Brotherhood of dawn

Probably the most influential band of mercenaries the world has seen. Originally banded together by the Eastern king Arjen Blight on behest of the seekers, the Brotherhood was formed to collect ancient artifacts known as Amulets of creation. When put together they would serve as a conduit for the dawning ritual. The men were told to collect the artifacts to stop the growing threat of the brothers of chaos. they were three demon brothers who portrait themselves to be descendants of Niithes. The Brothers names were Arthiin the sly, Uthiin the Monsterous and last but not least Niithin the wise.
The threat was very real but the brothers were not told of the dawning ritual or any secrets that the seekers held, neither was their guide and friend at the time Venus of Potes. The brotherhood consisted of Anduul heir of the black dragon, Kraven the Warlock, Falcourn the swift, Captain Bofang the sailor, Lord Durthu of Emberfort, Og'rar the Northman and the sharpshooter Cade.

The Journey

Not much was documented of the jurney before the brothers arrived to Cowenta. What is known is a confrontation in Nobelcas the eastern city of elves. There they exposed Arthiin the sly in his plot to Impersonate the elven king at the time. Arthiin had killed the king and wore his flesh as he pulled the strings of the kings council to wage war against the humans in the east.
After that there is written story about the brothers helping people overcome oppression in the south east by the hand of the Sera-Leon Empire. from there they escaped on boat and sailed their way over to Cowenta.

Upon arriving in their first city Castigni the brothers geared up for their voyage into Sailors end. there they were going to go into the desert and the old city of Granbar to find one of the amulets needed. But before that they stopped at the city of Vignile. The original intention there is lost to history but what is not lost is what happened there. The brothers caught a runaway lady by the name Aska Cross. The daugther of Lord Holden Cross and nice to the then High king Hagan Cross. At the time people believed she had been kidnapped but later the truth came to light and the brothers lost the bounty that was put on their head for the kidnapping.
After a long voyage into Sailors end the brothers made it into the lost city of Granbar and after a hard survival in the desert and a near deadly encounter for Bofang when he encountered an Uuma. they made it into Farlook and after a hard recovering for bofang they continued the journey. There they met a lot of Historicly significant people but one of the most notable was Salazar Hravenfor. who at the time was a member of the Guardians scouting for ways to stop the brothers of chaos. He befriended the brotherhood of dawn and traveled with them north.

The brotherhood came upon a kings tournament that was taking place in the Vinewood Forest. There they met notible champions like, Wurt the Rootbound, Modi champion of flame and Valar sótsword (Valar vei Sótborn) who at the time was only 17 year old. There they witnessed a historic event. The day prince Morgen Cross was assasinated at the tournament and the subsequent execution of Lord Mejik Hravenfor ruler of the great city of Berbak and Salazar's father. The execution would lead to the founding of the rebellion by Salazar. King Hagan held all attendees to the tournament responsible for the assassination of his son and the Brotherhood was not left out. He offered them a choice, Join his army and take back a fort he had lost on the island of Vastad to house Vicemyr. Or they could choose exile from the kings land.

From there the brotherhood helped the king take back Emberfort of Vastad but in the process had terrorized its population with the Cross army. And in the process made an enemy out of a powerful guardian by the name Vikkas known as the dragon rider for his loyal companion a red dragon by the name Belrothaar. After that they traveled to Dralenhall. There they met again with Valar who told them he was joining up with the rebellion to bring down Hagan Cross. He also told them that there had been a disturbing force brewing in the north and of strange activity on Gillig Isle.
next documented travels of the brotherhood was at Ravenrock north of Dralenhall. There are few testimonies from people as the town fell to ruin shortly after. But Dijana the black feather witch wrote about encountering the party and tasting the edge of their blade, telling the story of how she lost her eye to Cade. After their involvement in the Riverlands, their next documented place was in the frozen highlands southeast from Ursahellir. on a walk through the highland Mt.Nodo the volcano north of Ursahellir erupted leaving the highlands scattered in ash. That was not the only remarkable change that happened in those highlands. They met Veradin Feyborn, a druid and a former member of the seekers. At the same time as the brotherhood was founded, Veradin left the Seekers and formed his own prophecy. Instead of gathering the amulets for the dawning ritual to harness the power of Arcanai and re-instate the magical bond and stomp down on the rise of Niithes. Veradin formed a plan to gather the amulets of creation and form a new ritual. Ritual of cleansing, a ritual were he would sever the link to the Devine influence of the gods and forge a new world where Eros would be left to balance itself in its own nature. After knowing the truth about the speakers and Veradins new plan the brotherhood took a swift new course. They headed to Berbak where King Arjen Blight was located with the last amulet needed for the new ritual. but getting to Arjen without rising suspicion of the seekers would be no easy feat.
They traveled south by see, into the Splitmuth gorge, and from there into Berbak the great city of east. Trouble amplified in Berbak however, Lord Salazar Hravenfor had moved his army north to stand the rebellion against the Durmandar, army of Niithin. That left Salazar's right hand, Dijana in charge who they unfortunately had already encountered at the wrong edge of the blade before.
The brother sent a message assigned to "the right hand of Salazar" where they would ask for council and a private meeting with Arjen Blight. The grant was accepted and they walked into the Cloudstair Palace. There they were surprised to see Dijana who instead of hearing them out sought to jail the brotherhood and try them for being spies of King Hagan. But in the argument Arjen broke his disguise and hastily joined into the conversation to save the brotherhoods reputation and prevent their sentencing. But in the process making a fatal mistake. Arthiin the sly had been wearing the skin of a kingsguard on a mission to slay Arjen as he was supposed to be the blight conduit to the dawning ritual. A great fight ensued between Arthiin and the brotherhood. the brotherhood fought bravely and slaughtered Arthiin but it was too late. Arthiin poisoned covered blade had pierced the Kings body and he passed away. The brothers had gained the final amulet but lost a dear friend and the person meant to fulfill both rituals.

The brotherhood stood at a standstill and hope faded. Not knowing the future of the cleansing ritual the brotherhodd put that on hold and decided to focus on the civil war between the Kings army and the rebellion. They journeyed back north to meet back up with Salazars army that had an encampment in the town of Arakata east of Ursahellir. Salazar had gathered armies from many places in cowenta. The armies that were gathered in the north were: The true grays, lead by Valar vei Sótborn. The fallen leaves, lead by Wurt the rootbound. And although not an army and there to fight Niithin, gathered were 8 of the 10 high guardians at the time, notible guardians were, Venus Sunblade, Modi Champion of flame, Stormcaller Maven and of course Salazar the bloodhunter himself. The brotherhood joined the encampment as a rumor of an incoming army bearing the Cross sigil making its way north. The brotherhood and the rebellion prepaired themselves for battle but in the night Bofang was woken up in the middle of the night. A familiar face had entered his tent. A bloodied Aska Cross sat down and told Bofang of her startling journey. Aska had been following whispers that came from a blade called Voidshard. The blade was previously owned by Falcourn the swift. After his passing the Brotherhood kept it safe and handed it to Aska long ago when Aska and the brotherhood ventured through Sailors End, and the Bloodwine wastes. The Whispers from the voidshard spoke of a prophecy, it spoke of the seekers and their grasp of the dawning ritual. A beginning of a new ritual that would be born from a red haired prophet (Veradin) and carried out by her as the conduit of the ritual. The blade whispered thoughts to aska. Relentless screams to kill. She had ignored it for all this time but she felt her mind slip and she was afraid of not knowing who the true Aska still was. Upon hearing her plead, Bofang wrapped the knife and sealed it, told her never to touch it again and stay with them once again. After being comforted she fell asleep uttering the words, "my father comes for me, i hear his call".
Morning after the brotherhood woke up with the sound of soldiers readying for battle. An army stood in the valley outside deepwood. The army had the flag of House Cross. Salazar and Valar rode their horses out and met the leader of the Cross army. That Leader surprisingly was not High king Hagan Cross but his brother and Askas Father, Lord of Vignile Holden Cross. He had rebelled against his brother and rode out with all the soldiers still loyal to him to join the rebellion. Salazar, Valar and Cross rode together and joined their war camps. A touching reunion between Aska and her father took place and the army of the Rebellion stood stronger than ever.

Battle at Hells gate & the shattering

An army of the undead had been brewing underground in the old forgotten city of Halentorg, dwarven city built underground in the northen lands at mountain Nodo. Niithin had used the old volcanic forge of the dwarves to channel souls of warriors, soldiers, pirates and all who could fight, into husks, dead amalgamations put together with steel and flesh. His Plan had never revolved around reviving the god of death. That plan was propaganda made to install fear into lands, that he along with his brothers were demigods of Niithes. With that fear he and his brother sowed fear and distrust into every city. imitating kings to start wars, disrupting supply routs to starve towns and cities. Lay a seed of distrust between old friends. All this was done to force commanders and kings to send men clashing in battle. And Niithin the Necromancer would take souls of the dead, husks of the fallen and create his aberrations. He had become his own god of death, and with that power he did not stop at men, he travelled to the grave of Valathuun the devourer, ancient dragon known for its tyranny, With the strength of the amulet of creation marked with Niithin he had in his possetion he drew the power out of the amulet and resurrected the dragon, now undead. But his most ambitious project was creating the "Flesh of Niithes". An ancient giant skeleton that he welded with metal, forged with flesh and pored into the souls of a thousand warriors.

But the battle at hells gate started with the civil war that took place in the deepwood planes. lined up against each other were the armies of the Kings loyalists along with new alliance of the Sera-leon empire against the Rebellion. The battle started but the brotherhood was not there at first. Brotherhood, Aska and Veradin gathered at the elven gate tower in deepwood. there they would begin the ritual of cleansing. when they arrived at the tower two familiar faces were there already. The face of Ainar and Grundi, mages of the seekers. They would not lie by while their ritual was defiled and their gods power stripped from the lands. They begged them to come to their senses and go forth with the dawning ritual. Arguing that magic was the only way mortals could help the weak, heal the dying and make the world a better place. Veradin argued that magic was a way for the rich to get richer, the powerful to grow even more powerful and it is always the ones who needed the magics touch that would not get it. He argued that the world would fix itself. A place were the gods influence was no bigger than our own. After the debate the brotherhood decided to go forth with the cleansing ritual. The seekers could not let it be and they were at an impass. A battle commenced and it lasted a while. The 2 most powerful mages of eros against the brotherhood. In the battle the brotherhood would one by one put their amulet in the hands of veradin who protected himself with his druidic powers. He combined them and started the ritual. Everything looked like the brotherhood would succeed until Grundi used an ability to slow time to a standstill. He rushed through Veradins protection and drew his sword, pierced Veradins heart while the brotherhood could do nothing but watch. All but aska, who had the voidshard in her possession. A blade with the ability to manipulate time to secure a kill, it slows down time making the user able to seemingly teleport between places. She had promised Bofang not to use the blade but she could not keep that promise as it was the only way to help the brotherhood. She whipped herself like lightning to Grundi and pierced his throat with the blade. In a panicked rush grundi swiped his sword into Aska's face cutting her from lip to ear, both fell to the ground and time moved at its normal speed. Blood from aska fell onto the amulets securing the last step, the blood of a blightborn. Seeing what happened Ainar broke, loosing his friend for so many years and seeing his ritual being violated and a new ritual completed before his very eyes. In an instant he looked at the brotherhood, gave a chilling scream and casted a powerful spell blinding all in the vicinity. After the brotherhood came to Ainar had vanished. They were all badly hurt and shaken to their core.
Meanwhile the battle at hells gate commenced. Army rushing into each other, swords, axes and all inbetween clashing. Brothers, sisters, fathers and friends fell to the blood-soaked ground. The battle raged on... until a blaring horn blasted the ears of all. Silence came after that, after that a roaring boom of noice. The ground shook and fell, cracks, fissures and cliffs emerged from the ground with molten lava spewing onto the surface. With the earthquake a chilling sight. Dead horrors, man and animal constructions and hellish beings pored from out of the ground. The Durmandar, army of Niithin had arrived and it served only one side, death.

I remember demons sprouting from the ground, my foe became the undead. Not the living -Egemund (Loyalist)

The battle turned into a wild frenzy. a shadow grazed the read clouds, darkness covered the sun as Valathuun swooped down and raked the land. Death roamed like a flying eagle across the battlefield. The odds seemed dark with both armies scattered. Shook with the loss of their comrades even before another army attacked. No knowing what side could strike. The battle was almost broken when another horn blared through the battlefield from the south. Riding forth came the guradians along with valar. and behind them the allied army of House vicemyr. A month before Venus of Potes and Valar vei Sótborn had made a plot to ally with house vicemyr who swore war on House Cross and the King, but not to solely fight against the loyalist, but to convince them the threat of the durmadar army of dead was real enough to fight. The task took a long time but was easier than they thought as Niithin had been laying the Vicemyr lands to waste along side Uthiin his brother for some time now. As the Vicemyr army rode out to fight Valathuun saw only prey. He swooped down to claim more victims until he saw a red dragon crash into his side. Dragon rider Vikkas and Belrothaar had joined the war as well. with Valathuun crashing into the ground hope rose and cheers gathered and echoed throughout the battlefield. The houses of cowenta stood together, unbroken. A new battle started with the strongest fighters of cowenta the guardians charged forth with an army at their back. Stormcaller Maven summoned lightnings that crashed the battlefield stronger than a thousand hammers. Wurt the rootbound, charged into the undead army on his armored barkstag, plowing down foes before he hacked and slashed with his halberd. Modi the champion of flame who was in his element in the lava burnt battlefield laughed as he crushed his foes with his great hammer. And notibly the charming Venus showed all what her name sunblade was drawn from. With her blade shining the battlefield she fought with such graze and furiosity, it was as if the light of Uesis personified. And last but not least Bloodhunter Salazar and Valar Sótswoord fought, side by side with ferocious skill as they commanded the battlefield. It didn't matter if you were a loyalist or a rebel the men rushed to their call and formed together to fight against the dead. But Niithin still had one trick left up his sleeve. There he stood on a hill overlooking the battle. After seeing the unexpected addition of the Vicymyr army. he closed his eyes and assumed a meditated pose. He sought to awaken his prized creation, the flesh of Niithes. At the same time the brotherhood came to after Ainars magic. With Ainar nowhere in sight they rushed to help in the battle even with the wounds sustained from the previous fight. They heard the roaring clash of the war miles before they saw the fight. as they came closer the ground shook from under them, the ground tore violently apart but this time it was not like the earthquake before. A massive flesh-ridden skeletal hand blasted through the ground and along with it the horrid creation of Niithin. The Brothers spoke to each other and made a brave choice, they decided that taking down the giant before it made it onto the battlefield was the best way they could help the battle. After fighting the giant with the help of Venus, Vikkas and his dragon the brothers took it down. Seeing all he built being torn away from him Niithes was furious. charging for the brotherhood. Finally the brothers could face him for the last time. Niithins blade pierced and slashed and met its mark on Anduul as he fell before the brotherhood unconscious. Venus rushed to try and save him while the rest fought Niithin. Shortly after Cade fell down. Ograr, Bofang, Venus and Vikkas fought hard. A booming black flame burst from anduul as he stood up. In a ghostlike state he furiously slashed at Niithin with ancient power that resided inside his blood, the power of the black dragon order. Niithin could not keep up after all the wounds he had suffered and fell to the hand of the Brotherhood of Dawn. 

Aftermath

After the battle at hells gate and the civil war itself.

Type

Military, Mercenary Group