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Introduction

  • "Honor is unnecessary. It merely distracts us from our true potential." - Celestia Galih, Third Order

  • Promise of the Sun

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    Image by sancient; click on the picture to see the original source

    The Nansaluk Hibera. The Nasirian Knights. In the past, they were just a rumor; a superstition among the lower classes who wanted to believe someone was out there fighting for them. Little did they realize, these Knights did exist, and they never fully served any master except their creed. What no child's story ever told, however, was that these warriors didn't fight merely for the destitute. Instead, they strove to unite the land - at any cost.

    After nearly 400 years following the Final Commission, in which the Knights disbanded due to conflict among their leaders, it is now time for them to rise again. On the day of the starfall in 45 BE, an event met with sorrow and mourning, people grew ever afraid because of a prophecy written down in the Code of Hakhin by the great emperor Nasir I. His words predicted this age would be cut short by "seven shadows that shall descend upon the world". Chaos would have broken out among the Nasirians had it not been for the promises made in letters sent to every caliph in the land.

    After sending out those messages of hope, the ten Ephors, priests who maintain the holy tomb of Nasir I, went out and gathered together the first of a renewed knightly order, then brought them to the Temple of the Sands, where an ancient shrine stood buried in the plateau of Tulban. From there, the leaders chosen from among those Knights debated for three days and three nights over a solution.

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    Al-Amid, Master of the First Order since the days of their first leader, Hazem, believed in the most noble route, for war in the name of a righteous cause is always an honorable profession in the eyes of his warriors. It was Hazem, a mamluk of the First Nasirian Empire, who established the First Order as the knights, both slave and otherwise, that the Nasirian Knights of legend came to be known for. In al-Amid's view, the Knights need to be entrusted with the administration of all dynasties. In his mind, this would be the only way to eliminate the repeated struggles between the caliphs and end the fighting that continues to divide Nasiria among its nobles. The way to gain such power without resorting to corruption is through serving the state and its allies as true knights that march with entire armies into battle. No doubt the most orthodox of the Orders, the First Order holds their right to lord over the others and demand concessions, though the days when they were most feared are long gone. They also happen to be the most adversarial toward humans.

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    Safah Ziyad, Master of the Second Order and the only Knight left that once served the noble Ashad family in the east, trusted the priests and magi of his people. Claims of mystical artifacts drove the young Ziyad to gather his supporters at the ziggurat shrine in Kahilsukra where they studied many ancient texts, both human and Nasirian. Ziyad discovered human records of an artifact said to contain the soul of a long-imprisoned sorcerer capable of harnessing great magic. Furthermore, many of these relics, actually indestructible canopic jars, supposedly exist, scattered in hidden places all over the world. Ziyad's Order is the one most resembling the knights errant, who never serve a master other than their creed. Nowhere may one find a knight of the Second Order working together with anyone but those of their own kind. Obeying the word of the first prophet and master of the Nasirian faith, Nasir II, the Second Order only find themselves at odds with those who claim to be above the Ephors.

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    Celestia Galih, Master of the Third Order and daughter of the great Caliph Abbas, drew her own conclusion: that those serving under her must operate in a manner far less befitting the traditional view of knighthood. Neither soldiers nor adventurers, knights of the Third Order use the shadow and the cloak to mask their movements. Theirs is to meddle in the intrigues of state and family, altering events to make certain none would interfere with the goal of unification under the master of the Third Order: an ethereal being trapped in the body of a jackal. In truth, knights of the Third Order are ruthless and efficient killers, stealing into the night with blood upon their daggers and malice in their eyes. Led by the priestess of Majdyah, however, the knights of this order can take solace knowing that a god made flesh is truly on their side. Unorthodox compared to the first two, the Order of Celestia claims a higher power than all the other gods, and aren't beyond making the occasional use of humans to further their goals, however expendable they may be.

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    Faey'ia Talal, Master of the Fourth Order and once a slave to the grand vizier of the Caliphate of Burhan, found herself among the heretics of Fatimah and the Lotus Dancers - so named for their use of exotic silk robes patterned with decorations of flowers and vines while performing the mesmerizing dances with which they tell their stories of myth and lore. Drawn into the plight of the Lotus on the day of the early starfall, Faey'ia soon learned from Fatimah, the wise prophetess and last of a surviving caste of ancient magicians, that the gods wept for the lost memory of its beloved people - those kehlans who came long before the rise of Nasiria itself. To that end, the Fourth Order seeks the knowledge of those who came before. Fatimah herself claims to have once learned of a great cove of knowledge in a distant land, but she destroyed it to prevent others from misusing it. Now these knights, long persecuted by the orthodox of their kind, hope to find the missing discoveries of the Ancients, and through them, bring peace to the fractured lands once more. Anyone, regardless of status, may join, provided they prove themselves in the Trials of the Hundred.

    Finally, the meeting was adjourned, and the Knights returned to the lands from whence they came: the First Order to Dahiosari, the administrative center of the Ahmad Empire; the Second Order to the ziggurat at Kahilsukra; the Third Order to Majdyah, capital of the Caliphate of Abbas; and the Fourth Order into the depths of the inhospitable Arabi desert.

    It is time for the Knights to make their decision. Either together or apart, they will march out with only one goal ultimately in mind:

    The rise of Nasiria in the face of an uncertain enemy.