Light, Glorious Light

The Mothers Secret

In a guarded and soundproofed room atop The Tower of Wisdom The Mothers of Phalanx gather.  They discuss the fate of their daughters and their sister state, Cavalry.  It is where newly initiated Mothers are taken to be welcomed into the fold through the secret ceremony known as The Baptism.  After she's been consecrated to The Great Mother she sits at the center of the room surrounded by her peers.  Mother Maya, loremaster of Phalanx, depresses a triangle on her wand and a silent moving picture dances across her magic box.

Twenty-one woman stand together to be painted.  They are dressed strangely, their hair is tamed in peculiar fashions.  Many smile, some do not.  Mother Maya waits until the new Mother is visibly confused by the sight.  She then depresses the paws shape on her wand.  The moving pictures freeze.  Mother Maya rises, paces before her magic box.  When she speaks, her words are solemn:

"The founding Mothers of Phalanx were inspired by the song of The Great Mother to create a haven for the faithful daughters, safe from harm and the dangers of the world beyond these walls.  Some were women of knowledge, others women of art and culture.  Due to the needs of the time, many were women of war.  The twenty-one Mothers built these walls with their bare hands, tools from The Old World, sweat, and tears.  They fought back the desert, the wasters, the wild beast, and the infected.  What they failed to fight off was bloodlust and the hunger for conquest.

Phalanx was meant to be apart from the violence and desperation of the outside, apart from the murder, apart from the suffering.  The Mothers were to be diplomats and paragons.  Unfortunately some wished to be tyrants instead.  Under Phalanx's banner these women waged war on the waste.  To the waste Phalanx became the symbol of despair and not the beacon of hope The Great Mother had requested.  Mothers opposed these War Mothers and Phalanx fell into civil war.  There was fighting in the streets and fighting in the waste.  Those that revered The Great Mother battled those who ignored her message of peace and salvation.  Sister fought sister, mother fought mother.

In the end The War Mothers were stripped of their titles, and cast out of Phalanx along with any and all who supported their war-like ways.  They were a vestige of The Old World which had to be purged before the Great Mother would bless her holy land.  From the nine War Mothers were born the nine reaver clans.  For a time they warred against Phalanx as one, but their discordant nature and the will of The Great Mother turned them upon one another.

The dark days were erased from the histories and none but The Loremaster and The Mothers may hear this song.  It is a blemish on The Great Mother's work.  Hear and remember.  For it is our role as leaders of the faithful to keep the secret of this tale and to keep us from following in those misguided footsteps."

Mother Maya then patiently waits for the new Mother to process her words.  The loremaster is caring and respectful of all the new Mother's questions.  She eases her into the new knowledge, answering everything with care.  It is no small burden, knowing that the scourge of the waste are your daughters lost to darkness.