Equites Serpentina

From LSWiki

Equites Serpentina are a guild in Corna headed by Runehand. The guild is focused on an empathic bond between a horseman and his horse. Steel Serpent membership will be required to join when this guild opens.

Joining Information

   Runehand says, "You're interested, too, eh?  Me too.  First, let me tell
   you a little about the Equites, so you can make an informed decision." in
   Anglic.

   Runehand says, "Serpentina, as you know, was our patron sorceress.  She
   had quite a storied history, but decided to devote well over a century to
   building and protecting Corna, here.  She was very mysterious -- even up to
   the moment of her disappearance.  I only had the chance to study with her for
   a few months; I was her last apprentice.  Almost everything I know how to do I
   learned from her." in Anglic.

   Runehand says, "Part of her researches was devoted to finding magicks to
   help better defend ourselves.  She knew a few powerful spells of the sort that
   would fry someone where they stood, but mostly she was interested in
   enchantment.  The Dragonsabre of Serpente was one result of those
   enchantments.  Staves of the elements were another.  But her most useful
   invention -- yes, even more useful than the Dragonsabre -- was discovering an
   enchantment that imparted a faculty for horse-bonding upon its bearer." in
   Anglic.

   Runehand says, "This bond is similar to those employed by the daanan, and
   some of the witches of the northeast.  But she honed it specifically for her
   purposes.  She needed competent agents and military leaders to help her stave
   off the threats of her time.  So she shaped the bond for horses, and not just
   any horses, but a kind of horse that she herself helped to breed: warhorses of
   an exceptionally powerful stock." in Anglic.

   Runehand says, "She had an entire private cavalry of men augmented in
   their logistical and military prowess by her own magicks.  They became
   enormously competent, and formed a sort of inner circle of advisors for her. 
   But when she vanished, they disbanded.  In fact, heh, most of them went
   insane.  Anyway..." in Anglic.

   Runehand says, "The point being!  I have rediscovered her technique!  Her
   technique for enchanting persons with the ability to bond our warhorses.  I've
   been using it on a select few of our Steel Serpents.  I learned it by reading
   a scroll of hers, a scroll so potent that I can still detect some of her
   magickal essence within it.  So I've been calling the method of bonding
   "Serpentina's echo"." in Anglic.

   Runehand asks you, "So that's basically it.  In exchange for more of a
   commitment to aiding Corna, I am willing to give you the ability to bond one
   of our war-horses, and become an unmatched rider.  What do you think?" in
   Anglic.

Joining Requirements

1. Be a Steel Serpent. You can talk to Osaka about joining them.

 Runehand says, "Hmm, so you're a Steel Serpent, that's a start.  But why
 don't you get to know the town a little better, first?  If you want to become
 an Equite, you'll be spending a lot of time defending the people here. 
 Indeed, you may even give your life to defend them.  It's better for Corna and
 better for you if you familiarize yourself with the concerns of the
 townsfolk." to you

 You are now a first-degree specialist in courage, empathy, enchantment, 
 intelligence analysis, logistics, memory, practice and strategy.

  Runehand says, "Seems like you're up to par!  Okay then."
  
  Runehand cracks his knuckles and then closes his eyes in concentration for a long moment.
  
  You feel a strange new desire beginning to stir deep within your psyche.
  
  Runehand says, "Right!  Head to the Steel Serpents' barracks and pick 
  yourself out a horse.  Just pet the one you like best.  
  The enchantment does the rest."
  
  Runehand says, "Osaka can give you some basic training.  If you want
  a real master of horse riding, you'll have to wait until Rhianna gets 
  back.  She's not an Eques, but she's probably the best rider I've ever 
  seen, even without Serpentina's enchantments to help her."
  
  Runehand says, "One more thing.  After you've spent some time together 
  with your warhorse, you might want to try recruiting other followers.  
  Equites often have small units under their command, and Serpentina's 
  magicks will help you with that."

  You sense a new emotional need opening up within you -- an incompleteness 
  you never fully grasped, the need for a true soulmate of some kind -- along 
  with the desire and ability to fulfill that need and to complete yourself.

Charms

   You sense that you have one method by which you can form an empathic bond:
a full essence bond via Serpentina's echo, a means provided by Equites
Serpentina.  This bond is fulfilled by Exoneration, with whom your connection
is fairly healthy.  You sense that he is not hungry and not thirsty.

   You sense that this bond is enabling you to perform a bunch of charms,
arcane feats accomplished by simple mental acts.

   First, the ability to see through your familiar's eyes.  This ability can
be used even if you do not know where your familiar is.  To do this,
concentrate on seeing what your familiar sees.

   Second, the ability to urge your familiar to specific action.  This
ability can be used even if you do not know where your familiar is.  To do
this, concentrate on urging your familiar to undertake the desired action.

   Third, the ability to send your familiar to safety.  This ability can be
used even if you do not know where your familiar is.  To do this, concentrate
on sending your familiar to safety.

   Fourth, the ability to command a friendly creature over which your
familiar is sovereign to undertake a specific action.  You can command
multiple creatures at once in this manner.  To do this, concentrate on
commanding your follower or followers to undertake the desired action.

   Fifth, the ability to tame creatures over which your familiar is
sovereign.  To do this, concentrate on taming the creature.

   Sixth, the ability to commit an enchanted image of a follower to memory. 
To do this, concentrate on memorizing the essence of the follower.  This
ability is the keystone of a faculty of mnemonically preserving followers, a
faculty that allows you to preserve your followers against the vicissitudes of
time and fate.  To exercise the ability to restore a follower from the
enchanted mnemonic image, concentrate on mnemonically realizing the follower
specified either by name or, more precisely, by the ordinality of the memory
(e.g. "my second preserved memory").  To exercise the ability to call to mind
and reflect upon the enchanted images you have burned into your memory, think
about the essences burned into my memory.  To exercise the ability to erase
the enchanted image of a follower from memory, concentrate on forgetting the
essence of the follower specified either by name or, more precisely, by the
ordinality of the memory (e.g. "my second preserved memory").

   Seventh, the ability to call your familiar to your side.  To do this,
concentrate on calling your fam