The Stewards

Overview

The Stewards are traveling religious missionaries who establish local chapters to promote worship of the gods.

Operations and Goals

  The Stewards aim to establish a widespread community whose members engage in humanitarian works while promoting worship of the gods. At a local level, the organization is focused on philanthropy, recruitment, and organizing gatherings for members to worship together. Many chapters are also involved in preserving the old ways of worship by creating shrines, performing ancient religious rites, documenting pre-Sundering religious traditions, or exploring ruined temples.  

Organizational Structure

 

Community Membership

  Most Stewards are members of a local chapter. They gather regularly to honor the gods and work on projects that benefit the community. Members of greater financial means are expected to support the organization through donations, while others are encouraged to lend their time and skill. Members who demonstrate exceptional skill or sacrifice may be chosen as missionaries or asked to serve in leadership roles.    

Missionaries

  These faction members travel to different settlements and establish local chapters. They are responsible for recruiting new members, spreading the faction’s message, and helping develop the local infrastructure. Many missionaries receive direct instruction from the upper leadership, although some receive instruction from other missionaries.    

Local Leadership

  This role is filled by missionaries when the Stewards first arrive in an area. Once the chapter is established, this role may be filled by local community members who have received instruction from missionaries. Local leaders coordinate the chapter’s activities, such as planning gatherings and organizing small-scale projects.    

Upper leadership

  The upper leadership have their headquarters in the city of Piccarda. They oversee the faction’s long-term operations and train new missionaries. They also maintain several temples throughout the city.  

Culture and History

  The first temple of the Stewards was built in Piccarda. Stories say that before the Sundering, the acolytes there were gifted with terrible knowledge of the disaster that was to come. Their warnings largely fell on deaf ears; although some people rallied to their cause, most dismissed them. When the Veil tore, these faithful sheltered within the temple and were spared from harm. Once the dust settled, they vowed to spread their faith across the transformed world and to share the favor of the gods with as many as they could. This was the First Chapter. Ever since, the Stewards have traveled across the land to provide humanitarian relief and establish faith communities.  

Territories / Assets

  The faction receives much of its financial support from the charity of its members.   It is widely known that the faction has a large collection of pre-Sundering religious writings and artifacts. There are rumors that the upper leadership possess some knowledge of the future, passed down from the First Chapter. This has not been confirmed.  

Foreign Relations

How do they feel about other factions/cultures?

• Piccarda: The faction is well-established within Piccarda and often partners with the Paramonos for religious events. Rumor has it that historically, they aspired to become one of Piccarda’s ruling guilds, but the current faction displays no such ambitions. The faction maintains several temples within the city; one of these is purported to be the pre-Sundering location where the First Chapter was founded.
• The Kafervolk Caravan: Missionaries will often travel with the Kafervolk caravans on their way to new or remote settlements.
• Totemreach: Several chapters of the Stewards were part of the early land restoration efforts within Totemreach. Despite this, Steward membership within Totemreach has declined in recent years, largely due to ideological disagreements regarding worship of the Primal Beasts.
• Marshhelm League: The faction has had mixed reception within the Salt-Touched Foothills, with membership in some regions bolstered by the recent conflicts and disasters, but in other regions limited by the unique local religious perspectives.
• Pelolia: The faction was first introduced into the area in the years following the vault’s opening. Their overall reception has been largely positive, although faction membership within Aufield significantly exceeds faction membership within Aumun.
• Lotus Empire: The faction is explicitly outlawed within the Lotus Empire. Despite this, there is a growing underground movement of Stewards chapters that have started to establish themselves in secret across the city.
• Chronicle Keepers Foundation: Frequent rivals and occasional allies. While both factions are interested in acquiring old religious knowledge and artifacts, they often have conflicting ideas on what to do with them once they’re acquired. If there’s an old ruined temple around, you can bet both factions will have their eye on it.

 

Costume Look and Feel

  All members bear the faction symbol in some form, whether as a carved wooden trinket, a necklace, embroidery on their clothing, or even a tattoo. It is also common for members to prominently display the iconography of the god or gods that they worship most frequently. Many missionaries wear traditional acolyte’s robes to demonstrate the extent of their piety.