Arnath’s Righteous Fist
The history Order of Arnath’s Chapter of the Fist is unimpressive pre-emergence of the Undead. A smaller chapter with only a few dozen clerics, they aware fiercely xenophobic of Syndar, and even non-Order members. This led them to clashes with other nations’ people, the Syndar, the Lay Order, and even their own more tolerant brethren. The Order as a whole simply bore their presence, as their settlement was in the far western Celestial Mountains where they could do no harm.
It was the Fist who first sent troops to combat the Undead threat. While the rest of Mardrun, and even the Order, moved slowly, the Fist rallied and deployed half of its forces. Meeting the Undead and Penitent with the Vandregonian 5th, they suffered considerable losses but managed to stem the tide. As the returned to the Order of Arnath with their report, the Hand ordered the chapter to rebuild their strength. This was easy as their fame spread; those who saw them wanted to be at the tip of the spear.
As the War dragged on, the Fist went through cycles of deployment and replenishment. Often they would dive into a situation, turning or stemming the tide with great losses. After the first few years, they began to keep half the chapter in reserve to be able to deploy while the other have regained its strength.
On Mardrun
It was after a particular vicious mauling of their troops that the word reached them of the continent of Mardrun. Seeing a chance to exploit a new country far from the Undead and effectively double the Chapter’s size, the Fist began construction of its battle barges. After approval from the Hand, they began to ferry large portions of the Chapter to Mardrun. They had hoped the wild country would be easily tamed. They were wrong.
The Colonist and Ulven War exploded. If there was a fighting force meant for the war it was the battle hardened Fist. They continually threw back the Ulven, making great strides into the continent. They met in a final battle under the Great Wolf’s Hackles where the Yurnai River starts, and in a desperate melee that lasted twelve hours, finally beat the Ulven back. The Fist took it as a sign to build their settlement there.
That year the truce was signed. The Fist immediately began to construct what would become Starkhaven, using their barges to shuttle material and people from Faedrun to Mardrun. They had hoped to finish building and training their forces to send back to turn the tide of the war. It was not to be.
First, the May’Kar Dominion turned. After many years of fighting, the Kingdom of Aldoria was destroyed, starting the Fall. The Order surged forward in that time, buying hope with their lives. Every wave of refugees told stories of the Order holding back a flood of Undead and Penitent. Every wave of refugees held less and less Order members, either the Clerics or their charges. Finally, the boats stopped coming.
The Fist kept building their strength, hoping to gain enough to go back to Faedrun and to the Stronghold in the Celestial Mountains. Those hopes were dashed when the Ulven Civil War erupted, and their battle barges were burned. Loss of a large portion of their forces, their battle barges, and their patron in Baron Richards started the decay of Starkhaven. Colonists fled while the Fist turned inward, ever more resentful of the outside world.
Year 260 (2011)
Starkhaven is almost complete, the first heavily fortified settlement on Mardrun, when the Order slows down construction due to economic strain. The leadership tends to the needs of the people and to expanding supplies for the Order. A few Lions had been sent to investigate what was happening in the rest of the colonies.
Yearly Update – 261 (2012)
Word reached the Order that an undead, a lich, was spotted on Mardrun, Lions were dispatched to track down and kill it. Several groups of Lions and squads of Starkhaven militia were killed trying to defeat this foe, until finally the Coalition helped track it down the northern coast and into Grimward territory. With the help and guidance of the Lions, the lich was cornered and destroyed.
Yearly Update – 262 (2013)
As the Ulven Civil War gains momentum, the Order of Arnath’s Fist is caught in the thick of it. Lions are sent out on patrol, Starkhaven militia protect the roads near their settlement and Daven’s Reach, and the battle barges of the Order sail and patrol the Yurnai river that separates the Grimward and Nightriver lands. Conflict after conflict takes its toll on the Order as the highly skilled and equipped warriors fall one by one, difficult and costly to replace. Months of attrition force the Lions to retreat from the main bulk of the conflict to reinforce and a sneak attack on the Yurnai river by Clan Grimward warriors led to the destruction of the Order’s battle barges and the death of their crews. As winter sets in at the end of the year, the Order is in dire need of supplies and support; their ambitious goals to help the Civil War resulting in a terrible cost for both the Order and the settlement of Starkhaven.
Yearly Update – 263 (2014)
Following the political fallout between the Order of Arnath’s Fist and Baron Richards of Newhope, Starkhaven’s construction ground to a halt and its walls slowly began to fall into disrepair. The already famously xenophobic clerics retreated deeper into their cloistered stronghold, pulling their troops out of the war save for a handful of Lions who were sent to hold the Pass through the Great Wolf’s Hackles.
More and more over the year, Starkhaven patrols stop going out on the roads and the Lions remain stationed at home.
Frustration began to build as signs of corruption and foul play were discovered inside Starkhaven itself while the Lions in the Pass, expecting and awaiting reinforcements, seemed to have been forgotten by their allies. The year culminates in a decision made on behalf of Starkhaven, to be revealed early in the following year.
Yearly Update – 264 (2015)
Beginning on a sour note, the Order of Arnath’s Fist started the year by informing the Coalition of their decision to pull their troops out of the pass through the Great Wolf’s Hackles in order to return home and help tend their fields. Feeling betrayed and ignored by those who called them allies, Starkhaven had been hoping for some form of aid or support in the pass, but received none. Although weakened, a handful of Lions and Starkhaven militia flew their banners and marched alongside Coalition and Clan Nightriver allies… although none of them survived to return home. It is unknown if the Order will continue to remain reclusive after the Civil War had taken such a heavy toll on them.
Yearly Update – 265 (2016)
After years of decay and financial distress, the once great settlement of Starkhaven had descended into near ruin. Many settlers fled to other colonies. Although the military might of the Order of Arnath has never recovered from the initial conflict with the Ulven and the recent Ulven Civil War, a handful of the Fist chapter members maintain control of Starkhaven and can be seen periodically. They have become more reclusive now, choosing to stay inside their crumbling keep and keep to their ideals and themselves instead of getting involved in the world at large. This had concerned members of the Order and also some of the people of Starkhaven, and a Griffin stepped forward to push for a reform. A new direction was presented and the Hand of Arnath listened; although the Order of Arnath’s Fist would remain the primary chapter of the Order on Mardrun, a new settlement and some of the existing military units were re-purposed with aiding the efforts of this new chapter. The Fsit resisted this, citing the weakening of their Chapter. The Hand overruled them.
The Fist were called into action to support their brother chapter during the Inquisition of Fire. Bos Meszar, the militant wing of the settlement of Serai, was found to be experimenting with Undead. Both Chapters mobilized with the Light was in the lead. The Chapter of the Light and Bos Mezsar came to blows, but their militia was no match for the highly trained Order militia. However, a rampaging Mordok horde pressed both Chapters hard. With Serai no longer having a military force, the town swore fealty to the Order. The Fist currently patrols and safeguards the settlement.