Glory's Crusaders

All magery stemming from the Orcish race and culture is steeped in historical controversy. Before the Great War, this was not so. The practice of magic flourished among the orcs and the Gold Order of the old Fold of Nine prospered beyond the realms of the orcs to include many members from other races as well. The Orcish Destruction changed all of this when it killed nearly all existing orc mages and a goodly chunk of the whole Orcish race. Retaliation from all surviving orcs against members of their own kind who dared to practice the arcane arts would drag on for two thousand years, and continues. Gradually, the stance of the orcs against the practice of magic is softening due to a supposed dictum straight from Valok, the god of the orcs, saying that it was now acceptable to begin practicing the arcane arts once more as responsible practitioners in the wider world.

Unfortunately, as the case is with most divine proclamations, more than one interpretation is possible, and there are always the die-hard supporters of the old ways who refuse to change. These orcs who refuse to concede that arcane magic is allowable according to Valok still vehemently persecute orc mages all throughout Negaria. The Glory’s Crusaders are the Gold Order of The Sand’s response to this persecution. As a military wing of the Gold Order, the Glory’s Crusaders’ mission is to protect orc mages belonging to The Trust and act as a rapid response team to rescue those that are assaulted by Valok’s more fundamentalist sects.

Members of this group are known to find clever ways of combining the use of magic with traditional weapons and armor. Some do this by learning the ways of combat and arcane magic separately, and others have melded the practice into one. Both types of practitioners are welcome into the organization if they hold the same interpretation and ideals of Valok’s philosophy. They are also required to adhere to the strict hierarchy within the Glory’s Crusaders culminating with the Archmage of the Gold Order, to whom they give all earthly loyalty and from whom they take direction.

The relationship between the Glory’s Crusaders and the other organizations of The Trust is complicated. As far as Orcish politics go, few non-orcs are concerned about the internal genocidal struggles that characterize their conflict. The Trust has a standard directive to protect its members from unnecessary extermination but it is usually unwilling to go to war with an entire nation or church. It would rather solve such matters diplomatically when possible, and traditionally this is how The Trust interacts with Orcish national and religious forces. From the perspective of the Glory’s Crusaders, who are more militant than most of the other organizations in The Trust, orc mages are under constant attacks and decisive offensive strikes against fundamentalist Valokian interests are a show of strength which acts as a deterrent. This worries The Trust because it does not want to get swept up in an Orcish civil war.