Cinnire
The Cinnire are the ordained disciples of the Church of the Shaper who dedicate their lives to the Shaper’s service and lead the people in this worship. The cinnirí have over time realised they can best aid the Shaper’s children in certain ways, and this is the origin of the five Orders as they stand today.
The Orders do not hold themselves apart from Five Realms society, since that is not the Shaper’s way. They have families and they work and fight alongside other people.
Although individual Cinnirí might be warriors, the Orders are not military organisations. The gallóglaigh are often called upon to perform missions for the Orders, in cases where one person cannot achieve the Order’s aim alone. There are many Cinnirí among the gallóglaigh too, though some of their fellow Cinnirí might wonder how they can be wholly dedicated to their holy purpose while living that life.
The Five Orders
The Church of the Shaper venerates all aspects of the Shaper, and the cinnirí dedicate their lives to the Shaper’s service and lead the people in this worship.
There are five Orders: the Teachers, the Counsellors, the Hospitaliers, the Necromancers and the Torchbearers. There is no one figure in charge of the Church of the Shaper, though there is the Council of Prelates, the six heads of the five orders. Each is the recognised head of their respective order, generally as the most expert or knowledgeable in their field. While they provide the benefit of their experience to members of their order one of their main duties is to advise the Réig and provide them with the services of their order (for example, the Prelate of the Counsellors is the Réig’s personal confessor). While no Prelate is above the others, the Prelate of the Counsellors is expected to chair any meetings of the Council of Prelates and be the tie-break in any deadlocks.
The Order of Counsellors
The Order of Counsellors uphold the virtues of loyalty and compassion. The Shaper wants their children to create communities, to find love, and to provide for a future generation.
The Counsellors can be sought out by those who encounter difficulties in their life. They provide advice equally to all; a Counsellor cinnire could advise an Iarla one day and a shepherd the next. They act as confessors, allowing the Shaper’s children to lighten the burden that mistakes and evil deeds can bring to mind and soul. They advise those who have erred on how they can atone. They perform marriages, and provide advice to couples that struggle to stay together.
The Counsellors are welcomed everywhere, as they offer support without judgment.
The current Prelate of the Counsellors is Taran, a Drakeblooded born to House Roaring Thunder who forsook their families expectations to travel and serve the common folk, lending advice and wisdom as well as lending a helping hand with building fences and planting crops, lightening the burdens of the common folk in any way they could. They are fond of saying the fact that they have ended up an advisor to the Réig anyway is proof that the Shaper has either a grand plan or a sense of humour.
The Order of Hospitaliers
The Order of Hospitaliers uphold the virtues of duty and perseverance. The Shaper knows that life in this imperfect world is a struggle, and that their children will encounter danger and strife, so they ensured that their children would have the power to survive and earn their place in the afterlife.
The Hospitaliers use that power to heal and to protect. They maintain infirmaries, where the Shaper’s children can be brought back from death’s door, and hospices, where the Shaper’s children can rest after a life well lived. A Hospitalier cinnire might provide healing to both sides of a conflict between the Shaper’s children, or they may refuse to provide healing if they deem that a war has gone too far, forcing the two sides to come to terms or face losing hundreds of lives.
The Order of Hospitaliers is the most politically influential of the Orders for this reason, for the warrior class could not survive without them.
The current Prelate of the Hospitaliers is Carraig, a Fathach originally from Draíod but hostaged to a family in Bruid as part of the resolution of a border dispute. Seeing their purpose as “making people better”, Carraig learned to treat all manner of illness and injury, and instructed others in how to deliver better care. They take a firm, rocky hand with their patients and have little patience for those who do not take their treatment seriously. They have been Prelate for some time, and the sound of their heavy stone footsteps still inspire fear and perfection in hospitaliers throughout Tirneach.
The Order of Necromancers
The Order of Necromancers uphold the virtues of clarity and wisdom. The Shaper knows that the knowledge of the dead can be of great benefit to the living. The Shaper has also judged that the dead should remain dead, to enjoy their reward in the afterlife and not be drawn back into the mortal world.
The Necromancers keep the rituals for communion with the dead, and ensure that those who use the rituals do not do so for any fatuous purpose, lest it anger the spirits of the dead. Angry spirits can be drawn back into the mortal world and become abominations (Undead). Proper funeral rites are the province of the Necromancers also, for few things are as dangerous as a soul not properly put to rest, or called up just to salve someone’s broken heart.
Necromancer cinnirí roam the Five Realms, visiting the recently bereaved and ensuring they are ready to let go of their dearly departed. It is important for people to see the truth: their loved one has gone to a better place, where they will receive their reward.
The current Prelate of the Necromancers is Sorrowswane, a Wildling from the Baol Highlands. Though she is a skilled ritualist, her primary skills remain identifying the mental and emotional splinters people have and helping them remove them before they turn septic. She is known to host the recently bereaved for tea, sharing stories, and helping people identify the obstacles in their own stories. She is always happy to listen, but never hesitates to bring clarity, no matter how uncomfortable the truth is.
The Order of Teachers
The Order of Teachers uphold the virtues of ambition and prosperity. The Shaper wants their children to succeed in their aims and to derive great benefit from skills and knowledge.
The Teachers ensure that no knowledge is lost, and that skills are maintained from generation to generation. They run schools, and amass great libraries, covering every subject from magic spells to agricultural techniques. Teacher cinnirí travel from town to town gathering the wisdom of the Shaper’s children, offering help to artificers, farmers, and scholars, and encouraging those who would attain new heights of invention and discovery.
The Teachers are the most numerous of the Orders, for they have the broadest remit. They are also at once the wealthiest and most generous Order, for they put what they know to good use, and make good use of what the riches they gather as a result.
The Order encourages its cinniri to take up a trade, and many make good livings as merchants. They see it as their duty to enrich Uasa as the favoured Realm of the Shaper, but they also advise and instruct people throughout the Realms whether they seek to add to already incalculable riches or to scrape a living together, all to venerate the Shaper’s great design. The Teachers are very commonly found in Bruid, where the Shaper’s battle against the Gwyllt is encapsulated in the people’s struggle to survive and to flourish in a land still heavily under the Gwyllt’s influence.
The Order of Teachers have their headquarters in the Citadel of the Shaper at Corroch in Uasa.
The current Prelate of the Teachers is Croí Óir, a Creidhe from the Baol Lowlands. Hostaged from a Bruid family after a border dispute, Croí took to learning like a fish to water, and excelled in all fields of lore. To them, teaching is just an incidental part of learning. Despite being generous with their knowledge, they are known to have exactingly high standards for their students.
The Order of Torchbearers
The Order of Torchbearers uphold the virtues of vigilance and courage. The power of the Shaper is opposed in the mortal world by the power of the Gwyllt, beings of malice and insidious influence who constantly seek to corrupt and lure the children of the Shaper into their grasp. The Shaper empowers their children to fight against the Gwyllt with all their strength. The first Réig liberated Tirneach from their grasp, but there are still pockets all throughout the Five Realms where the Gwyllt’s influence is keenly felt. For the people in those places, the Torchbearer cinnirí are their protectors and saviours.
The Torchbearers have the knowledge to free a mind from Gwyllt spells, and they know how to kill the terrible Gwyllt creatures that emerge from the forests and cursed places. They always travel in pairs, for safety and security. They are the most removed of the Orders from the rest of society, for they must constantly watch the wild places, and the secrets they know make them strange.
The current Prelates of the Torchbearers are Ash Longwick and Russet Kúhn. Ash is a Leasiar, said to be the child of a noble house of Siabhal who cast off their name and inheritance to find their fortune, developing a hatred of the Gwyllt in service of the Gallóglaigh, but most folks just know them for their century and a half of active service to the Torchbearers. Russet is their most recent partner, a Bruideach Human with a reputation for bravery and innovative techniques.
Unaligned Cinnire
Many Cinnirí start out not dedicated to any particular Order, but the Orders are powerful political factions within the Church and it is often easier to join an Order and gain their support as a Cinnire. Also the Orders actively recruit from promising Cinnirí. Some Cinnirí do not join any Order for philosophical reasons, preferring to extol all aspects of the Shaper equally, but they do so with the knowledge that they can’t avail of the same resources as other Cinnirí who are willing to join an Order.