The Red Shadows of Herpa

An Overview

 

by James Chokey

 

 

Cohorts of Gashang achievement

Introduction

The Red Shadows of Herpa are a fighting order sponsored by the clerical order of Herpa the Mace. The headquarters of the order is Menekai castle, located in northeastern Rethem, near the Thardic border. Most members of the order are stationed in and around Menekai but small chapterhouses and garrisons may be found at Herpa the Mace temples in Golotha, Ithiko, Moleryn, Senun, Shostim, and Techen. A small handful of soldiers from the Red Shadows of Herpa can even be found at the Herpa the Mace Temple in Coranan.

The order's Akarata is Larga of Gydsilen, who is described in Gods of Hârn as "a coarse and brutish thug". He dwells at at Menekai.

 

History of the Red Shadows of Herpa

The order's exact origins, like those of Herpa the Mace, are somewhat difficult to pinpoint. It seems to have developed as a bodyguard for wandering Herpa the Mace 'dervishes' during the Interregnum of the early seventh century, although it is clear that there were religious overtones to their activities. Its members appear to have helped provide 'entertainment' as the priests traveled from place to place as well.

As Herpa the Mace became more of a settled order, the Terahni of the Red Shadows of Herpa (as they had come to be called) found themselves performing their old roles in slightly different ways. Although they continued to accompany travelling priests, they more often found themselves becoming temple guards. Instead of performing feats of combat prowess at different villages, they began doing so in cities, where they often got large turnouts. Instead of extorting 'protection money' from local villages, they acted as 'legbreakers' for the Rethemi crown, who rewarded them for help in crushing revolts and intimidate intractable vassals.

As part of Nemiran's feudalization of Rethem (and to compensate them for 'entertainment' revenues that were lost as a result of the importation of the Order of the Octagonal Pit and the establishment of the Pamenasi Games), the Red Shadows were given Menekai keep by Nemiran in 681 TR.

When Ezar's War broke out (682 TR) the order gladly aided the king and their fellow Agrikans in the Copper Hook. It fought bravely in the battles of the southern campaign, hoping that hated Kanday might be subdued with sword and mace. When the Peace of Selvos ended Ezar's War (697 TR) the order accepted that Kanday would just have to wait. A decade later, in 708 TR, the Red Shadows launched an assault on the Thardic keep Themeson, a bit south on the other side of the Gomisen river, possibly hoping to begin a war between Rethem and Tharda, much as the Copper Hook attack on Imiden had started Ezar's War. The Thardans, however, too busy recovering from the disastrous flood of the previous year, chose not to respond violently. The order, following its pledge of fealty to the crown, began to give the crown a share of the wealth taken from Themeson as well as that from Menekai.

During the schism of 714 Themeson, a bloody battle raged within the order for control of Themeson and the surrounding lands, but in the end, the 'rebels' prevailed. Ownership of Themeson thus shifted from the Red Shadows of Herpa (who had seized it from Tharda in 708 TR) to the Cohorts of Gashang.

 

 

The Order's Name, Ritual Practices, and Warfare

The Red Shadows of Herpa take their name from an astrological event associated with the constellation of Herpa the Mace. Every year, usually around the 24th and 25th of Agrazhar, a large meteor shower takes place. As in all such showers, the 'shooting stars' seem to radiate from a central point in the sky. With this particular shower, that 'point' usually lies within the constellation of Herpa— quite frequently, it lies within the 'head' of the mace itself. This event, known to Melderyni astrologers as "The Herpeid Shower", is called in more popular parlance, either the "Flames of Herpa" or "The Red Shadows of Herpa".

The meteor shower itself is regarded as sacred by the priests of Herpa the Mace, who often try to identify divine messages in the trajectories of the shooting stars. The Red Shadows of Herpa celebrates the phenomenon in a more mundane way; the night of the annual shower is the night of initiation for new Terahni. A special Middle Ceremony is performed for this.

The Red Shadows does not generally share the mysticism of its sponsoring clerical order. Many of the most mystically-inclined Terahni sided with the Cohorts of Gashang during the schism, leaving the order dominated by those who are not all that concerned with such spirituality. Some consider the order to be a purely military organization, with only a few church ties, but this is an unfair simplication of the situation. Some of the more radical practices now famed famous by the Cohorts of Gashang originated among the Red Shadows of Herpa.

An interesting custom that has developed among the order's Haragki over the past two decades is the use of Balgash Toseka, a painful 'branding' ordeal ritual to decide officerial appointments and disputes over rank.

In combat, the preferred weapon of the Red Shadows of Herpa is the mace. When entering battle, warriors sometimes coat their weapons with a special oil that burns at a very low temperature and gives off a dark red flame and a thick black smoke. Like most fighting orders, the Red Shadows of Herpa worship Agrik primarily in his aspect of 'Warlord of Balgashang', although oaths and curses make use of other epithets for the deity.

 

Politics

The politics of the Red Shadows of Herpa are fairly close to those of Herpa the Mace. They are on reasonably polite terms with all other orders except for the Eight Demons and their fighting order, the Cohorts of Gashang. Patrols of the two fighting orders skirmish intermittently in the lands between Menekai and Themeson, although it should be noted they are not on as hostile terms with each other as their sponsoring clerical orders are. The Red Shadows of Herpa has relatively little contact with the other Agrikan fighting orders, most of whom are are based quite a distance away.

Other than being firm supporters of the king, the Order of the Red Shadows of Herpa does not appear to be actively involved in Rethemi politics. Over the past three decades, it has been engaged in a casual effort to convert nearby Kuboran tribes by force. It has not been particularly successful and most in the order believe that a large-scale 'crusade,' involving the participation of other orders and the Rethemi nobility, is needed. Many hope that King Chafin will launch just such a crusade after he gets things sorted out with the Earl of Tormau— if not against the tribesmen, then against Kanday or Tharda.

Relations with the Thardic Republic have been poor ever since the Red Shadows seized Themeson Keep in 708. Although it lost that keep in the orderial schism of 714, tensions have remained high— largely because of it and its clerical sponsors' close ties to the Rethemi throne. The Red Shadows only has a handful of Terahni serving as temple guards in the Republic, most of them at Moleryn and Telen. The Terahni at those temples generally have little direct involvement in Thardic politics, and they do not always see eye-to eye with the Rethemi branch of the order.

 

Land and Wealth

The Red Shadows of Herpa hold Menekai castle in northeastern Rethem, along the border with Tharda. (The castle was actually built by the order following its grant of the fief in 681). The order also has direct control of the 21 manors surrounding the castle in Terin hundred. Menekai is held directly by the Red Shadows' Akarata, Larga of Gydsilen. The manors of Bontay, Deceiba, Dulaz, Maanay, and Opindy are held by Meketai of the order; the other manors are each overseen by a Telmen.

In addition to being fairly fertile farmland, the area around Menekai is is home to substantial mineral wealth. Three iron mines, one silver mine, one copper mine, one tin mine and two quarries are all located within five leagues of Menekai. Although these mines are operated by the Miner's Guild for the king, the Red Shadows is able to command a modest 'tithe' from the guild in exchange for providing it protection from the Kubora.

 

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Page last updated on July 29, 2002 by Jim Chokey