### The Order of the Burning Chain **“No gods. No kings. Only justice.”** **Founding Ideals:** The Order of the Burning Chain emerged from blood and fire—formed by victims of fiends, necromancers, corrupt clergy, and otherworldly pacts. Its earliest members were once innocents: villagers cursed, soldiers betrayed, children orphaned by infernal schemes or divine indifference. When divine protection failed, they took up arms themselves. Their creed is simple and absolute: **evil must not merely be punished—it must be eradicated**. Root and stem. Soul and seed. Their motto: _"It is not enough to chop down the tree of evil. The very roots must burn."_ --- ### Creed and Conflict The Order is godless by design. Members view the **gods as complicit**—either for allowing suffering or for creating the conditions where mortals fall into darkness. Their founding myth speaks of _The Crimson Abbot_, a paladin of Castigation who was tricked into serving a false goddess, later revealed to be a powerful archdevil. He became a vampire in her name, a cursed martyr that symbolized everything the Order would rise to purge. Some even whisper that the gods themselves are stained by sin, and deserve no pedestal. Among older members, this sentiment simmers into hatred, spoken in Infernal tongues and burned into ritual brands. Even now, **Infernal remains the common tongue** among many—both as a symbolic rejection of divine languages and as a shibboleth to expose outsiders. But the Order is changing. --- ### A New Generation With time, the most fanatical voices aged and faded. In their place came new leadership: younger, wounded still, but not broken. An elven paladin, known only as **The Headmaster**, now guides the Order’s halls. Under their influence, the Order has begun to **shift toward a philosophy of justice over vengeance**, seeking to ally—tentatively—with the divine forces of law, particularly **Donavon**, God of Justice and Judgement. But the divide is stark. Nearly 75% of the Order remains deeply distrustful or hostile to any divine influence, seeing the Headmaster as naïve or even traitorous. The rest are either indifferent, or quietly hopeful for change. **Cassandra**, one of the Order’s most gifted blades, stands at the crossroads. Mentored by a radical sect leader, she now walks the knife’s edge between retribution and redemption. --- ### Sulfuric Splinter – The Ash of the Chain Not all accepted the Headmaster’s vision. A militant offshoot, known as the **Sulfurics**, broke from the Order years ago. Led by Cassandra’s former mentor—a powerful and obsessive mind who once harbored unspoken romantic feelings for her—they seek to **undermine both Hell and Heaven** through soulbinding magic, arcane imprisonment, and mortal alchemy. Their goal is apocalyptic in nature: to prevent souls from ever reaching the gods or the hells. Some Sulfurics experiment with creating immortal thralls; others seek to **starve the devils of souls** or **wrest them from the gods’ grasp**, believing that true justice lies in **mortal control of the afterlife**. Despite their heresies, ties between Sulfurics and the Order are not fully severed. When devils rise unchecked or demon cults bloom, the Sulfurics may return to request aid—rarely refused. Brotherhood forged in blight is not easily broken. They are still **survivors of the same war**, and betrayal among them is all but unheard of. --- ### Methods and Morality The Order of the Burning Chain wields **castigation** as both philosophy and practice. Some members accept devil contracts to hunt other fiends. Others conduct “blacklight trials,” using dark magic to root out disguised threats. Enhanced interrogation, soul-pact tracking, cursed branding—**nothing is off the table** if it serves the cause. They are monsters who hunt monsters. And they do not apologize. But beneath the ash and iron, a seed stirs. Justice—not hatred—might still take root, if the Order can survive itself. --- ### Role in Solare In the Solare setting, the Order of the Burning Chain could fill several functions: - **A morally grey ally** when hunting down devils, necromancers, or rogue vampires. - **A rival to divine orders**, especially if the players serve a god or temple. - **A tool of vengeance** for a party member wronged by the gods or hellish forces. - **A shattered faction to heal**, especially if players seek to bridge the gap between divine and mortal justice. They are not easily categorized as good or evil. Their cause is justice. Their methods are fire. --- ### **The Order of the Burning Chain – Summary** The Order of the Burning Chain is a militant brotherhood forged from pain. Its members are almost always **survivors**—scarred by fiends, undead, curses, or infernal pacts gone wrong. Many were once victims: families slaughtered by vampires, cities betrayed to demons, innocents tricked into devil’s bargains. Their rage is not blind. It is **earned**. They believe that evil cannot be cleansed by mercy. It must be torn out at the root. **“It is not enough to chop down the tree of evil. The very roots shall burn.”** This creed forms the heart of the **Oath of Castigation**, the paladin path that drives them. Most of the Order bears a deep hatred for the gods—especially those who turned away in their hour of need. Even when corruption comes from mortals or devils, the gods are blamed for allowing such suffering to exist. Many see divine grace as a lie. They do not kneel to heaven or hell. Only the flame. Yet with time, a quiet shift is occurring. Some within the Order, having aged through the worst of their wrath, have begun to see the value of **law and structure**. A new generation—guided by voices of reason, including the Order’s elven Headmaster—has started to explore the teachings of **gods of justice and order**, seeking to reclaim their mission from pure vengeance and turn it toward meaningful justice. The fire remains—but now it burns with **purpose**, not just fury.