A Catnip Plantation Production
I, the wishful warrior,
Promise to become the shield of my people,
To bring lasting peace to the land of the faithful,
And protect it with my very life.
- Fragment taken from the Oath of Dreaming Dawn
The universe is a vast and perilous place, you and I both know this to be true. The Hearth Spiral, once laid to waste and again torn by war, has been slow to recover, and the peace of the faithful is ever hanging by a thread. Creatures vile and ravenous encroach upon the fringes of civilized territory as those without faith rally their forces against us in the dark and lawless marauders pick at the bones of what was once the heart of the land of the faithful. But we of Aradain's flock will stand fast, as we have stood fast for millennia, ever since He first descended to show our misguided ancestors the error of their ways.
Three thousand years ago, the people of the Lost Holy Realm waged war across all of creation. Mael of the Ringed Sky, the First Among Sorcerers, unearthed the power of magic, and his daughters soon revealed this power to the rest of the ancestors, fanning the flames of the Strife. It was then that He appeared, in His blinding crown and golden armor. He sought to stop man's hubris and self-destruction, and fought the Lord of the Ringed Sky for seven revolutions, until at last the sorcerer yielded and was shown His mercy, becoming the First Disciple. Five others soon followed: Mael's youngest daughter, Averil the Oathbound, and wrathful Jordanus of the Red Cathedral; fair Sylvalladine of the Stygian Court and the Twin Dragonslayers of the Floating Steppes, Vermilion and Gules. Alongside them He fought to subdue the flames of the Strife, and thirty years thence, on the date of His ascension, the God-Knight left them the task of protecting His flock, thus completing His duty and laying the foundations of our world.
A thousand years ago, a knight of the Order of the Phantom Blade set out to recover the Lost Chalice whereupon the God-Knight was said to have shed his blood. Against all odds, the Red Knight retrieved the fabled relic to present it before Sylvalladine's argent throne. But through the machinations of an evil king, the holy relic's power was used to open the Dragon's Gate, devouring Citadel Kaineroth and causing fell beasts to pour through, led by the King of All Dragons, He Who Rends Light. The conflict that ensued was known as the Chalice War, and though in the end the Dragon’s Gate was sealed and the Red Knight slew the King of All Dragons, thus ending the war, several Citadels, dozens of worlds and tens of thousands of lives were lost. The Red Knight himself, whose bloodline had nearly run dry following the destruction of the Phantom Blade's seat of power, disappeared after the final battle, never to be seen again. In the wake of destruction on an unprecedented scale, the faithful were left to rebuild.
Sixty years ago, a conspiracy was uncovered that again shook the foundations of our civilization. The Order of the Starchasers, made up of pioneers and explorers, was subjected to judgment under charges of consorting with the faithless, planning to spread unsubstantiated rumors of dragon attacks to annex the neighboring territories, thus expanding their influence while allowing heathens to run rampant within their borders. Led by the Four Great Orders, the Parliament of the Faithful excommunicated and condemned the Order of the Starchasers, and the Order of the Sun Spear began a long and bloody conflict to disband them and reclaim their lands for the faithful. But the wounds from the Chalice War were yet to fully heal, and the faithless banded together to fight against the Sun Spear, whose knights were unable to prevail in the end. The crusade came to a fruitless conclusion and the Starchasers fled in their trailblazing fleet, leaving the faithful to rebuild again while knowing that they had failed.
Then at last, twenty years ago, a decision was made. Collaboration between the orders was required more than ever to ensure the stability of the Hearth Spiral, our home. Future generations would have to learn to work and fight shoulder to shoulder to protect the faithful, and so the Four Great Orders banded together to create training grounds to prepare each order's finest young warriors, that they may learn from each other and become stronger than their predecessors not through discipline and strength of arms alone, but through knowledge and cooperation. Citadel Arcadia, a hub of commerce in the territory of the Order of the Phantom Blade named after the lost Red Knight, was designated as the location, and the Silver Hand Academy was born.
It is the Year of Our Lord 3031, and the Silver Hand Academy now prepares to welcome a new generation of aspiring warriors into its halls. Only the strongest, the brightest and the very best of each order that makes up the Parliament of the Faithful are ever allowed to attend, and today you, child of Aradain, have been chosen to do so. Go, then, and do not falter.
Make us proud.
Three thousand years ago, the people of the Lost Holy Realm waged war across all of creation. Mael of the Ringed Sky, the First Among Sorcerers, unearthed the power of magic, and his daughters soon revealed this power to the rest of the ancestors, fanning the flames of the Strife. It was then that He appeared, in His blinding crown and golden armor. He sought to stop man's hubris and self-destruction, and fought the Lord of the Ringed Sky for seven revolutions, until at last the sorcerer yielded and was shown His mercy, becoming the First Disciple. Five others soon followed: Mael's youngest daughter, Averil the Oathbound, and wrathful Jordanus of the Red Cathedral; fair Sylvalladine of the Stygian Court and the Twin Dragonslayers of the Floating Steppes, Vermilion and Gules. Alongside them He fought to subdue the flames of the Strife, and thirty years thence, on the date of His ascension, the God-Knight left them the task of protecting His flock, thus completing His duty and laying the foundations of our world.
A thousand years ago, a knight of the Order of the Phantom Blade set out to recover the Lost Chalice whereupon the God-Knight was said to have shed his blood. Against all odds, the Red Knight retrieved the fabled relic to present it before Sylvalladine's argent throne. But through the machinations of an evil king, the holy relic's power was used to open the Dragon's Gate, devouring Citadel Kaineroth and causing fell beasts to pour through, led by the King of All Dragons, He Who Rends Light. The conflict that ensued was known as the Chalice War, and though in the end the Dragon’s Gate was sealed and the Red Knight slew the King of All Dragons, thus ending the war, several Citadels, dozens of worlds and tens of thousands of lives were lost. The Red Knight himself, whose bloodline had nearly run dry following the destruction of the Phantom Blade's seat of power, disappeared after the final battle, never to be seen again. In the wake of destruction on an unprecedented scale, the faithful were left to rebuild.
Sixty years ago, a conspiracy was uncovered that again shook the foundations of our civilization. The Order of the Starchasers, made up of pioneers and explorers, was subjected to judgment under charges of consorting with the faithless, planning to spread unsubstantiated rumors of dragon attacks to annex the neighboring territories, thus expanding their influence while allowing heathens to run rampant within their borders. Led by the Four Great Orders, the Parliament of the Faithful excommunicated and condemned the Order of the Starchasers, and the Order of the Sun Spear began a long and bloody conflict to disband them and reclaim their lands for the faithful. But the wounds from the Chalice War were yet to fully heal, and the faithless banded together to fight against the Sun Spear, whose knights were unable to prevail in the end. The crusade came to a fruitless conclusion and the Starchasers fled in their trailblazing fleet, leaving the faithful to rebuild again while knowing that they had failed.
Then at last, twenty years ago, a decision was made. Collaboration between the orders was required more than ever to ensure the stability of the Hearth Spiral, our home. Future generations would have to learn to work and fight shoulder to shoulder to protect the faithful, and so the Four Great Orders banded together to create training grounds to prepare each order's finest young warriors, that they may learn from each other and become stronger than their predecessors not through discipline and strength of arms alone, but through knowledge and cooperation. Citadel Arcadia, a hub of commerce in the territory of the Order of the Phantom Blade named after the lost Red Knight, was designated as the location, and the Silver Hand Academy was born.
It is the Year of Our Lord 3031, and the Silver Hand Academy now prepares to welcome a new generation of aspiring warriors into its halls. Only the strongest, the brightest and the very best of each order that makes up the Parliament of the Faithful are ever allowed to attend, and today you, child of Aradain, have been chosen to do so. Go, then, and do not falter.
Make us proud.
Aaand there we go! Welcome to another Zark original. This is a tale of fledgling space knights attending an academy to become the best of the best, with new recruits that will inevitably get swept up in conflict that will decide the fate of the galaxy. If that has piqued your interest at all then by all means, please read on as there is much more lore to be discovered about this world.
Conflict from the Past
...For it is long abandoned, and thus it is called Lost; for it is where He descended, and thus it is called Holy. And so it came to be that the Lost Holy Realm was engulfed in the flames of the Strife, for such was the will of its masters.
- Book of Witnesses, prolegomenon
The Book of Witnesses tells us the story of the earliest moment in recorded history, predating even the advent of the God-Knight those that would become his people, the redem; a violent period bathed in blood and ash, known only as the Strife. There is little that can be truly said about the Strife, as few records of that distant epoch yet remain; it is not known when it began, nor what its origins were, nor how great its length was. It is known, however, that the Strife is the single most catastrophic conflict known, for every archived tome of ancient lore is in agreement that millions upon millions of lives were lost in the flames of war.
The Strife was a conflict that raged between the chieftains of the Lost Realm and their allies, rippling out across stars and time. Great vessels of war and tens of thousands of warriors marched blindly under each banner, their battles leaving sundered worlds in their wake. A state of permanent war, spilling out far from its origins and reaching distant spiral paths, civilizations rising to power only to just as quickly be snuffed out. An endless path of self-destruction, a grand suicide, stretching into eternity.
In the midst of this sempiternal conflict rose the First Among Sorcerers, Mael, whose legendary wit was said to have led to the discovery of a hitherto unknown power that was called magic, of a sort more primeval and powerful than the one known to us. With this newfound calamitous power he became the strongest among the warlords of the Lost Realm, the Lord of the Ringed Sky, said to rule over a hundred shining cloud-cities and to have gone to war with a hundred kings. He guarded the secret of this power with zeal, destroying all who coveted it, all but his daughters. Twelve daughters he had in all, with a queen whose name has been lost to time. With his daughters, the wizard king shared freely, and in time they would reveal this secret to others; one by one they left, yielding the secret of magic to the other powers vying for control over the Lost Realm, sharing the gift only to see it turned into another weapon. One by one they left, except for the youngest and most faithful, who never strayed from her father’s side.
War continued to rage, now fueled by the power of magic. Yet as the Strife dragged on, a fierce ancient light appeared on the horizon. Dread fleets vanished into dust, soldiers began to doubt the will of their masters, and a presence drew nearer and nearer to the heart of the Lost Realm, until at last it revealed itself in the court of Mael’s cloud-palace, under the eponymous ringed sky. A great golden armor, with a shining crown for a halo above; flaming lashes slithering like serpents through the air, and eight great golden wings like broken swords floating behind. Mael of the Ringed Sky was the first to bear witness to the God-Knight, Aradain. A Message He had brought, a Message to save humanity from its relentless self-destruction, but wrathful Mael took no heed, for he saw the God-Knight as a threat to his power, and lashed out to protect all that he had taken and what little he had left.
Some say that the two battled for seven days and seven nights until the victor was determined, while others claim that it instead took seven years for Mael to be made to bend the knee. No matter the length of the battle, however, the result was the same: all the king’s spells and all the king’s power could not stop the God-Knight’s advance. In the end, he lay at Aradain’s mercy, certain that this defeat could result only in death. Yet instead of a blade, the God-Knight extended a hand in friendship, repeating the Message and urging the sorcerer to help His word reach all who would be saved rather than perish in the Strife. At last, Mael of the Ringed Sky understood the Message and accepted His friendship, becoming the first of the Disciples.
The second of the Disciples was Averil of the Sea of Clouds, now known as Averil the Oathbound, Mael’s faithful youngest daughter who ruled the cloud-cities alongside him as his right hand. She had rooted for his father during his battle, and feared for his death upon his defeat, but the God-Knight’s mercy had left a powerful impression upon her, and alongside her father she too accepted the Message and worked to make it reach the masses of the Lost Realm, still gripped by the Strife of its masters. Averil was a singer, her magical prowess manifesting through the notes intoned by her voice, and in life she spent long days and sleepless nights penning a number of hymns and chants to the God-Knight, some of which have survived to the present day.
The third and fourth of the Disciples were Vermilion and Gules of the Floating Steppes, the Twin Dragonslayers, known today as the Dauntless, twin brothers renowned as fearsome warriors and monster hunters who took little interest in the conquests and the politics of the Strife, for all that they sought were ever greater challenges to overcome, to forge greater selves through the adversity of insurmountable odds and the surge of pride that followed. When they heard of the God-Knight’s power and Mael’s defeat by His hand, they sought to test themselves against Him. They fought upon the skies above a raging red storm, the Floating Steppes visible over the opposite side of the void, and upon those skies they were vanquished. They accepted their defeat and likely demise in good spirits, bearing no regrets upon the life they had lived, but Aradain again showed His mercy and imparted His Message upon them. The brothers then joined Him and fought to protect the faithful, that they too may live without regrets.
The fifth of the Disciples was Lady Sylvalladine of the Stygian Court, now known as Sylvalladine the Just, a beautiful witch-queen whose magic was said to be second in power only to that of the Lord of the Ringed Sky himself. She reigned over a barren stone that hid untold riches within, and ruled from a grand moon-palace where she held council with creatures of strange and ethereal beauty. With the threat of the Strife ever looming, she sought out the God-Knight, knowing of his exploits, his power, his crusade. She offered Him her unending wealth in exchange for protection from the Strife for herself and her subjects, but He instead shared with her the Message, a light of hope for all who sought an end to the Strife. The fair queen joined His flock, using her power and riches to build a great fleet to shelter the faithful, and became a pilgrim herself, spreading the God-Knight’s word and the hope that it brought.
The sixth of the Disciples was Jordanus of the Red Cathedral, known to us as Jordanus the Unyielding, a mighty warlord renowned for his strength and brutality, whose throne lay in a red temple built by bright winged beings, on a red world where a great mountain was haunted by false gods. Jordanus was one of the fiercest warlords to resist the Message, for he reveled in the Strife and the warfare that it brought, as he would only listen to power, and in the end power would find him. After the carnage he had wrought upon Aradain’s flock, the sorcerer Mael arrived to exact justice, and Jordanus was no match for his magical prowess. Following the God-Knight’s example, the Lord of the Ringed Sky offered Jordanus his mercy, and Jordanus came to learn of the God-Knight’s strength and purpose. Seeing Him as the greatest warrior to ever live, Jordanus pledged his service vowed to fight against the Strife.
Six were the Disciples that vowed to follow Aradain and spread the Message. Six were those who fought alongside Him to end the Strife. Six were the virtuous and the faithful, who gathered those that were willing to be saved and sheltered them from the flames of war. As always, however, there were those who refused to be redeemed, those who preferred perdition to salvation, those whose only desire was to spite the helping hand. And so, thirty years after His arrival, when none who would be saved yet remained outside of His flock, the God-Knight saw that His work was done and imparted upon His Disciples their final task: to gather the faithful and leave the Lost Realm on a grand exodus, and forever protect those who had accepted the Message. He then left, with but a silver chalice in hand, never to be seen again. Some say that this act was a final sacrifice, others that He had to return whence he had come. What is certain is that the God-Knight disappeared, and the Lost Realm burned as the faithful left, never to return to that place. Those who had accepted His word left their previous identities behind and became known as Redem, the Absolved.
And so it came to be that the Disciples brought the faithful to what would be known as the Hearth Spiral, a new home, and formed the first orders to protect Aradain’s flock from all threats. The stories of the Disciples themselves would, in time, come to an end as well. Mael himself bade farewell to his daughter shortly after their arrival and left in search of the only one who had ever bested him. Averil herself would follow in Aradain’s footsteps, exchanging her life for the lives of her people in a frigid wasteland, instilling in her followers a strong sense of sacrifice and duty. Vermilion and Gules continued the hunt as they protected the flock and taught others of the value in the pursuit of glory, but when their arms could no longer swing a blade, they retired and left the hunt to the next generation. Sylvalladine’s travels saw love found and lost, and though she had become a pilgrim, she would die a queen once more, the faithful donning silver armor and vowing to carry the light of hope into the future in her stead. Jordanus fought to the ends of the world, battling criminals and non-believers alike with irrepressible zeal, and indeed his world came to an abrupt end. During this crusade, his body collapsed under the weight of a life of warfare, leaving his pupils to remember the victory he brought.
Thus came the end of that ancient era of conflict and the Absolution that followed it. The Disciples were no more, and the knightly orders that followed in their footsteps began to forge their own paths, though there ever was one vow they shared: to keep the faith.
So says the Book of Witnesses.
...For Holy was His blood, and thus the cup where it laid was coveted by the lords of the faithful, who sent their mightiest knights and sorcerers on quests beyond the Hearth Spiral to find the Lost Chalice. But only the red-haired scion of the Guardian returned…
- Orrivan's Anthology of Grand Knights, ninth tome
There have been those who wonder about the whereabouts of the God-Knight and the First Among Sorcerers, yearning to learn more about the vanished saviors of old, ever since the redem settled the Hearth Spiral under the watchful guidance of the Disciples. Legends began to form of a final sacrifice that awaited Aradain, to finally cleanse the Absolved of the sins of the Strife, or perhaps a final communion to pass through to the unknown. Whatever the truth might have been, the legends spoke of a silver cup where His blood was shed, hidden away in the end of the world, and that whoever found it would hold in their hands the holiest of relics, harboring power unfathomed within. And for centuries to come, warriors and adventurers from the various knightly orders that protected the faithful ventured past the spiral’s rim and into uncharted lands to search for the Lost Chalice of Aradain.
But it was not until near the end of the second millennium after the Absolution that the legend would be brought to life. The Moonsworn Lord of the Phantom Blade, His Argent Majesty Ludex Arcturus Pandorion, charged one of the order’s most loyal warriors, the Red Knight, with the task of retrieving the Lost Chalice and bringing it back to the hands of the faithful. The Red Knight, a proud descendant of an ancient champion of the order and an exemplary knight in his own right, made immediate preparations and set out, with only old maps and older legends for guidance, and a handful of warriors from other orders for companions.
It was only after ten years had passed that the Red Knight and his party were heard of again, weary and homesick, yet victorious. They returned to the capital of the Order of the Phantom Blade, Citadel Kaineroth, where they were received with much fanfare and reverence. There the holy relic was delivered, to be safeguarded for the good of the faithful. Few suspected that the truth behind this quest was not Lord Pandorion’s piety, but his lust for power. With his forbidden research he sought to take advantage of the relic’s power to give his order undisputed supremacy over all others, and in turn unleashed a terror far beyond his reckoning.
Thirty days from then, as the eyes of the faithful were set on the Chalice and Lord Pandorion’s plans for it, a grand tear in space appeared and swallowed the citadel and its world, leaving the few who had time to flee in horrified disbelief. Among them was the Red Knight himself, whose lineage and name had vanished into thin air before his very eyes. What followed was, against all odds, worse yet than the catastrophe: from the open gate, a creature clawed its way out, scales the color of bone and eyes the color of smoke. A dragon, a creature the likes of which had only existed in the legends of the Dauntless. The beast proclaimed itself to be He Who Rends Light and roared its will of conquest as more of its kind crawled from the open gate onto the void.
Thus, without declaration or warning, the Chalice War began.
Of the Four Great Orders founded by the Disciples and their followers, the Valiant Fang, Sun Spear and Nightingale had already set their watchful eye upon Citadel Kaineroth, and so they were swift to respond, marshaling their forces and rallying their allies for a counterattack. The might of the dragons was great, however, and all the faithful could do was force a stalemate, struggling to hold their ground as more of the beasts poured forth from that tear in the spiral, the Dragon’s Gate. The Phantom Blade, crippled as it was, could do little to help and the front was soon overrun. Citadels Empyrea, Borealis and Garnet were evacuated to spare the faithful from persistent dragon raids and laid to ruin soon after, leaving the orders without their capitals.
In the midst of the uneasy stalemate that the orders struggled to maintain, an ally revealed itself from one of the most unlikely places: Vorago, frigid home of the elusive Abyssals, a tribe of sorcerers said to be able to control the binding power of void itself. Their elders had long prophesied a final stand against winged demons who hated light, and so at last their time had come to act. Led by a holy paragon fallen from the sky, covered in black, the Abyssals set forth on a great sky barge, headed straight for the Dragon’s Gate. Their song twisted the void itself to allow safe passage, and the knights of the Nightingale, as if struck by sudden recognition, immediately fell in line, using sword and magic to protect the vessel. The knights of the Sun Spear, encouraged by this incursion into enemy territory, rallied together and charged forth to clear a path forward for the sorcerers in black.
The long march of the Abyssals led them to the gate, where the battle was at its height, though the forces of the faithful dwindled rapidly and the numbers of the dragons only grew. The Abyssals, however, did not come to a halt. As their song reached a crescendo, they crossed the gate. Many of the dragons gave pursuit, but before long, the tear in space was consumed by something even more dreadful, a black spherical abyss, darker than the void itself. Countless dragons were swallowed by this final sacrifice, and the rest quickly scattered to regroup as the faithful fended them off, hopeful for the first time that the end of the war was in sight. The Battle of Dragon’s Gate had been won, but the heartlands of the Hearth Spiral remained devastated, and the war continued.
The three orders eventually drove the dragons back to their final stronghold, Citadel Argos, a holy city that the dragons had taken over early in the war. Another stalemate ensued there, one that would not be broken until the fourth of the Great Orders rejoined the war. In the wake of Kaineroth’s destruction, without the Moonsworn or the Council of the Arches to lead them, the Phantom Blade was left without command. Thus it fell to the Red Knight himself to rally the order’s forces.
On the final day of the Chalice War, as the faithful held the front in the siege of Argos, the knights of the Phantom Blade finally appeared, breaking through and charging straight into the skies above Argos, where they did battle with He Who Rends Light himself. In the end, though most of his comrades had been struck down by the Dragon Tyrant’s wrath, the Red Knight triumphed over him, scattering the remaining dragons. That day, the Red Knight’s victory in the Battle of Argos put an end to the war.
In the aftermath of the war, the knights of the Valiant Fang vowed to hunt down the remnants of the draconic army, and carried out their last execution three years after the end of the war. The Four Great Orders, bulwark of the faithful, suffered crippling losses, and the heartlands, prosperous core of the Hearth Spiral, were rendered uninhabitable. The Red Knight, hailed as a great hero of the Phantom Blade, disappeared. The war had brought destruction on a scale that the redem had not seen since the end of the Strife. But still the faithful rebuilt. New capitals were raised in time, new leaders anointed, new horizons made. Fifty years thence, a satellite was raised around the sealed Dragon’s Gate as a monument to the sacrifices of the Abyssals and the knights that had fallen.
And the wheel of time continued to turn.
Neither foul monstrosities nor vessels of war will ever be a greater threat to the peace of the faithful than heresy. We will reclaim our land from those blasphemers, with ash and blood if necessary.
- Testimony of the Reclaimer
The Order of the Starchaser. A name that, sixty years ago, was lauded as virtuous, a name nearly as large as to be considered part of the bulwark of the faithful. A name that, to date, is muttered amidst curses and hate, regarded as a cautionary tale about the perils of hubris and a dire warning about an underlying rot ever trying to infiltrate the redem, the blight of heresy. In its heyday, the order, founded by an explorer known only as Ramsey the Starchaser, devoted itself to the charting of unknown stars, the expansion of redem territories and the creation of new horizons, a role desperately needed after the catastrophic Chalice War.
However, as they grew in power, wealth and influence, so too did they grow in their arrogance, their greed and their pride. In shadows, the admirals of their trailblazer fleet wove a perfidious scheme to propel their power even further; higher, perhaps, than the tall thrones of the heirs of the Disciples. Since the Chalice War, fear of the dragons and whatever else may lurk in the empty space between the stars became a widespread phobia among the redem, and the starchasers sought to use this to their advantage, fabricating dreadful rumors of monster attacks and dragon sightings in order to justify their own intervention, seeking to expand their territories in this manner, and in time place the entirety of the Ferrous Arm under their control.
It was thanks to the Sun Lord of New Empyrea, Agron the White, that this fate was averted, though narrowly. It was the White Knights of Agron who scoured the edges of civilization to protect the faithful from the looming threat of monsters and found nothing; it was the White Knights of Agron who found corruption in the heart of the starchasers, who had allowed heathens into their midst to learn their vile secrets and perfect their treachery in the dark. It was the White Knights of Agron who risked life and limb to return to their liege with proof of these matters, and it was he who took this proof to the Parliament of the Faithful with only one thing in mind: nothing less than excommunication for those who had turned their backs to the light of Aradain.
The discussion of the matter dragged on for long hours, but the proof brought by the Sun Lord was a burden on the representative of the starchasers, and his lies fell on deaf ears. At the end of that ominous meeting, the decision was unanimous: the faithful would no longer suffer the Order of the Starchasers to exist. Their knights were branded infidels, forfeit were their lands. Their representative to the Parliament of the Faithful was apprehended, and before the day was over, the Sun Lord returned to his golden throne, declaring at once a righteous crusade to liberate the faithful of the Ferrous Arm from the yoke of the heathen tyrants and reclaim those lands for the good of all. That was the night that Agron the White became Agron the Reclaimer.
Despite the fact that all had been revealed, the Order of the Starchasers claimed innocence still, hoping to make peace with the imperious Sun Lord, but the charade at last dropped at the Battle of Harrock. Citadel Harrock was nearest to the territory of the Order of the Sun Spear, and as their knights arrived to take it back from heathen hands and liberate the civilians therein, they were met by a large force of starchaser warriors. Despite their foes’ resistance, the lancer knights easily claimed victory, and it seemed as though the war would be mercifully swift, with a majority of the knights of the Order of the Starchasers now captive or dead. But as always, when darkness falls, vermin scurry out of hiding. The heathens ceased to engage the knights of the faithful in pitched battles, instead employing dishonorable tactics to try and stem the tide. They were joined by faithless warriors from beyond civilized territories and even criminals that had settled in the devastated heartlands, all of whom desired to take advantage of the chaos.
Eventually, the Order of the Starchasers was driven from all of their holdings in the Ferrous Arm, though not without sacrifice. Bombings, ambushes and other such treachery had cost the lives of many knights of the Sun Spear. The Reclaimer refused to let this betrayal of all that was just go unpunished, and pursued the starchasers to the very edge of the Hearth Spiral. Eventually, a third of the trailblazer fleet was captured, commandeered by Agron himself to be used against their former masters. But it was all a ruse, and dozens of knights were slain in a chain of fiery explosions that left the Order of the Sun Spear crippled, many light-years away. What remained of the Sun Lord’s knights took the remains of the Reclaimer back to New Empyrea, to be given funeral rites worthy of a martyr. In the end, the Ferrous Arm was reclaimed, but at a near unfathomable cost to the faithful.
Today, the fallen order still lurks beyond civilization, sheltered by the heathens they sought to befriend, ever searching for a way back in. Their tale serves as a clear warning: hubris shall bring naught but ruin, and those who forfeit their faith court only oblivion.
Life in the Present
My father, my Lord,
In your absence I sing and guard forever,
The peace that was restored
- Luscinia Cantos, third tome
The elusive mystical art said to be unearthed by the Lord of the Ringed Sky, magic at its core is still a poorly understood phenomenon, though over three thousand years of research and experimentation have allowed the redem to discover much about its mechanisms and formulate plenty of theories about it. In simple terms, and drawing upon what certainties about it the redem hold, magic is a discipline that allows its users to sacrifice a part of their energy, known as essence, through ritualistic incantation and gesture, to achieve feats and effects that would ordinarily be impossible for an unassisted human. Though ultimately finite in scope, limited by the user’s own essence and the boundaries that seem to lie at its heart, magic nonetheless can achieve an almost endless variety of effects, from summoning storms and healing wounds to the transmutation of matter and distortion of the mind.
The astonishing effects that magic is capable of creating are sometimes regarded as miracles, or miraculous in nature, but this is erroneous. Magic, at least insofar as it is available to the redem, is a discipline that can be learned and mastered, its spells shared and recreated, its phenomena reproduced and studied. Miracles, on the other hand, are guided by an inscrutable will beyond redem understanding, almost always produced or suffered by those with no great stature and certainly no power to manifest such bending of natural law at will. Episodes such as the legend of the Phantom Blade upon which the eponymous order is founded or the tale of the grievous gift of Arcamandus the Silent Mender are regarded as true miracles. It is not known by whose will these phenomena occur, or if they are related to the God-Knight; nonetheless, they are not the work of the redem.
In order to cast a spell and harness the power of magic, several things are required that have been mentioned already. The user must possess a sufficient measure of essence, an esoteric form of energy tied to the life force of the redem; they must likewise possess sufficient concentration while casting and execute verbal and somatic procedures to complete the exchange, bringing the desired effect into reality. These procedures are as varied and near-infinite as the power of magic itself, and tomes upon tomes of spells have been written in the three thousand years the redem have inhabited the Hearth Spiral.
Yet more tomes have been written on how these spells may be classified: by length of cast, by cost of essence, by effect length… By far the most important means of classifying magical spells, however, are magic schools, which divide the various magical spells that the redem race is capable of performing into various general lines, grouping together those that share similar effects. Several such systems have been proposed over the years, and even now competing paradigms exist, but even so, the system here described is both current and effective. Though there is some overlap, most spells firmly belong in one of the following schools:
- Mimos: Spells of Nature and Imitation
This type of magic centers around the replication of natural phenomena present in the world of the redem. It does not, as the name may indicate, have anything to do with mimicking nature as a source of power; rather, this school of magic consists of spells that re-create or invoke phenomena and objects such as fire, lightning or ice to attack an opponent or gain an advantage in battle.- Dynos: Spells of Empowerment and Enchantment
This is a school of magic that focuses on the improvement of physical capabilities and the addition of special properties to equipment and assets, for oneself or others; however, contrary to what the name may indicate, the opposite is true as well, as spells of this type include those which are meant to dispel enchantments and weaken an opponent as well.- Iatros: Spells of Mending and Preservation
Iatros spells are designed to extend the life expectancy of warriors on the battlefield through various means. As such, they focus on effects such as healing, regeneration spells, barriers and other such protective and corrective measures.- Kinesis: Spells of Motion and Transmission
Spells of the Kinesis type deal primarily with the concept of movement, and can cause various effects such as the displacement of things from a distance and the transmission of energy, objects, and even thoughts and individuals, though greater complexity or quantity demands more essence and more complex spells.- Kryptos: Spells of Distortion and Obfuscation
The Kryptos school is formed by magic that specializes in disrupting the enemy's combat abilities, be it through distractions such as illusions, through direct meddling via spells that impair the senses or other means, or through an art known as "counter-magic", which consists of disrupting a spellcaster’s ability to complete the process.- Morphos: Spells of Transformation and Transmutation
Morphos magic focuses on changing both the shape and the composition of physical objects. Turning one metal into another, making a solid into a liquid and even temporarily changing one's appearance are all made possible by Morphos spells.
There are, of course, other types of magic in literary and mythological accounts: magic akin to the power of the Abyssals, capable of twisting the void: spells capable of turning back time and disrupting its flow, and even the legendary Physis magic said to be wielded by Mael himself, the spells of truth and fantasy that were said to bend the very law of the world to his will. Of course, there is no proof that the redem are capable of this, and so these supposed schools of magic remain confined to the realm of myth and legend.
...And so a knight is nothing without his sword, but neither then does a sword have purpose without her knight. It is only the two in holy communion, law and judgment together at last, that the will of Aradain may be fulfilled and the faithful watched over.
- Book of Confessors, seventh chapter
The redem possess greatly advanced technology, able to create vessels to traverse the void, build large habitats in hostile worlds and even create energy weapons and shields. However, there are limits to their abilities, and both the repudiation of all contraptions and artifacts created during the Strife, and the widespread destruction caused during the Chalice War have caused life in the Hearth Spiral to be far from utopian. Despite the faithful’s most valiant efforts, long distance travel is difficult, food supply ebbs and flows like the tide, and not everyone can be saved from injury or disease. Entertainment in large citadels may involve concert halls and holographic records of artistic and ludic activities, while in the frontier, a single worn lute may be all that there is to keep the people company. Such is the life and contrasts of the people of the Hearth Spiral. But in spite of everything, the redem continue to grow.
Redem starfaring vessels, known as chariots, vary widely in size and make, but are in general secure against most hazards of the void and able to serve the purpose of inter-system travel, or transportation between neighboring systems. For lengthier journeys, however, they quickly become impractical, logically resulting in perhaps the main issue regarding the exploration and colonization of far worlds: a lack of mobility. Redem ships cannot reach massive superluminal velocity; accordingly, to facilitate trade and transport between distant territories of the land of the faithful, the construction of horizons is necessary. Horizons are gateways created with rare resources and powered by a combination of magic and vast amounts of fuel, which allow passing vessels to instantaneously travel to another horizon. They are the key to the Hearth Spiral, and accordingly, are highly guarded and regulated.
Again on the topic of transport, though at a smaller scale this time, there is the knight’s best friend, the pegasus. A pegasus is a small vehicle, designed to transport one or two users at a time. It is capable of hovering over ground or water, able to take off and traverse void and atmosphere alike, and can reach much greater velocities than a chariot while providing greater maneuverability as well. Pegasi are powered by replaceable fuel cells and have saddle-style seats, handlebars, control panels and arrays of thrusters to allow them to hover, lift off and turn as needed; some are even equipped with wings possessing additional thrusters, and, rarely, one might possess an AI co-pilot program. They are highly customizable, with modular upgrade and add-on kits being popular products. Though they are somewhat regulated, and brand new ones are quite expensive, it is entirely possible for civilians to get their hands on a pegasus, though this isn’t too common owing to the technical expertise required for both the piloting and maintenance of one.
The weaponry used by the redem can vary depending on its purpose. Bows, knives and spears are common enough in hunts due to the ease of their manufacture; gunpowder or ‘black’ weapons are somewhat less common, though not unheard of. Ornate gilded blades and polearms are often created for knights, nobility and royalty to use during special ceremonies, and there exists the paladin frames, to be discussed later. For the purpose of warfare, however, it is the energy weapon that dominates the landscape. Energy weapons and armor are powered by machines known as Galant Batteries, which make use of a rare mineral called astralite. These batteries are capable of projecting stable energy blades within a short distance that can cut through most any material known to the redem, only slowed down by great density or thickness; few can stop an energy blade, such as another energy blade, or an energy shield. Galant Batteries, arranged differently, can also produce these energy shields, translucent barriers that draw on the battery’s energy reserves to protect against energy blades and magical attacks. Together, these two functions allow for the creation of all sorts of bespoke weapons for knights, from swords and axes to whips and hammers. Galant Batteries have a limited capacity, which means knights must be careful during extended confrontations, though they can be recharged at specialized stations.
Galant Batteries are not just used for the weapons knights wield, but also for the armor they wear. Redem knight armors are composed of several different elements, one of them being the batteries that shield the user from energy blades and magical attacks. Another is the material that constitutes the armor itself. Redem mastersmiths utilize a combination of overlapping metal plates, ceramics and fibers to create ornate suits of armor strong enough to protect a knight from most anything that comes their way that an energy shield will not stop; the smiths’ engineering prowess is also tested, as knight armors incorporate various systems to protect their users from hazardous environments and hostile atmospheres, allowing them to operate even under extreme circumstances. The third component is a unique storage system which utilizes small-scale space-folding technology to keep the armor in a small, light metallic cube which can easily be carried on a knight’s belt while unarmored. The last main component is known as the arcane matrix, a complex system embedded into the armor that can interface with the user’s magical potential and allow them to utilize a fraction of it at will, bypassing the standard casting procedure so long as the armor is worn; the resulting ability is called a knight’s law. Armors without these exist and are easier to build, as a matrix is rather expensive to manufacture, but knights who use them are considered to be at a disadvantage. In addition to all of the above, armors are made to be highly customizable, with modular upgrades and add-ons such as back thrusters and grappling hooks being a common sight for knights in the field.
A more recent development for the purposes of warfare is the paladin frame. Called frame for short, it is a large mechanical suit of armor that is not so much worn as it is piloted, with the knight directing the frame’s movements from within. This humanoid war machine, much like the pegasus, is designed to traverse most environments that exist in the Hearth Spiral. It is slower than a pegasus, and though it is somewhat more maneuverable, this is again offset by its size. A paladin frame is heavily armored, enough to make damage from energy blades negligible even without a Galant Battery, designed to protect the citadels of the faithful from large threats. At the same time, it is equipped with large metal weaponry; as Galant Batteries cannot be effectively used to manufacture weapons adequate to the size of a paladin frame, their offensive capabilities are supplemented with sheer size, weight and kinetic power. Additionally, every frame is equipped with its own version of an arcane matrix, allowing a knight to tap into their law. While some consider machines like these to be a wasteful expenditure of limited resources in light of the extermination of the dragons many centuries ago, the fact is that it is now a part of the arsenal of the redem knights, if an exceedingly rare one.
...Promise to become the sword of my people,
To bring swift defeat to the enemies of the faithful,
And banish them with my righteous might.
- Fragment taken from the Oath of Iron Imperishable
To the redem, the ancient institution of knighthood is a sacred calling, one that represents the virtues of the God-Knight, which are to be exalted and upheld above all else. Accordingly, the knights of the many orders that comprise the Hearth Spiral are greatly respected, revered as noble figures that protect and guide Aradain’s flock in their journey across the stars. To be a knight means different things to different sovereign orders, and each of them enjoys a certain degree of autonomy when it comes to the anointment of their knights, but there is one thing all have agreed upon: to be a knight is to make a sacred vow, a vow that only the strong and virtuous may fulfill. Thus, it is no easy task to become one of the chosen warriors that follow in Aradain’s footsteps.
Before the advent of the Silver Hand Academy, the notion of a singular institution destined for the training of up and coming knights was virtually unheard of. Instead, these elite warriors were recruited in other ways, primarily through squiredom, with veteran knights taking up the task of training their successors out in the field; these squires could come from the ranks of the common folk if one caught the attention of an established knight, but more often than not it would be a fledgling noble that would be chosen to begin training. It is also common for noble families to arrange training for their scions by hiring experienced knights to attend to their estates, or for veterans to train their own descendants. More rarely, men and women who become accomplished warriors on their own may take an oath and pledge their service to one of the orders if they are found virtuous and skilled enough.
As mentioned, there are some differences and disagreements when it comes to the meaning of being a knight, thus one may make one of four different oaths, conforming to different, if canonical, interpretations of Aradain’s legacy and the duties of knighthood.
Those who take the Oath of Dreaming Dawn devote themselves to shepherd the faithful, to the protection of the weak and the uplifting of the downtrodden. This oath is also known as the Oath of Hope. Those who take the Oath of Boiling Blood vow to become ever greater than they were, overcoming every challenge and allowing their splendor to inspire others. This oath is also known as the Oath of Glory. Those who take the Oath of Iron Imperishable promise to surrender all that they possess and all that they are in the pursuit of triumph over the enemies of the faithful. This oath is also known as the Oath of Victory. Those who take the Oath of Hallowed Heart endeavor to advance the common good above all and ensure that their conduct reflects the sanctity of the God-Knight. This oath is also known as the Oath of Honor. Thou who hast sinned
I forgive thee
Pick up your spear and follow me
- Song of a Silver Soul, twelfth stanza
The first of the knight orders that protect the faithful were founded by the Disciples of Aradain and their followers, with the exception of Mael, who disappeared. These were the Order of the Phantom Blade, the Order of the Valiant Fang, the Order of the Sun Spear and the Order of the Nightingale. Collectively known as the bulwark of the faithful and as the Four Great Orders, they are the first and the greatest, and remain so in spite of their losses during the Chalice War and the War of the Reclaimer.
NONE
LEFT
BEHIND
The Order of the Phantom Blade is the knight order founded by Lady Sylvalladine the Just and her devout followers. Its territory encompasses the Lucent Arm and most of the Twisting Arm. The denizens of this territory, colloquially called phantoms, place great value in things like trade, independence, duty, art, solidarity and loyalty. The order is currently led by the Moonsworn Lady, Her Argent Majesty Victoria Alius Vendelux, crowned fifteen years ago. The position of the Moonsworn is hereditary, giving rise to long dynasties, and its holder is entrusted with the leadership of the order in peace and in war alongside the Council of the Arches, comprised of members of the various noble families that guard the duchies and marches of the order; this council advices, guides and at times even overrules the Moonsworn, and chooses a new one in the event that a royal dynasty runs dry. The seat of the Argent Throne and the Council of the Arches is Citadel Clarion in the uppermost regions of the Lucent Arm. The knights of the Phantom Blade come from all walks of life, as anyone can be taken as a squire so long as they are willing and display sufficient skill, though expectedly most elite knights are exclusively from noble families as well as old warrior lineages. These knights are singularly dedicated to the protection and prosperity of the faithful, seeking to bring Sylvalladine’s silver rays of hope to every corner of the Hearth Spiral.
HIGHER
EVER
HIGHER
The Order of the Valiant Fang was founded by the hunters that followed in the footsteps of the Dauntless, Vermilion and Gules, after they retired into a life of tranquility in their old age. In all, it encompasses the Carmine Arm, the Whispering Arm and parts of the Obscure and Twisting Arms, making it the largest order in terms of territory controlled. The fangs, inhabitants of this realm, find worth in freedom, courage, adventure, glory, individuality and friendship. The order is nominally led by the Wolf’s Teeth, a conclave comprised of members of the noble Bravebloods; however, the Teeth are fairly hands-off in the governance of the Valiant Fang’s territories, allowing local Braveblood families and provincial governors to handle the management of their lands in relative freedom. Braveblood dynasties are formed whenever the Teeth considers that someone's feats have made them worthy of such an honor; prior status matters little, as the people of the Valiant Fang believe firmly that anyone brave enough can reach for the sky, not just nobles or knights. The warriors of the Valiant Fang are widely renowned as expert monster hunters and are often employed to defend the redem’s borderlands, within and without their order's territory. The Valiant Fang's capital is Citadel Erythro in the Carmine Arm, where the Wolf's Teeth meet twice a year, barring extraordinary circumstances. The order's forces are ever in search of greater challenges, seeking to bathe the world in the light of their glory.
OUR
WILL
MANIFEST
The Order of the Sun Spear was formed upon the death of Jordanus the Unyielding, his followers vowing to become his very spear and claim victory in his name. Its territory is conformed by the Wayward Arm, parts of the Gilded Arm and, nominally, a portion of the Ferrous Arm, though they’ve yet to establish control over the area. The lancers, as they are known, are the people of this territory, and appreciate such things as strength, courage, determination, honesty, ambition and discipline. The head of the order, who rules with an iron fist, is known as the Sun Lord, currently Vantas the Lion, who claimed the throne shortly after the War of the Reclaimer. Whenever the Sun Lord dies, a grand tournament takes place among the knights of the previous ruler, with the final victor becoming the new head of the Sun Spear. Strength lies at the heart of life in the Sun Spear; commoners with the strength of arms and will may yet rise into knighthood in an otherwise rigid society, while noble houses that fail to produce powerful warriors risk facing exile from the order. The Sun Lord and his court reside in Citadel New Empyrea in the Gilded arm, where they command a great force of knights that have vowed to fight until the redem are victorious against all who would stand in their way.
SING
RIGHTEOUS
SACRIFICE
The Order of the Nightingale was created by the followers of Mael's daughter, Averil the Oathbound, to honor her memory and her ironclad conviction after her she carried out her final sacrifice in a frigid foreign land. It is located in the Severing Arm, which is entirely under the order’s control, and its denizens, known as songbirds, place great value in altruism, service, art, beauty, piety and finesse. Today, the order is led by Lawsinger Line Sparrowsong, sworn into her position only fourteen years ago. The position of the Lawsinger, unlike the chief positions of other orders, is not coveted for the wealth and respect it brings; Lawsingers make a vow of isolation and poverty upon assuming the role, separating themselves from friends and family, only ever to meet with their council. Still, great power and greater trust is invested in every Lawsinger, who must be chosen by the previous one’s council once that Lawsinger has passed away. The capital of the order is Citadel Melliflua in the core of the Severing Arm. The knights of this order are famed for their enchanting spellsongs, artistic prowess and immaculate manner, as well as the altruistic values they seek to uphold above all else, to the point that noble houses often conform to the will of the majority in an effort to cast away any shadow of selfishness. To the knights of the Nightingale, sacrifice brings honor, and leads us closer to divinity.
...But it is not courage, nor strength of arms, that makes a home. Not fire, nor sacrifice, nor even faith. Home is where the laborer may lay his head down, safe at last. And He has given us a home.
- Book of Graces, second chapter
The home of the redem after their deliverance from the Strife of the Lost Realm is known as the Hearth Spiral, a massive habitat of planets and stars that harbors danger and mystery aplenty. Though it is widely regarded as the promised land of the faithful, a safe haven after the devastation of the Strife, it is far from harmless. Unknown creatures lurk the untamed lands and occasionally accost redem settlements, lawless drifters of various stripes make a living by preying on the weak while avoiding the pursuit of the knights of the orders, and heathens hidden within the great citadels clash relentlessly against the faithful. As said before, however, it is also a place of mystery and wonder. New worlds harbor new life to be discovered, pushing scouts and pioneers to venture into the untamed lands to claim their prizes and chart their wonders, and in the past millennium, the rediscovery of the history that was lost during the Chalice War has been a priority for the descendants of those who fought against the dragons long ago. Life in the spiral is far from easy, but the redem are strong - they have dwelt there for three thousand years, and may they continue ten thousand more.
Speaking of years, timekeeping in the spiral is mostly standardized, with a twelve-month calendar that has changed little from the times of the ancient humans. The days of the week, on the other hand, may change from culture to culture; in the lands of the Phantom Blade, for instance, the seventh day, which is considered a holy day of peace and rest for the faithful, is called Eirenday.
At the center of the Hearth Spiral lay the heartlands. Once a prosperous region, home to the capitals of the Four Great Orders and the Parliament of the Faithful, as well as a hub of transport and commerce, the heartlands were devastated during the Chalice War. The capitals of the orders, the seat of the Parliament and the horizons were all destroyed by the dragons during the conflict, and most other citadels and points of interest were severely damaged if not rendered completely uninhabitable. As such, this once prosperous region has become a den of hardship and villainy, with criminals taking up residence in the ruins of once grand citadels, where they could hound the few that yet live in the fringes of the heartlands and hide from the watchful eyes of the faithful.
Beyond the heartlands lie the many arms of the spiral, as luminous as they are vast, stretching onwards as though they were reaching out, grasping at infinity. The upper arms, the areas closest to the heartlands, are known territory where most of the redem reside, noble and commoner alike, but as one moves down, one begins to see sparser settlements, rougher nature and stranger wildlife; legend has it that further down the arms, far beyond the grasp of the redem, lie the cities of strange folk unlike Aradain’s flock.
The Hearth Spiral is protected and managed by the orders, first created to ensure the safety of the faithful and later expanded into rightful states to ensure their prosperity also. Dozens of knightly orders exist, great and small, controlling different stretches of the Hearth Spiral and following a different knightly ethos, and though occasional friction between them is inevitable, as is wont to happen where cultures meet, the arbitration of the Parliament of the Faithful has kept conflict to a minimum.
The Parliament of the Faithful is the closest thing to a ruling power for the whole of the Hearth Spiral. Formed by the Four Great Orders in the Year of Our Lord 163, the Parliament is an institution that oversees matters of common interest for all of the faithful. These matters are discussed by a collection of delegates appointed by the ruling powers of every existing order, and subsequently voted upon. In times of conflict, the Parliament may approve of a Six Hour War between the clashing orders, wherein elite knights clash to settle the matter; killing a foe in such a conflict is heavily frowned upon. Traditionally, the seat of the Parliament has been located the heartlands of the Hearth Spiral, but after the devastation of the Chalice War, it was moved to the Severing Arm in the territory of the Order of the Nightingale, where it has remained ever since.
In spite of all conflict and hardship, the faithful remain ever watchful of their home.
it should be inverted for all of them, so I will do that now.
