[centre][i]Our [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YQovRYFn-g]Antiphon[/url] [colour=C3C3C3]Stand, Claidebites Hark your purpose You are called to give yourselves You are called to fight the chaotic You are called to fight the malnatural You are called to fight the tyrant and the destroyer But any may fight You must fight to protect Cast to the lives of lost ages The days of bare earth, sour wind, and hail The great wild realm where before we thrashed as whelps By what grace of Fate were our nests left uncrushed? Luck? Willpower? Guile? None of these things Nay, it was gods Years ago, gods fought for the world They rallied the just around them They showed us themselves -- what we could embody Flickers and souls alike grew to reach their shoulders Not the wind could have their finesse Not the water could weather them away Not the earth could have their strength Not the fire could consume their valour They grew above the desires of power They grew above life and death In that moment They opened their eyes and saw the heavens They lived true honour And there is no greater sacrifice The world now lies threatened For Kyre is dead And scavengers gnaw at the bones of old giants Chaos itself threw down Kyre's sword before us in a challenge! Who are we but flickers and souls? We are flickers and souls with the legacy of a god!, I answer This sword shall rally the just around us This sword shall show us Kyre himself -- what we can embody Flickers and souls alike shall grow to reach his shoulders Not the wind will have our finesse Not the water will weather us away Not the earth will have our strength Not the fire will consume our valour We have grown above the desires of power! We have grown above life and death! In this moment We open our eyes and see the heavens! Kyre may be dead His sword remains His messenger guides our arms And we live true honour For we are the Knight Protectors We are necessity from chaos We are the invader's bane Conata, witness our custody! Forth! Children of Aeramen![/colour][/i][/centre] [centre][h1]We Live True Honour[/h1] [i]East Amestris c. 7 PR[/i][/centre] "NOW!" The line of hain raised their long spears from flat on the ground. They thrust forward in unison. The oncoming troll had too much momentum to stop if he wanted to. His deep battlecry was cut short as the spears bent into his exposed front. And he gurgled his last, dropping in a pool of dark blood. "Drop! Next rank!" The commander barked. The hain line filed back to let the next line of spears come through. A familiar chorus of shrieks leapt over the dying troll. The smell of blood, dirt, and soil. "Maces! Maces!" The front hain pulled out a variety of sidearms. Stone clubs. Obsidian blades. The goblins practically jumped over one another to meet the formation and brawl. Most were stuck on spears from the rear row. The rest felt the wrath of hain arms. The commander feinted the first to come his way and chopped the goblin's arm with a razor-sharp hatchet. Deft follow-up across the throat cut off its scream. Around him, more hain struggled to survive. "Pergia! Where are Blue-Stone's force!?!" The commander barked to one of his messengers. Pergia's beak was flitting all around him. "There, Sorn! Look, sir! Incoming!" He pointed. The commander, Sorn, turned his beak. A rolling urtelem intercepted the next line of rovaick, flattening goblins and crashing into tedar and trolls. A group more followed in and bowled over more. They unwrapped after impact. Glowing runes gave power to their already formidable fists as bones broke and blood flew. One slammed a stone fist into the gut of a troll. The force thumped against Sorn's chest, even from his distance. The troll fell. Further thumps took the fight to them. A great tedar with oversized hammers in each hand roared. He threw a hammer strike down. An urtelem head was crushed. The urtelem folded into the earth. The tedar threw his other arm out, striking down another. He bellowed something in the mountain language and gestured forward with a hammer. Another wave of goblins sprinted forth like a screaming swarm of flightless birds. More trolls backed them up with maces the size of tree trunks. "There are too many, Sorn! They're too strong! We have to fall back!" "There is no falling back!" Sorn snarled out. "Our families and stores are behind us! Here, we win or die." Beak forward, knife and hatchet drawn, Sorn screamed a battle cry and countercharged the incoming goblins. His hain soldiers cried in his wake with weapons raised. They crashed into one another in clashes of stone, hainshell, bones, and blood. Cries of battle joined shouts of pain, shrieks of death, and ripping limbs. Sorn stabbed and slashed at every creature around him. They bit him, they struck him, they tried to hold him down. He felt no pain. He was a mightier hain than most. A shell crack and a pained grunt heralded the death of one bodyguard. Another fell soon after. A third was mobbed to the floor and his arm twisted until it made a sickening sound. Blood sprayed onto Sorn's white shell. He lost his knife in the throat of a goblin several paces behind. A huge foot stopped him in his tracks. The urtelem-felling tedar loomed over Sorn, looking down with an animalistic gurn. "Kill me or retreat, beast! I shall not turn back!" Sorn taunted. The tedar wound one of his hammers up behind his head and bared his massive tusks. Sorn braced to roll out of the way. A bright reflected light glinted onto the Tedar. [i]"We live true honour!"[/i] The tedar's brow lifted and he turned to the right. [i]"Conata, witness our custody!"[/i] Strange voices across the din joined flashes of light. The sound of ringing and slicing and fear. Sorn snapped his beak to lay his second set of eyes on them. Six shining humans. Young females. They danced through the lines of goblins and trolls. They cut them all with blades for hands. Their pirouettes and leaps threw blood far and wide in an unstoppable waltz. Nothing got near them alive but the hain and urtelem they passed harmlessly over. They slaughtered all else with frightening speed. [i]"We are necessity from chaos!"[/i] One cried. [i]"We live true honour!"[/i] Said another. They were grey-skinned, grey-clothed. Shining. They were made from the metal of their blades. Though, these were no realta from the bright night seven years ago. Sorn's opponent, the great tedar, sprinted away. The raiders broke immediately. Goblins sprinted away stumbling, leaving their crude clubs behind. The not-realta pursued. The defending hain cheered and raised their weapons. Even some of the younger urtelem raised their large hands and brayed with excitement. [i]"We are the invader's bane!"[/i] Were these the Claidebites? Sorn thought, contemplating his now-unnecessary acceptance of death. Were these the mythical sword-djinn of the dead god Kyre? [i]"Fear no longer! The Knight Protectors shall meet your oppressors in force! The fire djinni Crucibar has power no longer!"[/i] That confirmed it for Sorn. Crucibar was the master of these rovaick brigands. Sorn did not quite see the heavens that day. However, he did now believe in Wind Striker and those that prayed to him. They would be ransacked no more. He lifted his blood-dripping obsidian hatchet. He opened his beak wide and joined in the growing chant in his army. "Knight Protectors! Knight Protectors! Knight Protectors!" [hr] [hider=Very Important Information in this Summary!] Before I summarise, I have a disclaimer for this post: I have too many storylines going on. I am not starting another arc for myself here. However, with the investment that Rtron and myself put into the Kyre/Conata cult in the hilt, I would like to hand this off as something of a writing hook to anyone in the RP who's interested. A source of inspiration, if you will. I invite anyone to start a storyline or interaction with the Knight Protectors. All the relevant canon information is as follows: [hider=I'm sure this will get a wiki article eventually ;_;]First, Vestec's canon intent that Rtron conveyed to me and some other players: [quote]Vestec used Kyre's sword and leftover might to reactivate the Hilt and make an Order purely dedicated to protecting the world from all threats be it Chaotic, Jvanic, Tounic, Lifprasilian, or Realtan. Probably one of the few truly 'Good' factions in Galbar. Their leader will posess all the power of the War God (except immortality) when he or she draws the weapon. The general idea is Kyre's might from the Hilt will funnel into the sword, gradually increasing it's power and sentience so that it can actually begin to choose it's wielders and how much power it expends and so on so forth.[/quote] Next, what I have extrapolated: - The Knight Protectors are an order of warriors lead currently by Aeramen, the djinni lord of the Hilt that Conata smelted into metal. - The djinn of the hilt, all part of the Knight Protectors, were informed that Kyre is dead, but they see Conata as his messenger and 'inheritor,' so she's their de facto patron. This is unbeknownst to Conata right now. - Sculptors might get a pass from the Knight Protectors if they aren't threatening anyone due to djinn of Earth having a history of sheltering them. - In their Conata-mimicking metallic forms, they've been running skirmishes against their enemies out of the hilt recently. - The metal djinn in the Knight Protectors belong to a new variety called 'claidebites,' (sword-djinn, if you will). As opposed to dryads, other djinni varieties, etc. - Unlike realta, claidebites are much more vocal, openly righteous, and they're just as much street rappers like any other djinn. They are fond of their recurring battle cries. - The skirmishes of these human-looking metallic djinn calling themselves claidebites cutting up wicked folk has had a mostly positive reception by the vulnerable general public. - Members of other races may soon be inspired to venture to the hilt and become Knight Protectors themselves. They can prove themselves pure of heart to become initiates and get taught the rest. - Other races could be named honorary claidebites as a title if they git gud enough. - The teachings of the first dedicated academy of Kyre in the form of the Knight Protectors at the hilt may eventually seep out into the rest of the world. Remember that Aeramen is a djinni lord that has strived to perfect the art of combat over most of his long life. Any student of his will be formidable. - Against the worst enemies (mostly diaphanes and powerful djinni lords), Aeramen personally sallies out, wielding Kyre's reforged sword. This sword really needs a name. - Aeramen may have the sword leave him at some point if it wants to make a hero out of whoever wants to make a chosen one. - Aeramen needs an author to adopt him. Otherwise, he's going to languish until Conata calls on him for something. [/hider] With that out of the way, here's the summary of the post: In a visual-less opening, Aeramen addresses his claidebite djinn with a motivational speech about the power and sacrifice necessary in defending the world, the glory of the gods, etc. The next scene is midway through a desperate battle between the army of a hain town in eastern Amestris and a much larger force of rovaick barbarians overwhelming them. The barbarians are under the yolk of an off-screen fire djinn named Crucibar. The battle is seen from the perspective of Sorn, the hain commander. The hain and their urtelem friends are fighting valiantly, but it looks like they're going to be overwhelmed. Sorn leads one last charge to try and repel the barbarian reinforcements. He goes HAM for a bit. Sorn's goblin killing spree is interrupted by a massive Tedar who was seen wounding rune-scribed Urtelem with massive hammers. He has some unnatural power, probably. Sorn accepts his face and prepares to battle the massive warrior. Just as the tedar is about to strike, however, the battle turns. The Knight Protectors are here! A group of just six claidebites makes mincemeat of the lightly armoured brigands and routs them. They assure the remaining hain and urtelem that Crucibar will not be a problem for them anymore. Sorn has a spiritual moment from this, just having consigned himself to death to protect his people and coming out alive. He's stoked. Hopefully, the epic music didn't end too quickly. [i]There are no acts of might in this post.[/i] [/hider]