Life should be approached as a garden. Sometimes, that means protecting a delicate flower. Sometimes, it means pruning weeds.
The mission of the Hallowed Garden is to reform and change populated areas, making new “gardens” in which certain ideas can grow and flourish, and preventing dangerous ideas from taking root. As a rule, the order prefers to work to create quiet, peaceful communities — places where those who have suffered can rest, and find new things to live for. They are architects of urban renewal and change, careful guardians of whatever ideals they believe in. There are those who mistake the Gardeners for simple philosophers, but this order was formed in violence and death, and the keepers of the Hallowed Garden know that action is required to make their desires a reality. The Gardeners are not secret benefactors — they are proud of what they are, and inspire others to follow in their footsteps.
On the other hand, the Gardeners are an intensely political group. They have the power to change society to match their ideals, and not everyone agrees with those goals. In plenty of freeholds, there are running rivalries between a congregation of Gardeners and any number of other forces that have different ideas about what the world should look like.
Mien
Generally speaking, Gardeners prefer to dress for the situation, rather than for their own preferences. With that in mind, they fall into two categories — the ones who want to stand out as the best of that situation, and the ones who want to blend in as part of the crowd. The former are as fashionable as they can be, whether they are wearing Court finery, immaculate business suits, or gang colors. The latter are much simpler, wearing clothing as close to the average of those around them as possible.
Whatever their clothing, there is always one sign that the order cannot, and rarely tries to, hide. Over time, the fingers of a Gardener are gradually stained green, as though she had been working with plants in the recent past and hadn’t had time to clean. As her Wyrd climbs, this becomes noticeable even in the mortal world. Gloves can cover this sign, but most of the order’s members are proud of their affiliations, and don’t care to conceal who they are from their fellow Lost.
Oath of the Hallowed Ground (Privilege)
The character pledges to care for and shape an area, and the region itself hears her calls. This functions as a special pledge that is sworn upon whatever the character chooses, which must be renewed each month. The character promises not to abandon the region, and will spend time every day looking in on it and working to make it a place she cares for. In exchange, the region promises to help her. A character may only swear a pledge to one region at a time.
The character must define what she wants the area to be. An area can be any space not exceeding either a radius of (Character’s Wyrd x 200) yards, or a population of (Character’s Wyrd x 1,000) people. Whenever someone within the area is not aligned with its principles, they must make a Resolve + Composure roll. If he is not opposed to the principles of the region, but his presence doesn’t support it (such as a businessman staying at an artist’s haven without wanting to sponsor the arts), he gains three bonus dice, while if he or his goals are directly opposed to the principles, he gains no bonus. If he succeeds at the roll, he may remain for a number of days equal to the successes rolled. If he fails, he may spend one Willpower at the end of the scene to remain for another scene and make a new roll. Supernatural creatures of any sort gain three bonus dice to this roll, regardless of purpose.
On the other hand, people whose desires are in alignment with the area find it calling to them. While present in the region, they gain a +1 die environmental bonus on rolls also in direct alignment with the area’s goals. Furthermore, the feeling of security that the area gives them is subtly addictive. As long as the area remains pledged, anyone who is aligned with it and spends at least a full day there must make a Resolve + Composure roll every week or else return, for a period of at least a few hours. Most of those who find the area will come back more often than that, and will flourish there.
Joining
Joining the order is a deceptively simple task, but a long one. To become a member of the Gardeners, a character simply has to express admiration for the work that they do, and offer to lend help as it is needed. The admirer will be asked to do favors and work for the communities that the Gardeners oversee, and will receive favors in return — the arrangement tends to be a casual one, at this stage. This also gives the order a chance to see their prospective target in action, and his decisions and methods will be carefully, but subtly, scrutinized. Most of the time, the situation never progresses past this point; there are many people that the Gardeners consider to be skilled or virtuous enough to be allies, but not enough to be members.
If someone does meet their exacting standards, one of the Gardeners will approach them and suggest the possibility of their alliance drawing closer. If they do not wish to proceed, the order generally appears to shrug philosophically and resume their original agreements. In fact, however, they will usually begin to work behind the scenes to persuade their new target that he would be able to work with them, and would be happy to do so. Various forms of manipulations, subtle bribes, and even the occasional creation of a problem the target might be able to solve much better as a member are attempted, but only if they can’t be traced back to the order, and won’t cause actual harm.
When the target finally sees that her destiny is aligned with the Hallowed Garden, and agrees to join the group, all of the existing Gardeners in the freehold gather to welcome their newest member to the fold. After an elaborate and formal dinner, the newest member swears his oaths to the order, and the others warmly welcome him as one of them.
