The Paladins of Panumbra

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                                             Paladins of Panumbra

The Paladins of Panumbra (Pals) are players who donate their time to help other players in the game.  The Paladins are an organized group.  They have scheduled duties, meetings, and their own behaviour code.  Read here about the history, or join the PALs.  The Paladins are in process of setting up their own web site, when they are ready, I will a link will be added. [ History of Paladins ] [ Paladin's code ] [ Paladins of Panumbra ] [ Join the Paladins ] [ Paladin website ] History of Paladins Paladins are an ancient order of warriors dedicated to the defense of all that is lawful and good. In ancient times long forgotten, they served as the fighting arm of churches dedicated to truth, justice, courage, and other virtues. Whenever people were threatened by oppression, despair, or other evil things, paladins heard the call of their gods, and came to right the wrongs. In battles against the massed forces of darkness, paladins were the first into battle, and the last out. During the Golden Age, when gods were no longer followed, the various orders of paladins were kept alive as the army of General Thero, the Immortal minotaur king who stood for the old principles of honor and righteousness. And now, after the Annihilation, they serve the people again, this time as champions of Thero's church, and others who support him. Paladins follow strict codes of honor and duty, regardless of which order or master they serve. Paladins who break the code are usually summarily thrown out of their orders, and lose any special priveliges they enjoyed as members.  Special exceptions are sometimes made for those who were under enchantment when doing it, or are willing to undertake extremely dangerous (often suicidal) quests to regain their honor. Since paladin powers often come from gods (these days, that means Thero or Justice), this also normally means loss of paladin powers. [ History of Paladins ] [ Paladin's code ] [ Paladins of Panumbra ] [ Join the Paladins ] [ Paladin website ] The formal Paladin's code Honesty. A paladin never lies. Paladins always tell as much of the truth as they safely (or wisely) can. Fairness. A paladin always hears both sides of a story before making a judgement, if called upon to do so. Also, a paladin will seek full understanding of each party's position before deciding. A paladin never judges somebody based on groups they belong to, such as race, religion, etc., but only by his/her/its actions. Courage. Paladins never allow fear to influence their choices, and do not allow themselves to get intimidated by any means. They are allowed to retreat from a battle, if ordered to do so, or their presence on the battlefield is not helping their cause. They will not do so, however, merely to save themselves, or to avoid pain or humiliation. Paladins are always willing to lay down their lives for their cause, if that's what it takes. Compassion. Paladins always show mercy to the weak and helpless. They also will not strike an unarmed foe, except with unarmed attacks of their own. An enemy who surrenders is always left alive. Paladins always treat prisoners well, and never use any kind of torture. Paladins with healing ability do their best to keep those around them healthy, and like full healers will always try to heal the most critical patients first. Faithfulness. Paladins steadfastly defend friends, family, and fellows. A paladin set to guard something will do so until death, and paladins never leave fallen comrades behind unless those comrades made it clear that that's what they wanted. Paladins always keep their word, once given. Honor. Paladins never use underhanded methods in combat, such as striking foes from behind, or with poison. They also tend to not use missile weapons, though as long as they are clearly in the open when using one, it is not considered strictly dishonorable to do so. Note that this does not mean paladins never hide (though some individuals never do); when the enemy has greatly superior power, it's just good policy to hide, and try to get away. Paladins never attack from a hidden position; that's the rule. The stricture against underhanded methods also applies to non-combat situations; this goes hand in hand with the tenet of Honesty. Obediance. Paladins always obey orders from superiors, and laws of wherever they happen to be, as best they can. In cases where rules conflict with each other, or with one of the other tenets above, they follow their conscience as to the best course, and stick to it no matter what. However, they will always do their best to find a solution to their problems that avoids such conflicts. Individual orders sometimes have their own codes which are in addition to the formal one, and most of them place emphasis on different parts of the code- for instance, the militant Order of the White Shield (followers of Thero) considers Courage and Honor to be more important than the other four tenets, whereas the nomadic Avengers (followers of Justice) uphold Honesty and Fairness first. [ History of Paladins ] [ Paladin's code ] [ Paladins of Panumbra ] [ Join the Paladins ] [ Paladin website ] The Paladins of Panumbra One of the most respected orders of paladins active on Taera today is the Paladins of Panumbra, a group dedicated to helping explorers remove the shadows of ignorance, fear, and evil from new lands (or just lands new to the explorers). Though "Panumbra" is no known place on Taera, and means nothing in any native language, the Paladins claim that the word is from an alien tongue, and means "all shadows." Whether this is actually true is unknown by all except the founders of the order, but it is certain that if any group of people on Taera today have had contact with outworlders, it is the Paladins of Panumbra. The Paladins of Panumbra aren't like most other paladins. Though they follow the same code, they are one of the orders which has unique rules for themselves. One of these rules is that they use combat only as a last resort; you won't find Paladins of Panumbra charging into combat against a dragon or other monster, for instance. They spend their time exploring areas around them, and guiding people new to the area through it as best they can. They politely answer questions and help the people get where they are going, and sometimes even rescue stranded travellers from certain doom at the hands (or claws, or teeth, or...) of ravenous monsters. However, travellers should remember that Paladins of Panumbra often have many people to help, and the tenet of Compassion requires that they help the least powerful and experienced people first. They also don't spend much time helping people who are familiar with an area, or powerful enough that they should be easily able to survive on their own, because their time is better spent doing other things (such as exploring, or killing particularly lethal monsters). It is known that alien spirits have been appearing in Taeran bodies recently, and these aliens often are not only lost, but also largely unskilled and helpless when they arrive. Paladins of Panumbra are known to help these wayward travellers from other realms, and in fact that consumes much of their time lately. But the aliens are definitely new to whatever area they're in, when they first enter Taera, and the Paladins of Panumbra are obligated help them just like everybody else. This helpfulness to everybody in new territory lends the Paladins of Panumbra the affectionate nickname of "PALs" among those not of the order, and after many years of this, the order adopted this tradition as its own. A member of the Paladins of Panumbra refers to himself or herself as "PAL name," where "name" is replaced by the person's name, of course. [ History of Paladins ] [ Paladin's code ] [ Paladins of Panumbra ] [ Join the Paladins ] [ Paladin website ]