Hello Sapience,

I have been struggling with trying to find a way to write this post as it is about an important and sensitive subject and I want to give it the detail and respect that it deserves without presenting so much information all at once as to be overwhelming, thus putting people off reading it.

This post is about Sir Gladius Dorn and how he was murdered.

I was part of the defence team for Captain Blackgale, the pirate who was arrested by Targossian forces some years ago. Captain Blackgale was believed to actually be Sir Gladius Dorn, a Mitran knight who mysteriously vanished centuries prior.

Myself, Ser Aerek Ancyrion and Nezaya Visindi spent considerable time investigating everything surrounding Captain Blackgale in order to facilitate a fair trial for the man, and I would like to share with you all everything that we found. Unfortunately, due to this being on the public boards, I am not really able to post full transcripts of every conversation or all of the documentation we handed over, but I am willing and able to provide complete manuscripts detailing every single aspect of our investigation upon request.

Sir Gladius spent many years living in New Hope, following the fall of Shallam and it was the same place that he met his untimely end.


----

As part of our investigation into why Sir Gladus Dorn was calling himself Captain Blackgale now, we enlisted the aid of Pryla'ari to examine the defendant's memories to see if there was anything that we could glean from such. Also present for this examination were Dame Aeowynn and Lumarch Erishka as representatives of Targossas. I will provide the salient points of this meeting here, but a full transcript is available also:

A pale film coats Pryla'ari, Priestess of Life's eyes as she directs two fingertips to Captain Blackgale's brow. Lines of faint silver seep from the crystal, weaving into a dome above his head.

Pryla'ari, Priestess of Life says, "This is more complete than I expected."

Pryla'ari, Priestess of Life says, "I will loose fragments only."

Pryla'ari, Priestess of Life whispers, "Anchor your breath, Captain. Let the river carry memory to its bank."

The vision sharpens: ink-faded shipping ledgers lie piled beside the glowing stone. An unseen woman's voice drifts through the chamber, brittle as old parchment.

A weary voice whispers, "The relic must remain where no tribunal will look. Our oath binds us, whatever storm may follow."

The sigils ripple; the storeroom dissolves. A cloister appears, moonlit and hushed. A frail matron wearing a single silver ring lifts the blue-lit stone toward a Knight bearing Mitran armour. His eyes widen in horror.

The same voice, now sterner, says, "Better one scarred memory than a nation torn open. Be still."

Pryla'ari, Priestess of Life's fingers twitch; the lattice trembles as Captain Blackgale shudders.

Pryla'ari, Priestess of Life whispers, "Ease him. The strand frays. Quiet the pulse."

The cloister fades. A final image flickers: towering bookshelves, journals scattered across a table, and the same Knight clutching a map of distant islands while storm clouds bruise the glass above him.

A different voice, wild and deep, says, "They crowned themselves guardians yet forged chains from faith. I will haul the truth into daylight, even if dawn burns me bare."

The silver lattice collapses, drifting down like ash. Pryla'ari, Priestess of Life exhales and withdraws her hand.

Pryla'ari, Priestess of Life says, "The shutter closes, and it is done. He carries only echoes now, but the river has shown its source."

[Edited to cut out chatter for sake of reading on the boards. Full transcripts are available upon request. We pick up after the ritual is over.]
Pryla'ari, Priestess of Life says, "Should these visions be truth, then you might remember it by the apparent illusion we were all collectively led to believe was its purpose."

Pryla'ari, Priestess of Life says, "Fashioned in Seleucar's final decades, though I am unaware of its smith."

Pryla'ari, Priestess of Life says, "It gentles war stallions that no bit or rider could master."

Squire Darona Ancyrion-Firedancer, Scarlatti's Pride says in a lilting voice, "Why would she wipe his memory to hide a stone that... Helps people ride horses?"

You say in a charmingly wicked voice, "I mean that would be -one- use."

Her features softening, Pryla'ari, Priestess of Life frowns slightly.

You say in a charmingly wicked voice, "The stone induces passivity."

Aeowynn says, "Or aggression."

Pryla'ari, Priestess of Life says, "My part in this appears to be concluded, and I would likely wish to avoid where I believe your questions will inevitably lead."


[Goodbyes are shared and the meeting concludes]
---------

Those of you familiar with New Hope might recognize this description of that of the Bridling Stone, a stone that was said to be used to assist with the taming of horses.

---------

Still, our digging continued to turn up more leads. Any who have spent any significant time looking over the poetry boards will recognise the Widow of Windward Reach, who would often write poems on the subject of Blackgale. We were fortunate enough to be able to speak to her about the matter and, again, a full transcript of the interview can be provided upon request, but I will provide the "juicy" part here:

Widow:
"I will leave you to do what you will with this information."

"Centuries ago, ledgers from the now-defunct Church show a convoy that never reached its listed destination. The receipts were intact, but the arrival records end there. Every ledger line after that page used a new scribe's hand."

"A generation or five later, word spreads of an island colony that has appeared on postal charts. Of little importance to most, but it's something old pirates would make note of. There was no founding date nor sponsor named for the colony, yet the Church routes shifted to include it."

"One crate from the convoy matched a sealing mark found in their oldest storehouse. The mark was scraped off, but the wax residue has the same gold and myrrh mix they used only for relics. A woman from that colony travelled to the Church some years later with questions. Her notes suggested she learned why the crate was hidden, then she vanished at sea on the return trip."

Interviewer:
"What manner of relics? I presume we don't mean the Protean kind."

Widow:
"Hard to say. Usually of the religious sort. Some inconsequential, and some powerful."

"It was claimed she drowned. The boat's manifest was missing more than her name, however, as all of her belongings seemingly disappeared. Time passed and some secrets were lost, and forgotten. The Church fell, but remnants of it carried on, as I'm sure you are aware."

Widow:
"Until a Knight came across charts and journals in the place he called home. He was outraged, and he spoke of publishing everything. The next day, however, he awoke without so much as a memory of his own handwriting. His home was destroyed - allegedly a coincidence."

Interviewer:
"Did the charts and journals survive or were they... presumed destroyed with the home?"

Widow:
"They were taken, and I must assume they were destroyed. What remains exists only in the corners of his mind."

[This conversation is edited to remove a lot of chatter. Full transcripts are available at request but I want to keep things as concise as possible for the sake of the sanity of anybody reading this on the board.]
Interviewer:
Do you know where this place is? This smuggler's den?"

Widow:
"Oh, it is a rather well known place now. Modern maps list it as New Hope."

--------

More links tying Sir Gladius' memory loss to New Hope. It makes sense, of course, he returned there during his time as Blackgale after all, even if it was in a violent capacity.

--------

You will have to bear with me for this part, as this next attached document is quite long but it is very much worth a read. The following document is a piece of paper that was handed to us by Sirawyn, the priestess in New Hope who's mind has been irreparably damaged by the Bridling Stone. This is the Vigilant's Canon:

THE VIGILANT CANON: Articles and Observances for the Quiet Sect of the
Luminai as entrusted to the colony henceforth called New Hope.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
PREFACE
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Know that the Light which guards is oft required to stand unseen. New Hope is appointed as a lantern set below the skyline, its glass dimmer by design, that distant eyes pass over it without pause. You are the hidden wing of the Luminai, bound to shield and to keep what brighter bastions of the Church cannot openly steward.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I. MANDATE OF THE COLONY
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Maintain an uninterrupted sanctuary for the displaced and the weary, offering sustenance in body and doctrine.
2. Safeguard artefacts and histories deemed too volatile for public archive, ensuring their integrity until higher writ recalls them.
3. Observe the tides: of faith, of war, of heresy, reporting only to the appointed courier who bears the pivot seal.
4. Garrison the island's approaches by humble guise; let no banner or fortification betray your charter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
II. GOVERNANCE
--------------------------------------------------------------------
* The Abbess presides as Keeper of Oaths.
* A council of no more than seven Sisters records each season's grain, soul, and silence.
* No decree shall alter colony custom unless five of seven and the Keeper concur, save in moments of siege.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
III. DAILY OBSERVANCES
--------------------------------------------------------------------
First bell after dawn:
- A single verse recited while facing the hinter hills.
- Water blessed in silence poured along the western threshold.
Sun at zenith:
- Shared bread without salt to remember humility.
- One minute's stillness while the inner lantern is shrouded.
First star visible:
- An unseen hymn hummed, not voiced, to mark discretion.
- Lamps trimmed; doors barred.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. THE VIGIL RITES
--------------------------------------------------------------------
A. The Lantern Rite
Once each half-year the inner lantern is unshuttered at midnight. All Luminai gather cloaked, backs turned, that none witness the core flame. A single prayer of endurance follows.
B. The Bridling Vigil
Should any creature or will grow unruly, the tripart circle is laid in chalk beneath the meeting hall. Three hours of lamplight and murmured psalm subdue what threatens confession.
C. The Seal of Quiet
At the death of any Luminai, the name is written on reed paper, burned, and the ash scattered at sea. The colony keeps no ledger of the lost.

V. OATH OF VEIL AND VIGOUR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"I step in shadow that others may walk in Light.
My tongue keeps still until the higher flare commands speech.
My hands bear burdens unspoken; my silence bears them further.
So long as dawn exists, I guard its unseen root.
So sworn beneath the Quiet Flame."
The oath is taken at first posting, renewed every fourth midsummer,
and sealed in palm-blood folded between blank pages.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
VI. ARTICLES OF RESTRAINT
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1. No outsider may enter the vault or its antechamber.
2. No scripture naming the Quiet Sect shall leave the island.
3. No resident may partake in public forum or tournament beyond one
lunar cycle's sail.
4. When harbour fire beacons twice in a single night, all proceed inland
to the stone cellars until bell strike ends.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
VII. DISCIPLINE
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Infraction of any Article is answered in threefold measure: first,
fasting; second, silent labour; third, expatriation under veil.
The Keeper alone may commute or intensify penalty.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
VIII. FINAL INJUNCTION
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Though the world may applaud loud heroes, remember that bright stories are thrice indebted to places like ours, where choruses of quiet hands keep the embers from scattering. Let no resident covet acclaim; let no secret walk abroad uncloaked. In this vigilance the Luminai prospers, and in that prosperity the greater Church and Good endure.

Let these words lie folded beyond eager eyes, until the dawn that calls you home.


-------

With these pieces of evidence, it is becoming quite apparent what exactly happened to Sir Gladius. He was living in New Hope and he stumbled across this Quiet Sect in New Hope. Upset by what he found, that a branch of the Luminai were using his home to smuggle and hide artifacts, he threatened to publish all that he discovered.

To keep him quiet, he was subjected to the Bridling Ritual - "Should any creature or will grow unruly, the tripart circle is laid in chalk beneath the meeting hall. Three hours of lamplight and murmured psalm subdue what threatens confession."

He grew unruly and he was subdued. The Bridling Stone, as powerful as it is, completely ruptured his mind, leading him to taking up the mantle of Captain Blackgale, the Mysian pirate.

-------

Unfortunately, before any of this could be brought to trial, Blackgale was slain in his cell so it is unlikely that justice will ever truly be done. Still, it is important to me that the truth is made known. I seek to honour the wishes of Sir Gladius Dorn before he was murdered by those in New Hope and publish everything so that it may be dragged into the light and seen by all.


-------

This post is very long. I appreciate those of you who stuck with me until the very end of this.


As I have said earlier in the post, any evidence that you wish for more detail on can be provided in full at request, I just didn't want to make this already too long post even longer.

Thank you for your time.

- Darona Ancyrion-Firedancer




Penned by my hand on the 10th of Chronos, in the year 998 AF.