Walkers

THIS ORGANIZATION HAS BEEN RULED OFF LIMITS FOR PCS

The Wold is filled with violence, hatred and death. But there are those that would face the dark heart of the Wold and offer a simple promise: hope. The Walkers travel the land, spreading a message of peace and love to all who will listen.

Membership Requirements:

Class: Any

Level: Any

Race: Any

Alignment: Any Good

Deity: The Walkers follow Flower and Alemi.

Deed: A prospective candidate, having befriended an existing Walker, must impress them with personal qualities such as calm, compassion, diplomacy, pacifism and an unquenchable desire to help others. If the Walker is convinced that the candidate is suitable, the offer to join is a simple one: "Walk with me, my brother."

Oath: None

Fee: None

Background:

Sphere of Influence: The Walkers are nomadic by nature. National boundaries mean nothing to them; they simply go where they are needed, or where their heart takes them.

Ethos: "Peace and love to you, my sister." The Walkers walk the Wold spreading their message, turning those they can from the path of violence, and defending the helpless. The act of travelling is holy to a Walker, the journey representing a mortal's journey through life.

Consequently, Walkers may inflict only nonlethal damage to living creatures (undead and constructs are considered nonliving). A Walker who knowingly inflicts lethal damage may no longer call himself Walker or enjoy the benefits of that organization without first completing a month's period of atonement.

History: According to the secret Lore of the Walkers, which has been passed down by word of mouth from one Walker to another over many centuries, the first Walkers were a group of six disciples of great Alemi himself while he was still mortal. The tradition has been passed on to this day, when at best guess there are several hundred Walkers in the Wold.

Organization:

There is no formal structure to the Walkers. There are no leaders, followers, apprentices or governing bodies. Walkers are bound by a common philosophy and unity of purpose, not by rules. If any sort of hierarchy exists it is based upon seniority and the respect the young pay the old. Large gatherings in times of great crisis have been known, but they are very rare.

However, fate often brings Walkers together in their travels, and at these meetings Walkers exchange varied deep pieces of lore about the Wold (and the places beyond the Wold).

When people join the Walkers they renounce all their Woldly goods, keeping only that which they can carry on their journey. Everything else they sell, usually donating the proceeds to the Church.

Walkers believe that it is possible to grow closer to divine purity through the practice of peace, love and the mental discipline of the Path of Nonviolence. They do not, however, seek to impose their beliefs on others. They hope instead to inspire mercy and nonviolence in others by their example and through gentle persuasion.

Walkers have close ties with clerics of Alemi and Flower, and particularly with the Server and Healer Prestige Classes. It is not uncommon to find Walkers in their company, serving as protectors, guides or simply travelling companions. Indeed, many Walkers take levels in these classes. They are also often found with adventuring groups, attempting to act as a force for peace not only with their enemies, but with their companions also.

Headquarters: "The winding road is my home, the path my destination" (Walkers Lore proverb). Walkers have no homeland or base of operations. Theirs is a nomadic existence, from the day they find the Path to the day they die.

Politics: Walkers do not band together, and so have no coherent politics. They are merely a force for good in the Wold, and looked upon with a mixture of respect and amusement by the Wold at large.

Benefits:

Special: No Walker joins for such base motives as prestige, and it is certainly not a path to wealth. The calling to the open road is a difficult one, and many falter along the way. But for those whose faith is strong and whose hearts are pure, there are rewards to be had.

(1) Walkers tend to give away their wealth to the needy. If a Walker gives away 10 percent of wealth gained over an entire level, they gain a permanent hit point. They do not benefit by giving more than 10 percent.

(2) Walkers know about many places in the Wold, and how to live as they travel the Path. All Walkers gain Knowledge (Geography) OR Survival as a class skill. They also gain one free bonus rank every level that can be put into either Survival or Knowledge (Geography).

(3) Due to their devotion to the Path of Nonviolence, Walkers gain a free feat chosen from these three: Endurance, Self-Sufficient, or Merciful Spell (from the APG).

(4) To offer an alternative to death for evildoers, a Walker can cast a Mark of Justice once per day as a spell-like ability. The caster level for the effect is the Walker's character level.

(5) Walkers are the only people in the Wold who may take the APG's Horizon Walker prestige class, with two alterations:

• Whenever the PrC bestows a competence bonus, the bonus is instead an insight bonus.
• Only natural, not planar, terrains may be mastered and dominated.

[This version of the Walkers organization was approved by Jerry and the PTB in March 2013.]