Order of Chain

The Order of Chain is the order of the Chain Wardens. For reasons no one knows, they are the only ones who can detect and destroy the entities known as voidborn, and they defend the very fabric of reality against them. Though their numbers are still few after Victory Day and the civil war, mortals in many ways have no other refuge from the cosmic dangers behind the curtain: the order is the first and last line of defence against threats from outside this universe.¹²

The order’s true enemy is The Dark One himself, and every Chain Warden lives on the front line of the cosmic struggle against the void.²

History

The Second Age

Towards the end of the Second Age, the scholar Xeratos foresaw that the Dark One would attack the world again. No one believed him, but through the efforts of Xeratos and his students and the mysterious emergence of the Order of Chain, the Dark One was stopped without causing much harm. Somehow the Chain Wardens knew a costly but effective way to halt his influence. The Empire then granted the Chain Wardens two strong fortresses, vast resources and immunity from the law.³

The Third Age and Victory Day

So long had passed since the Dark One’s last intervention that even the wisest had forgotten their old enemy, and when the order claimed that something was stirring within the void, it took a long time to convince anyone. As voidborn began to appear across the realm, the Chain Wardens realised that this time powerful beings, the Heralds, controlled them.⁴

The Chain Wardens crossed the lands of Caligran and rallied a vast army, the Grand Alliance, the largest union in the history of Teneris. When the Heralds’ forces met the Alliance outside the Marble City, the Chain Wardens, supported by the Archon and the High Church, defeated the darkness through a ritual, and many of them paid for the victory with their lives.⁵

A song of that day tells of six Chain Wardens, Nalfein, Tyra, Raga, Alcarin, Gildor and the paladin Balath, who faced the Dark One’s avatar; in the song it is Balath who strikes the final blow.⁵

Outlawed and rebuilt

In 24 AVD Emperor Vaden I was found assassinated in his bed, and it was claimed that the assassin was a Chain Warden. As his first act, the new emperor, Vaden II, declared every member of the Order of Chain an outlaw. Legions marched on the order’s strongholds, and even wardens who fled beyond the Empire’s borders were hunted down and killed; according to historians, seven of every ten Chain Wardens were dead within a year.⁶

The nobility, believing themselves free of the Dark One for ever, were pleased that they would no longer have to fund what they called an outdated cult with their taxes, but the soldiers had little love for hunting the wardens who had saved them from annihilation only twenty-five years before. After Vaden II was overthrown, Emperor Elatan I supported the struggling order and helped it rebuild.⁷

Joining the order

Anyone, whatever their past, can become a Chain Warden if they wish and the order accepts them. Most wardens were adventurers before they joined and received special training, and whoever dedicates their life to the order must leave their old life behind. The order may recruit anywhere, whatever the situation; this is its right.¹⁸

The initiation ritual is dangerous: about one candidate in ten dies during it. Ten years after joining, some Chain Wardens die for no apparent reason, whatever their race or lifespan. The cause of these deaths is unknown, so on that anniversary their comrades hold a farewell party and wait shoulder to shoulder with the friend who may die. If the warden dies, the night ends in a funeral; if not, they drink and celebrate.¹

Chain Wardens stand beyond the laws of humans and gods, and the rules that bind other mortals do not bind them. They are rare: fighters are uncommon enough in the armies of the world and paladins rarer still, but seeing a Chain Warden is like witnessing a shooting star, a once-in-a-lifetime event.¹²

The sacred chains

After a year of specialised training, a Chain Warden whom the chain chooses is given a special weapon, a sacred chain. These chains are forged under the cold moonlight over many years, and they act as though they had a will of their own in binding and destroying evil. Each swears allegiance to a single warden and becomes, more than a weapon, an extension of its bearer’s self. Not every Chain Warden carries a chain, and being chosen by one is a great honour.¹²

The wardens’ might does not come from their muscles or their agility: they stand at the end of an endless line of legends and carry the knowledge of their ancient order.²

Doctrines

Different duties on the battlefield call for different specialisations, and Chain Wardens are divided according to their wishes and abilities into units that serve as the eyes, the swords or the shields of the order. Their small numbers force them to be both specialised and versatile. There are three renowned doctrines: the slayer, the seeker and the vanguard.¹⁹

• Slayers develop raw offensive power above all and always press their opponents. They usually serve in elite strike teams called swords, sent when a threat is too dire for a single warden, and they have the highest death rate of the three. Most were warriors and barbarians before joining. Known slayers include Borin Ironbeard, Raga of Bear Clan and Alcarin Nowafinve; their saying is that the best defence is a good offence.¹⁰
• Seekers put the pursuit of their prey above everything, finding, hindering and eliminating it. They are the order’s scouts, usually called “eyes”, who prefer to work alone and live among ordinary people under false identities; when they find a formidable foe, they usually report it to the order rather than face it alone. Most were rogues and rangers before. Known seekers include Nalfein the Black, Tyra Wideleaf and the Karga brothers.¹¹
• Vanguards put the protection of their allies above everything and are trained to survive the fiercest onslaught. Their main duty is to guard Castle Red and Castle Black, the two main headquarters of the order. Called “shields”, they are the first into the fray and the last to leave it; their saying is that the best defence is a good defence. Known vanguards include Balath Darkbane, Alexander Moonshield and Sir Valian Bluemare.¹¹

Keepers of void lore

The Order of Chain knows more about the voidborn than any other organisation, but it is not known for sharing that knowledge generously. Even some of its members, like some scholars, wrongly call beings that have succumbed to void corruption “voidborn”.¹²¹³

The Chainwarden Davos of Whitefall left an account of a shrine he entered with three other members of the Chain, where seven corpses lay, each guarded by a voidborn. Their elven guide, Feonel, went mad the moment he understood what the shrine was, and Davos ended his suffering on the spot. Davos wrote down the shrine’s ritual in full to honour the lives spent learning how to destroy it, in the hope that the knowledge would reach the Tower of the Chain without falling into the wrong hands.¹⁴