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PARDONERS

ARCANOI

A Pardoner  can learn the following Arcanoi at initiate and common level.

CASTIGATE         INTIMATION         MNEMOSYNIS

Any other Arcanoi a Pardoner learns is common level only.

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All wraiths struggle against their Shadows, but a select few — the Pardoners — carry the battle further. Masters of the Arcanos Castigate, they study the Shadow to learn what drives and feeds it so they can weaken it. They walk a dangerous path, for as Nietzsche reminds us, those who fight monsters must take care not to become monsters themselves. More than one Pardoner has gone just one step too far and succumbed to his own Shadow, all his powers of no avail. No one method or practice defines Castigate. Each Pardoner takes his own approach to studying, confronting, and hindering the Shadow: introspective philosophy, violence and intimidation, self-flagellation, meditation, ritual, book learning, music, or ruthless logic. Perhaps the best-known tactic is the Devil’s Dialectic, a sort of dialogue/ negotiation/debate based on the Shadow’s Nature. This individualistic approach may affect not only which arts a Pardoner chooses to learn, but how those arts manifest, appear, or function. A Pardoner who Castigates a Shadow with excoriating sermons works differently from one who puts a wraith through shamanic ordeals of endurance or inflicts suffering with harsh interrogation techniques.

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Guildmarks

A Pardoner’s fingers have black stains from where he’s touched or grappled with the Shadow. As the Pardoner’s experience and power increase, the stains work their way up the hands and arms. Since their split from the Solicitors (see below), the Pardoners’ symbol has been an iron lantern. Hung outside a building,
the lantern advertises a Pardoner’s services; carried by her it illuminates his way in the darkest of places. Each lantern’s unique to the Pardoner who owns it, for she either creates it herself as part of his “apprenticeship” (or, more rarely, gets it from a master who knows him well), but most Pardoners favor traditional designs with baroque, macabre adornments. A Pardoner’s lantern usually produces a pale, ghostly glow, but may change color or intensity depending on the Pardoner’s mood or personality.

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The Guild

According to their own (contested) histories, there was a time, long ago, when no Pardoners existed. There were only Solicitors, or rather those wraiths whose practices would one day lead to the founding of that Guild. The earliest studies of Intimation, the Arcanos that explores dark desire, inevitably led some wraiths to delve into the negative emotions that create a wraith’s Shadow. Exploring the Shadow and what drives it became the primary interest of these proto-Pardoners. Eventually, new arts aimed at understanding and combating the dark side of wraiths’ Psyches evolved from their work. Over the centuries they refined these powers until it became apparent they’d created an Arcanos separate from Intimation: Castigate. The proto-Pardoners’ work did not meet with universal approval. In fact, many Solicitors considered it dangerous and potentially destructive. Too many Pardoners touched the Shadow too deeply and became tainted by it, making them a threat to everyone around them. But the nascent Pardoners provided valuable services as well, and for many of them the struggle against the Shadow rose almost to the level of a religious crusade.

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Eventually tensions with the Solicitors became too great — or so the Pardoners say. Adopting the iron lantern as their symbol because they “carried the Light against every Shadow,” the Pardoners broke from the Solicitors and formed their own Guild. At first other wraiths didn’t know what to make of them, and many looked on the Pardoners as some sort of Heretic cult. But Castigate helped other wraiths so much that Stygian society soon accepted the Pardoners on their own terms. Before long, the iron lantern hung outside at least one building in almost every Necropolis, no matter how small. When the Guilds revolted, the Pardoners joined, but without great zeal. Focused as always on their mission to fight the Shadow, they really only cared about ending the Hierarchy’s oppression of Heretic groups. Even when Charon broke the Guilds, he did little to punish the Pardoners. Without their efforts, Oblivion would long ago have overwhelmed Stygia, so he allowed them to go on conducting business as usual. To this day the Hierarchy and its Legions rarely trouble a Pardoner, and iron lanterns remain plainly visible wherever wraiths dwell. But the ancient discord between Pardoner and Solicitor remains, and neither Guild seems interested in taking steps to resolve the problem. However, with the Solicitors regarded as terrifyingly dangerous outlaws and the Pardoners as vital members of Restless society, it’s clear whose side most wraiths take.

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Factions

Although younger Pardoners often take a more psychological perspective on their Guild’s Arcanos and traditions, many Pardoners remain steeped in the religious or quasi-mystical terms and concepts that have characterized their work since earliest times. This extends to the names and roles of many of the factions within the Guild. The Crusaders, for example, take the hardest line, always eager to pursue and combat Shadows, and often willing to use extreme methods that make even other Pardoners hesitate. The Scriveners, on the other hand, are the most studious of Pardoners. They fight the Shadow with carefully learned lore and wise debate, and also maintain the Pardoners’ extensive records and libraries. The Simonists (who prefer the name Brokers) focus on the commercial possibilities of Castigate; as the name indicates, many in the Guild do not think highly of them. The Confessors, masters of the Devil’s Dialectic, can shame a Shadow into remorse with their arguments.

 

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