The gallóglaigh swear the Five Oaths, and become capable of great feats. There are some who choose to take another oath, to take the Path of Peace and become Peacesworn. They swear to do no harm, and become incapable of violence, and gain an additional measure of protection.
Peacesworn characters have a noticeable aura of serenity, all beings encountering them instinctively
understand that they are incapable of violence and unable to defend themselves. Creatures will not attack a Peacesworn character without first being provoked by them, and even then will issue a warning before attacking them. Provocation can include, but is not limited to: Trespassing, searching or carrying people, and verbal insults.
Even if someone attacks a Peacesworn, few are willing to kill them. Any being who slays a Peacesworn character suffers an indelible mark on their soul, as the blood of the Peacesworn does not wash off, and can not be concealed. Anyone encountering this being will know that they have killed someone completely defenceless.
Due to this, most creatures will give a warning to any Peacesworn before attacking them, to give them an opportunity to flee, including wild beasts, Gwyllt, and the undead. Most bandits have the tradition of the “Peace Penny”, where they will demand some form of token of money, food, or information from a Peacesworn before allowing them to go on their way unharmed.
There are also those who seek wisdom, or a keen eye, or the judgement that only those who have sworn to do no harm can be trusted to give. The mark of the Peacesworn carries with it a reputation for all of these things, and a Peacesworn of renown can expect to be as sought after as the greatest blademaster in any band In gallóglaigh bands, Peacesworn can act as diplomats, arbitrators, traders, smiths, alchemists, scholars, puzzle solvers, counsellors, hosts, impartial witnesses, and messengers. In their life after leaving the gallóglaigh, many Peacesworn become teachers or priests, while others even become retainers to the particularly paranoid, who want to ensure either a surviving witness to their assassination, or a permanent blot on their assassin’s soul. Others become trusted advisors due to their inability to cause physical harm.
How does the Oath work?
A person who wishes to take the Oath of Peace will traditionally spend a period in preparation with the Cinnirí of the Order of Counsellors in order to ensure that they fully understand the nature of the
commitment that they are making and intend to hold to it under even the most difficult circumstances. The methods used to do this are often not gentle, particularly where someone does not seem to take it seriously enough, and most swear the oath already knowing what it is to see violence and be unable to act to prevent it.
The Oath prevents you from wielding a weapon or entering a battle situation. It prevents you from directly causing physical harm to another living being. Peacesworn who have broken those rules have been, in the words of the oath, “unmade”. In the moment of their oathbreaking, they simply cease to exist. No attempts to contact the soul of one who has died in this way have been successful.
There have been cases where this punishment has been visited on those who do less direct harm, though it sometimes takes longer for the hammer to fall. Peacesworn who have ordered or hired someone else to harm another sentient being seem to be judged by the Shaper as if they wielded the blade themselves.
Beyond this, everything gets less clear. Some will say that you can craft any tool you like, anything can be a weapon in the wrong hands, that is a choice that the wielder makes (Others will say that this is simply disclaiming responsibility for harm you could prevent). There are some who say that one should not heal a warrior because of the harm they will do (Others will ask “and leave them suffer? What good is that?”). None of these debatable points of the oath have ever caused someone to blink out of existence, though they do sometimes cause the Peacesworn of a more purist bent to worry about the state of your soul. If you start to develop a reputation for being a “dodgy” Peacesworn, you may well end up visited by the Order of Counsellors, and in some situations Peacesworn who are struggling with their Oath have been firmly encouraged to spend some time in a remote outpost maintained by the Church. The intention of this is to keep them out of the way of temptation while they come to terms with the limits of the life they have chosen, and to protect the reputation of others on the path of peace.
It is important to remember that the Shaper is watching, and cares about both the spirit and the letter of an oath. It is rumoured that anyone who has deliberately set out to push the boundaries of the oath has experienced warning signs from the Shaper. Dark dreams, mysterious maladies, and if the warnings are ignored, an untimely end.
Out of character, The Peacesworn provide an avenue for players who are physically unable to safely take part in combat can still enjoy our game, and these rules have been made with their safety in mind. As such, all players who are non-combatants for medical reasons are encouraged to consider playing a Peacesworn character.
Players who do not wish to take part in combat for reasons of preference or just because the Peacesworn seem interesting are allowed to play a Peacesworn. However, they will be expected to follow the same rules as those players taking it for medical reasons, so that the standard of safety isn’t diluted.