Lore:The Knights of Seris
Chapter 1: Armor of Shadows
By the Year 144 NT during the last quarter of the Great Uprising the human kingdoms continued to make advances against the Ageless, but a number of smaller kingdoms still without major alliances were struggling and often found themselves unable to hold their lines in the war. An unnamed nobleman from the kingdom of Rinn commissioned from the greatest craftsman of their kingdom, Zeikel Taeryl, the creation of a sword, shield, and a helmet hewn and forged from the rarest metals fallen from the skies and a set of armor cut and sewn from the hide of a creature most all people of the era believed to be nothing more than a myth. It is not known how this eccentric nobleman came to possess the materials he brought to Taeryl, but it did take several heated negotiations to convince Taeryl to eventually accept the commission.
Zeikel Taeryl had the tools and knowledge to work with seryll, but the hide he was given to work with was something far outside of his usual work materials. He considered his tools to be among the best anyone could possibly make, but the hide stubbornly refused to cooperate as his tools would bend and break in the attempt to work with it. Even his best scissors and knives would dull in a single pass. Several times Taeryl sent boxes of broken tools to the nobleman who commissioned him as a statement of the sheer exasperation at what he was being asked to do.
It was not that Taeryl hated the challenge, in fact he relished it, and was looking forward to the day he could present this work on completion, yet he still had to contend with the simple fact that his tools were not going to get the job done and knew that some form of new metallurgical process would be required to improve the tools he was using. The nobleman, listening to the troubles that Taeryl was encountering sent a squire to The Foundry of Mt. Riverhorn to the distant east as Taeryl had heard a few rumors concerning a new method of mixing metal ores to form a much stronger metal.
A journey of three weeks by horseback would be required for the squire to complete his task, but upon his return the nobleman quickly provided Taeryl three scrolls containing new formulas that required higher heat, longer heat, and ores of higher purity, along with some additives. Following the formulas provided, Taeryl was able to forge new tools that were indeed stronger but unfortunately more brittle. This was a major step in the right direction and he was able to begin working with the hide as he would get a few hours of usability out of each set of newly forged tools before fatigue would cause them to break or otherwise become useless.
Taeryl and his troop of artisans and priests worked tirelessly toward the goal of crafting the commissioned set and four of his artisans would spill blood in the daunting effort of its creation. The first accident was from a falling anvil breaking the leg of one of the blacksmiths which was typically a mortal wound in this age as amputation was usually the only solution to avoid infection. The second accident would cost one of his ore smelters an ear as an air pocket formed and blasted molten metal across the side of his face, which Taeryl would make him a mask to cover that part of his face and head which made him a celebrity in his performances on stage for his dramatic appearance. The third accident occurred while they were cutting the primary patterns from the hide and one of the assistants helping the leather cutter had his hands in the wrong place and lost a finger as they were using a hammer to tap the stronger scissor blades through the material, this would end his dancing career as the finger he lost was very important to the traditional folk dances of the area. The final accident occurred when one of the more brittle awls snapped and shot the leather tailor in the eye, which may have been the origin of some of the one eyed monster legends in the area thereafter.
After six grueling months Taeryl presented the finished works to the Arch-Prelate of Rinn for blessing. This was a wholly natural process for any armor which was intended to be bestowed upon the higher ranks in their armies, or for the royalty. While blessing the armor during the edification ceremony, all the shadows of the patrons in the great hall pointed unnaturally towards the armor as if it was trying to draw them into the depths of its black hue and steal them. This event led to the name the armor is known by to this very day ‘Shadow Wraith’.
The sword held an almost mystical aura that seemed to make the courage and strength of the wielder grow with each strike of its lethal blade.
The shield resonated with a penetrating wave of power that shattered the concentration and fortitude of any that struck it with harmful intent toward the wielder.
The helmet was believed to instill fear in the enemy anytime its gaze was on them, and as a work of art in its own right it commanded respect from friend and foe alike.
The armor was pitch in color and possessed an aura so ominous people believed it could steal the vitality from your body if you dared to look at it too long.
It is said that all of the people of Zeikel Taeryl’s troop that contributed to the items creation, including Taeryl himself, fell unnaturally weak and died soon after the armor’s edification ceremony. Not long after their deaths, the nobleman that commissioned the set was found dead in his house as was the squire that retrieved the scrolls from the Forge Masters at Mt. Riverhorn. Their deaths ensured the dark secrets of how the Shadow Armor and it’s companion shield and sword were actually created would be taken from the world and into the grave.
Chapter 2: Prince Lehimn
Even beyond the rather morbid creation of the Shadow Wraith armor, many soldiers felt this was the mark of a powerful armor that needed blood and would grant divine protections to the wearer while in bloody battle. The armor would be bestowed upon Yeagar Lehimn, Crown Prince of Rinn. He was physically strong and stout built after years of training meant to make him look the part of a strong leader. He was not a battle hardened fighter, but he took to the battlefield as naturally as an eagle takes to the sky. With a strong, loud voice he instilled a sense of heroism and invulnerability in all who would follow him into battle.
The following years of the war would be good for the small kingdom of Rinn and their allies as they finally held their own and fought over three dozen successful engagements in the campaign against the Ageless. Reports from the battles detail the daunting challenges faced by the soldiers and speak of the almost inhuman strength of Prince Lehimn while wielding the Shadow Wraith armor, and its companion shield and sword. He endured blow after merciless blow by their enemies including attacks of mystical nature yet barely a bruise upon him was left. Much of their success during these years was attributed to having the Prince and his armor in play on the field of battle.
During the year 147 NT, late in the Great Uprising, Prince Lehimn would wear the Shadow Wraith armor for the final time in the campaign against the Ageless as their fortunes would be quickly reversed when the Ageless unleashed a new terrifying weapon against them.
On day of the Tears of the second week in the starfall of Omens, the armies from the kingdoms engaged with the forces of the Ageless at first light for the battle of Kells Valley. The strategies were almost predictable by this point and the Ageless offered nothing new but fresh fighting forces against Prince Lehimn and his soldiers. The fight raged steadily for the largest part of the day with strategic skirmishes aimed at thinning numbers from both sides and then entered into the fiercest and bloodiest part of the main conflict as the sun started to wane in the sky when the main bodies finally clashed near the northern end of the vast, wide open valley.
The kingdom armies were making steady gains against the Ageless forces and no one would have blamed anyone for betting on Lehimn’s forces being the victor with as strong a showing as they had presented during this battle as they had others before. Then as the Ageless’ numbers continued to decrease, a change in their tactics would change the fortunes of battle away from the kingdoms favor.
Prince Lehimn was in the thick of battle along with over two thousand soldiers and mercenaries from Rinn and their allied kingdoms. He was facing down two of the Ageless’ warriors poised to strike when a sharp blue fire sent from another of the Ageless’ force split and went around the two warriors approaching in front of him and then recombined to strike him.
A survivor recounted that the mystical blue fire stopped short of striking Prince Lehimn direct and immediately changed into a blinding mass of hundreds of arcs of lightning and entered his armor through his hands, head, and feet. The Prince shook violently for over a minute and then the blue light of the new weapon faded and the Prince fell to his knees never to move again.
As the Prince died, so did the future of the smaller kingdoms allied in the battle of Kells Valley, and no matter how hard the rest of the armies fought, their strikes had lost their edge against the Ageless. Their will to fight was still there, but somehow their bodies lost the strength to carry through. Their attack force was utterly and brutally decimated by the Ageless force after the fall of the Prince that day.
Chapter 3: The Long Road
With the Prince dead and the armies of the lesser allied kingdoms decimated, the forces of the Ageless pushed forward and wiped out the human villages leaving only a few survivors in their wake. Even the villagers who had attempted to flee for the hills and forests ended up being wiped out by the rapidly progressing lines of Ageless forces. The following morning after the fighting had passed and the kingdoms of Rinn, Tarjin, and Cylhesh, were reduced to little more than ash and rubble, the few survivors staggered out of the ruins that was once their homes and shops and banded together as they buried their dead.
The threat of the Ageless potentially coming back through, forced the survivors to abandon their location and seek refuge somewhere where there was human armies still able to fight and defend. With the decision made to head for the kingdom of Brenth in the south the survivors returned to the battlefield where their allied forces had fallen and hopelessly looked for more survivors and wounded.
The battlefield was a wasteland of the dead surrounding the still kneeling Prince or Rinn. The survivors found no life here and yet they felt a sense of awe at the sight of the Prince’s body still kneeling when all around were fallen and laid out on the ground. They knew the Prince was dead, but when they approached and looked into his helmet, they could not see a face. One of the survivors removed the helm of the Shadow Wraith armor and inside found nothing at all. The body of Prince Lehimn had been completely destroyed.
After offering some prayers for the fallen, the survivors gathered what they could and knowing the stories of its power on the battlefield they collected the armor, and its companion sword and shield and made their way to the kingdom of Brenth where they would present it to King Garr in exchange for allowing them to join and live under the protection of his kingdom.
Brenth was a good size kingdom a fair distance to the south of the southern plains which the journey by horse would take a good week, but the survivors from Cylhesh, Rinn, and Tarjin were on foot and pulling three carts of what supplies they could put together for the journey.
Early in their journey to Brenth the survivors encountered a group of highwaymen intending to rob them. Along with any monies, and jewelry, the thieves took the groups food and the Shadow Wraith set, leaving the kingdom survivors with too few provisions to make the entire trek to Brenth.
Two days had passed since the robbery and a few of the survivors were out hunting and gathering to try and make up for the lost food when one of them stumbled upon a small encampment with a smoldering campfire in the middle that had burned down to a few embers. The hunter could see bodies lying on the ground with trails of blood coming from a small rock cliff. As he carefully approached the other end of the blood trail he found a concealed opening in the rocky face that led into a large fairly open cave with with a portion of the ceiling collapsed letting daylight in.
In the middle if the cave was the Shadow Wraith armor sitting on a large flat rock that had fallen from the ceiling onto other debris making it into a natural table like structure. Around the cave were still lit torches and on the floor of the cave more bodies.
The hunter noticed one of the highwaymen was still barely alive and leaning up against the wall. He approached the thief with his hunting knife drawn and the man looked up at him and said, “It killed us for our blood.” The dying man pointed toward the sword laying on the ground still clutched by another and then died.
No one knows if the highwaymen knew about the Shadow Wraith set before taking it, but they would never profit from the venture.
The hunter then found what was left of their food supplies, gathered them up along with the Shadow Wraith set and their money and other items, then returned to the group to tell them what he found.
The group of survivors continued on their way and midway through had to endure nature’s fury as strong seasonal storms had forced them to seek shelter. They set up a makeshift camp under a rock outcropping where they used their carts and a bunch of furs tied together to keep the wind at bay.
The Shadow Wraith set was secured in one of the carts and a bolt of lightning came down on top of it during the storm, striking it. The lightning strike itself was terrifying enough, as it had knocked out a few of the group and left the rest hurting down to the bone, but no serious injuries resulted, but soon the group would find a much more frightening effect from the strike that hit their small encampment.
That following night the group noticed that the helmet, sword, and shield of the Shadow Wraith set were glowing with a bright blue hue. Afraid the items were deadly to touch they left them as they were on the cart.
The storms lasted nearly two full days, but allowed the group to reorganize and shore up their water and food provisions. After traveling several more days they noticed that the hue of the Shadow Wraith glow had become more of a purple and remained that way for most of the journey to Brenth.
The group was almost five days out from the kingdom of Brenth when they were ambushed by four ruthless mercenaries. They were there for the Shadow Wraith set but did not say who had hired them to retrieve it.
The survivors offered no real resistance to the mercenaries as all they had were some makeshift bows and hunting knives, and no training to go up against these brutes. They opened up the furs hiding the Shadow Wraith set and got out of the way as the mercenaries began to gather up the pieces.
Their leader seemed to take a shine to the still glowing sword which he grabbed and as he lifted it and began to swing it like he wanted to test it out on one of them, its glow shifted from purple to deep red and strange red energetic tendrils quickly emerged and struck almost everyone.
Only a few had remained untouched as the others were quickly rendered unconscious by the strange energy that seemed to suck the victim's life force into it. The mercenary who held the sword was dead, and was the only one killed by the effect. By the time everyone had regained consciousness, the strange glow of the sword was gone.
No one, not even the other three mercenaries wanted to touch the killer sword. The group used a fur to wrap the sword up and put it back in the cart. They felt weak, but were able to continue forward and the other three mercenaries did not give them any further trouble as their leader was dead and they knew that attempting to take the Shadow Wraith set was not worth the risk.
Weary and hungry, the group of survivors arrived at Brenth and they were granted an audience with the King of Brenth to provide details about the fall of their kingdoms to the Ageless. Finally, they presented the King with the armor and told him and his court everything they knew about it. The survivors were welcomed as refugees into the kingdom and the King ordered his court’s priest to oversee the construction of a chamber in the treasure room that could ward against any strange effects the Shadow Wraith set might still possess.
Chapter 4: March of Time
In 168 NT the Great Uprising had finally come to an end when Wilem Benth killed the last Ageless. This would not be the end of the struggles facing everyone, and when the Pale Death descended on the lands many believed the end time had come. Some obviously survived the plague, but the world was different after that point.
More than eight centuries would pass until the Shadow Wraith armor would see the light of day again, as no one dared to actually wear it again. During this time the armor would not simply sit silent as it was quietly studied by different scholars, priests, and master artisans in the hopes of unlocking its secrets.
The Shadow Wraith armor and it’s companion pieces were often regarded as a dark treasure, both extremely valuable, and yet too dangerous, or too bloodthirsty to be wielded. There were of course exceptions where over time a few people believed themselves to be great warriors with the god given blessing to wield the Shadow Wraith set, but in actuality were just fools who thought themselves better than their subjects.
It is uncertain how much truth lies in most of the stories, but it is recorded that the first person since Prince Lehimn to adorn the armor died immediately after putting the armor on, as a nest of poisonous moss spiders had taken up residence in one of the boots. This may have reinforced the legend surrounding the Shadow Wraith armor, but the legend still claims that all who tried to wear it died from unusually foolish circumstances.
Early on some religious scholars held a belief that the Shadow Wraith set might actually be infused with the soul of Prince Lehimn and sought to have it closely monitored and exorcised. Their early efforts to tame the deadly legacy of the set required months of preparation for each piece to be individually exorcised. When they had completed their attempts at exorcism, the priests and other followers attending the ceremonies found the whole ordeal very anticlimactic as no odd events occurred while they continued to bless and draw out any unwanted possessive spirits. They even went so far as to state unequivocally that they never detected any form of soul or presence residing within the Shadow Wraith set, yet deemed their efforts successful.
Over time some people noted that the helmet of the armor would slowly turn and face what they assumed for a long time was the last battlefield where Prince Lehimn was killed. This led to the belief that the Shadow Wraith set might somehow be attempting to raise the dead prince as an undead lich. This peculiar theory led to the Church of Fo to request that the Shadow Wraith set be kept away from the old battlefield forever and even be relocated from the vaults of the kingdom of Brenth to someplace further away out of concern that some less than noble people could attempt to raise Prince Lehimn from the dead.
The Shadow Wraith set would be relocated quietly in the course of mutual kingdom negotiations, but mainly for the wealthy to display rather than concern for any intentions that the set may have. One contingent of any sale or transfer of the set was that a letter of intent would be sent to the representatives of the three main active religious orders of the lands and during transport at least one priest from each order should be present.
Much later, after several secret relocations, one priest noted that the helmet was indeed turning by its own will, but not toward the ancient battlefield where Prince Lehimn met his end. According to him, the helmet seemed to be looking towards the the Golden Valley region in the lands of Lómaner but at the time could not speculate as to why.
Chapter 5: Inheritance of the Meek
From time to time artisans and priests would get the opportunity to secretly study the Shadow Wraith set and would come close to making similar strength swords and shields, but the armor set itself was still beyond their knowledge. Most who did study the armor came to the conclusion that it truly had to be made from the hide of a creature that did not exist in these lands, and without that hide replication would be impossible.
The Shadow Wraith set would exchange hands on quite a few occasions over time as its only real value to most leaders was for barter with other kingdoms. Many wanted to display the armor in their castles as a testament of their wealth, but more often than not, it would be kept in some vault or guarded keep at the insistence of the churches.
During one contentious period, the Queen of Saena learned that her neighboring ally Boraweth had possession of the Shadow Wraith set and after a failed negotiation to obtain the armor civilly, she set her troops to burn their crops, kill their forest animals, dam up their only fishing river, and rob any food caravans that might bring imports to them.
It took only a matter of months to begin starving Boraweth kingdom as their food access was practically cut off. Having tried to keep the Shadow Wraith set off of the bargaining table, King Dikai acquiesced to the Saenan Queen’s demands when he saw the children too weak to even play.
The Queen of Saena patted herself on the back for obtaining the legendary Shadow Wraith set without paying a single coin and obtaining for her own kingdom a large bountiful harvest of food and gold taken from the trade caravans trying to get through to her neighbor. She would soon pay dearly for her acts as the over abundance of grain and food being kept in makeshift storehouses attracted plague rats and locusts.
Within a year the Kingdom of Saena was falling due to pestilence and disease. The Saenan Queen and her family would be killed by her own subjects when they learned why this misfortune had befallen them and soon Saena was merged with the lesser Boraweth of whom their Queen had starved to obtain the Shadow Wraith set. This brought the set right back into the hands of King Dikai who had it to begin with.
The King of the merged kingdom Bora-Sae immediately sent word through church proxies that the Shadow Wraith set was up for trade in exchange for medicines, foods, and the services of healers. He came to see the Shadow Wraith set as a bane on any kingdom and wanted nothing more to do with it. He even wrote on the sales ledger ‘It destroys from within!’
Chapter 6: The Hope of King Holmeir
As kingdoms would rise and fall, or merge into new kingdoms, the Shadow Wraith set would become lost in the shuffle as intentionally seen to by an order of priests and prelates who tirelessly worked to keep track of items like it. For the most part their loyalty was to all of mankind instead of individual leaders and kingdoms as they wanted to ensure that items like the Shadow Wraith armor would not be used against humans.
This period of history saw a number of ideologies take hold in the lands and groups ordained to carry out those ideologies formed. The Knights of Seris was one of these groups. With all of the upheavals and misery that had plagued mankind, even the dead had a hard time finding peace as people both good and adventurous and those not so innocently inclined would take to disturbing the ancient resting places of the long dead. The Knights of Seris were ordained to protect the dead and the secrets of the dead both human and non-human alike.
In 958 NT, the Shadow Wraith armor and its companion pieces came into the possession of King Holmeir of Grenwiel during a time when Jenn-Kellon was rapidly and forcibly taking over other kingdoms. King Holmeir was in the middle of negotiations with Mol-Rehan to help protect his kingdom from the steady advance of Jenn-Kellon, but he did not trust Mol-Rehan motives either.
As a dutiful follower of Magranon, King Holmeir gained posession of the Shadow Wraith armor as part of his loyalty to the church instead of any declaration of power or wealth. It was his only intention to keep the Shadow Wraith set secured on behalf of the elders of the church as he was told the known history of the Shadow Wraith pieces and came to understand the risks of allowing anyone to attempt to wield it, especially a potential enemy.
As many principalities and kingdoms such as his started to fall under the influence of Jenn-Kellon, King Holmeir entrusted the treasures of his kingdom, including the Shadow Wraith set, to his royal Arch-Prelate, Wynn Nivani, to secret them out of his kingdom and away from their adversaries as he himself focused on the diplomatic battles to come in an attempt to save his people.
Using her underground contacts outside the church to obtain safe passage of the treasure and the Shadow Wraith set, Arch-Prelate Nivani sent a coded message to the rather secretive order of the Knights of Seris. The kingdom of Grenwiel would soon be absorbed by history as the massive forces of Jenn-Kellon swept through the regions before Mol-Rehan help could arrive, though not before the Knights of Seris could make contact with Arch-Prelate Nivani to help in her plans on the orders of her king.
Nivani, spared the coming uncertainties of the survival of her king and people by her journey with the Knights of Seris, would travel with the treasure to ensure that the chests containing each piece of the Shadow Wraith set would remain locked and safe. With enough gold to pay the Knights of Seris to use their underground network to get them out of the contested regions, they began a journey that would take years and eventually consume their lives.
Chapter 7: A New Mission
The Knights of Seris were devoted to their mantra of protecting the secrets of the dead from any forces that would seek to exploit them, and occasionally making sure that some of the dead remained dead. As such they did not simply wield weapons of battle, and more often wielded the skills of craftsmen and artisans to fulfill their ordained tasks.
It was not uncommon for a detachment of the Knights of Seris to set up camp around or near a particular location of interest to their mission and end up causing a village or entire kingdom to sprout up around them over time with the inhabitants totally unaware of why they were there or what might slumber beneath. Most people never became aware that these settlers or travelers were in fact members of the Knights of Seris as they dressed and interacted normally with everyone in their everyday lives.
A disproportionate number of detachments however, would often be lost to time and history. Rarely ever would their fates be discovered. This fact of the order was often attributed to the dangers they faced from the very secrets of the dead that they were often tasked with protecting.
Most members of the Knights of Seris were often people who have left village life looking for adventure. This often meant that they were in need of money to get by and the order furnished them with training and funds to purchase their own customized equipment, and funding for any ordained tasks. It is not known where the source of the Knights of Seris’ funding originates.
The company of Knights escorting Wynn Nivani out of Grenwiel were only told that they would be escorting artifacts from a previous age along with an accompanying religious cleric that had direct information and rituals to keep the artifacts safe. They faithfully protected the treasure even without knowing what they were protecting.
The Knights were well compensated, and knew that their task was of some importance since a King used his wealth to protect the treasure instead of himself knowing that it would never benefit him personally, and even as his kingdom fell to other pressures, his people would be protected from whatever it was they were now tasked with keeping safe.
When the Knights first met with Nivani, she led them through an abandoned church with a still working hidden entrance to an underground passage that led under King Holmeir’s castle and to a large underground cave system. They loaded up rafts with the chests they were to escort and enough provisions to get started on their way.
Barely wide enough for the rafts, the caves would be a claustrophobic nightmare for some people. Each raft had a single lit torch affixed so they could see to avoid the damp walls of the caves. It would take most of the night for them to carefully paddle their way through the watery caves following a cave map in Nivani’s possession.
At the far end a waterfall hid the cave’s exit and passing through the fairly gentle fall of the cold water into the dimly lit dawning of the new day felt like a rebirth after being inside that small, dark, and narrow cave system all night.
The captain of the knights immediately set his company to work constructing a wagon with the tools they had with them, and within a day's labor they had built a sturdy transport with storage compartments hidden by a carefully designed interior to fool the eyes of all but the most astute that something was amiss with the dimensions. Rounding up horses ended up being the real challenge, but with good fortune on their side, a farmstead within a half day walk was willing to sell them the horses they required, thus began their travels.
Twenty-two years would pass as Nivani and the Knights of Seris faithfully carried out their service to a long since fallen King and lost kingdom as they moved discreetly among villages and cities to prevent the treasure from falling into the hands of [Jenn-Kellon] or [Mol-Rehan]. Nivani would contract her eventual death from an illness that would drive her insane in a short time, and as she came to trust the order of the Knights of Seris implicitly, she turned to one of the newer members that had joined up with them named Wheatley who had often regaled her with tales of adventures that put her troubled mind at peace with her mortal affliction.
Wheatley was a true, faithful member of the Knights of Seris and when Nivani confided in him the identity of the treasure that they protected, he understood why their mission was so important to her, and knew what must be done.
To Be Continued...
