The Light-blessed

Talis didn't ask the Light-blessed to become his personal guards. They chose to do so, based on the deep respect they had for his accomplishment. He destroyed the Light temple and ended the Gauntlet, and they wanted to honor the man who did so.
Not every Light-blessed is enamored of Talis, but those who honor him will go to the Final Death to protect him.

--Qira, avatar of Light

Research:

The Light-blessed

by our illustrious hero,
Lorgan the Illuminator

In this Research Document:

all images by Shade Melodique
unless otherwise stated

History

The Light-blessed are one of the better known entities that inhabit the Light and Darkness religious sphere, more for their past than their current incarnation.
The Aristarzian Light's Guidance temple took all red-headed, blue-eyed boys from Aristarzia and trained them to defeat trials in the Light Gauntlet. The ultimate goal was to have a Light-blessed make the transition to Light-ascended, and become Light's representative on the continent of Faeyim (modern continent of Talis). To achieve this, the Light-blessed needed to be perfect in everything from singing to battle arts.
Most boys died at young ages, unable to survive the gauntlet tests. Only one-hundred-and-eight lads in fifteen hundred years ascended before Talis, and he was the last. Driven by rage and a need for revenge, he obliterated the temple, the priests, the surrounding city, to cleanse the corruption from Aristarza. He could not bring back the Light-blessed dead, but he made certain no more joined them.
For this act, Light gifted him his mantle and title, and Talis became the Syimlin of Light.

Talis will despise his predecessor to his Final Death. He spent years fighting against the corruption Light enabled, and ended up embodying everything he hated.

Once the Light-blessed realized one of their own ascended to become Light, they rejoiced. Even those who rejected their past sent prayers of thanks to the one who ended the miserable Gauntlet.
Talis could not undo the pain the Light-blessed suffered in their living years, but he did his best to make their ghostly ones easy. Not all accepted his gifts, but many did. While none worshipped him as Light, they saw him as the best of them, and their respect and admiration grew.
Those that saw Talis as more than Light-ascended, but did not treasure him as a deity, congregated in a small riverport city called Selaserat, in the Elfinit Rainforest on Uka's Lament. Leeyal founded a tavern there, one that catered to them and served as a safe spot for Talis to rest during his trips to the Evenacht.

The Dark Light represents the tavern but also the Light-blessed who entertain there

The Barrier

Talis made a point of visiting every temple on Faeyim and in the Evenacht the first two-thousand years of his reign, personally overseeing changes to the worship of Light (Qira says that the stubbornness of elfines and nymphs to give up past practices extended the timeline far beyond Talis's patience).
During this time he visited the Light temple in Kjivendei. The proud elfines expected acolades, but Talis found their displays and worship self-serving and agrandizing emptiness. Kjiven, annoyed at the chastizement, left for Selaserat to check on his barrier.
Talis visited the Light-blessed at Dark Light Tavern at the same time. When he arrived and realized the whizen had used Light spells to create the barrier across the river, fury filled him.
He infamously rose into the air, held out his hand, and flicked his middle finger at the barrier. It broke, and no matter how intently Kjiven tried, he could not resurrect it using Light-leaning magic.

Talis altered worship to Light because he refused to continue the abuses that harmed the Light-blessed.
He visited every priest and priestess who accepted him as the Syimlin of Light and told them what he expected of them and their worship. He promised to kick them out of the cult personally, if they transgressed.
He kept the promise, too. If any stubbornly held onto their status, he asked the Light-blessed to pay a visit in his stead. The Light-blessed had no reason to be kind about dumping them on their butts outside the temple's entrance.

The Formation

Needless to say, Kjiven was PIIIISSSED. Leeyal, wary of his temperment and his revengeful nature, decided Talis needed a guard when he walked Selaserat's streets. He did not think the whizen could harm him, but that did not mean he would not try.
Leeyal put out a call, and dozens volunteered. The Light-blessed elected Resa as their leader, and he has stood in that capacity ever since.
From that event on, when Talis visited Selaserat, the Light-blessed accompanied him everywhere. As time passed, Talis relied on them more and more as personal guards for special events and ceremonies, both in the Evenacht and on Talis (I've been told, the less Light is reminded that the continent is now named after him, the better).
While it is exceedingly rare for ghosts to visit Talis after their deaths, Erse Parr has said nothing to him about breaking precedent. So a group of ghosts are the special guards for a man associated with the Light of Life.
Talis is an odd duck. But, I gather, that's what the Light-blessed like about him the most.

The Light-blessed uniform is based on Aristarzian fashion at the time of Talis's ascension. Blue casre (head scarf), blue snair (rib-length vest), blue waf (waist wrap), white shirt, blue pants, brown boots. The gauntlet protects the gems of power imbedded in their arms for successfully passing gauntlet tests.