Pathfinder Factions - The Gray Maidens

hello and welcome back to pfinder my name is Phillip and I'm here to talk about Pathfinder second edition this week I am trying something a little different I really enjoyed discussing the red mantis assassins in my last video on AIC so I figure it might be fun to talk about a few other organizations on garan so this week I will be talking about an organization with which I have a lot of history the gray maidens villains of the first campaign I ever ran before that though if you enjoy this video and want to hear more Pathfinder lore consider subscribing or commenting below with that out of the way let's move on Major Spoilers for the curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure path and minor spoilers for book two of the shattered star Adventure path I will need to spoil these products to discuss the grey maidens in detail also content warning the grey maidens are an order founded on physical mental and emotional abuse while many of these practices are no longer in use by some sects it is impossible to discuss the organization without bringing up these topics if discussions of abuse are difficult for you to hear feel free to skip this video and come back for the next one the gry maidens were originally an all female military order founded in the city of corvos in vissia the GRE maidens served at the pleasure of Queen iosa arabasi upon the Queen's death the order was officially disbanded since then Splinter groups have formed broken up and reformed throughout the Inner Sea region most of these groups maintain the all female membership requirement though others have expanded their recruiting efforts to include members of all gender identities most Splinter groups continue to exist as military orders first and foremost though some have taken on the aspects of a a social support network for members in the year 4708 AR 16 years ago at time of recording Queen iosa arabasi Rose to power in the versian city state of corvos after the death of her husband aodd II while iosa was not a blood member of the ruling family of corvos having married into the Royal Line only a few years prior few of the citizens of corvos were especially alarmed at her Ascension the rulers of corvos had a nasty habit of dying under suspicious circumstances a trend which was colloquially referred to as the curse of the Crimson Throne iosa took power at a particularly difficult time in corvos history tensions between the native shaanti citizens and the locally stationed hellnight order of the nail were reaching a Breaking Point beyond that strange events in wider versia including in the neighboring rival city state of magnar bar were continuously evolving indicating that the magic of the ancient run Lords was stirring in the Shadows on top of all of this a strange never-before seen disease called blood Veil had taken root among the poorest citizens of corvos and was rapidly beginning to spread to deal with these Myriad problems corvos had two official security forces and one unofficial one the corvos guard functioned as the city watch dealing with all issues relating to policing crime civil unrest and general Civic order in times of external threat the corvos guard would change from a policing organization to a military one the guard was headed by field Marshall cresa Croft who ensured that the guard's loyalty was to the city first the throne second and the Church of abidar 3D in total the corvos guard could muster about 700 troops the Sable company was the second of corvos two main Security Forces while technically a mercenary Company the company was based in Northern corvos and was signed on an effectively permanent contract with the city commandant Marcus endrin trained his soldiers in the art of mounted combat and each member of the company fought while mounted on the back of a hippogriff the company was responsible for the safety of the skies and seas around the city the Sable company answered directly to the cesal of Castle corvos not to the throne itself the company's estim to have been able to field about 300 Warriors and their Associated mounts at its height finally the hell Knight order of the nail stationed nearby in the Fortress of Citadel vade served unofficially as the third security Force the order of the nail is singularly devoted to eliminating savagery in all its forms thus expanding civilization and the rule of law as you might expect of a chelish organization much of what they deemed Savage was was simply anything non-human or non-ch chelles this included the native shaanti even those who were integrating into Modern corvos Life the nail Knights answered to lior sever deiri who only took orders from the corvos government when paid notably the order of the nail was almost universally despised by the citizens of corvos and even the government hated them as you might expect having three disperate Security Forces to combat the city problems only made things worse especially when each Force answered to completely different commanders with sometimes conflicting goals eventually the order of the nail even conducted a raid on the corvos neighborhood of the shingles without consulting or coordinating with the other forces into this Powder Keg stepped the gray maidens iosa appointed her personal Bodyguard the mighty swordswoman Sabina Marin to head a new order of all female warriors outfitted in Striking red and gray armor with unadorned face plates the gry maidens made an immediate impression upon their introduction to the city their uniform appearance struck fear into their enemies and their Shield wall fighting style was well suited to the wide streets where they were commonly deployed the gry maidens answered only to Queen iosa herself and not even field Marshall Croft or commandant endrin had the authority to command them the grey maidens were a assigned to work with rer deales a physician who led a small army of plague doctors and to help him eliminate blood Veil from corvos streets from the very beginning the gry maidens were recognized for their brutal efficiency and ruthlessness in the field while their skills were unmatched more than a few questions began to crop up who were the women Behind The Masks not one citizen could identify a friend or family member who had joined the gry maidens so where did the hundreds of warrior women come from why were they so merciless in their operations how were they trained how did iosa a relatively young woman who was somewhat new to Corva recruit and outfit such an effective fighting force so quickly these questions only became louder when it was revealed that Riner devallis and his plague doctors were in fact a cult of eroa worshippers who had apparently tricked the queen into allowing them to spread the plague further with the expulsion of dallis and his followers the plague began to recede though the population of the city and especially of the security forces was hit hard the order of the nail was hit so hard that it was forced to retreat from the city completely at this time Queen iosa held a public address during this address she named the gry maidens as corvos Chief Defenders and officially disbanded the Sable company commandant endrin who was present at the address attempted to assassinate iosa in retribution he succeed eded in putting an arrow in her skull but iosa simply ripped the arrow out then stabbed it into the commandant's throat from here on ios's rign would descend into tyranny so here's the part where I tell you what was actually going on this whole time osa's Ascension to the throne was no accident she engineered the death of her husband through the use of poison she seduced her bodyguard Saina Marin until the swordswoman was hopelessly in love with her then appointed her to the head of a new order of Warriors which would become the gray maidens as for recruitment iosa started by voluntarily recruiting from her personal guard she personally judged each candidate only allowing them to join if they were both physically powerful and sufficiently beautiful those who were deemed unfit were simply imprisoned they were arguably the lucky ones the women who were accepted into the order were put through a training regimen which was a sickening mixture of boot camp and psychological torture each woman's mind was broken and remade during the ordeal culminating in a ceremony where her face was ritualistically scarred the torture was designed to ensure that the gray maidens who survived were fanatically loyal to iosa and maintained a sisterly bond to one another on the field of battle the initial recruits were volunteers from various military orders the local militant churches and corvos various mercenary companies and military schools these numbers were not sufficient for a large organization however recruitment steadily expanded in secret and soon became involuntary women were conscripted without warning from every military organization in the city to the point that many of the losses originally ascribed to disease during the plague were in fact quiet kidnappings on the part of the grey maidens within a few short months iosa had her private Army the gry maiden were psychologically conditioned to be loyal to her and her alone and they were better trained and better equipped than any Force remaining in Corva of course this is an RPG so iosa was eventually defeated a party of PCS in my case a vengeful Archer a friendly Paladin an enthusiastic house Drake and a lovable giant wolf stood up to ios's Cruelty her control of coroso was slowly pried away until even Sabina Marin who had been deliberately hidden from from the more Twisted aspects of osa's plans turned on her former mistress finally iosa Was Defeated and the gry maidens were disbanded and yet the women Behind The Masks remained the psychological damage caused by iosa and her vile servants could not be so easily undone some of the women particularly the recent recruits were able to return to their normal lives but most weren't many of the survivors went on to join other military organizations or to found groups of their own the hierarchical structure of the grey maidens based in part on the organization of the asmodean church meant that most of the members simply unquestionably followed those above them this meant that after ios's death any officers who were particularly charismatic could easily persuade their surviving underlings to follow them this is exemplified in the maidens of the L's light a small company of great maidens who formed a mercenary band and sought out powerful Thessalonian magic in an attempt to regain control of corvos many other maidens grouped into smaller companies of only a few members always sticking together as sisters the two most famous of these companies are the Scarlet Rose and the irones company the Scarlet Rose is made up of all those former maidens who have turned their backs on iosa and her teachings they are a Sisterhood of abuse Survivor and work together to overcome their past traumas the Scarlet Rose remains based in corvos to this day protecting the city when needed members focus on bettering themselves and one another and seek those in need of love and support the Scarlet Rose has a close relationship with the silver Ravens of Ravenel and with the Church of shellin the arones company are the fanatical followers of iosa they remain dedicated to their Queen's memory long after her death death these women retreated to aoran the seed of power for house thrun in celiacs they pledged themselves to Queen abale II who now uses them as her personal enforcers the members of irin's company worship the queens of the Knight the evil goddesses Mahala Dolores ardad Lily and isth and have been known to receive powerful Magic from these divinities arin's company has recently become a formal part of the chelish military the most famous member of the grey maidens is of course its founding member Sabina Marin Sabina was a powerful swordswoman prior to her appointment to Commander but her time and power made her even stronger having abandoned iosa and seen the error of her ways Sabina became a founding member of the Scarlet Rose she still Grieves the woman iosa once was before her corruption but has found new purpose in restoring the lives and minds of her sisters notably Sabina never underwent the torture which the other maidens experienced during their recruitment a fact which irritated more than a few of her underlings during her time as Commander ferina grantlee is sabina's right hand in the Scarlet Rose and is the public face of the organization ferina is actually trans having disguised herself as a woman using magic to enter the gry maidens and rescue her sister this disguise actually woke fillerina up to the fact that she was a woman all along and she maintained her her identity as ferina even after the death of iosa ferina is unshakable in her positivity and infectiously likable her unquenchable cheer has been a Cornerstone for her sisters in the order fillerina is in a relationship with a woman named Kellis V who once served as Queen ios's Assassin a figure known only as the midnight Maiden V had previously developed an alternative personality to adopt when conducting her assassinations to Shield her core person personality from the horrors she was forced to commit years later her alternate personality is beginning to reassert itself and she is terrified about what this might mean for the Crimson Rose and for ferina the commander of arones company is a ferocious woman named quins rakol she was the one to lead her maidens to celiacs and made the decision to swear their services to Queen abogail rakol was also the first to take up the worship of the queens of the Knight she is tremendously powerful and is likely the strongest living Gray Maiden she and several other members of Iran company have begun to receive Divine blessings from their new goddesses and have been deemed sanguin Angels finally the maidens of the lady's light were led by a woman known only as Oriana one of the rare non-evil followers who maintained loyalty to iosa Oriana led her maidens to the lady's light in search of powerful Magic she was betrayed by the Mistress of the lady's light however and eventually retreated with her maidens to magnamar seeking retirement and a quiet life from an organizational standpoint the original gry maidens only had seven ranks the commander was the ranking member of the organization and answered only to iosa herself three other ranks the second in command the Arbiter of Allegiance and the warden answered to the commander the second in command command was responsible for Recruitment and served as the quartermaster the Arbiter of Allegiance and was the one to develop and perform the torture and brainwashing which made new maidens the warden was responsible for the security of a gray Maiden base but was also in charge of monitoring individual maidens to ensure that their conditioning never slipped beneath these ranking officers are the field members the mightiest of these were the palace guard and were historically kept as osa's person guards the regular guards were the next lowest and were warriors responsible for defending fortresses or command posts the lowest members of the organization were the foot soldiers though even they were quite powerful the arines company is the most active of the major grey Maiden offshoots on garan today having been formally inducted into the chelish military they now serve under the direct command of Queen Abagail herself the queen typically deploys them on missions outside of the borders of celiacs or on missions of a particularly sensitive nature they have seen significant action in Ravenel the nation which recently declared independence from celiacs the silver Ravens of Ravenel have recognized the threat that Aron's company poses but haven't yet had any success in dealing with them quin's rakol the company Commander has made no secret that she intends to one day retake corvos in osa's name for now however she is content to bide her time build up her forces and plan the Scarlet Rose by contrast is focused on the restoration of corvos members of the Scarlet Rose have prioritized rebuilding their relationships with the citizens of corvos and repairing the Damage Done to their psyches by osa's indoctrination these maidens have taken up the roles of the city's Defenders working in tandem with the corvos guard and what remains of the Sable company Sabina Marin and fillerina grantlee have been cultivating an alliance with the silver Ravens of Ravenel and are well aware of the challenges posed by arones company members of the Scarlet Rose have a mix of hatred and pity for those maidens who continue to embrace the ideals of Queen iosa and see it as their responsibility to write the wrongs of these Wayward sisters finally the Dozen Roses is a small company of gray maidens who have joined up with the Knights of lastwall while they have no formal leader or hierarchy they do have a flare for both the dramatic and the Romantic they have become well known among the knights for their skill in diplomacy in the field they are the first to volunteer for rescue missions and have a tendency to employ Grand entrances and theatrics in their tactics for players looking to play a character affiliated with the gray maidens here are a few useful details the original gry maidens were almost universally Fighters though though the fact that the organization recruited from the Sable company implies that Rangers would have been found among their ranks as well all members specialized in sword and board fighting styles wielding a long sword in one hand and a steel shield in the other members were also trained in the use of bows grey maidens under iosa universally wore heavy armor and grey Maiden plate is very close in function to full plate or Hell Knight plate I should note that the grey Maiden plate which exists in 2E doesn't have the rare tag or an access requirement but probably should since grey maidens are quite protective of who can claim to be a member in second addition a gry maiden is likely still a fighter specializing in weapons in this sword group and using a shield a ranger might take well to the maiden's fighting style as well either using the flurry Edge to Shield bash more effectively or using the Precision Edge to increase damage with a long sword while maintaining a raised Shield given that both the arines company and the Scarlet Rose have embraced religious conviction into their orders Champions and War priest Doctrine clerics would also fit nicely into the maiden's ranks I could also see a sparkling targ megus working well characters of any class could take Feats from a few different archetypes to replicate the grey Maiden style of fighting The Sentinel archetype would go a long way toward allowing characters to master the use of heavy armor and specifically grey Maiden plate similarly the Bastion archetype would allow a character to maximize their effectiveness with a shield back in first edition the Cavalier class was also found among the greaty maidens though the way the class was used by the maidens has little in common with the Cavalier archetype from 2E the grey Maiden Cavaliers were infantry devoted to spreading combat Buffs and tactical knowledge to their fellow soldiers so the best way to represent this in 2E is probably to take Feats from the Marshall archetype as far as ancestries go most original gray maidens were human women of chelish ethnicity due to Queen osa's open racism a few elves were admitted as were humans of other ethnicities all original members were women or at least presented as women at the time of their recruitment most of the surviving gry Maiden orders have waved the ancestry and ethnicity requirements to my knowledge though humans are still by far the most common members the Scarlet Rose has also waved the requirement that members be women accepting recruits of any and all genders the Rose's only requirement is that potential members have experienced trauma in their past and are seeking to heal their Scars by bonding with others by contrast arin's Company still requires all members to be women and due to lingering calish racism new members will almost certainly be humans of chelish descent recruits to Iran's company are selected from the best fighters in celiacs and are put through the same torturous conditioning process as the original maidens common personal edicts among the Scarlet row likely include to help those suffering from past trauma to act with loyalty toward your allies and to readily offer Mercy to those who repent common personal anathema among the members of the Scarlet Rose likely include to act mercilessly toward those who transgress or to submit unquestioningly to authority figures on the other side of things common personal edicts among Iran's company likely include to submit to the will of your queen and Commander and to seek the power to retake corvos in osa's name likewise common anathema among the members of Iran company likely include to surrender to your enemies or to break your Oaths to your superiors the original gry maidens weren't a religious organization but evolution of the surviving orders has allowed religion to take hold in the ranks characters in The Scarlet Rose for instance might worship shellin whose church has been working closely with the maidens to help restore their minds and their reputations with the people of corvos they might also worship other deities of redemption or forgiveness such as seren re or the newly ascended nocticula more generally a female Knight character might easily be drawn to eom and her endless Crusade against evil or felena and her desire to kick ass and look good doing it those maidens who have been unable to let go of the pain of their past might Embrace more extreme faiths like vus or reathel and seek to punish evildoers for their crimes in irin's company the dominant faith is that of the queens of the Knight mahatha Dolores ardad Lily and isth these four goddesses have risen as far as women can in the misogynous hierarchy of asmodus as hell I haven't found any official Pantheon listing for them so I've put one together here to serve as inspiration please note I have inferred the information on this Slide the edicts of the queens of the Knight are to ruthlessly seek power to exploit and cause pain to others and to avenge yourself when wronged conversely to show Mercy to allow yourself to be distracted by desire and to show your emotion are all anathema to the queens of the night for those using the alignment rules accepted follower alignments are lawful evil and neutral evil the Pantheon's favorite weapon is the long sword and this is typically wielded with a shield its Divine skill is intimidation its Divine font is harm and its Divine ability is strength or Charisma the Queen's domains are ambition destruction pain and passion with the alternate domain domain of Sorrow the pantheon grants the following spells first rank true strike third rank agonizing Despair and fifth rank synaptic pulse the most powerful and devout members of Aron company would receive power from the queens of the night and could take levels in the first edition Prestige class the sanguine Angel this Prestige Class functionally A highlevel archetype in 2E allowed characters to specialize in heavy armor and the long sword enter a battle trance and receive magical resistances from each of the four goddesses culminating in a fly speed and telepathy I've worked on a Homebrew version of the archetype for 2E if you want to check it out click the link in the description various magic items and Feats for gry maidens were published back in first edition and porting them over to 2E might be a good way to customize your character in particular The Sisterhood style line of feet was very flavorful and the fanged crowned Massacre and Scarlet Rose devotion Feats are highly reminiscent of the Marshall stances Additionally the gry maiden initiate feat could definitely inspire a custom background for a character the maiden's helm and Helm of the fanged crown are great magic items to Port over as are the maiden's promised lockets or the rose Knights blade for GMS looking to integrate the gry maidens or their offshoot organizations into a campaign here are some ideas if you're looking for a group of Highly disciplined Elite Warriors to throw at a party of good PCS you really can't do better than arony company these maidens are experienced intimidating well-funded and merciless they are also known to take on missions outside of celiacs so you could reasonably put them anywhere in aastan so long as house thrun would have a reason for deploying them Queen Abagail likes them for their effectiveness and discretion so players will likely witness the grey maidens hunting down dissident or handling the Queen's Dirty Work they are well suited for things like false flag attacks or other tasks which necessitate the elimination of all potential Witnesses and don't forget while irin's company is loyal to Queen abgil their highest priority is retaking corvos in ios's name if they were to stumble across an artifact which would allow them to do this or to potentially resurrect iosa they would not hesitate to take action just note that without her magical crown of fangs iosa would be both significantly weaker and less evil on the other hand the Scarlet Rose is about as benevolent of an organization as you're likely to find on garan the sisters and brothers of the Scarlet Rose are dedicated to the protection of the city of corvos so players are most likely to run into them in that region they are also dedicated to the restoration of their fellow gry maidens at least those willing to seek Redemption they might undertake missions across versia or even greater aastan to intervene with any lost gray maidens who might be restored this might present a GM with opportunities to dispatch a Scarlet Rose NPC to any number of locations to act as a questgiver cohort or potential backup PC you might have surmised by now that the Scarlet Rose and arines Company really don't like one another each organization is the antithesis of the other arines company wants to retake corvos and doubtless the destruction of the Scarlet Rose is part of that plan they may even seek to reindo Sabina Marin ferina grantlee and their fellow roses the most obvious location for the confrontation between these two orders is the nation of Ravenel Aron company presents a serious threat to the silver Ravens of Ravenel the Ravens are allied with the Scarlet Rose so it's possible that the Roses might soon depart for Ravenel in an attempt to bring their fellow former maidens to Justice this is a great opportunity for PCs to get involved since Aron's company is better funded and on the offensive the leaders of Aron's company are also tremendously powerful and would make for excellent Final Bosses of a campaign so that's it that's the gry maidens they are a fantastically Rich piece of lore in the Pathfinder setting and easily my favorite organization in all of Pathfinder curse of the Crimson Throne was the first campaign I ever ran as a GM and the grey maidens were one of the best parts of the whole AP I think that I have four former grey Maiden characters that I want to play across the various 1 APS and I am just waiting for the right campaign to crop up in 2E to break one out I hope you enjoyed this foray into new territory for my channel I have a few other ideas I want to explore involving new content but for the next video I am back to my bread and butter with another Deep dive into the gods of Pathfinder up next is nocticula the Redeemer queen and the former Demon Lord of Assassins and succubi see you next time

Channel: Podfinder

Views: 1,013

Keywords: Pathfinder, Pathfinder 2E, Pathfinder Second Edition, Pathfinder Lore, Pathfinder 2E Lore, Pathfinder Gods, Pathfinder History, Age of Lost Omens, History of Pathfinder, Lore of Pathfinder, Golarion, Golarion History, Golarion Lore, What is Pathfinder, Pathfinder Intro, Paizo, RPG, Roleplaying, Lore, D&D, Gods, Magic, Inner Sea, PF2E, PF1E, Inner Sea Gods, Pathfinder Infinite, Gray Maidens, Korvosa, Curse of the Crimson Throne, Erinyes, Cheliax

Id: mVqoh1uZu5Q

Length: 30min 22sec (1822 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 05 2024