Sons of Serran

From AkashicRecord

[edit] History

- a Story told by the bard Jemmarami Silverlips

"There are many truths in this world that go more or less unnoticed. One of them is that people tend to like people that are like themselves. Another one is that wisdom grows with age. Bear these in mind as I tell you the story of how the Sons of Serran took the form it still holds today. Jeridom the Blunt was an eager and intelligent young man long before he was first employed by the Diamond Throne. At that time, noone had yet realised that the oath he swore in his hands might be taken literally. "To exact venegeance" had never been a proactive charge, but rather a prolonged protection. But he loved the Giant reign so deeply that he was ready to take that part of his oath very seriously. And he found others that saw the same; they told stories of opposition and teason to the Giant throne that the Giants could not remedy as the cure itself would be poison. But Jeridom and his three friends swore to be that poison. And so begins the story of the Sons of Serran.

Jeridom and his friends, Yazzexh, Re-Trellian and Herithen, travelled the world to learn, and to find out about the opposition. They needed to know their enemy. And they were disappointed to learn how many did not see the Giants their way, and they were horrified how many were working against their saviors. The Sons of Serran soon discovered that they had to grow. They defined their codex, laws and the magister, Herithen, created a special ceremony for each of them with which they could tie the Sons together for always. This rune, called the Chameleon Rune, had magic powers and would adjust to fit the person casting it on others. This way, a leader of a group could brand his group with his rune, almost like a name. They split up, vowing to follow the codex and reunite when each had formed an organisation of 50 people.

Jeridom soon formed a family of excellent sebeccai and human fighters, and told each that they should go out and find more that shared their vision. He passed to them the knowledge of how create the enchanted rune and implored them never to share his identity with their families, but Jeridom would have to know about them, and this should be repeated through the generations. Also, they should not seek out other families, as knowledge of other families would make them targets more than they already were. This way, the youngest and weakest would know least and the oldest the most. This way, Jeridom would be able to send the right people for the assignment without fearing his own disclosure. He told the new leaders to name their families after their own family names, but also grant the families another name that he, Jeridom, would know them by. This first family of Jeridom is called the Jeridom Tree.

As the decendants of Jeridom are all about battling the enemies of the Giants with weapons in hand, their Chameleon Runes bestow them powers to use in battle. But as each family’s father is unique, so are the runes and the powers of the runes. Yazzexh gathered her akashic friends and long nights whispering and sharing knowledge of the Sons of Serran turned into resolute minds seeking out other sages. She knew that keeping knowledge from the new sons and daughters decending from her would indeed be difficult, and so she named her own family the Sohlan Coven. She passed on the codex and the laws, making sure that knowledge would trickle to her but none back unless she wanted it to. Knowledge is the epitome of the verriks, so all Chameleon Runes given to decendants of Yazzexh somehow grants access to more knowledge. Re-Trillian had been the more reluctant of the four to form the Sons of Serran, dispite his rebellious taint. He knew that while the thought itself was righteous, the Diamond Throne might not see it that way. He knew that the day would come when they would have to be ready to defend their idea and ideals. He also knew that the best way to win a war was to stop the war before it even began. So he formed a family of diplomats and mediators, bringing Giants and humans together to handle the politics. He named his family Re-Trillian’s Circle, and their Chameleon Runes influences people’s opinions. The last founder was the Mojh magister Herithen who went to find likeminded spellcasters, which he found amongst Mojhs, humans, verriks and faen. Bringing so many races together might have been difficult for others, but the common interest in magic and their common vision seemed to smooth out the differences. He named his family Herithen’s Star. The Rune bestowed to decendants of Herithen strengthens or enhances magic cast by the bearer of the rune.

So are the Sons of Serran organised today. The family knows not what happens above their founder, but knows everything of what happens in the families decending from them. Few have tried to despute the logic that you cannot reveal in torture or by magic what you do not know, and knowing the weaker is less vulnerable than knowing the stronger.

Vague stories tell that only three of the original founders met as the fourth had perished, but at this point, information became extremely sparse, and noone would confirm or deny this. "Because the Sons of Serran do not exist. Superstition.", as Father Protectors have claimed for centuries. A pity, "because so many of us need to believe."

[edit] A day in the life of a Son of Serran

(Excerpt from a diary)

Daybreak. I loathe getting up at dawn, but today is important. Today, we strike. The Father has promised us that today, the waiting and endless planning is over. I was never included in the planning. I only know where to be and when. But I know the target, and why he is a target – he’s a traitor. I cannot say that I do not want him dead with all the things he has done to damage what I believe in. Even if I was not part of this, I would still do what was necessary to quiet him, if I had known what he had been doing in the shadows. I guess I would not have known if my Father had not told me, as the target has been very discreet. Someday, I’d like to do the planning too, maybe even be a Father myself and start my own Family. But earning the right to start a Family takes time. I hope that some day, I will have proven myself enough to be offered that.

Mid-morning. Heavy clouds and a light drizzle. The surface is slippery – it will make the task harder, but I’ll get it done, nomatter what. One of the others is complaining too much. I think he’s annoying the Father, and I suspect the Father will be lecturing him tonight. We’ll never know if he is, but tomorrow he will be silent and subdued. Only the successful are allowed to speak up against the decisions of the Father, and only in private. High noon. The Father has returned from an errand in the city we’re watching from the outside. He brought special boots with small spikes that will allow us to run in the mud without falling over. I have never seen boots like these before. He told us to keep them for ourselves after this task. I still have the magical ring I got 2 months ago, I never take it off. I cannot believe I was allowed to keep it, even though I was the spear head of the task we got, and the idea of how to enter the fortress unnoticed was mine. The Father treats me well. I will not let him down. Afternoon. The target will be leaving the city tonight in a caravan. He will be in the middle with a wagon. The Father leaves it to me and my brother Wajud to run up to the wagon, get the reins and make the horses move out of the caravan and towards the rest of the Family where they will take out the target. The Father says many of the caravan people will be too afraid to follow, and the rest are paid not to. The Father wants to intrreg ask him some questions so we must make sure not to kill him completely. The Father will talk to him alone and report to his Father what the traitor says before he dies. Night. We were successful again. The traitor almost died on us, but the Father was pleased with the information he got. The rune worked perfectly; they neither saw nor heard Wajud or me when we took the horses out of the caravan. The traitor actually thought the horses were doing it by themselves until we hit him with our swords. He was a Giant, so he bled a lot. I felt numb when I hit the Giant. I have never hit a Giant before. I hope I’ll never have to again.

[edit] The organization

Sons of Serran is a secret organization originally founded by the Sibeccai Jeridom the Blunt, an oathsworn runechild, sworn to protect the Diamond Throne. Jeridom originally founded the Sons of Serran as a response to the growing need for a way to gain more indirect control, than the approach the Giant masters applied to the problems of the world. His standard oath told him to, "Protect the Diamond Throne and exact vengeance on beings disturbing the harmony of the Diamond Throne".

Jeridom the Blunt was the first Sibeccai runechild ever to become an oathsworn, sworn in by the local Giant Governor. As all other Sibeccai oathsworn at that time, Jeridom’s oath was the standard oath. Sibeccai were unquestionably faithful towards their Giant masters, and would never consider doing anything that would not fully comply with the word of a Giant. Sibeccai respect strong leaders, and believe that you must follow laws. For some reason, perhaps the runechild side of Jeridom, he began to consider his oath in broader terms. Within a few months Jeridom had recruited 3 key persons: An old wise akashic female Verrik called Yazzexh, a young rebellious male Giant called Re-Trellian, and the powerful Mojh magister Herithen. The four, including Jeridom, became the core of the Sons of Serran, defining the rules of engagement and operating procedures. They shared the common view that the Giants were definitely good for the world, but needed protection against their own lawfulness. Their eager to abide and invent righteous laws made them vulnerable to attacks from opponents who did not play by the rules. They devised a system where agents or "Sons" and "Daughters", would report to one person above them – a Father/Mother - but did not know whom that person reported to, and all agents would abide to the Codex of the Sons (see sidebar). Today, the Sons of Serran share a common vision of a world ruled by the wise Giants. They hope that one day, this vision will be appreciated by all. The Sons would eventually like to be the official prolonged arm of the Diamond Throne, instead of being a covert organisation. Further, they would like the stricter laws against disloyalty towards the government.

The Codex explains the simple rules the Sons used to monitor and track a person they believed to be in opposition to the Diamond Throne - a Suspect. The Son was then required to track the Suspect until "unquestionable proof of guilt" had been collected, and the immediate superior of the Son, his Lord, would then declare the Suspect to be a Traitor. The Traitor would then be hunted down by the Sons controlled by the Lord. I very rare occasions has Sons under different Lords been known to cooperate, and the whole idea is still today disliked by most Lords.

After some years, the inevitable happened. The Giants learned about the Sons. At first the whole organization was considered to be high treason, but the High Stewards quickly picked up the right course of action though: It would be quite beneficial to be able to operate a bit outside the laws to enforce them once in a while. So they encouraged the Lord Protector to completely deny the exsistance of the Sons of Serran. secretly one of the High Stewards appointed one Steward to be the Father Lord.

None of this knowledge is public knowledge. If you heard something about the Sons, you will most likely believe it to be a secret club or an order of Oathsworn.

The Sons of Serran have as strong ties to the Diamond Throne today, as they did hundreds of years ago. They are still kept discrete and are handled through approximately 8-10 levels of Fathers who only know their immediate superior. Ia-Thordani is still quite new on the throne, and it is quite unlikely that she has been introduced to the Sons yet, so the highest Father is most likely enacting her smallest wishes without telling her. Apart from the occasional assignment arriving indirectly from Lady Protector Ia-Thordani some matters greatly concern the Leaders of the Sons of Serran these days.

• The Mojh are being watched skeptically as always. Considering that they are some kind of dragon-kin, you can never be too careful. Fathers consistenly encourage Sons and Daughters to report any Mojh activity. Strange as it may seem when one of the founding fathers was Mojh. Herithen is generally considered an exception, and it is rumoured that Herithen backs up the watching of the Mojh.
• Some powerful individuals are trying to reach a closer level of contact with the Gods. Eventhough, the Giants coming was a result of the Gods deserting people, the coming of Gods could spell the end of the Giants. Who knows which Gods would arrive? The Giants do not dare risk it.
• Apparently magic is less stable these days. Some areas have been known to have extremely high concentration of magical energies while it has been found to be near impossible to cast any, even the simplest detection spells, in other areas. Any discoveries on Rifts in the Magical Weave, Reality or Space time must be reported immediately to your Father. This is high priority!

As you can see from the short issue list above, the Sons focus on "keeping things the way they are supposed to be". Apart from that, the goals for the Sons are defined by their Fathers. Only Fathers are allowed to recruit Sons and Daughters. You cannot become a Father unless you get permission from your own Father, who may need permission up till 5 levels of fathers above himself.

[edit] The people recruited

The people typically recruited have some of the following traits:

• Strong beliefs in the Giant government.
• A strong ability to act upon their beliefs.
• Military training or high self-discipline.
• Apt to be a vigilantiy if the idea is important enough.
• Strongly opposing the enemies of the Diamond Throne.

[edit] Resources

The Sons are funded unofficially by private sympathizers and the Giant government. The funds are used for mission items. The more dangerous the mission, the better the items. The items can often be kept, but not always. There is no direct salary, or cost to be a member, but loyalty is demanded.