embodies, many also exploit loopholes and ambiguities to live as they want while sticking to the letter of the law. It may still be true that, on average, the Broken Shield is the most benevolent of the covins, but if so, it's not by a wide margin.
The Shield's code of chivalry is formally set forth in thirteen maxims, engraved on tablets in each of their headquarters. The maxims are:
- Protect those that cannot protect themselves
- Tell no lies
- Once your word is given, it must never be broken
- Never attack by surprise
- Never attack a helpless foe
- Always offer a foe the chance to surrender
- Speak kindly and gently to those who have not rightly earned your wrath
- Keep your speech free of offensive oaths and slurs
- When you witness a wrong, make sure justice is done
- As far as possible, keep yourself always clean and presentable
- Hoard not money, nor goods, nor knowledge, but use it for good purposes
- Never cause any creature to suffer, except to relieve the greater suffering of another
- So far as it is in your power, relieve any suffering you see
Some of these rules are open to some interpretation and circumvention. The rule to "never attack a helpless foe", for instance, is sometimes skirted by giving a foe some clearly inferior weapon that, however inadequate to the case at hand, technically renders him not completely helpless. Members of the Shield differ on whether this is really in keeping with the rules of their order. The thirteenth rule is particularly vague, with some members of the Shield interpreting it as including giving generously to the poor (who suffer from their poverty), whereas others hold it to refer only to physical pain—and perhaps consider it to encompass the slaying of wounded enemies, the better to end their suffering from their wounds. The ninth maxim is also open to especial abuse, with some members taking very broad interpretations of just what constitutes a "wrong", and what constitutes "justice".
Still, however much some of its members may attempt to twist these maxims, blatant disregard of the covin's code is not tolerated. A member who acts in obvious disharmony with the code, and who is unable to offer any rationalization as to why the code in fact supports or allows his actions, will be, at best, sanctioned, which generally means either demoted in rank, assigned to unpleasant duties, or enchanted to prevent repeat offenses. Recidivists, or those who violate the code in more brazen ways, are likely to be killed, or worse.
Organization
The Broken Shield encompasses a number of different levels, or "orders", confusing to those unfamiliar with the organization. The newest members are Squires, outside of any order, but they generally don't stay at that rank for long before being invested into one of the four Novice Orders: the Knights Assistant, the Knights Entretenant, the Knights Lisant, and the Knights Travaillant. After proving themselves in these orders, most members are elevated, after a period of time that may be as long as a few decades and is seldom less than a few years, into one of the Complete Orders: the Knights Combattant, the Knights Fabriquant, the Knights Rédigeant, and the Knights Soignant. Only the most accomplished and respected members of the Broken Shield advance from the Complete Orders into one of the High Orders: the Knights Bataillant, the Knights Dirigeant, the Knights Enseignant, and the Knights Voyageant.
Each of the orders has an associated ordinary associated with it. The ordinary furnishes another name the order may be called by: of the Complete Orders, the Knights Combattant are also called the Knights of the Blue Pale; the Knights Fabriquant are the Knights of the Green Pall; the Knights Rédigeant are the Knights of the Black Bend; and the Knights Soignant are the Knights of the Red Pile. The Novice Orders and the High Orders likewise have their associated ordinaries. Members of the Broken Shield use the two names for the orders more or less interchangeably, but to those unfamiliar with the terms the polyonomy may be confusing.
At the head of the Broken Shield is a council of five, the Pentarchy, who oversee all of the decisions. One member of the Pentarchy is elected from each of the four High Orders. The fifth member, the Knight Menant—often called just the Menant for short—may have come from any of the Orders, but once he assumes this position is considered outside all of them, composing a thirteenth order of his own. Formally, the Pentarchy makes decisions by majority vote, but since the Knight Menant is considered to have three votes, in practice the only way for him not to get his way is if all four of the other members of the Pentarchy oppose him (or for three to oppose him and one to abstain, in which case the decision would be passed down to representatives of the orders). The current Knight Menant is a now-aging woman named Iradi Gulap who believes in a strict interpretation of the order's maxims, and is frustrated with herself for not having had more success in stamping out what she sees as corruption and insincerity in the covin.
Headquarters
Because their public face is that of a benevolent organization, the Broken Shield feels uncompelled to resort to the level of secrecy that other covins maintain, and has a number of headquarters out in the open and publicly accessible. The Bronze Palace in Ptutep promotes itself as the center of a fraternity of righteous warriors who can be hired for a good cause. The Kekiche in Khotheb provides aid and comfort for the indigent and needy. The Medallion in Aagon is a renowned center of knowledge and learning, its library, the Aykeria, the envy of the world. Throughout the world, the Shield maintains castles it calls Aspides that act overtly as bases of operation from which the covin can do good and protect the surrounding countryside, and less overtly for surveillance and recruitment.
In addition to these public bases, the Broken Shield also does occupy a number of secret headquarters scattered throughout the world—and beyond. Many wealthy lords sympathetic to or blackmailed by the covin construct bases of operations for them within and beneath their own palaces. A number of charitable and quasimilitary organizations throughout Diddu are Broken Shield fronts, behind their façade perhaps containing extensive networks of chambers and corridors where covin members work and train. The covin's main headquarters, however, is located on another plane of existence entirely. Located on the plane of Isina, the Cœuron, as this headquarters is called, is a sprawling complex covering some six hundred thousand square meters.
Spells
Like all of the Curcalish covins, the Broken Shield has come up with a large number of new spells. Many of them involve enforcing vows or imposing obligations, a prominent example of the former being the golden affidavit spell, and of the latter the righteous demand. Covin members within the various orders have developed spells suiting their own specialities. The Knights Rédigeant, for example, are skilled with divination, while the Knights Soignant are unparalleled in their knowledge of healing magics. Powerful spells developed by the Knights Bataillant have found their use in warfare the world over.
Similar divisions occur in the creation of magical talismans. While the Knights Fabriquant alone produce almost as many magical talismans as all the other orders put together, including such mainstays of the covin as the truthstone and the manciple bag, the other orders of the covin do have their own handiwork. The Knights Combattant create many magic weapons and pieces of armor; the Knights Voyageant have developed powerful talismans such as the ha sphere, useful in interplanar travel.