Note: The text lightly touches on the topics of suicide and rape.
Introduction
The Order of the Knights of the Most Holy Leiki (colloquially just The Order) is an organization that was founded in the year 130 of the New Era as a result of the uprising and war in Rasan. Siris Angara I. Hikaria was the first to come up with the idea of founding The Order, and after gathering few of the most capable warriors of Lyniros at the time, gave it this small group a free hand in most matters on the condition that it would answer to the Lynirosan ruler in all cases and serve them and the Empire faithfully. She appointed the then Lynirosan general Tujan as the first head of The Order. Though he spent his youth as a vagabond, mercenary and criminal, shortly before the outbreak of the Lyniros-Rasan War, he joined the Lynirosan army to participate in the conflict, not knowing that in the following years he would become famous for his strength and unprecedented ability to recruit other soldiers and lead them into battle.
The Order's first goal was to build a base. Location such as towns near An Sorania or the capital itself were considered, but in the end, Tujan's proposal to build an the fortress in the Karra Desert won. The reason for the construction here is still an open secret to all – The Order has never admitted it, but people soon realized that the vast, seemingly endless sandy plains with a minimum of greenery made escape from this place impossible, or at the very least incredibly difficult. Tujan was probably inspired by the prison in the heart of the Red Desert called the Forge. Construction of the monastery began in 131 on elevated rocks several dozen miles east of the Rashari city of Seyada and was completed within a few decades. Its official name is Karra Monastery, but to most locals and the knights themselves, it is simply the Monastery.
The Order originally served only as an elite military unit, but over time their goals have expanded to include spreading Leikism to all corners of the Empire. Their influence also extends to the Middleland Alliance.
Its emblem and flag are a red sun on a black background, which is why the knights are often indirectly referred to as "night suns".
Life in The Order
The Order is organized into a hierarchical structure – at the top there is one, de facto two leaders, below them are some of the strongest and most experienced knights, then follows a layer of ordinary trained knights, and at the very bottom are apprentices.
lThe leader is usually the oldest knight in The Order who handles all of its internal affairs and communicates with An Sorania on external matters. Each leader elects their adjutant, who stands in for them when necessary. In the event of the leader's death, the adjutant becomes the new leader, who then elects a new adjutant for themselves. Colloquially, the adjutant is also referred to as the leader, hence the two leaders.
Experienced knights are appointed by the leader. They have the authority to lead units of both The Order and other knights or soldiers of the Imperial army, and they take care of minor matters inside The Order, such as appointing knights, accepting new apprentices, and teaching.
Ordinary knights are the most numerous layer, which has no special authority within The Order apart from teaching, but outside of it stands above the majority of the Imperial army.
Apprentices are trained by other knights, often from a very young age. However, they are not only dedicated to training, but also take care of various tasks throughout the Monastery such as cooking and cleaning, in which the other layers only partially take part.
The truth is that this division has another layer that divides noble and common knights, even though The Order presents itself as an organization that does not care about noble origin. Nobles are free to come and go outside the Monastery at will, even in the state of apprenticeship, if their family requests them, which is far from the case for common members of The Order, who are forbidden to leave the Monastery – apprentices never and common knights only with the permission of an experienced knight or one of the leaders. Nobles often take advantage of their position and the fact that they are rarely punished for offenses of violence, and therefore physical violence, including sexual violence, is a serious problem and a public secret that no one talks about or attempts to avoid. These practices are also behind the fact that only noble women tend to reach higher positions, since pregnancy automatically means expulsion from The Order.
Training may begin at a very early age, most often before the age of fifteen, but it is not uncommon to take in children under the age of ten. Noble apprentices are not usually firstborns; in the vast majority of cases, they are the youngest children of noble couples that would only be a financial burden to the family if they wanted to marry. For children of commoners, joining The Order is a completely different reality – almost every such child is either an orphan or a child whose parents have directly offered them to The Order. In addition, every non-Lynirosan or non-Sentian apprentice must take a new Lynirosan name.
While the nobles can leave the training at any time, the commoners have no choice but to stay, and so it is not uncommon for many to attempt to leave the Monastery by other means. However, over The Order's approximately seven hundred years of existence, the Monastery has taken so many measures that it is almost impossible to take one's own life.
The training itself is tough and ruthless, designed to produce equally tough and ruthless soldiers. It involves training not only the body but also the mind – apprentices are taught about Leikism, the ideals of the Empire, and distorted images of lands deemed heretical by the Empire in order to convince the future knights that they are fighting for the right cause.
The knights are infamous for their recognizable black uniforms with a red sun on the chest, masks covering the upper half of their faces, and swords made of black steel. Experienced knights tend to wear a bit more opulent attire, which is most noticeable by their significantly more ornate cloaks.
