The Fading Suns universe is marked by the noble houses that have placed the Emperor of the Known Worlds on his thrown and by the priests of the Prophet that that balance the power of the nobles and the merchant guilds.
Lords & Priests combines the supplements
Lords of the Known Worlds and
Priests of the Celestial Sun.
After reading Fading Suns d20, I looked for a supplement that would expand my understanding of the Fading Suns universe, that would give me material that I could use to develop a campaign, and that included a minimum of the game’s original mechanics. I selected Lords & Priests as the supplement that seemed to best met these criteria and because it further develops two of the most important and unique aspects of the Fading Suns universe. I was not disappointed.
Each of the books begins with a piece of fiction that is an entry from Alustro’s Journal. Alustro is a young Eskatonic priest that travels in the retinue of a young Li Halan noble, and his journal entries are used to introduce most Fading Suns supplements. The entry On Meeting a Noble begin Lords, and Visions begins Priests. Alustro’s collected entries are available at www.fadingsuns.com.
Lords of the Known Worlds
Lords begins with a brief, 3-page introduction on the Noble Estate that discusses becoming a noble, the privileges of rank, and provides several new benefices and afflictions under the original game mechanics. The supplement then continues with chapters devoted to each of the five major noble houses and individual chapters on the minor houses and the alien lords. Each house chapter begins with a history of the house, includes a discussion of the house’s distinctive characteristics, briefly discusses allies and enemies, provides an overview of the house holdings, a few prominent house members are described, includes notes on roleplaying the house, and concludes with some game mechanics specific to the house.
Appropriately, the Hawkwoods are the first house introduced. Although the Emperor is of their house, some members chafe and feel slighted at the favors the Emperor has bestowed on other houses as political favors. A sidebar discusses the Hawkwood’s enmity with the Decados. The house’s holdings on Delphi, Gwynneth, Leminkainen, Ravenna, and Obun are described.
Next are the Decados. A sidebar describes their view of the enmity with the Hawkwoods. The chapter emphasizes the importance of gossip, revelry, and the patronage of athletes to the Decados. The chapter discusses the house’s holdings on Severus, Malignatius, Cadiz, Cadavus, and Panemonium, with a particular note on how the house uses Slechakah, the Severan opiate poppy, to gain access to and information from the other houses and factions. Of special note is the Jakovian Agency, the house’s intelligence group. Statistics are also provided for the Kossacks, the strong arm, supertroopers for the Jakovians (and clearly a d20 Prestige Class).
The Hazat are discussed next, with an emphasis on the tension within the house between honor to the house and desire for personal glory and how this is expressed through dueling. In particular, the Hazat have maintained their own Zorro-like tradition of an armored black cape and master rapier that are anonymously sent to a member of the Hazat who has been chosen to regain personal or family honor. The Hazat holdings on Aragon, Vera Cruz, Sutek, Kurga, and other planets are described.
The Li Halan are known for their faith and allegiance to the Church. The Li Halan also have their own intelligence network, the Hidden Martyrs. The Li Halan also have distinction as the keepers of the Vorox home world. Descriptions are provided for the Li Halan holdings on Icon, Kish, Midian, and Rampart.
The al-Malik are an iconoclastic house reviled by the Church for having their own interpretation of the Prophet’s teachings. The house further sets itself apart through the use of the Graceful Tongue, a dialect of poetic metaphors that is comprehensible to few outside the house. The al-Malik holdings include Aylon, Criticorum, Istakar, and Shaprut.
Information on the minor houses is presented in an abbreviated form of that used for the major houses and concludes with traits typical for each house. House Juandaastas is known for lobbying for alien rights more than for scheming to better their own position and for their intermarriage with the Ur-Obun. House Justinian was once prominent and now is in decline following the death of Vladimir. Justinian is divided between the old guard controlling the house that prefers to gain allies through marriage alliances and the younger members that seek to actively promote the house’s interests. House Keddah of Grail through a series of alliances is unwillingly bound to Decados and at war with the al-Malik. House Masseri is attempting to maintain their status as a house following the loss of Daishan to the Symbiots and subjugation to the Decados. House Shelit has recently emerged from hiding among the barbarians and are known for their intelligence, cybernetic abilities, and alliance with the Hazat. The Thana are psychics exiled from their lost world of Eridol. House Torenson is attempting to rebuild its position by serving as masters of etiquette and protocol. House Trusnikron has made its name as calvary officers and beast trainers and has used those skills to ingratiate itself with most of the major houses. House Van Gelder is a joyless house that has turned to assassination. House Xanthippe is a matriarchal house known for its mercenaries and its wine.
The last chapter describes the alien lords among the Ur-Obun, Ur-Ukar, and Vorox and how they struggle to maintain their position between the dominate humans of the noble houses and their own people. Lords concludes with an appendix on lordly duties and dueling. The discussion of duties includes a description of various noble ranks and responsibilities so that we learn that a duke usually rules a continent, moon, or outer planet, that a count oversees a county or capital city, that an earl or marquis supervise a city or province, that a baron manages a keep or shire, and that baronets hold keeps or fortifications. Useful information that would been good to have before reading through the House descriptions where these titles were used with little context. A quick system is given for describing fiefs, including their resources, affluence, political ties, and garrisons. The appendix concludes with specialized fencing techniques of the major noble houses that could easily be adopted for d20 as specialized maneuvers.
Priests of the Celestial Sun
Following a brief (1.5 p) introduction on the Church and on playing a priest in the Fading Suns Universe, Bill Bridges offers a chapter on “Readings from the Omega Gospels” and brief bios on the saints that accompanied the Prophet on his travels and a discussion of theological themes that produce many of the conflicts between the Church sects and orders: descent of grace, internal flame, truth, death and eskaton, and the jumpweb.
The chapters on the sects and orders begins, appropriately enough, with the Urth Orthodox, the dominate sect and keeper of Holy Terra. For most of the Known Worlds, Urth Orthodox is the Church. The chapter provides an overview of the 2000 years of Church history and a discussion of Urth Orthodox theology and interpretation of sin. The description of Church organization from the Patriarch down to the parish priest, with a sidebar thrown in on the five Metropilae that coincide with the capital worlds of the five major noble houses (don’t look so shocked) and that are overseen by powerful archbishops that are often referred to as “little patriarchs.” Other entities include governing bodies, security apparatus, Patriarchal Fleet, and Holy Terra. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the current Patriarch and two other prominent persons with the Urth Orthodox, tips on roleplaying an Orthodox Priest, and gamemastering the Orthodox. Gaming content includes new character roles for the Syneculla, the Church’s political security branch, and Kalinthi, demon hunters, as well as benefices, an affliction, and a new theurgic rite.
Next up are the warrior monks of Brother Battle. This chapter and the chapters for the other major sects follow a similar format as the Urth Orthodox. Brother Battle is a Templar-like order that is known for protecting pilgrims, for combatting the Symbiots, and interplanetary banking. The chapter includes a discussion of initiation within the order and rumors of heresy within the order.
Although the Eskatonic Order is relatively new, it is linked to earlier mystic traditions. The chapter on the Eskatonic Order begins with a discussion of Sathraism, a mystic movement founded in the ecstasy experienced during unregulated jump travel, and the Digamma Apocrypha, books excluded when the Omega Gospels were compiled. The Order’s history addresses these and other earlier mystic traditions as well as the Orthodox persecution and exclusion of these traditions and the Eskatonics themselves. The Orthodox were forced to accept the Eskatonics, though, when Eskatonic theurgy triumphed over the Symbiots, ending the Symbiot Wars. The Eskatonics were one of the primary reasons that I was interested in Lords & Priests as the descriptions of the order in the core rulebook were vague and incomplete, hinting at but not explaining their semi-heretical status. This chapter on the Eskatonics met my needs by providing the background and context needed to bring the Eskatonics fully into the game.
The priests of Temple Avesti are often presented in other Fading Suns materials as one-dimensional adversaries, fanatic fundamentalists and self-appointed inquisitors quick with their flameguns. The chapter on the Avesti, though, develops them to the point where they could serve as player characters (at least, there appears to be an assumption that Avesti PCs would be among the few literate members of the order), offering a context for understanding the Avesti’s simple, fervent faith.
Sanctuary Aeon had also suffered from a simplistic presentation, known primarily as the healing order. Sanctuary Aeon, though, arises from a competing tradition based on the teachings of Amalthea, who was already a respected teacher and healer before she met the Prophet, and many still hold Amalthea as the Prophet’s equal. The priest of Sanctuary Aeon, then, operate both from a theology and base of popular support that is semi-autonomous from that of the Orthodox Church.
Priests concludes with the presentation of three sects outside of the Church’s folds. The Hesychasts are mendicant monks who operate independently and who are found throughout the Known Worlds. The Incarnates are an offshoot of the Universal Church preaching the supremacy of the Pancreator’s design as given to Zebulon rather than Orthodox politicians. That the true church is found in a harmony of souls rather than in a political organization. The third group, the Zoranists, are a curious inclusion as they are more a cultural group than a religion. The Zoranists come across as party gypsy, part Morman, and part Rainbow Family. The Zoranists dwell apart from much of the rest of the Known Worlds official structures with a democratic religious tradition that predates the Prophet. For purposes of d20, the Zoranists probably merit a character class of their own instead of using the Priest class.
One of the few problems with Priests is that there is scant discussion of how the various orders interact with the merchant guilds. All of the descriptions focus on the primary setting of the Noble Houses without a comparison of how the orders function on the guild dominated worlds.
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