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Table of Contents:
Page 1:
Adria
The Orai Primacy
The Vindicis
The Smiths
The Scholars
The Priors
Orai Culture
The Knights of Orai
The Sicarii
Thracean's Musketeers

The Orai Primacy is the name of an interplanetary religious organization whose dominion encompasses several dozen planets. While the Orai Primacy is not directly involved with the governments of any of these planets, it wields full religious authority and has the ability to raise, train, and equip armies from the populations of these planets.

Additionally, the sovereigns of some planets are also members of the Orai Primacy's foremost religious order, the Priors.

Orai doctrine provides Four Paths and Two Virtues to guarantee a righteous life.

The Four Paths are four societal castes or walks of life; these are Vindex, Smith, Scholar, and Prior (in order from lowest to highest). The Vindex are the soldier class of the Orai, the lowest, basic infantry. Smiths serve as the war engineers of the Orai, responsible for designing, building, and maintaining the machinery of the Orai. Scholars are the researchers and scientists of the Orai, who use their knowledge and understanding so the Orai may adapt and overcome the servants of Evil. The Priors are the ministers and magic users of the Orai. They keep the faith and spread the word, worming out the Evil in men's hearts and purifying the flock. The Priors lead the Orai Primacy. They are organized under the Grand Priory and the Doci of the Orai, the single highest Prior who is elected by the Grand Priory and holds office until death.

The Two Virtues are Faithful Worship of the Orisai and Diligent Service in one's Path.

The Smiths are the craftsmen of the Orai. They are responsible for designing, producing, and maintaining all the technology used by the Orai, except for that which was designed by the Priors.

The Smiths are well-educated and organized. They all belong to the Smiths Guild and maintain contact with the Guild and each other. However, they are also usually spread out, with only a single Smith in a given Orai community. The only exception to this being Guild Chapters, units of Smiths that serve in the Army or maintain the Armada.

Smiths will also take apprentices. Some will only take a single apprentice at a time, but others will take many apprentices or even form schools where apprentices are taught by more advanced pupils.

The Priors are the religious leadership of the Orai. Serving as clerics, politicians, healers, and teachers. The Priors are roughly the equivalent of the Moriath of the Unified Empire, but far rarer and much more powerful. Though powerful on their own, as powerful as the most potent Moriath, a Prior's Staff, his Baculum Ardoris, amplifies his power many thousandfold. Through his staff, a Prior has his own PANSpace sensor node and Contactus Regni, a connection to an Orai MergedSpace that joins all the Priors and the collective powerplants of the Celestia motherships.

The primary way that the Priors maintain control of an interplanetary empire is through the Knights of Orai. Priors will dub influential local leaders into the Orai Knighthhood. These lords then rule over a domain (sometimes even a few planets, but usually only one), managing and caring for the populace. This includes collecting and delivering tithes to Celestos and, when necessary, producing the military vessels the Priors have dictated for the Orai Armada. The Knights of Orai also raise and maintain their own armies to defend their lands and claim the lands of other Knights. The Priors allow this infighting to maintain the population and promote strong military leaders. But the Priors also have the ability to command any of the Knights' armies and it is through the Knights that the Orai muster armies for the Armada.

Led by Thracean Aramis Dethosian, the Musketeers are an irregular army within the Orai that specialize in unconventional warfare. Formed against the oppression of a Knight of Orai, the Musketeers revolted successfully and defeated the Knight. To regain control, the Priors gave Thracean an honorary Vindex position and allowed him and his men to form an official army. At Thracean's request, a Scholar was attached to the Musketeers to design specialized equipment for them at Thracean's direction. The result is the musket for which the army is known.