🌿 The Stagbound Order

A sacred hunting order of the Summer Court, relentless in pursuit, elegant in execution.

🦌 Overview

The Stagbound Order is a venerated elite within the Summer Court—a company of hunters, knights, and enforcers sworn not to a monarch, but to an ancient ideal: the Pursuit of Balance through Dominance. Where the Summer Court must not tread openly, the Stagbound act with precision, grace, and deadly resolve.
Bound by oaths sealed in sunlight and thorn, they are deployed to hunt marked individuals, disrupt rival court agendas, and enforce the Summer Court's supremacy across the realms. Their sigil—a golden antler entwined with flowering vines—represents elegance coiled with inevitable force.

🗡️ Function & Doctrine

• Sacred Hunt – Their primary mission is to pursue and capture (or kill) targets deemed threats to the Summer Court's design. Each hunt is a ritual, not a task.
• Court Disruption – The Stagbound specialize in thwarting schemes of rival Fey courts, especially the Winter and Gloam Courts. Sabotage, misinformation, and assassination are all permitted under the Hunt.
• Elegance in Violence – Their warfare is swift, beautiful, and brutal—each kill a performance, each trap a crafted flourish.
• Bound by the Stag – They wear ceremonial antler crests or masks, and each knight binds themselves to an aspect of the Great Stag, a mythical beast of Summer whose name is never spoken.

🧬 Beliefs & Rituals

• The Stag’s Vow – A ritual binding each knight to pursue a quarry until death or redemption. Breaking the vow is to become prey yourself.
• The Blooming Blood Rite – When a hunt is completed, the blood of the slain is returned to the Summer Court’s sacred glade to nourish its roots.
• Mask of the Hunt – All full members wear a gilded mask during formal hunts, obscuring their identity—"Only the Stag may see the face of vengeance."

🎭 Known Members

• Sir Faelric Dawnshade, Bearer of the Gilded Antlers – A rising star within the Order, known for his tactical brilliance and poetic cruelty.