Astoach
The Dark Comedy
THE IMPERIAL PALADIN ORDER
[SIZE=16pt]Imperium Incantum. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=16pt]My Legion is My Bond.[/SIZE]
This first step to initiate the supreme era of equality would be to instill a legend of subjugation that would branch together the mindset of a nation.
Within this well of fettered mentality, the Theocratic Imperium was borne atop its socialist pretense, acting not only as a religious sentiment that would allow the Reborn Imperium to stand as a unique government body, apart from the more strictly democratic nations, such as that of the Grand Republic, but to also build a single spiritual body that would act as an additional catalyst to coax forth specific response from the masses while also building upon an air of ignorance.
Established upon the Bed of Apollus (The Abbey of the Thirteen Bells) the Imperial Paladin Order is heralded by the thirteen unnamed Paragons, each of which hold sway over a particular bell, symbolically inheriting an aspect of the Imperium.
While possessing no particularly divine power or drive, the Paladin is a dedicated beast, equally deluded as the Imperium populous to the nonsense they preach, as directed by the Thirteen. They preach the tolls of xenophobia and chauvinism, heralding a toxic society void of the warm embrace they had so desperately sought.
THE THIRTEEN
We all stood before that pantheon, adorned in opaque pearl and silver. Set upon that altar of gold, situated amid their center, was a box of crimson, covered in cloth, draped over its frame.
"To each Paragon, a Bell, borne of blood and lightened in the auburn skies of yore. I, through these twining sunsets, which cast upon us holy incandescence, grant you these Bells, for adorned within are your virtue."
The Cardinal skinned back the gilded, scarlet fabric over the caged array of silken down, wherein situated upon their soft exterior were thirteen golden bells, ornate in pictures of majesty... and of terror.
"To the most humble, I grant the Bell of the Chalice."
"To the most devout, I grant the Bell of the Prayer."
"To the must righteous, I grant the Bell of the Sword."
"To the most honorable, I grant the Bell of the Crown."
"To the most obedient, I grant the Bell of the Caucus."
"To the most pure, I grant the Bell of the Rosary."
"To the most loving, I grant the Bell of the Chapel."
"To the most patient, I grant the Bell of the Altar."
"To the most feeble, I grant the Bell of the Pauper."
"To the most holy, I present the Bell of the Angel."
"To the most mighty, I present the Bell of the Armor."
"To the most modest, I present the Bell of the Bread."
"And to the most infallible, I present the Bell of the Tower."