Rookery Isles
Maester Rules
What is a Maester?
A Maester is a scholar, healer, advisor, and keeper of knowledge trained at the Citadel in Zandara, the seat of House Greenscale. They are the most educated people in the Rookery Isles. They study medicine, history, warfare, economics, languages, poisons, astronomy, and the natural sciences. When they complete their training, they are assigned to a noble house where they serve for life.
A Maester does not serve the lord. A Maester serves the seat. If the ruling family is overthrown, exiled, or wiped out, the Maester stays. New lord sits the chair, same Maester stands beside it. Their loyalty is to the position, not the person. This is what makes them trusted. A Maester has no ambition for power, no claim to land, no bloodline to advance. They exist to advise, to heal, and to remember.
Every Maester wears a chain around their neck. Each link is forged from a different metal, and each metal represents mastery of a different discipline. The chain is not decorative. It is proof. A Maester with a chain of many links has spent years, sometimes decades, earning each one. The chain is never removed. It is a reminder that knowledge is a weight you carry, not a trophy you display.
The Citadel
The Citadel is located in Zandara, within the territory of House Greenscale. It is the only institution in the Rookery Isles that trains and ordains Maesters. There is no other path. You cannot apprentice under an existing Maester and call yourself one. You cannot read enough books and declare yourself qualified. You train at the Citadel or you are not a Maester.
The Citadel is governed by the Conclave, a council of senior Maesters called Archmaesters. Each Archmaester holds mastery over a particular field of study and wears a chain, ring, and rod of the metal representing that discipline. The Conclave decides who is ready to forge their chain, which houses receive Maesters, and how the order conducts itself.
The Citadel is neutral ground. It does not take sides in wars, succession disputes, or house politics. Maesters trained there carry that neutrality with them when they are assigned to a house. A Maester who breaks neutrality to serve a lord's political interests over their duty to knowledge has violated their oaths and can be stripped of their chain by the Conclave.
Candidates From All Houses
Any noble house in the Rookery Isles may send candidates to study at the Citadel. The student's origin house is irrelevant to their training and to their eventual assignment. A young man from Dawnstar and a young woman from Sandstinger study the same texts, earn the same links, and are held to the same standard. Once they forge their chain, they belong to the order, not to the house that sent them.
This is by design. A Maester who still thinks of themselves as a Dawnstar man or a Greenscale woman is a Maester whose chain means less than it should. The Citadel works very hard to ensure that does not happen. It mostly succeeds.
The Greenscale Question
House Greenscale hosts the Citadel and has for as long as the institution has existed. The Conclave is sovereign on its own grounds and Greenscale does not interfere with that sovereignty. This is not generosity. This is the arrangement that makes the whole system work, and Greenscale is wise enough to know it.
What Greenscale holds is proximity. The accumulated history of being the house that has protected and sustained the institution for generations. No Archmaester forgets which territory they sit in. No one says this aloud. No one needs to.
The Chain & Its Links
Every link in a Maester's chain represents demonstrated mastery in a field of study. A Maester earns each link through years of study and examination at the Citadel. No link is given freely. The more links in the chain, the more disciplines the Maester has mastered.
| Metal | Discipline | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| Silver | Medicine & Healing | Surgery, herbalism, treatment of disease and injury. The most common link. If a Maester has nothing else, they have this. |
| Iron | Warcraft | Strategy, tactics, siege engineering, military history. A Maester with an iron link can read a battlefield the way others read a book. |
| Gold | Economics & Commerce | Trade, finance, taxation, resource management. The link that keeps houses solvent and treasuries full. |
| Copper | History & Lore | The recorded past. Lineages, treaties, precedents, and the lessons that every lord forgets and every Maester remembers. |
| Bronze | Astronomy & Navigation | The stars, the tides, the seasons. Essential for seafaring houses like Darkcliff and Seaquill. |
| Pewter | Languages & Communication | Fluency in multiple tongues, diplomatic correspondence, coded messages. The link that lets a Maester speak to anyone. |
| Steel | Engineering & Architecture | Construction, fortification, siege works, infrastructure. The link that builds and the link that breaks. |
| Lead | Poisons & Antidotes | The study of toxic substances, their effects, and their cures. Knowledge that saves lives and, in the wrong hands, ends them. |
| Pale Steel | The Higher Mysteries | Magic, the arcane, forces beyond the natural world. The rarest link. Most Maesters never earn it. Many deny it exists. |
A Maester is not required to earn every link. Most specialize. A Maester assigned to a coastal house might carry silver, bronze, and gold. One assigned to a warlike house might carry silver, iron, and steel. The chain tells you what this Maester knows at a glance.
Assignment Rules
The Conclave assigns Maesters to houses. Heads of House may request a Maester, but the Conclave decides who goes where. A lord does not get to pick which Maester they receive. You get the one the Citadel sends, and you treat them with the respect their chain demands.
The Rules
One Maester per house. Each noble house may have one, and only one, assigned Maester. This is not negotiable. You do not get a backup. You do not get a team. You get one scholar with a chain, and you should be grateful for it.
Head of House requests only. Only the Head of House (or their designated regent) may formally request a Maester from the Citadel. Vassals, advisors, and ambitious cousins do not get to make that call.
Once all slots are filled, you wait. There are a limited number of trained Maesters at any given time. If every house already has one, new requests go on a waiting list. The Conclave will assign the next available Maester when a slot opens, whether through death, retirement, or recall.
The Maester serves the seat, not the lord. If leadership of a house changes, the Maester stays. They serve whoever holds the seat. Personal loyalty to a specific lord over the institution is a violation of their oaths.
A Maester cannot be dismissed by their lord. Only the Conclave can recall or reassign a Maester. If a lord wants their Maester removed, they must petition the Citadel with cause. The Conclave investigates and decides. Lords who harm or imprison their Maester answer to the Conclave, and the Conclave has a very long memory.
Oaths & Restrictions
When a Maester forges their chain, they swear oaths that bind them for life. These are not suggestions. They are the foundation of everything the order stands for.
A Maester may not:
Hold lands or titles. A Maester renounces all claims to inheritance, lordship, or territorial authority. They own nothing. They rule nothing. They serve.
Take a spouse or father/bear children. The chain replaces family. A Maester's loyalty must be undivided. No bloodline to protect means no conflict of interest.
Take sides in political disputes. A Maester advises. They present facts, options, and consequences. They do not campaign for one faction over another. They do not scheme on behalf of their lord. Neutrality is not optional.
Refuse service to a lawful holder of the seat. It does not matter if the Maester personally despises the new lord. If the seat changed hands through lawful means, the Maester serves. Personal feelings are irrelevant.
Share confidential counsel. What a lord tells their Maester in private stays private. A Maester who leaks privileged information to rival houses or political enemies has broken their most fundamental oath.
A Maester may:
Refuse an order that violates their oaths. If a lord orders their Maester to poison a rival, forge documents, or act against the principles of the order, the Maester may refuse. The chain protects them. The Conclave backs them.
Communicate with other Maesters freely. The Maester network is the communication backbone of the Isles. Maesters correspond with the Citadel and with each other as part of their duties. This cannot be restricted by the lord they serve.
Request recall. A Maester who believes their position has become untenable may petition the Conclave for reassignment. This is rare, and it is never done lightly.
What a Maester Actually Does
A Maester is the most useful person in any lord's household, and most lords do not realize it until the Maester is gone.
Healer. A Maester treats the sick and the wounded. They set bones, brew medicines, perform surgery, and manage outbreaks. In many houses, the Maester is the closest thing to a doctor anyone will ever see.
Advisor. A Maester sits in on council meetings, reviews correspondence, and provides the lord with historical context, legal precedent, and strategic analysis. A good Maester has read more about your enemies than your enemies have read about themselves.
Record Keeper. Birth records, death records, marriage contracts, trade agreements, tax rolls, weather patterns, crop yields. If it matters, the Maester writes it down. If it happened before, the Maester can find it.
Educator. Maesters tutor the lord's children and heirs. Reading, writing, mathematics, history, languages, and the basics of governance. The next generation of leaders is shaped by the Maester's teaching.
Correspondent. Maesters handle official correspondence between houses. They draft treaties, compose formal letters, and maintain the communication channels that keep the Isles from descending into misunderstanding and war.
Roleplay Notes
Playing a Maester is a high-responsibility role. You are the smartest person in the room and you are not allowed to use it for personal gain. You advise lords who may ignore you. You heal people who may not deserve it. You keep secrets that could change everything, and you say nothing.
A Maester is not a combat character. They are not sneaking into dungeons or leading cavalry charges. They are the person standing behind the lord, whispering the thing the lord needs to hear but does not want to. If you want action, play a knight. If you want influence without power, play a Maester.
Maester slots are limited and exclusive to Heads of House requesting one. If you want to play a Maester, coordinate with a Head of House and contact staff.
Current Maester Assignments
Each house may have one Maester. Open slots are available. Filled slots mean you wait until one opens up.
This tracker will be updated as Maesters are assigned. Contact staff to request a Maester for your house or to apply to play one.
Remember
Maesters are trained exclusively at the Citadel in Zandara. There is no other way to become one. You cannot self-teach. You cannot apprentice. You go to the Citadel, you forge your chain, or you are not a Maester. If someone claims to be a Maester without a chain, they are lying, and the Conclave will want to know about it.
Questions? Contact staff on Discord