A martial arm of the Church of the Platinum Lord. Historically, the Bellmetal Wardens protected Historia’s borders, though many of its members find work as caravan guards or protection for nobles. With Historia’s sudden expansion efforts to the west, the Wardens have seen a sharp rise in need for their services, along with pressures to serve a different purpose.
Unlike the religions of the Pillars of Historia, the Church of the Platinum Lord receives no state funding. Therefore, its endeavors are funded by charitable donations and largely staffed by volunteers.
The same is true for the Bellmetal Wardens. Some argue that a force with no funding and the promise of a meager stipend might be found lacking and at first glance this may appear true. Many in their ranks are crippled veterans, foolhardy youths, and those strange folk who chafe at the metropolitan lifestyle in Amangrad.
However, ask any whose farmstead or caravan has been snatched from the jaws of disaster about the merit of their bronze-cloaked saviors and you’ll see nothing but shining admiration in their eyes.
Many paladins of Bahamut will serve as a Bellmetal Warden for some time before moving onto greater callings. The honest, simple nature of a Warden’s work suits a paladin’s desire to let their actions serve the Platinum Lord. Also, the western roughs provide no shortage of fell beasts and criminal scum in need of a good thrashing, a service a faithful paladin is always happy to provide.
In recent years, to be an ardent follower of Bahamut in Historia is to shoulder a heavy burden. For centuries the Church of the Platinum Lord and its followers thought fondly of their distant Bahamut worshipping brethren in the Kingdom of EverRealm. However, each day it seems that a war grows more likely and with each passing day pressures mount to state one’s allegiances clearly.
The Bellmetal Wardens have an opportunity to pick up arms and turn their attention to the war effort. Instead of defenders they can remake themselves as crusaders. They can crush those who threaten Historia’s way of life and in doing so gain glory for themselves and the Platinum Lord. They must simply shout their undying allegiance to Historia and denounce the heathens of EverRealm. Simply recognize that EverRealmians worship a false god. Accept that their ‘Bahamut’ is naught but a venomous serpent, a vile perversion of the Platinum Lord, and the path before is clear.
Although… those who follow the Fraternity of the Forgewielder are quick to remind those who lust for war of Bahamut’s actual tenets: tolerance and righteousness above all. Whispered meetings in shaded rooms ask the question, “Do you wonder at the true source of the beating drums of war?”
Seeded
bell shaped cloak