Hey all if any of you are up to snuff with my Skalahseh world. (I haven't posted much on it in a while) you'd be families with my Guardians of the Evergreen, or Green Guard, If you aren't Ill give a little backstory in the next Paragraph.

The Guardians of the Evergreen are a clerical order devoted to the protection of the High Path (Skalahseh's Christian Analog). On first glance one might call them Warrior Priests but they are more like Church Cops. They are meant to guard the faith and its people from harm and corruption, they do this primarily by defending holy places, weeding out abuses of power within the Faith (Corrupt clergy, ect), and defending peoples of all faiths from supernatural threats. The order follows a strict set of laws including an ordnance against killing, however this was not always the case.

In the early days of the Order the Green Guards laws and duties where not as well defined or strict as they are now. After nearly five-hundred years after the orders genesis, the Guardians had themselves fallen into corruption, many in the order had taken to using there power to attempt forced conversions and to make use of treaties meant to help combat supernatural forces to sanction glorified witch hunts, some saw there position in the order as nothing more than a way to gain political power, while others had given into paranoia and genuinely saw sacrilege, corruption, and evil everywhere.

This is when the then Father Commander and Leader of the Order, (as of Yet unnamed) created the Seven Ordinances or the Evergreen Oath, among the new laws, where included renouncing worldly wealth, ranks, and titles, a new set of laws and procedures for combating corruption and seeking out otherworldly evils, but perhaps most controversial of laws was the Fathers ban against killing. As the closest thing the faith had to a martial arm, many felt the order could not operate without being allowed to kill. However the Commander was adamant and would not budge, this split the order in two.

Thus was born the Guardians of Greyrock, or the Grey Guard. Despite not being acknowledged as a true order, The Guardians of Greyrock see themselves as the true Guardians of the faith, and believe that the Green guard are ineffectual. Where as the Green Guard avoid violence unless necessary and reject bloodshed on principle. The Gray Guard actively seek out conflict and relish in shifting the blame for there violence and cruelty onto there parent order.

The Grey Guard represent Bigotry, but exist more as a foil for the Green Guard and a warning against the dangers of "Pragmatism" and Fanaticism.

Honestly I am loath to use the words Zealot, despite what you might have inferred can be just as much a good thing as a bad thing. But I wanted to show not how "Having too much faith" was a bad thing but how when a faith becomes blind to itself, it can become the opposite of its true nature, how a Guardian can become a Destroyer. Also I did not want the Guardians to appear to be this perfect Mary Sue organization that has no flaws, the Grey Guard represent their failings, and the dark path that nay member of the Guard could go down should they loose there way.

I know a lot of people might object to this idea, But I've seen this done horribly so many times I figured it needed to be tackled by someone who actually knew what the heck they where talking about, Rather than some closed minded Christian hating militant Aithiest. (And trust me those kinds get plenty of exposure in my stories too). But as a Christian I feel I am more obliged to hold fellow believers up to a higher standers than those too foolish to know better.

I would like some suggestions on how to do this best.

Do the Grey Guard have a leader of their order? Are they allowed to practice face in the same quarters as the Green? Do the Green see them as a corruption and attempt to weed them out? Do the grey still follow the laws of giving up wealth and the like?

The Grey Guard do have there own leader. The Green and the Grey are completely at odds both have there own Monasteries. Both see the other as corrupt and attempt to undermine the other order, however they are both recognized orders of the faith, so they may not openly war against one another.

The Grey Guard do still swear there worldly wealth to the order, however are not forced to give up worldly titles, or forbidden from seeking worldly power and influence.

Well, history does have events similar to these. The Knights Templars and other religious military orders did have a reputation for being more like the Grey Order. The Templars were especially very pragmatic and a lot of people hated them for it. Granted, their pragmatism wasn't completely about battle. They'd negotiate with Muslim and Jewish populations, assimilate local cultural practices, and leave non-Christians to their religion in peace. Surprisingly, a lot of people accused them of treachery, compromise, and other, more fouler things.

You could work with that as well, if you wanted, to show how complex these issues can quickly become.

Well the Guardians where originally created as a sort of idealized Templar Knights. I began creating the Grey Guard as a sort of foil for the Green, they represent the worst of the church militant. The dark side of the Templar knights and in many ways the Skalahseh equivalent of the Inquisition. I felt the Order which I had called the Seekers and its rivalry with the Guardians was a bit too black and white so I tied the two orders together in a almost frightening way.