History of the World of Lineage/Oath of Blood
Oath of Blood
Contents |
Clans and Conspiracies
After the gods gave people freedom, travelers had no choice but to fight evil creatures without the gods' protection. They survived the ages by banding together, while others declared war on one another.
Adventurers bound by acquaintance, friendship or blood created formal groups that later became known as Clan. Some of these groups attacked clan halls or castles, forming Alliance with one another to gain more power in the territory. Other clans stayed focused on protecting citizens against evil, and their main task was raids — hunting the giant monsters that ruled over the territories.
Some time later, two secret cabals, the Revolutionaries of Dusk and the Lords of Dawn, recruited these clans into two main groups. These two conspirators had opposing values of resistance and order and succeeded in gathering all the revolutionaries and all the rulers in one place. Many clans joined these groups, fueling fierce battles and political enmity between clans.
The conspirators' power stays active and strong as long as they control the seal stones, the Necropolises and Catacombs, and the power of the seals. But as the mercenaries grew tired of constantly resisting and fighting one another, they began to doubt the empty promises of utopia through revolution, or power.
The strong unity of each group began to crumble.
The Coming of Heroes
As the groups' unity fell further apart, the power of the clans grew stronger. Clan leaders joined or left the conspirators in pursuit of their own interests, or used both groups to their own advantage.
Hero and Noblesse suddenly appeared at this time and aroused the clans' interest. They were strong and excellent leaders who understood adventurers better than anyone else, since they had long been just like them.
Most of them held important positions in the conspirators' groups because of their outstanding skills and abilities. Some of them tried to change the groups, and some devoted themselves to fighting for the conspirators' ideology. Others wanted to leave the groups to find their own path, which would shift from destroying strong monsters to saving civilians from the tyranny of some lord. Heroes held prominent positions within clans, and clans with those heroes stood out among the alliances.
Clan leaders realized the importance of Heroes and listened carefully to their advice. Heroes needed clan power to achieve their goals. At this time some wise clan leaders and Heroes gathered and discussed new ideas. Various grievances and options arose in the hierarchical relations among alliances, and in the relations of stronger clans appropriating newly joined mercenaries.
For a better distribution, experienced clan lords and Heroes in the group's top command positions were going to create a new type of clan.
Honor and Loyalty
This new type of clan was tried out as a test in the Oren Territory, where the militia is very strong. Soon after its success it became known in every territory.
The new type of clan focused on strengthening clans by empowering existing clans to advance their power as the main troop force of the territory. Territories supported existing clans by organizing them and strengthening their power in the castle and the management of the clan hall. Rulers felt that this plan would prevent huge military costs for running and defending each castle, and that they would get a strong troop force along with new clans whose most important foundation would be honor and loyalty. Naturally, this plan got strong support from the clan and castle lords of each territory, and it was carried out quickly in the territories with more active clans.
Such a policy of strengthening clans was also desirable for clan members; if they worked hard for the good of the clan, they could achieve wealth and fame like the travelers they admired. Clan leaders also benefited by leading their own organization without making compromises. All these circumstances were good enough to satisfy the common interest, and they even became attractive to those who had never considered joining clans.
Creating an academy in the clan, a training system within the clan, was fully supported and relevant in already established clans. Clans that wanted to found Academies actively took part in the search for talent spread across the whole territory, and very soon fell into fierce competition. Now the goal of most clans is to attract more loyal people who dream of being needed. Clans quickly appointed mentors with rich combat experience to teach clan members the basics of their life and the path of growing their reputation in the clan.
The Age of Clans
Clans keep recruiting new members; they can raise their rank to a higher level and bring privileges and honor to their clans after they earn honors in siege warfare or in a large-scale battle with strong evil creatures. This means that personal valor is directly tied to the privileges and honor of their clan.
Some members of the intelligentsia predicted that clans, which were once just small groups of people with common interests, would turn into a huge organization that would determine the priority of rank and the honors of its formation. They claimed that this new clan structure is an organic body that binds individual lives into one whole.
Now it is the age of clans, with new clans forming and existing clans gaining power and prestige. Members devote their strength and their lives to the clan, willing to die for the clan and its members. This is the Oath of Blood.
