+2 Heart
Assign 3 points between
Dexterity, Perception, Intelligence, Heart, Presence
Flame Wardens are the lifeblood of the Bastions and larger settlements. Their mere presence is said to radiate warmth and rekindle dying flames. Tending to the precious communal stoves, royal forges and to the great pyres atop the Bastions' walls, they represent safety and peace on a more fundamental level than any ruler or guard ever could. The weight of such responsibilities has made most wardens vigilant, hard-working and proud to a fault. Outwardly calm and austere, they burn inside with unrelenting zeal.
Few wardens leave the Bastions for long but those who do seem to thrive on struggle, becoming paragons of mental fortitude. While their difficult master whispers promises of worldly warmth and unbridled fires, the pallid wastes reject warmth itself. And yet, they fight. A life dedicated to delaying the inevitable has made them indomitable. The most powerful wardens dare even venture into the deepest parts of the Wild Grey, laying waste to entire swathes of corrupted land, hoping to stop their spread.
Wardens are not united in their worship. In the northern Bastion of Tal'Erj, they believe the source of their powers to be Khamsin, the Bastion's immortal tyrant who claims godhood. In the Eastern Bastions, wardens believe the Flame is not a god, but an aspect of nature and life, an element. They are defiantly apolitical and staunchly independant zealots who will burn anything they deem corrupted.
Becoming a Flame Warden
When pupils believe themselves ready, they go to their Master Warden, to be guided in prayer one last time. Then, led atop the Bastion walls at nightfall, they are burned on their massive bonfires. As flesh wilts and screams, The Flame judges. If satisfied, it keeps the novice alive through the night, in a perpetual cycle of burning and healing. When the sun dawns, the novice takes a deep breath, swallowing whole the pyre's inferno. For a day and a night, they will shed heat and light, until a perpetual flame forms at their side, imbued with a portion of their soul. It is known as the Sunflame, the final proof of priesthood.
Naturally, rejected novices simply burn on the pyre, serving the people better as fuel for a night’s warmth than they could in life.