The Hipostic Knights

Introduction

Hipostus of Dancare was one of the Knights of Lecarinde, Thirteenth Archimandrite of Dancare, who, in the year -1404 was ordered by his liege to escort the daughters of Adrien of Cohme, an Arcish duke to Dancare. They travelled with the body of their recently deceased father, who was to be laid to rest at the House of Levantre, the Aruhvian Chapel in the heart of Dancare where those awaiting judgement in the afterlife are interred, their bodies moved to a final resting place in the Great Tygan Mausoleum after thirteen days and nights (the time in which Aruhvians believe the Grace of Judgement, Levantre will examine their souls). Hipostus was one of the most dedicated knights in the service if the Archimandrite, but he knew little of the scheming politics that were being conducted between Lecarinde and the Archimandrites of Gol and Arc. During this era, Aruhvianism had three distinct homes in the three great cities, and three voices in the archimandrites and Lecarinde was determined to be the most powerful. He already controlled religious practice and law in the west and looked upon his opposite numbers in Gol and Arc with contempt. The tradition of using Dancare as a final resting place for the wealthy was already in jeopardy by the start if the -1500s and throughout the century there had been a steep decline in 'white sail' ships (those taking the dead and their loved ones across the Greater Arc Sea), due to piracy, bandits and other hazards. The Sixth Archimandrite of Arc, Pskaras, began encouraging the wealthy of the city to use the Arcish church's catacombes as final resting places (though the status and prestige of Dancare was never eclipsed by Arc). This presented Lecarinde with a near existential threat and Hipostus was asked to help solve the problem. After taking the journey from East to West, he recognised that an entire order would be necessary to guard mourners and aslo the pilgrims who travelled with them to the shrines of the West.

Hipostus

In the Psalter of Divine Acts, the middle book of the Aruhviad, Hipostus is described as:

"A man of both wisdom and humility who won the adoration of the men and women who followed him. He fought many battles along the great roads to Dancare to keep safe the innocent that trod those ancient ways."

The Psalter of Divine Acts is a hagiography however, and not a history. The reality of Hipostus is much less clear cut. The order he established was called the 'Order of the Final Road', meaning that they were there to protect the dead on their final journey (or more importantly, to protect the gold they were to be buried with), and the living who accompanied them were protected as long as they could pay. There is nothing particularly unusual about this however, as most armed guards or mercenaries escorting pilgrims and other travellers would require payment in some form. The Order was renamed the Hipostic Knights after Hipostus was recognised as a saint after his death and most travellers, inn-keepers and villagers along the Hipostic's routes to this day still treat the knights with a respect that borders on reverence. The reality of Hipostus's final years is very different from that which is set out in the Psalter of Divine Acts. Hipostus became more and more reclusive as he reached the end of his life, with friends and companions fearing for his sanity; he seemed to be capable of great cruelty in his final years and eventually his knights demanded that he no longer take the western route to Dancare from Arc, for fear of what his actions might be. In the book 'Journeys West' by Omargei Harusan of Del'Marah this account appears:

"On his final journey I saw that a sickness had taken Hipostus, his face was palid and his eyes dark, and his arm shuddered inceasantly. He grew quick to anger and when he took to rage at the actions of brigands towards the gentlefolk he escorted, he ordered them captured and flayed. When his men refused to act with such wanton cruelty, Hipostus did it himself. He was remorseless for many hours as he heard the screams of those he tormented."

The Hipostic Revolt

Despite being established upon the orders of the Archimandrite of Dancare, they knights were mainly garrisoned in Arc for the first century of their existence. As the influence of the Archimandrites of Dancare declined and the power of the Archimandrites of Arc grew, so did the ability of the Hipostics to determine their own fate dwindle. The Hipostics ceased to be a fighting order (once Hipostic Knights were called upon by Kings and rulers across Aestis to fight alongside their own soldiers on the pretext of defending Aruhvian shrines or temples), and became a largely ceremonial one. Hipostics were stationed for years in Dancare, guarding tombs of Arcish emperors and nobles who had died decades ago. A movement within the order, dubbed the 'Young Hipostics' or the Farahdine Hipostics (names after Farahd Fyrande, the knight who led them), revolted against this degrading treatment and demanded that the order be restored to its original role. The Hipostics were expelled from Arc in the -1333 and the Farahdine Hipostics established a series of fortresses along the southern route to Dancare (the Arc to Mirrorvale Road that ends in the northern Mill Lands). The northern Hipostics, who had not chosen to revolt against their treatment in Arc but were punished with their brethren regardless, recognised that they were needed less and less to escort the dead to Dancare as this tradition became the preserve of only a small number of the elite nobility, and instead settled a Hipostic fiefdom west of Gol called Aluande.

Aluande

The rise and fall of Aluande is the subject of another article, but the small coastal realm was established in -1332 and thrived for over 1400 years, before being all but over run by Mordikhaan and the Black Republics In the year 166. The Hipostics of Aluande gave up their traditional role of escorting pilgrims, after they discovered gold in the river beds of the Tarnush Hills. Aluande was well defended from the sea as the Aluandian Hipostics, having now earned the enmity of Arc and Dancare, feared that they would be attacked by an Arcish fleet in the name of the Aruhvian Church. Ironically, those pilgrims trying to reach Dancare by sea found the naval power of the Aluandian Hipostics so formidable that for many centuries taking the less attractive 'Southern Road' was all that was possible. The Aluandians instead of escorting pilgrims and mourners became a barrier for them instead. This ensured that Aluandian Hipostics are disliked in Arc to this day, and Farahdine Hipostics are treated with no small amount of suspicion. Whilst Aluande was eventually destroyed by the Khul, a series of sea forts run by the descendents of the Hipostics exist along the coast to the south of present day Mordikhaan. These are largely dependent of Arc's gold and goodwill for resupply; in the past century the Hipostics of what remains of Aluande have gone to great lengths to repair relations with Arc and in return, Arc's Protectors have used the sea forts as a weapon against Mordikhaan, preventing the Khul from establishing a naval presence in the Greater Arc Sea.