The Followers of the Claymore

The McGregors in Laterre

On their home world of Laterre, the McGregor family was just one branch of a larger clan in the Kaelic Highlands of Fensland. Clan McGregor was notoriously belligerent and warlike, and the family McGregor was renowned for harboring sorcerers, druids, and necromancer. Rumors of their allegiances with devils and fiends were offensive to their Fen neighbors, particularly those from the Church of Fensland.

In truth, while there were members of the family that did engage in pagan rituals and magical practices, the majority were mere warriors and farmers who were just as horrified at their relatives' activities as everyone else. Fortunately, the McGregor's reputation as fierce warriors was sufficient to stave off the attacks of enemy clans and earn them allies among the other Kaelic clans.

As the Kaelic lands were increasingly being occupied by the hated Fens, the McGregor family found themselves ever more persecuted for their supposed heretical beliefs, and they began to be pushed out of their ancestral lands. One particularly fiendish McGregor sorcerer, the necromancer known as "Brannart the Red," proposed leaving Laterre through a magical Stonehenge, using a magical gate that the d'Ambreville family of Averoigne used years earlier. The McGregors and their allies, the McDougalls and the McAllisters, began preparations to move to the new world, free from persecution and domination of the Fens. Their escape occurred just in time, for the Fen ruler, Queen Alice the Ruthless, had already sent her paladins from the Church of Fensland, lead by the legendary heroes, Sir James and Sir Jeremy Moorkroft.

Arrival in the Highlands

The McGregors and their allies arrived in the highland valleys of Braejr. The Kaelic quickly settled in the land that was sufficiently like their former home in Laterre, while others, particularly the Fen refugees that straggled with them, moved to other surrounding lands. Magic was also a dominant force in this new land, and the necromantic practices that were once shunned become powerful and truly feared. Some of the Kaelic retained the old pagan practices of the druids, while others were introduced to the beliefs of the Immortals and Saimpts of the people in the Highlands.

The Brothers of the Claymore

When the Flaemish Council of Lords in Braejr outlawed all clerical teachings in 747 AC, there was an outrage among clerics in Braejr. Located in the Highlands, most of the Kaelic were ignorant or uncaring of the new law, confident that distance would keep them safe. Several recalled the stories of the druidic persecutions by the Church of Fensland back on Laterre. In an attempt to fight back against this declaration, the Brothers of the Claymore were founded—a band of warriors and priests who committed acts of terrorism, on their own and in conjunction with other illegal clerical groups, against the mages of Braejr. Such activities only inflamed the Flaemish people of Braejr even more and led to clashes between the clerics and mages of the nation, the most notable being the Great Burnings of AC 750 and AC 754. The underground nature of the organization of the Brothers of the Claymore was the only thing that spared them from Flaemish retaliation during the rebellion of AC 754, when the Flaems wiped out nearly all able-bodied men of Thyatian and Traladaran descent.

When the racial war broke out once more between the Thyatian and Flaemish communities in 784 AC, the Brothers of the Claymore (now a much more organized faction) covertly participated in the anti-Flaemish aggression for the next four years, although the Kaelic leaders officially did not sanction such actions against the Flaems.

The Forty Years War

Tensions between the clergy and magic-users of Braejr took a backseat during the Forty Years War from AC 788 to AC 828, when the Alphatian wizard Halzunthram defeated the Flaemish of Braejr and declared the nation a protectorate of the Empire of Alphatia. Feeling a sense of déjà vu, the Kaelic were determined not to be driven out of yet another land by oppressive conquerors, although by and large, their actions of the Kaelic leader Bruce McGregor were more defensive of their territories, rather than offensive against the Alphatian subjugators. Only the Brothers of the Claymore, led by Percival McDougall and Malcolm McAllister, joined the army of rebels lead by Alexander Glantri and took up arms against the Alphatians. But due to the secrecy of their group, the Brothers could not even be officially and publicly acknowledged by Lord Glantri for their efforts.

The rebels eventually defeated Halzunthram and drove out the Alphatians. An accord was signed among the allied peoples, dividing the lands of Braejr, now the Republic of Glantri, more or less equally between them, and giving the rulers autonomy from one another. The Brothers of the Claymore, satisfied that they could live in peace, free from religious persecution in their new home, hung up their claymores and retired from their terrorist activities.

The Light of Rad

The Light of Rad decision in AC 858 changed everything. The momentous decision reserved the right to rule in Glantri to magic-users only; all other rulers were to be immediately stripped of their lands and rights. Overnight, Glantri changed from a republic to a magocracy. Only the fact that most of the rulers were already magic-users kept the nation from erupting into immediate revolt. Some rulers gave up their titles quietly, while others fought a bitter battle to retain their titles. In the end, the magocracy won out.

For the Kaelic families, the change to a magocracy was even worse. The patriarch of the McGregor clan, David McGregor, was a necromancer, and felt justified to once again implement the anti-clerical policies that the Flaemish Council had passed many years previously in Braejr. His brutal militia began to persecute all followers of religion in Crownguard, burning their churches and slaying their priests. Former members of the Brothers of the Claymore, once heroes among the Kaelic, were now outlaws, and were executed for their previous deeds.

David McGregor's policies did not fully succeed however. Many of the Kaelic saw the Brothers of the Claymore as martyrs, and their sons and daughters reformed the group, and found solace among the McDougalls of Glenargyll. The words and deeds of the Brothers spread quickly across the lands of Glantri, where they found equal sentiments among other clerical groups that were being persecuted. The Brothers of the Claymore reformed and renamed themselves the Followers of the Claymore. And though their goals have emerged more political than religious, the Followers still attracted allies among the dispossessed priests and malcontent warriors of the Glantrian population.

Recent Years

At the turn of the millennium, the Followers of the Claymore still persevere as an underground faction. Among their leaders are two members of the ruling family of Klantyre: Sir Duncan McGregor, son of Prince Brannart of Klantyre, and Sir Bruce McGregor, brother-in-law of Sir Duncan and the Castellan of Crownguard. They were most active in the Sablestone region, which they play to use as a base of operations to take over the rest of Glantri, until the enfeoffment of the Principality of Sablestone in AC 1004.

In AC 1007, during the Wrath of the Immortals War, at a time when Glantrian military forces were dealing with the invading humanoid hordes of Thar, the Followers of the Claymore attempted a military coup in Sablestone. Despite their apparent advantage, the Followers did not gain much local support, partly because of rumors that their activity was sponsored by Alphatian agents. The coup failed and many of the Followers were captured, if not slaughtered, by local authorities.

At the same time in Klantyre, Prince Brannart McGregor discovered that his own nephew and Castellan, Sir Bruce, was one of the leaders of the Followers of the Claymore. Furthermore, Prince Brannart learned that Bruce was a cleric! Rather than allowing the Constabulary to capture Bruce and possibly expose his illegal secret—which Prince Brannart was apparently and totally ignorant of—Prince Brannart dealt with him personally and imprisoned him in the dungeons of Crownguard.

The defeat in Sablestone and the disappearance of Sir Bruce was a major drawback for the Followers of the Claymore. Sir Duncan McGregor has been all too consumed by his own personal concerns to be an effectual leader. Many of the clerics and the devout of the group (mostly followers of Vanya and Razud) fear that their Immortal Patrons have found them unworthy and abandoned their cause. Others disapprove of the recent alliances of their organization, such as with the Free Fundamentalist Farmers of Glantri. The recent lifting of restrictions to priests and some forms of clerical magic has helped little to the cause of the Followers of the Claymore. Still, they long for the day when they will overthrow the magocracy and reinstate the Republic first established by Lord Alexander Glantri.

References: Warrior-Poets of Klantyre  

Author: Andrew Theisen