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The Dying Flame and the Rebirth of Passion:
Brotherhood of the Phoenix



The story of the Brotherhood is long. That in and of itself mayn’t make it so difficult to retell, but the clandescence of the order might. In the Grim times they were known simply as the Obliterators, and for good reason: the Phoenix legends mostly allude to a set of legendary monks and nuns who made Death’s job a whole lot easier. Keeping in mind these were the days before an entire school, or two, were under the Reaper’s sails, it would make sense that not even the Old Ones would be enough to stave off the tides of madness besetting themselves on the just at any time. Enter the Phoenix. With their unrivaled skill in hand-to-hand combat and their strong mystic powers, as well as an anti-madness wavelength, the Phoenix made quick work of most any enemy unfortunate enough to be targeted by the Shinigami.

But that was part of the problem; eventually the Phoenix, with their keen esoteric knowledge, had surmised the duality of madness was a truth inescapable by the actions of the Shinigami, and invariable it was inherent in his nature; and so they resolved to serve neither side. When confronted on the issue the then chief of the order Dipankara simply said, “We are serving now only the truth. You needn’t worry unless you dwell in madness.” Angered but satisfied, Death left and cut ties with the monastery on the grounds that enlightenment, freedom from pain, and the accusations of Death’s Order being a madness itself were foolish babblings of tired old men. What he didn’t realize was that the Phoenix had not given up on fighting in their pursuit for the ultimate truth. In their search they found only one path: the Iron Phoenix. Their new resolve was to created a warrior so perfect he needn’t violence nor peace for he would be above all concepts. This experiment, it can be called, as history will tell, would prove a very bloody series of trials.

During those first few centuries the Phoenix kept to themselves, knowing their esoteric knowledge must be perfected in theory before it be implemented as practice on the field. Death was starting to lose ground. The Old Ones were powerful, and through the course of necessity had formed an alliance with the Shinigami to ensure chaos was at the very least named if it couldn’t be abolished. Order set in, and the witches knew only fear and hate for ages. The Phoenix Brotherhood was silent.

The history as we know it thus far played out in due time, and the institutionalised Death found himself trapped in his own walls. It could be posited that the weapon/tech teams of the school were inspired or somewhat reminiscent of those early days when the monks and nuns of the monastery hunted down with unbridled fury the enemies of Death, and it indeed may be true to an extent, but this is an argument for another day. As it was, though, the Phoenix Brotherhood remained neutral; and perhaps more importantly were unable to be touched by the outside due to their skill. There in the halls of their monastery, in a place where they believed the original Iron Phoenix attained enlightenment to see the folly of madness on either side (Death or Kishin), the monks and nuns trained tirelessly in the disciplines they’d set aside as sacred because they strengthened one’s soul; and of course it was only the strongest of souls who could weather the storm on the way to enlightenment. It also isn’t clear who came up with the adage of sound soul in a sound mind and sound body came from, but archeological evidence tends to point to the Brotherhood more often than Shinigami.

Thirty years ago the battle of the moon was fought, and it was only one Phoenix named Ananda who stepped in to help the school. Ananda was a renunciant who had taken his vow to renounce so far as to renounce the concepts of his faith as conscious precepts; so as to live a life of pure faith, he wandered about serving the righteous and found that he would not be tainted by Order if he practiced Varnasharmadharma (duty for duty’s sake). It led him to enroll at the school under an alias, which he also renounced, and soon after found himself battling alongside the students with impressive power. He was one of the talented Phoenixes able to project himself into Bardo without help from the monastery’s collective chant, and so was better trained to handle the madness-driven creatures present on the moon. To this day rumors circulate around campus about a mysterious force that cleared out scores of enemies to gain momentum for the school’s advance.

Now there is Illo, a talented Phoenix in his own right, but unfortunately naive in the ways the Elders would like him to be proficient in. Along with his brothers Illo trained here for the traditional fifteen years before being cast out on his mission: to serve Death. This would be the path to his enlightenment; the real question being what happened those thirty years ago, and why was it Illo was sent to serve the school?