Orders of Fate
Orders of Fate
Purpose and Claim
The Orders of Fate are a continent-spanning faith institution devoted to the god of Fate. They claim that survival is shaped by consequence, not mercy. They exist to measure obligation, record lineage, witness oaths, and enforce debt. In a land where water and food are rationed, their records decide who is owed relief and who is denied it. They do not rule kingdoms directly, but they sit inside courts, depots, temples, and garrisons as the “keepers of what was promised.”
Core Doctrine
Fate doctrine is simple and harsh.
Oaths bind reality. A spoken vow witnessed and recorded is treated as a real force.
Debt is not just coin. Debt includes water, shelter, labor, lineage duty, and protection.
Lineage carries consequence. Many Fate priests teach that family obligations and punishments can pass forward.
This doctrine makes them useful to rulers, but feared by common people.
Blessings and Signs
Fate blessings are real, but limited and silent.
Pattern-luck: small runs of “luck” that only hold while strict tenets are obeyed.
Witness-sight: a trained oathkeeper sometimes senses when an oath is broken, but cannot name the breaker with certainty.
Symbolic visions: seers receive images and repeating signs, but they are disputed and never verified by divine speech.
The Orders treat miracles as evidence of discipline, not holiness.
Rites and Offices
The Orders operate through public rites and hard paperwork.
Oath Taking: vows are spoken before witnesses and marked on tablets, vellum rolls, or seal-ledgers.
Debt Binding: debts are written in ranked forms, from private obligations to crown-level ration bonds.
Lineage Recording: births, marriages, adoptions, and inheritances are logged to prevent “water fraud” and false claims.
Sentence Witness: executions and punishments often require a Fate witness so the state can claim legality.
Structure and Ranks
Most Fate houses use a strict ladder.
Witnesses: trained lay clerks who record statements and keep seals.
Oathkeepers: sworn officials who oversee vows, disputes, and contract validity.
Ledger Priests: senior record-holders who manage vaults, debt books, and lineage archives.
Seers: rare and tightly controlled, kept under guard or temple oversight.
High Arbiters: regional leaders who negotiate with crowns and approve major legal doctrines.
Promotion is based on record accuracy, discipline, and political usefulness.
Law, Debt, and Records
The Orders’ main power is control of proof.
They certify contracts that govern storage, transport, and ration redemption.
They maintain seal standards used on casks, wagons, and depot gates.
They preserve pre-crisis claims when it benefits stability, and “lose” records when it benefits patrons.
In the Eastern Ledger-State, their work merges with contract courts and supply chains. In the Northern Crown, their work merges with noble lineage and inheritance law.
Relations with Crowns and Other Faiths
With crowns: rulers rely on Fate to justify seizures, forced relocations, and ration priority. Fate relies on rulers for protection and enforcement.
With Life: Life orders accuse Fate of turning relief into punishment. Fate accuses Life of “wasting” resources on the unworthy.
With Death: Death orders cooperate with Fate during quarantines and burial law, but clash over purges and collective blame.
Fate houses often claim neutrality while actively shaping outcomes through procedure.
Methods and Reputation
The Orders are respected in public and feared in private. Their common methods are:
public oath ceremonies to pressure compliance
audits that cut families off from rations through technical violations
inherited debt structures that bind children to old contracts
“mercy clauses” that can be sold, traded, or revoked
They keep society stable by making disobedience costly and hard to escape.
Internal Fractures
The Orders are not unified.
The Chain Doctrine: hardliners who support inherited punishment and permanent debt classes.
The Balance Doctrine: legalists who allow limited mercy clauses to prevent riots and collapse.
The Sight Doctrine: seers and their handlers who push prophecy into policy, often against court officials.
These factions fight through rulings, missing records, and accusations of corruption.
Infernal Infiltration and Purity Panics
Devils target the Orders because Fate language fits contract control. Infernal brokers mimic Fate doctrine, offering “clean certainty” and using small clauses to bind bloodlines. This drives purity registries, witch-hunter circles, and public fear of tiefling lineages, especially in court cities. The Orders publicly condemn infernal influence, but some houses protect it because it strengthens their legal reach.