Knights of The Morning

So few people remember the Knights of the Morning, but in their time, they were the most famous and well known throughout Old Kerak-- indeed, throughout the entirety of Dayne. For a brief period in the early days of Kerak, their adventures were the talk of the land. But their renown, as with so much else in that time, was swallowed up by the War of Everwinter Dawn, and today even the location of their once great Keep, Firstlight, has been lost to history.
The Knights were founded by Sir Roderick Fain in 462, following his heroics in the Fallen Lands, with the high purpose of recovering legendary Artifacts, weapons and armor of the first and second age, which have been lost for hundreds of years. The Knights of the Morning were born out of the sense of optimism and ambition that characterized the Age of Awakening. It was united and at peace for the first time in many centuries. Nothing was impossible.
The fame of the knights was established early on when Sir Roderick led them against the Desert Manticore outside of Earia to recover the Artifact Sword known as Daybreak, hence Knights of the Morning namesake, which had not been seen since long before the formation of Kerak. Soon, the greatest knights of the day were lining up to join the new order, and the Knights of the Morning in the Southern region of Kerak of became a magnet for the great and the good. The Knights were the toast of the Kingdom of Kerak. When Sir Kallis Tezar joined the order, a great Kinght of one of the great noble families of Battenmore, it was clear that the Knights of the Morning had become Dayne’s most prestigous knightly order. In relatively short order, the Knights claimed three great victories in the south at Ahkua and their fame soared to new heights with each one. No one doubted that they would eventually succeed in their quest to defend the Miniarium and press back the Atali.
Sadly, this early promise of the Knights did not survive the ravages of the War of Everwinter Dawn, which tore apart the Empire beginning in 485 with the Atali Conflict. At first, in the initial years of the war, Sir Roderick was able to keep his knights together and united, But the very success of the Knights undermined this. Many of the Knights came from important noble families from across the Dayne. Political moves were being made from within the order, which were beginning to line up on either side of a bloody war that started across the three kingdoms. Sir Nelik Onassis was apparently the first to leave the Order to join the war on the side of Herus of Barrenmore. He adorned another great Artifact recovered by the knights, The Argia, a suit of chainmail armor capable of many protective capabilities and immense power. Many other knights seem to have left the Knights of the Morning shortly after this, some joining the war on one side or the other.
The end of the order was as ignomonious as its beginning was glorious. Following the victory of Herus Mountbatten in 489, Sir Kallis Tezar became an important figure on the winning side. It seems likely that he was behind the Political strife that plagued Western Kerak specifically. This led to the end of the War of Everwinter Dawn and officially dissolved the Knights of the Morning in 490, although in truth this was little more than a formality -- despite Sir Roderick’s best efforts, the order had never recovered from the bitterness of the war that occurred the years previous.
What happened to the various Artifacts originally recovered by the Knights of the Morning? The Sword, Daybreak, went with Sir Roderick but where he bestowed it was always an unknown. The Shield, Gemistrix’s Grace, famously lie immovable and imbedded in stone at the gate of Archonhold, where Sir Hedo Liecht sacrificed himself to save so many that day. The location of the Chainmail, Argia, is a mystery, lost to history along with the eventual fate of Sir Nelik Onassis. And so it came to pass, the Knights of the Morning faded away into history, despite leaving their mark and changing the Histories of Dayne forever.