The Chou-Hadra are many things, a group within the Bears faction, an established ritual group, a multi-factional brotherhood and an order of knights sworn to the defence of the faction, the command team and the Queens.

    The original Chou-Hadra declared themselves at Faction Moot Two 1098 and quickly joined with Ladies Of the Knight, Blackroses Ships' Company, House Darkowl and House Swiftblade to form a unified group called Sietch-Iban (Houses of Shadow). Rather than a loose alliance, which often seems to suffer from a lack of inertia, we went for a full group led In-Character by a council with each group that joins being given an equal vote at council. Within the overall group each original group maintained its own identity but shared this identity with others. This enhanced the enjoyment of everyone involved.

    As they say though, the best laid plans of mice and men.......With membership at over thirty members the group was hit by a spate of IC deaths. Eustace Surrey, High Admiral of the Unicorn Faction, Head of Balckroses Ships' Company and Regent of Sietch-Iban died by his own hand after going insane and killing his wife. Unable to live with the guilt he slit his own throat soon after. This lead to the fall of House Blackrose.

    Soon after, Eric Swiftblade was also killed. This led to the fall of House Swiftblade, although it has now been reformed after his death, and was also a personal loss to the Chou-Hadra as he had just gained his sixth and final knot and was awaiting the ceremony of Rustai.

    With the fall of two houses Sietch-Iban fell in numbers at the Gathering of 1099 and fell in size to only twenty members split across two factions. Due to IC reasons, a meeting was called to basically ask everyone whether they were willing to take the final step and pledge their lives to the Kwisach Haderach. We made it clear IC and OOC that this could well lead to the death of their characters and so anyone who was unwilling to do this was asked to renounce their Chou-Hadra oaths. Although most chose to stay some decided that they would be better off returning to the Unicorns Faction. This has meant that the Chou-Hadra have been reduced to nine members but our numbers are growing all the time and we are currently arranging an alliance between the Azron Straz and also the Druids Guild.

Character Progression

    When an individual has shown the potential to join (IE:- A player has shown an interest and the group have agreed) they go through The Ceremony of Joining and are presented with a white cord with one knot tied in it. Before they can become a full member they must earn a further five knots. These can only be earned through risking their life in the service of the faction or the group and must be witnessed, preferably by a fellow group member or at least someone that the group considers honourable.

    After the character has reached three knots they enter the mindlink.

The Mind-Link

    The mindlink is envisaged as an empathic link between individual members of the group. It allows the characters to sense where each other are, allows them, to a limited degree, to share emotions and, whilst it is harder for outside influences to affect individual members, such affects will hit the whole group if one member is affected, again only to a limited degree. Thus if one member of the group experiences intense pain, joy or fear then all will react in a way applicable to their spirit guide.

    The only difference is between Torcal Khan and Vandor Cardain. Due to their exceptionally close bonds with the group and their individual spirit guides these two individual share a telepathic link with the rest of the group. While this gives them greater control over the mind link it also makes the group more susceptible to attack. If someone manages to affect Torcal or Vandor then they could theoretically control the entire group.

The Spirit Guides

    Upon joining each character chooses a spirit guide to be their link into the mindlink and their form in the spirit realm. Many of the group have chosen animal forms but this is not compulsory. How that character acts under pressure or whilst in the mind link is defined by their spirit guide. Thus someone with a fox guide will be inquisitive and playful but will suffer from blood-lust and frenzy. The owl will think and reason, hunt silent and deadly. The doe will be fleet of foot, timid and devoted. As their character grows within the Chou-Hadra they will become more in tune with their guide so will act more in the manner of the guide generally, but will also be more able to control the excesses.

Group Structure

    The group structure is split into five:

Initiates:     Those who have had the joining but not reached the third knot, these are referred to as Pentai. They have full
                membership of the group and are allowed to speak at any council but not vote. They will have a sponsor who will
                usually be full Brethren but may be Tai. At this stage they are still unchanged and may leave at any time.

Knights:        Having achieved at least three knots but not yet six these characters have entered the mind-link and are
                probably adjusting to the flow of emotions coursing through their system. Sometimes they may seem irrational as
                they get to know and accept their spirit guide and learn to cope with the turmoil of the link. They are now called
                Tai and may speak and vote and occasionally hold council rank. By this stage they have been changed by the
                sharing of the group. They may still leave but will immediately loose the mind link and are obligated not to reveal
                any secrets learnt. All Brethren will suffer a sense of loss if a Tai is killed or leaves. It is at this stage that the
                character is presented with their Mevak Dagger.

Brethren:    After passing through Rustai the Characters are now full Brethren. They will have managed to accept their
                guides and the spirit link and each may speak for the full group. Thus if one Brethren were to pledge the order to
                defend a person then all would be pledged individually and as a group. Such a pledge can only be cancelled by
                a full Kor' Torva or council. This is rare though and a pledge by a full Brethren has only been overturned once.
                It is still possible for a Brethren to pledge himself individually.

    Having achieved the status of Vestai the character is now eligible to meld with his spirit guide and achieve ULEMA (balance) in a ritual conducted by the group. The only individual to have gone through this so far is Vandor Cardain who bonded with the spirit of Raj, his spirit guide, at Get Stuffed 3 early in 1099. Were a Vestai to leave it would cause all involved intense pain and a sense of loss, almost as if a lover had left. The character would loose the mind link and would have to be very careful not to betray the order to prevent KANLY (Blood Hunt) being called.

Council

    A council of six lead the Brethren in their daily tasks, these positions are laid out in the Group history and each month one will acts as Bakara or Chief. The council is the balance to the Trinity as the Vestai are the balance to the Council. Although Vestai and Tai may hold council positions, most are held by the Sutai or leaders.

Bokal                The lore master of the group. Our history is passed down orally and while every Brethren knows the tales,
                          it is the Bokal that recites the stories and leads us in our rituals.

Dokal                The battle master of the group. He leads the charge into the enemy and serves as a focus point for our
                          assault.

Dir' Thrak         The 'general' of the group. He co-ordinates the attacks in battle and is the only one who can control the
                           Dokal when they enter the blood rage.

Sharal                The Guardian. The Sharal acts as the physical and spiritual guardian of the group.

Thondal             The Gatherer. The Thondal searches out the Chou Hadra potential within others and studies whether they
                           are willing to undertake The Journey.
 

The Trinity

    The focus of the Group is the trinity and, although all the group are changed by membership of the Chou-Hadra, the Trinity are truly altered. You cannot be elected to or join the Trinity; as a position becomes vacant someone will gradually evolve into the role. The Trinity is the soul of the group and is made up of three elements:

The Zantai (Founder)

    The Zantai is the history of the group and the guardian of its identity. The history of what has passed lives through him, he knows the tales and meaning of all that has gone before and lives to hold the group to its purpose. As the membership of the group grows and diminishes, the Zantai remembers the purpose, that we seek the Kwisach Haderach, the one of destiny. Without choice he will become whatever is needed to balance the group, in the presence of Evil he is Good, in the present of Law he is Chaos. The Zantai is our past.

The Epidai (High Leader)

    He is the present, the now of the group. He manifests as the spirit of the group and is always the centre; he knows the past and feels the future but is trapped in the vortex of the group. If the group drift towards law then so will he, if towards evil then so he travels. The spirit of the group burns brightest within him and in need the Brethren can speak through him. The mind link is Empathic for all others, with the exception of  Raj, but sometimes telepathic for him. On occasion he will know what action is needed without knowing why. It is impossible for the Epidai to harm another Tai even with a Mevak dagger.

The Forebringer (The Future)

    He is the future, the one who will take the group on the next step of their journey. Most often an outsider, he arrives and is shown by the link with the Epidai and Zantai to be the one. The forebringer always has a purpose although he may not consciously know it. He will lead the group forward and then wither depart or join.

Mevak Daggers

    Due to their intense bonding once a character has reached the level of Tai they ate then unable to injure a fellow Chou-hadra, except with a Mevak Dagger. The daggers, which must be crafted by the finest smiths, can only be forged from old Illyrian steel and are usually only wielded in honour duels. The only exception is the dagger of Cout’Luch which is wielded by Raj. This dagger is still a Mevak but will only injure another Chou-Hadra during the Moch To'vor Ritual. It is important to note that the Chou-Hadra are as vulnerable to damage from any non-Chou-Hadra as any normal person, this is just a role-playing element not power gaming.