138 lines
5.4 KiB
Plaintext
138 lines
5.4 KiB
Plaintext
|
||
:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:
|
||
-----=====Earth's Dreamlands=====-----
|
||
(313)558-5024 - Supra 14.4 - Sysop: Gug
|
||
A Game Master Support BBS
|
||
RPG, Homebrew Beer, & Fiction Text
|
||
.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.
|
||
|
||
=======================> GET HOSPITALLERS.SS
|
||
|
||
Getting File: SERVER:[GRASS]HOSPITALLERS.SS;5
|
||
|
||
GRASS/Hospitallers
|
||
|
||
Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem
|
||
a.k.a. Knights of Malta
|
||
|
||
Public Domain (PD) Oct 1990
|
||
by Walt Cummings (phobe@milton.u.washington.edu)
|
||
All Rights Reversed! Thou Shalt Not Restrict This in Any Way!
|
||
|
||
IMPORTANT STORIES
|
||
Creation Story
|
||
|
||
The origin of the Hospitallers was an 11th-century hospital in
|
||
Jerusalem, close to the church of St. John the Baptist, founded
|
||
by Italian merchants from Amalfi to care for sick pilgrims.
|
||
After the crusaders' conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, the
|
||
hospital's superior, a monk named Gerard, intensified his work
|
||
in Jerusalem and founded hostels in Provencal and Italian cities
|
||
on the route to the Holy Land.
|
||
|
||
Recent History
|
||
|
||
On Feb.15, 1113, the hospital was taken under papal protection,
|
||
a status confirmed by later popes. Raymond de Puy, who succeeded
|
||
Gerard in 1120, substituted the Augistinian rule for Benedictine
|
||
and took the title of master of the Hospital of St. John in
|
||
Jerusalem. Grateful crusader knights healed of their wounds in
|
||
the hospital bestowed on it portions of their estates, while
|
||
others remained in the Holy Land as members of the hospital,
|
||
which thus developed into a wealthy and powerful body, dedicated
|
||
to combining the task of tending the sick and poor with waging
|
||
war on Islam in the Levant.
|
||
|
||
From 1803 onward, the order has confined activities to its original
|
||
humanitarian tasks. Hospitals run by the order now exist in Hungary,
|
||
Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, England, Germany and Switzerland.
|
||
|
||
Some have claimed that the latter-day Knights of Malta take an
|
||
active part in influencing modern day world policy, and that, under
|
||
a secret pseudo-Masonic wing known as P2, they have been engaged in
|
||
money-laundering and other illegal activities for some unknown
|
||
purpose.
|
||
|
||
SYMBOLS and DOGMA
|
||
|
||
As per the Roman Catholic church.
|
||
|
||
RULES and RESTRICTIONS
|
||
|
||
Hospitallers must be celibate and may not be married. They are
|
||
expected to donate most or all of their lands to the order. Knights
|
||
who join the Hospitallers become members for life.
|
||
|
||
The Hospitallers and the Templars were great rivals, during the early
|
||
years of both orders.
|
||
|
||
HIERARCHY and ORGANIZATION
|
||
|
||
Under the order's rule, the master (grand master from 1489) was
|
||
elected for life and ruled a celibate brotherhood of knights,
|
||
chaplains, and serving brothers. His election was subject to papal
|
||
confirmation. Only the knights had a voice in the government of
|
||
the order, through its legislative body, the chapter-general,
|
||
convoked by the grand master. Always an international body, the
|
||
order of St. John while at Rhodes evolved its characteristic form
|
||
by grouping the knights into Langues ("tongues"). Originally seven
|
||
(Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Spain, England, and Germany)
|
||
existed. Spain later split into Castile-Portugal and Aragon.
|
||
|
||
In Rhodes, as in Malta, each Langue had its headquarters in its
|
||
own auberge ("inn") where its members messed and lodged. The head
|
||
of the Langue, known as the "pillar," presided over his auberge
|
||
and was ex officio a bailiff of the order, a member of the
|
||
chapter-general, and one of the great officers of the covenant.
|
||
|
||
1. The pillar of France was the Grand Hospitaller.
|
||
2. The pillar of Castile was the grand chancellor.
|
||
3. The pillar of Italy was the grand admiral.
|
||
4. The pillar of Provence was the grand commander and treasurer.
|
||
5. The pillar of England was commander of coastal defenses
|
||
and bore the title Turcopolier, derived from the native
|
||
mounted bowmen known as Turcopoles whom the order recruited
|
||
in Palestine during the Crusades.
|
||
6. The chaplains where subordinate to the prior of St. John.
|
||
|
||
SCHISMS AND HERESIES
|
||
|
||
As per Roman Catholic church.
|
||
|
||
GM RECOMMENDATIONS
|
||
Should PCs become members?
|
||
|
||
PC Hospitallers should be ready to participate in several tasks,
|
||
even if they are warriors: guard duty (for years on end),
|
||
building fortifications, and seeking military conquest.
|
||
|
||
If a PC is a doctor, or a clergyman in the service of St. John,
|
||
he may spend time at a hospital of St. John tending to the
|
||
wounded of a crusade or war.
|
||
|
||
Methods by which the GM may encourage/discourage PC membership
|
||
|
||
See RULES and RESTRICTIONS. Knights often joined the
|
||
hospitallers because their life was saved by the expert medical
|
||
attention they received at the hands of the order. Clerical PC
|
||
may be assigned by their superiors to a hospital.
|
||
|
||
General Tech Level and Timeframe
|
||
|
||
Medeival Mediterranean.
|
||
|
||
How to fit the cult into your campaign
|
||
|
||
They might come into existence because of any long period of
|
||
warfare.
|
||
|
||
Cult reactions to changes in Tech Level or Timeframe
|
||
|
||
Medical innovations were made by the order from soon after its
|
||
inception up to the present time, where they specialize in
|
||
opthamology.
|
||
|
||
Bibliography. Where to go for more information.
|
||
also see GRASS/Templars
|
||
|
||
|