Lodges (concept)
The Lodges of Damota are one of the most crucial aspects of the region's cultural identity, being deeply integrated into the lives of many of Damota's inhabitants. Interestingly, they were first founded in 572 IS as the Rayakuux Orders, a group of Mogowai religious organizations with the goal of seeking out the location of the Most High's corpse. Though initially bound to this purpose, the decline in central authority characteristic to the later history of the Boqqarut would result in their increasing independence from control. Gradually, as the Boqqar's grip on them weakened, they became divided by old tribal allegiances, allegiances which they gradually began to replace. As their power grew, they quickly became embroiled in politics, playing a critical role in the Second Tetenik, and would begin to specialize around specific practices. The Orders were officially reorganized in 682 IS, splitting into four categorizations, rayakuux, which maintained the original mission, karavuux, which morphed into mercantile organizations, waranuux, which became focused around the arts of battle, and qabuux, which effectively changed into greater clan or familial structures. The reasons for this massive divergence were political, with these associations growing massively in membership, and shifting their goals to accomodate and encourage this growth. However, to overgeneralize these groups as being merely four lodges would be inaccurate, as each categorization is itself composed of a massive variance of groups, each varied in their own specifics.
In modern Damota, the four groupings of lodges have become deeply integrated into everyday life, with the majority of the region's population being members, and the organizations themselves having massive influence on the actions of rulers. In fact, to many, their local lodge is a more important authority than whomever they are a subject of.
Aliases: Rayakuux Orders