The History of The Twelve
And the Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of Elessenia

They are known throughout the Northern World. Heroic figures who have passed from folklore into myth into legend. They have always existed. Simply knowing they are out there somewhere, riding down the darkness, is enough to make many sleep well at night.

The Twelve. A name to strike terror into the very soul of the corrupt and the evil. A group of holy knights blessed with personal power that makes demons quail; dedicated to rooting out and destroying Evil in all its many forms. Paladins the world over aspire to one day being accepted into the ranks of The Twelve.

Origins of The Twelve

The people of the Northern World know very little of The Twelve beyond the legend. However, there is more to them than that. Much more. Each member of The Twelve understands the importance of maintaining their mystique, and not revealing this information to the common folk of the world. The Twelve are shining beacons of hope to every day people. Their origins are far from pure.

The story of The Twelve is a story of the kingdom of Elessenia. Elessenia - a lyrical name for the fetid pit of corruption and depravity it became. It is three thousand years before the coming of the moon gods. The Temples of Concordance have been cast down by Io a millennia ago, but that is the only thing that remains constant between this day and the Iourn of modern times.

Elessenia is the largest of a dozen islands that make up the Muirland. They are many days travel from the western-most shores of the continent that will one day be known as Urova. The Muirs have no contact outside their homeland, and although they are dimly aware of the vast elven nation that exists in Urova they have no desire to foster ties with it.

The Muirs are Men and, unlike men in the rest of this world they are not backward savages or tribal barbarians. An extremely sophisticated and adept society exists. Easily the equal of Hadrada at its height, the Elessenian Kingdoms have no desire to conquer or to expand. They believe they are a chosen people, and that contact with outsiders would irrevocably taint them. They know this to be true because their god has told them. They know their god has told them because he walks amongst them.

The Legend of Azygous

Azygous: The Creator, The Great Progenitor, The Unity, The Life Flame. In the same way that Io created the dragons and Moradin created the dwarves, so did Azygous create the race of Men. Azygous was a kind and beneficent creator. He looked at the decadence of the elves, the greed of the dwarves and the hatred of the dragons and was saddened. He determined to create a race of free spirits - a race that was not fettered by Fate, and that could choose its own destiny.

Azygous journeyed to the mortal world, replete with its wars and its legends, and he took a portion of it for his own use. This portion he named Elessenia BauVar (meaning the Crucible of Creation). There he dwelt and there he laboured; and there he defended his endeavours from the malicious intent of devils and jealous gods. There he faced down Fate.

Azygous did not meet with success immediately. He created lesser races that he discarded to other parts of the world, giving birth to all the tribes of Man that exist today. Each one flawed, and each member doomed to failure in his pursuit of perfection. But eventually, after great toil, Azygous succeeded in creating the true race of Men, over which Fate held no power. And there they dwelt in the twelve islands that made up Elessenia. And for thousands of years they grew and they prospered.

Azygous remained on the mortal plane for millennia, defending his people from harm. Then three thousand years ago he finally left his creations, and ascended from this world. His departure left a great vacuum, and the Muirland quickly fell into fighting amongst themselves.

The Rise of the Order of St Vyvian

Each of The Twelve islands appointed their own king, and each of The Twelve kings set themselves up as the one true ruler of all the Muirland. Each king believing himself the true descendent of Azygous; each king thinking himself and his people purer than his fellows. Posturing descended into skirmishes, which descended into war. In less than three generations after the ascending of Azygous his 'perfect' people were busy doing very little except killing one another.

But Azygous had faith in what he had created. So he waited and he watched as Elessenia tore itself apart. For a hundred seasons war wracked the Muirland, until eventually enough was enough. Something had to be done, and that something was left to a high priest of a small monastery located on the tip of the Muirland's smallest island.

Vyvian was a priest in the service of Azygous, who presided in the role of abbot over an order of Chalamaeic monks. At this time Chalamaeism was the name given to one of the smaller splinter groups of the Church of Azygous. Chalamaeic monks were spiritual contemplatives who believed in such peculiar notions as equality, philanthropy and integrity. [Note, the Chalaemaeics were not the type of monks described in the PHB. That brand of monasticism, popularised in Urova by Brother Balsan, would not come into being for many hundreds of years.] Vyvian decided that something had to be done to stop the wars and the killings and so he sent ambassadors from his monasteries to petition the kings of all twelve nations with a proposal for peace.

The Chalamaeic monks were generally well respected, and the kings listened to what they had to say. The proposal was thus: the heir to the throne of each of The Twelve kingdoms would travel to the monastery and be trained in the way of Azygous as propitiated by the monks that dwelt there. When the heirs became kings they would take back to their throne, the beliefs and values of the Chalamaeic Order. As the monks generally believed in everyone being nice to one another, Vyvian thought that this would lead to the end of all wars.

The proposal was given serious consideration. However, the fact the monastery in question dwelt upon one of The Twelve islands was viewed with deep suspicion by the other eleven kings. They could not accept sending their heirs, unguarded, into enemy territory. A neutral ground had to be found for the monastery.

This is where the potent sorceress Imelda LaFaire comes into the picture. The study of arcane magic was considered something of an art in Elessenia, and all twelve kingdoms employed war wizards to bolster their armies. However, having vast magical powers often gives one a lot of time on their hands for naval-gazing and generally pondering the imponderables of life. To cut a long story short, there was a movement within the most powerful spellcasters of all the islands away from war. Imelda LaFaire was the most powerful of these spellcasters and a respected seer. It was generally agreed that she should be the spokesperson of their cause.

She volunteered to use her powers to raise a thirteenth island from the sea that was generally equidistant from the rest of the Muirland. Nothing enormous, just a quarter of a mile in diameter - big enough to build a monastery and raise some goats. After a lengthy debate this was agreed upon and work began. Using magic the island was raised, covered in vegetation and the monastery was built in just two months. Very soon afterward all twelve heirs were getting to know one another, scrubbing pots, milking goats and getting stung by bees.

The heirs dwelt together in the monastery under the supervision of Vyvian for one year before the first king died and an heir was called home. Of course, then his son was sent to replace him. At first the monks had their work cut out for them - getting the arrogant princes to sit at the same table was an achievement - but as the months past a grudging respect and liking formed between the kings-apparent. They became friends, and began doing the work of the Church of Azygous.

Within fifty seasons of the policy being enacted it had become ingrained in the tradition of all twelve of the island-kingdoms. Each heir was sent to the monastery at the age of five seasons and remained there until he acceded to the throne. They weren't prisoners, they were able to visit their families and secular tutors travelled to the monastery to teach them politics, courtly life and many of the other things that the monks were not in a position to teach them.

Upon his death, Vyvian was made a saint by Papal degree and the monastery gradually became a separate entity from the Chalamaeic faith, called the Order of Saint Vyvian. As time passed, new kings took clerics of the Order with them to act as advisors at court. There was the odd irredeemable bastard, but on the whole the situation worked extremely well. The kings ruled justly and fairly, there was no wars within the Muirland, and although the kings remained absolute rulers, their law-abiding subjects enjoyed a degree of freedom and plenty that had never been seen before, and has never been seen since in the society of Men.

This is the point when a reader would expect corruption to form in the Order of Saint Vyvian and the original teachings of Azygous to have been perverted. But this did not happen. Perhaps Azygous's original intentions to make a man less susceptible to sin were successful, but for whatever reason the honour and the integrity of the Order of Saint Vyvian remained untouched from generation to generation. It is a shame the same couldn't said for the rest of the Church of Azygous.

The Colonial Period

As time passed so the Muirland become too small to hold its people. Ships were sent to find new lands to colonise. Those sent to the north perished before they could make landfall on the Galacial Wastes; those who went West are likely never to have made it across the vast ocean; those that went south made landfall in the lands now known as Ranishan and Belsinor's Girdle; those who went east made landfall on Urova - they found their way in to Maldomoor and lands unknown in the present age.

For many years, the Order of St Vyvian and the Papacy were at odds in their interpretation of Azygous's teachings. The Papacy took a more traditional and hard line view that the people of the Muirland were inherently superior to the rest of Mankind. While St Vyvian's tenants of Equality, Philanthropy and Integrity could be applied to people of the Muirland, it certainly didn't apply to any other humans (or creatures of other races) that were discovered in foreign lands.

Elessenian Colonists could have taught the Hadradans a thing or two about racial intolerance. They had no time for people of different races, ethnic types or religions. At best they were enslaved at worst they were eliminated. Peace and prosperity reigned at home as the spoils from foreign parts came flooding back, but to the people of the rest of the world Elessenia became known as an evil empire.

It is difficult to pinpoint the moment the Elessenians lost sight of what was important. To their credit, the kings who had been trained by the Order of Saint Vyvian realised the mistakes of their people and their nations. They sort to reverse it, but it was then they learned where the real power in the Muirland lay. It was not with the heads of state, it was with the Papacy.

The Papacy was the governing body that ruled all of the many dozens of faiths that existed under the umbrella of the Church of Azygous. For centuries the Papacy had been growing and consolidating its power. Sects that disagreed with its teachings were subsumed and disappeared. Only the Order of Saint Vyvian with its long history and its hold on the hearts and minds of the population were able to retain any degree of autonomy from the Papal rulers.

The many churches sponsored by the Papacy began to undermine the office of the King and his laws. The Papacy had grown rich and fat on the persecution of foreigners and the very idea that such a thing should ever stop terrified them. It took a long time. Perhaps more than a generation, but one-by-one the kings of The Twelve kingdoms were toppled by 'popular' uprisings or political manoeuvrings. Some kings were killed, others were forced to flee or were imprisoned. In their place Papal Stewards ruled The Twelve kingdoms and began undoing centuries of good work. There was no force in all the Muirland that could oppose them. No force except the Order of Saint Vyvian, and the heirs-apparent that were tutored within its walls.

The First Ride of The Twelve

The island created so many years ago was under siege from forces of the Papacy. The clerics and The Twelve heirs that dwelt there were outraged and terrified in equal measure. There were some potent divine spell-casters inside the monastery, but there were some pretty devastating ones outside as well. Through all this, the god Azygous observed his people. He knew that this was the greatest of tests for them, and so he sat back and did nothing.

The heirs (some of them kings now with the deaths of their fathers) were bridling to do something to avenge their family name and restore peace to the Muirland. They were counselled against vengeance by the clerics of the order. Such was not the way of Saint Vyvian. But what was the way? They could not simply sit here and do nothing. Vyvian wasn't a pacifist was he? But what could just twelve do against the armies of the Papacy?

The answer was that they must do whatever they can. Integrity was one of the core teachings of Vyvian. They could not shy away from their responsibilities. Regardless of how fruitless their gesture might be, they must stand and die for what they believed in. The Papacy had satisfied the material needs of the Muirland, but at the expense of its soul. The Twelve princes knew that they have to make a stand.

And so the doors of the monastery were flung open and The Twelve marched forth. They were not clad in shining armour, they were not wielding swords or sitting astride white chargers they were just Men, dressed in simple clothing and with nothing but their faith to defend them.

The generals of the Papal armies moved in to apprehend and to slay these noble individuals, but the princes bade them stop. Their very force of personality held back the Papal sword. Young as they were, for most were still in their teens, they spoke with great eloquence and force. With words they defeated all the guiding principles that the Papacy stood for, and they shone the light of truth on the darkness and evil that the faith of Azygous had become.

Many minds were swung that day. Many soldiers and even generals were convinced of the wrong they were doing. But The Twelve did not convince them all. The priests of the Papacy would not be dissuaded by words, and they stepped forward to use their magic to strike down these upstarts. But when they raised their hands to call on the power of their god, nothing happened.

Azygous had watched The Twelve princes rise to the greatest challenge he could set them. Despite the deaths of their fathers, and the rape of their land they did not rise to the temptations of anger. They had been true to the original teachings of Azygous as he had intended them, and when Azygous saw this he realised that it was time to send a sign to the world and prove where the truth lay.

The powers of all priests who were not of the Order of Saint Vyvian were rescinded. The Papal clerics stood and shouted and waved their arms impotently in the air, but nothing they could do would bring it back. And at that moment The Twelve princes were infused with an understanding of their place and their purpose. Great gifts, unlike the powers bestowed on his existing clergy. And Azygous appeared before the monastery of Saint Vyvian and He said, "Behold my chosen people, who have remained loyal to me despite the temptations of mortal life." And he told the princes that a prophet would come to their door and show them the way forward.

Broken and confused, the Papal armies pulled away from the island and retreated to their places of power. All of the Muirland was in an uproar. Tales of what had happened at the monastery began to circulate far and wide, despite attempts of the Papacy to prevent it. How could the Papacy retain their power without the magic granted by their god? Thus great chaos fell on the land, and in colonies far away slave rebellions began and soon everything was on the verge of collapse.

Enter the Armourer

A day later, a visitor came to the monastery of Saint Vyvian. It was a terribly aged woman, hunched over her trembling staff. She revealed herself to be Imelda LaFaire, who generations ago had raised the island on which the monastery stood. She told the clergy and the princes that they should not be afraid. She had been told the will of Azygous in a dream, and her task was to impart that dream to The Twelve princes.

In her dream Imelda had seen much terror and strife befall the Muirland and the rest of the world. Fear and hopelessness became endemic. The power of the Papacy would not be broken by one small rebellion here at the monastery. Already Papal spell-weavers were trying to justify why their powers no longer worked, and were turning to other sources to charge their magical might. Demonic paymasters would soon begin to grant powers to Papal agents under the guise of Azygous. The Twelve princes had to make a stand, and cast down the evil that had infected their land. They needed to become a sign of hope for the people of the Muirland to rally around in the absence of their kings.

They would become champions of virtue, carrying the beliefs and the values of the Order of Saint Vyvian on the point of a sword. They would be resolute and unbending in their stand for what was right. This was the sort of thing the princes wanted to hear. Most had spent the majority of their lives cooped up in the monastery, but the wisest of the princes pointed out that The Twelve of them had no appreciable fighting skills.

To this Imelda LaFaire said, "You have been blessed by Azygous and his divine power works within you. You must seek out the Armourer. He will prepare your bodies as Azygous has prepared you soul."

The princes did not shirk their divine calling and left the monastery that very evening. They were unopposed. Imelda had told them to head to the east until they found a sign. The quest for the Armourer took weeks and was fraught with dangers. But eventually the princes found their way to the shores of a distant land - one of the western lands of the continent of Urova that in modern times has no name. There the princes discovered a great war ranging between the Elessenian colonists and the indigenous races of Men and Dwarves.

And there they saw a sign. A host of shooting stars were visible in the sky, and when The Twelve princes followed them they discovered a huge conflagration, burning like the fire of creation from which Azygous had made the first Man. This great event had attracted the attention of Elessenian colonists and the indigenous dwarven people. A great battle ensued between the two factions. The Twelve princes, horrified by the tactics of their countrymen, sided with the dwarves and saved the life of a kinsman of the dwarven king.

The Twelve princes were brought before the dwarven king, and there they spoke of their quest to find an Armourer. The dwarven king was wise, and not beset with the greed that is oft the fault of his kind. He said that he had been expecting the arrival of the princes. He said that a Man dwelt in the dwarf-hold. He had been orphaned from a barbarian clan as a child and raised by the priests of the dwarven god, Moradin. The man, who had been given the name Davidian, believed himself to be a dwarf. He had been taught dwarven trades, he studied dwarven history and magic, he spoke the language of the dwarves to the exclusion of all other tongues. "He is not a dwarf," said the king, "but neither do I believe that he is completely a Man."

Davidian was a seer, but not in the manner of Imelda LaFaire. He had sensed that the princes would come, and he knew of the importance of the fire from the sky. It was on Davidian's urgings that the dwarves had come upon scene. The princes met with Davidian, and they found much to admire in the religion of Moradin - similar as it was to their own faith. Davidian seemed to instinctively know the purpose of the princes, and the part that he himself must play.

Over the centuries countless tales have been told about Davidian, the First Armourer. How he had been divinely charged by Azygous to turn The Twelve princes into a force powerful enough to oppose the Papacy. In some tales it is Davidian and not Imelda LaFaire who came to the monastery and set The Twelve on their past. The truth will probably never be known. No written records survive of the time. In most of the stories, the first Armourer has a connection with the dwarves, and it is the Armourer who makes the original swords and armour.

The shooting stars that fell to Iourn were recovered by the dwarves and mined. They contained a metal not found on Iourn. A powerful ore that Davidian was convinced was a direct gift from Azygous. It was from this skymetal that twelve suits of plate armour and twelve bastard swords were made. The metal itself brought incredible qualities to the items, but they were then infused with such magical energy to rival even the work of the Grey Princes two thousand years hence. Future Armourers have marvelled at the skill of Davidian. Although over the centuries some have added small incantations to the weapons and armour there were only perhaps three who truly understood the principles behind their creation.

Davidian played a greater role even than this. He became the mentor to the princes, he became their father. He taught them how to fight, and he taught them how to win. For two seasons the princes remained on this colonial land, honing their skills, ruing every moment they spent away from the Muirland. But eventually they were ready. Clad in their armour and astride their steeds Davidian told them that now and forevermore they would be known as The Twelve, and they were a force for justice unlike Iourn had ever seen.

The Twelve Take out the Trash

Fifteen seasons. The Twelve grew from teens through manhood and into middle age before their battle against the Papacy was over. And a terrible battle it was. At first the Papacy did not realise the danger. Then the reports of twelve knights on white chargers liberating colony after colony began filtering back to Elessenia. And then eventually The Twelve returned to the island kingdom.

The Papacy was now powered by dark gods and demonic paymasters. They could not have fallen further from the vision that Azygous had for his people. The natives of the Muirland lived in fear of their rulers, but The Twelve soon changed that. It was not their personal might and magical power that made the difference, but their ability to inspire whole civilisations with their philosophy and their virtue. It wasn't The Twelve that took down the Papacy, it was the people the Papacy had oppressed for almost twenty seasons.

The princes were crowned Kings of their respective lands on midsummer's day to great jubilation. The service was carried out at the monastery of Saint Vyvian, that still stood although it had been horribly desecrated. Davidian himself enacted the ceremony. The Muirland was shattered and needed strong leadership, but where would The Twelve go from here?

The Legend Begins

"Evil never rests, and neither must The Twelve." These were the last words of Davidian. In defeating the Papacy an order of exceptional power and virtue had been created. Now it existed, the paladins carried a heavy burden of responsibility to use their powers wisely and justly. The princes understood that this responsibility was not simply to the Muirland, but to the entire world. But if they were to be full-time heroes, where would they find the time to run their countries?

After some discussion, administration of each of the countries of the Muirland was to be devolved down to an administrative council made up of priests of the Order of Saint Vyvian, nobles and other officials. The king would remain the nominal head of the country, but he would distance himself from the day-to-day ruling in favour of smiting evil. The kings' eldest sons would begin training at the monastery to take over the mantle of The Twelve from their fathers. Second sons, and daughters, were given leave to help with the administration of the countries.

A new era began for The Twelve, and for a new era The Twelve needed a new Armourer. Davidian was aged and was ready to leave the mortal world. One of his last tasks was to create a device of epic power called the Orb of Wisdom. He told The Twelve that each Armourer, when he sensed that death was near - as Davidian now did - would use the Orb to record a reflection of their wisdom and their memories. It would not be perfect, and it would take a very skilled magic-weaver to use it, but this wisdom could then be carried down the ages. The Orb would act as a guide to future Armourers.

Davidian passed the mantle of Armourer to his protégé, Kathuur. Kathuur became the second armourer on 14 First Snow 2814 PL, when he was only thirty-two seasons of age. It was Kathuur who truly shaped the code of The Twelve, and how the paladins operated for centuries to come.

A chronicle of every adventure and cause championed by The Twelve would take a take many life-times to pen. Under the stewardship of Kathuur and all who came after him, The Twelve and their sons, and their sons' sons fought their never ending battle against evil. They made great allies in the Celestial Orders, but also faced implacable foes that returned to beset them again and again. The terror of the four-fold serpent, the power of Daemonicus and the dread of the Shadowmen were all faced down by The Twelve. Many brave knights died, but each time their armour and their mantle was passed on. There were occasions when there was no son to rise into The Twelve, and on those occasions brothers, or other nobles rose to the cause. Several women, more than adequately filled the armour over the years.

During this period, the Muirland never regained the material wealth that its empire had given it. Some governing officials were corrupt, but the majority were not. The world around the Muirland changed, and The Twelve were out there changing it for the better. They encountered elves long before the first recorded 'meeting' between Men and elves in 1454 PL, they aided the proto-civilisation that would one day become Vikallia, they stepped foot in the Great Dark and saw the horror within.

And so it was for one thousand years. For four thousand seasons - longer than many civilisations exist - The Twelve Holy Knights of the Order of Saint Vyvian fought the good fight. But nothing lasts forever, and the work of The Twelve was no exception. There was evil in the Muirland. A cancer that was overlooked by the rulers of the kingdoms and by The Twelve themselves. A cancer that even escaped the eye of the Armourer. It was a growing desire for vengeance that had been passed like a torch by the shattered members of the Papacy for one hundred and forty generations. Their plan was to completely destroy the Muirland, and they were destined to succeed.

The Great Deluge

It is 1806 PL. The infamous Karatath, who will grow to become Iourn's greatest menace is yet to be born. The current Armourer is a young woman called Isabella Lacouer. She inherited the title only last year when her father passed away prematurely. She is an inexperienced and naïve Armourer, and it is through her that the enemies of The Twelve struck at the heart of the Muirland.

While The Twelve are off battling the forces of evil, the Armourer traditionally remains behind in the monastery of the Order of Saint Vyvian, experimenting, building and scrying. By this stage in the history, the Armourer possesses the Eye of Valeria which can seek out trouble and summon The Twelve. It has been used for centuries, and in this year it sniffs out a diabolical plot within Elessenia.

Distant descendents of Papal demon-worshippers wish to undo the greatest achievement of Azygous. They wish to sunder the pureblood of the Elessenian people, to remove the ability to defy Destiny that Azygous bred into them. In so doing, they will allow Fate and the other enemies of Azygous to strike back at the Muirland. Fate's resentment at Azygous has been festering for more years than mortal man can count. Revenge would be swift and it would be brutal.

If only Isabella Lacouer has recalled The Twelve to face this menace the disaster that followed could have been averted. If only she had possessed the wit to consult the Orb, but alas it was not to be. The Twelve were beyond Iourn, in the service of Celestial Princes, and bent of a cause that would affect the course of nations. Isabella saw no reason to recall them when she could deal with the problem. Young and inexperienced as she was, she still had recourse to the greatest repository of magical devices and artefacts on all of Iourn - items made by various Armourers over the years, or discovered by members of The Twelve and donated to the cause. She gathered the most potent devices that she could and she set off to Elessenia.

The dark forces were expecting her. She was overpowered and, rather than being killed, was used as a focal point in the ritual that would return Fate to the hearts and minds of the Muirs. Isabella's soul was torn from her. It found itself the centre of intense magical energies, that unravelled the soul. That changed it.

The distress of the Armourer alerted The Twelve. This band of knights had each worn the armour for many years between them. They immediately understood the terrible import of the situation and they returned home. They fought a great battle with the dark forces holding their Armourer, but in the end they were too late.

Isabella's soul was altered in the manner of Azygous and placed back into her body. One Muir was now subject to Fate, and it was enough for Fate to act against the whole twelve kingdoms. Where Azygous himself was, or why the god did not try to act to stop what happened next is a mystery. Fate moved the oceans that surrounded the islands and conjured a huge and terrible storm. Millennia of bad karma returned to the Muirland in the form of a terrible deluge. In the space of one night all of the Muirland, the kingdoms, the temples, the Order of Saint Vyvian and The Twelve themselves were destroyed and lost beneath the waves forever.

The Great War

Fast forward 711 years. It is now the year 1095 PL. The Twelve are nothing more than a distant memory; a myth. For more than three centuries the combined forces of Man and elf have been united in the struggle against Karatath. The battle was thought to be going well, until Karatath's dark forces wiped out the greatest champions of light and stole the famed Blades of Virtue for his own purpose. In this year, the forces of Karatath struck the ultimate blow against the great alliance. They used the stolen Blades of Virtue to destroy all the seas in the northern world. Now Karatath's army could march northwards to Urova and destroy everything.

Billions of thinking creatures died when the seas were destroyed, but this great act of evil also did something unexpectedly positive. It uncovered the remnants of the Muirland, where they had fallen deep beneath the waves all those years ago. Great weapons of power lay at the bottom of the sea waiting to be claimed, for any that knew they were there. But after 711 years, after 2844 seasons, who could possibly remember such a thing?

Aerethani was an elf who knew nothing but shame. Long ago should she have departed for Arvandor (the elven afterlife) but her disgrace held her fast in Iourn. For Aerethani was the mother of Karatath, and she vowed that she would not leave the mortal world until she had found a means to balance the evil she had spawned. Aerethani was old enough to remember the work of The Twelve, and she was old enough to realise that there might be some hope buried in the silt and decay of an ancient ocean bed.

Aerethani and a select group of companions set out to locate the remains of the Muirland. If took months but, with the aid of magic, they were eventually successful. They awakened an ancient and malevolent ghost that they eventually realised was Isabella Lacouer. Isabella had never been able to rest. She had been driven insane by guilt at what she allowed to happen. Aerethani and Isabella had much in common, and they came to an understanding.

Aerethani searched long and hard for the famed cache of magical items The Twelve possessed. Importantly, she discovered The Twelve suits of armour and twelve swords created from the skyrock by Davidian all those years ago. Aerethani declared that the last great thing she would do would be to reform The Twelve and send them against the menace of Karatath. She said that once she had done such a thing, she could rest.

There was no royal line to select The Twelve from anymore, and so Aerethani appealed to any member of the Alliance of Light to come and prove themselves worthy of this ancient mantle. Aerethani learned much of The Twelve's code and its history from the spirit of Isabella and it was the ghost that suggested Aerethani had earned the right to call herself Armourer.

Within two years of finding the cache, The Twelve rode once again into battle against evil, and they were a thorn in the side of Karatath for several generations. It is not an exaggeration to say the might of The Twelve was the difference between life and death for the Alliance on more than one occasion. Aerethani finally answered the call of the Seldarine and entered Arvandor. Before she went, she appointed the dwarf Ologonn as the new Armourer.

Then in 1067 PL, The Twelve embarked on their most audacious plan. They would recover the Blades of Virtue from the forces of Karatath. It was a risky venture as they had to go up against the seven death knights that wielded the swords. In the end they achieved a degree of success that none thought possible. Six of the seven Blades of Virtue were recovered and returned to the elven haven of Shallambor. The seventh sword, impotent without its fellows, was taken back to Karatath's place of power in the Great Dark. But the price was high. Eight of The Twelve were killed, and it was several seasons before The Twelve regained their strength.

The Great War continued until 1000 PL, when Karatath was defeated and pulled all his forces out of the Northern World and was imprisoned over the southern pole of the world. Few know how Karatath met his Waterloo. Some records in the archives of The Twelve suggest that he was betrayed by one of his own, but this cannot be verified.

In 1000 PL the elves restored the seas in the Northern World, ending generations of drought and starvation. In recognition of the role played by The Twelve the Grey Princes used their magic to raise the thirteenth island - created long ago by Imelda LaFaire - to the surface of the oceans. Then the elves left Iourn for good. They hid themselves away in a parallel world called the Greymere, and their very existence drifted into myth.

The Antediluvians

The Armourer and his Twelve returned to their ancestral home at the end of the Great War, and began the process of rebuilding. To their great joy, the Orb of Wisdom was finally recovered. It was a joy, because shortly afterward Ologonn reached the end of his days. He was old, even for a dwarf, and he had had a long and difficult road during the Great War. His wisdom was not lost in his death, as the memories of Ologonn entered the Orb to swim with the Armourers of the past. Isabella Lacouer's spirit was also put to rest, and she too took her place in the Orb.

The new Armourer was a Man called Maldris. It fell to Maldris to rebuild The Twelve into the force they once were. Maldris consulted the Orb of Wisdom. At first he found it confusing and overwhelming, but as the seasons passed he developed some mastery over it. He instructed the rebuilding of the Monastery of Saint Vyvian and it was not long before pilgrims travelled across the sea to pay their respects.

Maldris took the code of The Twelve to his heart. He became the first proponent of the teachings of Azygous in more than eight hundred years. A small priesthood was started at the monastery, over the years it grew. Maldris drew up a new code for The Twelve. It stated that the sword and armour would be passed onto the "most worthy successor". There was no hereditary right to the armour any more. Anyone who followed the values of The Twelve may be chosen by them.

Thus did the history of The Twelve begin again. It is still 1204 years before the present, but through all the intervening time The Twelve have struggled against the forces of evil. They have re-established themselves as a legend during all this time.

Recent History

Obviously, there have been ups and downs over the years. The Twelve have suffered great defeats and incredible victories. The faith of Azygous has waned and then been in the ascendancy many times. So where do things stand now that there are moons in the sky, in the year 204 LE?

The two-hundred and thirtieth Armourer is a Man called Camus. He has been in the role for seven years. Through the Orb of Wisdom and his own dealings with the man called Narramac, Camus knows that the threat of Karatath is once again growing, and he knows that his Twelve will have to be pitched into the fight.

The Twelve still reside at the ancient Monastery of Saint Vyvian, located on a small island six hundred miles west of the land of Maldomoor. In addition to The Twelve, thirty priests of Azygous reside there. The faith of Azygous is currently enjoying renewed support in some parts of Ranishan and the communities on the southern fringes of the Galacial Wastes.

It has been five years since a new member joined The Twelve. The paladins are more powerful than they have been in a century, and have a great deal of experience and wisdom between them. They know the way each other think, and how they fight. They are a stunningly effective fighting team.

For the last three seasons, The Twelve have been embroiled in a struggle that has tested their mettle to the limits. At the behest of a celestial ally of longstanding, The Twelve stepped beyond the world of Iourn, crossing the Weirlands, and entering the Heavenly Realm. There they became embroiled in bitter arbitration between several contesting Hosts.

No-one, least of all The Armourer, believed that the matter would take so long. When Camus met with Narramac during the last days of 203 LE, the Norandon archwizard was furious that The Twelve were out of the picture at such a pivotal time in Iourn's history. Camus shared his concern, but the matter that the knights were embarked upon subsumed all other concerns for them.

Discussions broke down on many occasions, and soon The Twelve found themselves embroiled in a Heavenly war that threatened to extinguish what little there was to balance the Great Dark. In the end, the knights were successful in creating a peace, but at a great price. There is now imbalance in the Heavens, and that can only play into the hands of Karatath and his evil kind.

They were still beyond Iourn, finalising the details of their agreement, when the Horn of Deliverance was sounded. The Horn, and many devices like it, had been spread around the world by previous Armourers as a means for the little people to contact The Twelve in times of dire need. The threat of a further outpouring of evil from the Wraith Haunt certainly qualified. And on 30 Dark Days 204, The Twelve arrive at the behest of the Druidic Order.

The Current Roster

Each member of the Twelve carries a set of sword and armour forged from hallowed steel that aborbs the first fifty points of fire damage as an extraordinary quality.. The swords are hallowed steel +10 holy power eager keen blessed bastard swords. The armour is hallowed steel +10 greater spell resistance called full plate armour. The armour is also enchanted with an illusion so that anyone looking on a member of The Twelve sees the epitome of what he thinks a paladin should be. In addition the sword and armour together confer additional powers unique to each wielder. The following paladins rode forth to deal with Sarakite on 30 Dark Days 204. They are the greatest and most powerful of their kind ever to sit in the saddle.

Knight Commander Phidelius Verne: An ageing man of tremendous power and experience. He has served the cause longer than any of them and is renowned for his wisdom and foresight. A rider of supernatural skill, his bonded mount is a silver dragon.

Caerdanan: The oldest member of the group. Caerdanan is an elf, exiled from the Greymere for consorting with humans. He is extremely old, and can remember a time before the rise of Karatath. He is bonded to a couatl.

Cephas Gellias: A paladin of great warmth and compassion. His talents lie in healing and protecting his comrades. He is bound to a celestial pegasus that is his constant companion.

Titus 'Tendeath' Geluvelt: An ogre god-like strength and endurance. Titus has no bonded mount, but can summon a rhino from another dimenstion to carry him into battle.

Grazakik: An insect warrior from the burning sands of his tortured home. Grazakik is a four-armed thri-kreen who brings a distinctly alien perspective to the group. His bonded mount is a bombardier beetle.

Halloran: A mighty-muscled lizardine humanoid who has dedicated his soul to Azygous and his life to the eradication of demons and their kind from the world. He is bound to shadow hippogriff.

Einselyn Prema Lynn: A woman of extraordinary beauty and power. She is the most dedicated and accomplished paladin in the group. Einselyn is an expert at aerial combat on her bonded mount.

Lady Cerys Olwain: An accomplished paladin and impressive seer who senses the currents and eddies of Fate and acts accordingly. She is bound to a horned felldrake.

Brenin Rivenstone: The most senior priest of Azygous in all the world, Brenin walks a path apart from his church taking the teachings of Azygous and the power of his spells to the enemies of Light. His bonded mount is a simple horse.

Thomlin Salastos: Once a bard, Salastos now makes history rather than reports it. The member of the group most inclined to bend the rules to get results. His bonded mount is a celestial griffin.

Toboromor: Once a barbarian from the wilds, Toboromor turned his abilities toward the tracking down and apprehension of enemies of freedom. A lammasu willing carries this paladin into battle.

Tyra: A dwarf from the Auld Kingdom magically enlarged to six feet in height. She has followed the teachings of Azygous into the clergy but remains a holy terror on the battlefield. She is bonded to a half-earth elemental dire lion.

See Also:

• The Code of the Twelve in the section on Religion
• Timeline of the Twelve
• Song of Sarakite campaign log
• Player Character Spotlight