Warriors of Mameka
A Knightly Order of The Hierarchy of The Eternal Flame

History

The Warriors of Mameka trace their history through the Order of Mamaka who claim to be descendants of the ancient order of Khamar. Little is known of the Order of Khamar as most all of its history and documents were destroyed with the fall of Kuistan. Surprisingly the Order of Mameka does not claim ancestry directly to the wandering bands of prophets from around 1450 BT as do most Agrikan orders.

The Warriors of Mameka took their name in memory a band of mercenaries who fought to protect fleeing Agrikan priests from the Balshang Jihad in 574TR. Without the Warriors of Mameka, the Jihad would have destroyed all the written lore of their religion.

The story of the Warriors development begins with the Interregnum.

Under Morgathian Rule

Their founding came amidst the Interregnum (588-621 TR). To help the Order of Mamaka survive under Morgathian rule, the Warriors were an affiliated group of lay agents and assassins. Their purpose was to infiltrate the ruling Morgathian hierarchy and be ready to topple the corrupt and foul government when the time was right. Additionally, the Warriors were to assure there were no other competitors for the power when the Morgathian hierarchy collapsed. The early Warriors quickly developed a silent language of signs and gestures to pass on information, even while being watched by the enemy. This silent language, called Nazar after the priest who created it, quickly became the Warriors best weapon.

The infiltration of the Morgathian hierarchy took far longer than expected. It taught the Warriors patience and guile. The Warriors often became weapon and armour crafters to hide their Agrikan ways of combat and practice. The Morgathians did not trust the craftsmen of their cities, but their services were too valuable to loose. The sons and daughters of these craftsmen rose to become guards, assistants and powerful Morgathians within the hierarchy. Many of these links to the Morgathian power structure within Rethem are said to still exist today.

Officially they "helped" Agrikans within the cities escape, and passed on whatever information they could to these other orders so that they could harry the Morgathians at every turn. Many doubt this, and a few orders still believe the Order of Mamaka ordered the destruction of their brethren to better their own position with the Morgathians. A convenient lack of documentation for the time does not allow this mystery to be solved.

Arlun's Conquest (621-654 TR)

It was a covert member of the Warriors who first spotted the barbarian army as it advanced south upon what is today Rethem. The Order of Mamaka, sure that the Morgathians could defeat such a rag-tag army remained covert. They ordered their Warriors to obey the Morgathians and remain hidden among the faithful. The time was not yet right to overturn the existing power structure.

Unfortunately the Order miscalculated. In the late 620s Arlun the Barbarian and his Kuboran supporters took the Second Theocracy by storm. They created the kingdom of Rethem and in the process destroyed the armies of Morgathian faithful and hidden Warriors alike. More covert agents were killed during the purges of Morgathians after Arlun banned the Morgathian Church.

The Warriors fled back to their families of craftsmen and hid anew as the workers and builders that Arlun would require to repair the cities his forces had damaged in conquest. The tribesmen remained a constant danger to those within the cities, but Arlun protected those who swore fielty to him. And many of the Warriors did just that. It was, they reasoned, the only way to save their life's work.

At the order of the Order of Mamaka, the Warriors of Mameka came forward as a group and pledged loyalty to the new barbarian King. Those that did step forward, craftsmen for the most part, took the role of brutal enforcers of the new laws. The visible Warriors retained their positions as crafters and builders within the cities. The visible Warriors were used mostly to quell revolt and crush opposition. Arlun quickly learned that the Warriors were too violent to be used as peace keepers or even enforcers.

A strong discipline based on years of silence and secrecy grew within the Warriors. They used this to appear far more vicious than they really were. Many agents complained to their Order that their work was distasteful and barbaric. But the general consensus was that this was a barbaric time, and to survive barbarity was needed.

A few covert agents remained within the now hidden and persecuted Morgathian hierarchy. They became more important to the Morgathians because of their outside ties that provided shelter and protection in a time when everyone else had abandoned them.

The Reign of Obras (655-672 TR)

Shortly after Arlun's death, the Kuboran tribesmen who had supported the king, left Rethem to return home. Obras, Arlun's son, used the Warriors and other Agrikan bands to strengthen his kingdom. Still, the Warriors were deemed too vicious to be peace-keepers, but with so many new revolts breaking out their viciousness were needed. The Warriors were anxious for the Order of Mameka to seize control, but the Senesharil said the signs and portents for such a move were not yet present.

Under Arlun's rule they were no more than a band of thugs or ruffians in armour. Under Obras they often went forth to perform the King's business. The military force of the Warriors retained its tradition of practicing craft skills, but gave up building skills (engineering, masonry, woodworking, etc) and began the pursuit of more warlike crafts (weapon crafting, armour crafting, alchemy, and so forth.)

When the Order of Mamaka assisted in having Obras reinstate the Morgathian church, many of their members gained seats on the Golothian Heptarchial Council. In retrospect Arlun's toppling of the Morgathian Hierarchy and destruction of its upper-most members resulted in the Warriors achieving trusted and powerful positions.

With the number of Morgathians so reduced, the Order decided to try to infiltrate other aspects of Rethem society. New Warriors became part of other Agrikan priestly and knightly orders, and even joined many noble families. All nobles wanted military-trained men for bodyguards and the Order found themselves with an abundant supply. A few Warriors gave up their freedom to be sold into houses that the order could find no other way to infiltrate. This new network is believed to still be in existence today.

The Reign of Nemiran (672-681 TR)

Under Nemiran's rule the Warriors were used as a military extension of his will. They were not his first choice as such, but he needed more men to quell the revolts that plagued Rethem and the Warriors made themselves more easily available than most of the other Agrikan orders. The Order of Mamaka tried to keep a low profile, remaining humble and in the background as much as possible.

The Warriors received the name "Blood Hounds" for once tracking a man guilty of treason all the way to Melderyn before returning him alive to face Nemiran's justice in Golotha. The Warriors never acted in any official sense as purveyors of Nemiran's justice or will, yet they were persuasive none the less.

During Nemiran's rule a lot of courtiers disappeared mysteriously. At the time it was readily blamed on the banditry that plagued the countryside, or more rebel uprisings. Still, it became dangerous to speak one's mind in court. When Nemiran asked for advice or suggestions from his court, only Agrikan priests found it safe to speak. Other noblemen who did tended to disappear with a few Order-controlled exceptions.

Most believe that during his reign Nemiran promised them a large land grant along the kingdom's northern frontier near the failed colony Bedenes. Since little or nothing had been heard of the colony since before Arlun's army returned to the north, the land was deemed abandoned. While other Agrikan orders received land grants, there is no written record of Nemiran giving the Warriors any land at the time.

Historians today site the coincidence, that Nemiran gave out land to the other Agrikan orders shortly before his own death, and wonder. Could it be that Nemiran had hoped to continue playing the loyalty of the Agrikan orders against each other - promising them all land grants in return for survives? If so, why did he not actually give the Warriors land when he gave it out to the others. It is a possibility that Nemiran relied heavily on the Order's secret network of spies and informants and feared that network so much as to hope to string the Order along forever. If such was the case then Nemiran would have believed the Order would eventually turn on him when he was no longer of use.

Regardless of the theory, with records missing from the time and no land grant in evidence, the Warriors claim to Bedenes is doubtable at best.

Ezar's War (682 TR - 697TR)

The war between the Copper Hook, an Agrikan order, and the Checkered Shield, a Laranian order, grew to encompass two countries in a war that broke out in 682. Most Agrikan orders eagerly supported the war against Kanday and its Laranian forces. The Order of Mamaka could not get King Puril to confirm the grant of Bedenes to them (supposedly) by Nemiran. This enraged the order so greatly that they did not support Ezar's War. While not so foolish to speak out against the war, the Order insisted that the borders with Tharda and the north had to be guarded and watched while all the rest of Rethem's forces poured into the south.

The Order succeeded in convincing King Puril that a two front war was a possibility if he left his other borders undefended.

The decision to remain distant from Ezar's War seems to have served both orders well. Many orders-- most notably the Fuming Gate and the Copper Hook-- were gravely weakened by this fifteen year struggle. By contrast, the priests of Mamaka the Master of Steel and the Warriors of Mamaka seem to have taken advantage of the war to further their individual ends.

The Warriors of Mameka was sent north at the beginning of the war to protect Tormau and other northern towns from the active Kubora. At the time, the Warriors consisted of so small a force, the generals of King Puril decided it best to leave the Order of Mameka behind, taking only a token force from the Warriors.

Little did they know their own forces were riddled with infiltrators from the Warriors. The war cost Rethem three kings in rapid succession and decimated the army and the holy orders of Agrik.

In 689TR, with the death of King Puril, Etrellis Bedrarn, then primate and grandmistress of the order of the Crimson Dancer was accused of treason against the crown, and disloyalty to the Eternal Flame. Brandon Yeden, the grandmaster of the Order, accused the Order of the Crimson Dancer of being directly responsible for the death of King Puril. He presented evidence to the Hierarchy of the Eternal Flame of Hârn after her execution.

Brandon claimed she died through a trial of combat. Buoyed by this success, the Order directed the Warriors to seize Bedenes the following year. The council, the majority of which abstained due to in absentia, elected Brandon Yeden to the primacy of Hârn. With Ezar's War going badly, the other orders had no choice but to accept this new situation.

Reign of Chafin I (692 - 703 TR)

In 694 the Order of the Crimson Dancer was offered on last chance to prove their worth. With Brandon Yeden's approval, the Order of the Crimson Dancer sent a member to assassinate the victorious Queen Eriel of Kanday.

The capture of the assassin confirmed the god's opinion of the Order. Brandon Yeden was said to shrug off the rumors of a Morgathian conspiracy linking the information about the planned assassination to the thrown of Kanday. Few could believe a Laranian Queen would deal with Morgathians.

In 696TR, for services to the Crown of Rethem, the badge of the Order and the Warriors of Mameka was amended. During that amendation, the lands of Bedenes and its surrounding manors were officially recognized as belonging to the Order.

By 699TR the keep at Bedenes was complete, and shortly thereafter silver was discovered nearby. Chafin's assassination of Ezar of Zhirdoka, the grandmaster of the Order of the Copper Hook, earned him the disfavor of the Hierarchy of the Eternal Flame.

Reign of Chafin II (703-715 TR)

Under the reign of Chafin II, the new Agrikan primate of Hârn gained religious freedom from the crown. While the King remained hidden, the Order established a temple in Golotha, destroying the neighboring temple of the Crimson Dancer and re-consecrating the ground.

The reign of Chafin II relied upon "copied" histories that many find circumspect. Even the Order of Mameka helped in restoring the official histories of the realm, offering some of its own documents to help alleviate confusion. Librarians and scribes claimed numerous records and histories had been lost to a small fire deep in the castle.

Current Situation

The Earl Lynnaeus of Tormau has gained the Warriors animosity by sending envoys to the Kuboran tribes. His promises to help the tribes against the Agrikans at Bedenes have left the Warriors unwilling to deal with him directly. The Order of Mameka has taken over dealings with the Earl, in an attempt to stem the flow of trade between the Kuboran and the Earl.

Along the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" philosophy, Chafin III believes that the Warriors stand against Earl Lynnaeus of Tormau strengthens their ties to him. The Agrikan Primate as the leader of the Order of Mamaka, has begun to publicly support the Warriors request for a holy war to the north; claiming that the Kubora would make excellent "guests" at the next Ukhila.

Horab of Gerund is a sadistic and corpulent sensualist. A master torturer, his Warriors protect him as much as they protect the priests at Bedenes. His unfree tenants try desperately to stay out of his way, and beyond his attention. Horab's dinners are infamous. Any unfree who is "invited" tends never to leave. The free are carefully left unhurt, but many cannot eat for days. Invitations to such dinners are given by an armed escort a few short hours before the dinner is to begin.

The Order of Mamaka finds these "dinners" excessive and has restricted them to once or twice a year. They have suggested Horab use tribesmen instead of locals for his entertainment.

Since Ezar's War, the Warriors of Mameka have maintained a firm defense of the primacy. It has managed to do this by maintaining its excellent intelligence system, through a tacit alliance with the Morgathian Church, and by successfully playing the other orders off against each other. Indeed, many suspect that the Order of Mamaka helped to engineer the schism within Herpa the Mace (i.e. the one that resulted in the creation of the Order of the Eight Demons), in order to weaken its power and to establish a force that could be used to counterbalance it. The Warriors of Mameka has also not refrained from engaging in overt temple war when it seems necessary or useful, as the destruction of the only temple of the Order of the Pillar of Fire in 717 shows. It is unknown whether the order's priests still dream of establishing an Agrikan theocracy in Rethem or whether they are now content to maintain their dominance over the Hârnic Agrikan church through the office of Apalankh.

This page was last updated on 30 June, 2000
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