Order of the Gate

Order of the Gate

(Hellknight Orders)

Creed

"Judgment in the face of depravity."

Fortress

Citadel Enferac, east of Pezzack

Leaders

Vicarius Giordano Torchia

Symbol

An infernal eye staring from a swirling portal

Armor

Helm with a vortex-like pattern, crimson robes

Weapon

Dagger

Reckoning

Etching symbols of penitence into one's flesh with a dagger

Images of Order of the Gate

Source: What Lies in Dust, pg(s). 61

The Order of the Gate is a Hellknight order that specializes in summoning and treating with fiends from the Great Beyond, tasks that make even the other Hellknight orders nervous. It operates from its redoubt, Citadel Enferac, in the western Menador Mountains of Cheliax. Signifers of the order (i.e., arcane and divine spellcasters) outnumber the rank-and-file Hellknights three to one. The Order is led by Vicarius Giordano Torchia instead.

Philosophy & methods

An Order of the Gate Hellknight.

Punishment is a response to the failure of law. To the members of the Order of the Gate, true order can be achieved only when criminal behaviour is quelled before it is committed—preferably before it is even considered. The Order of the Gate does not seek to convince every free-willed creature of a lawful society's virtues, because its members believe that forces stronger than rhetoric must be used to prevent the sickness of criminal impulse. Thus, the Order of the Gate employs magic to enforce its vision of law.

Would-be Order of the Gate Hellknights can look forward to learning a measure of this spellcasting order's secrets, including invasive new scrying techniques, methods for shielding spellcasters, and the order's connections to planes beyond.

Members of the Order of the Gate believe that arcane magic, extraplanar knowledge and manipulation are essential tools for preventing great crimes. With their focus on the pursuit of knowledge given to them by their infernal servants, the crimson-cloaked signifers are seldom seen abroad in Cheliax. It is their extraplanar servants who perform most of the order's dirty work outside Citadel Enferac. Nevertheless, the other orders have learned to respect the Gate's effectiveness, citing the many occasions when what seemed to be just vague predictions turned into perfect clarity with time.

This order is shrouded in rumor and mystery, with the biggest being the true nature of the "gate" referenced in their name. Members of this Order dismiss this as simply metaphor bound to their belief in arcane and extraplanar magic, but rumors persist about a gate to Hell placed deep within the bowels of Citadel Enferac.

Members

Members include devil worshippers, intellectuals, planar-blooded outcasts, and spellcasters. It also includes a group of psychic surveillers led by Ariotol the Listener who operate out of the Blind Observatory.

Recent history

Several paralictors from the Order of the Gate have lost their entire commands seeking to close down a rumored gate to Hell located within the Whisperwood in recent years. The Order also recently faced defeat at the hands of the strix near Crackspike.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.