The Bloody-handed Beguines
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OK, so. My starting characters for the game. I want a religious order, but I'm gonna make them laity rather than ordained to contrast against the nuns they'll encounter. So, I'm going to make them Beguines. Historically, the Beguines were a phenomenon of Christian women living among the laity, often persecuted, often a bit weird. A folk-religious movement contrasted against the power of the organised church. From here, I'll lean into that. Make them actively heretical, give them some direct mystical powers from their faith. And, being heretics out in the world, let's give them an criminal undertone. Out on the road, bandits, witch-hunters and worse things are a problem, so let's assume they've learned to defend themselves too. So there we go. A band of slightly outcast women wielding stigmata and miracles and knives. They're coming to the island as much to escape from a world that punishes them as to find the legendary wine that might still be there. R