The Order of the Sun

Locked Aldoria's church: the faith of the Light. It descends from the sun worship of the ancient Ferrin, and it was once powerful enough to rival the throne. It was gutted by Archon Solaris's fall, then broken again by the Kaelen conquest.

Belief and symbols

• The faithful worship the Light. Aldorians call their world the Sunward Lands.
• Sunstone, a sacred glowing stone found only in Aldoria, is central to the Church's power. It's quarried in the Marches foothills under Church licence, and it can be refined into volatile, explosive and light-based reagents. After grain, it's what Kaelen wants most.
• The capital's name, Solis, means "City of the Sun". Its domed Grand Cathedral was the Order's seat.
• In legend, the first great war with Kaelen, the Sunfall War, was the moment the sun-faith nearly broke. It's remembered through an eclipse omen and a burned sun-temple.

Open Doctrine, prayers, holy days and the Order's own founding story haven't been written yet.

What the Order does

Before the conquest, the Order:

• anointed kings and queens, and blessed marriages;
• ran the cathedrals and held its own Church courts for clergy (benefit of clergy);
• collected tithes across the realm;
• held the Sunstone licence;
• by royal charter, guarded the capital and the holy sites. That made it the commander of the Sun-Guards (about 1,500) and, through them, of the City Watch (about 600).

Its people

Rank	Notes
The Archon	Head of the Order. Held the Royal Council's lead seat while the King was ill. Empty since Solaris fell
Senior clergy	Two of them held seats on the Royal Council.
Paladins	About 300 realm-wide, about 120 of them in Solis. Elite armoured knights. Every paladin swears two oaths: to the Light and to the Crown.
Sun-Guards	The Order's soldiers, about 1,500.
Brothers and chaplains	Parish priests, provisioners and household chaplains, such as Brother Cobb and Father Hollis.

The two oaths at the table

A paladin's double oath works like a soldier who reports to two commanders. While the King was ill, the Archon gave all the orders and nobody noticed the split. On "the one morning", a lucid King spoke in open court, and every paladin in the room had to decide which oath came first. Most chose the Crown.

History

When	What happened
Prehistory	The Ferrin's sun worship slowly becomes the Order of the Sun.
Early in Aldor IV's reign	The King grants the Order its modern charter.
During the King's illness	Archon Solaris takes the Council's lead seat and the capital's streets. Secretly, he poisons the King and signs the accord with Kaelen.
"The one morning"	The conspiracy is exposed in open court. Solaris falls, and Tristen later kills him in his cell.
The three years of peace	On the King-Consort's recommendation, the reluctant, honest Father Hollis leads the Order, but refuses the Archon's title. The Archon's seat is left empty, a sign of the reform. The Order reforms. It's weaker and humbler, and no longer a threat to the throne. Its Council seats are gone.
The conquest	Solis is besieged and ruined.
Now	Hollis runs a soup line from the ruined Order chapel in Solis and shelters anyone, including Kaelen families.

"The Light and its people, not the walls." (Father Hollis)

Open How far Hollis's authority reaches beyond his chapel under the occupation. What happened to the paladins after the conquest? Is there a schismatic faction?

Through the years

The Order at the height of its power, before Solaris fell

Sources

• The Aldorian Codex, "The Church" and "Armed forces"
• Campaign handoff (Campaign Two), §2 and §3
• Campaign Three handoff, §5
• Kaelen Codex, §0