Blade Keepers of Solaris

When Requiems foundations and connection with the church started to interact more with the church, there was a schism. While the family of Lyfeldes rectified their nation and gathered powerful houses under their banner, the lands were fresh of elven rule and dangerous. What would be Requiem was policed by the Kings bannermen who were often fighting rebel lords. The Saints of Solaris and their processions were joined by the faithful fighting men and women. They were monster hunters and paladins of justice.

When Requiem was created and the Blades of Solaris became entwined with the government to a degree, the holy soldiers were asked to disband and become preachers. To leave the fighting to the soldiers or mercenary sort. Requiem did not want to feel threatened by the religion it was going to help rise, and asked that the church have no standing armed force outside of some guards.

This resulted in a schism in the church, and the fighting forces who had spent years defending the faithful would renounce the official church and form what is considered to be a monastic order. They would create a temple-fortress in the Roost Mountains, and step outward into the world to defend holy sites or recover relics.

The Blade Keepers would eventually mend their ties with the church, but their faith had diverged some. The Keepers believe in the ways of old, that Solaris was no grand lord but a man who fought and fell tyrants. They believe in attack, in removing enemies that are against his tenets. While the church may have expeditions of exorcism, the Keepers will join mercenary forces, go on singular crusades to hunt the enemies of Solaris before they become a problem big enough for the church to see, and push for the expansion of the religion and removal of kings.

With some repair to their relationship, the Blade Keepers have become a mercenary monk organization who will assist the church in tasks if requested and paid for such a thing. These are contracts as any mercenary groups would be, allowing the church to use the Keepers as an armed force without violating their agreements with Requiem. However the years of discontent have meant that though the groups work together for common goals, it is often not without issue. Church figures and Keepers figures butt heads, and Keepers may be under contract to the Church but understand their position grants them much leverage. Rarely do they treat the Vicars or Cardinals they serve under as anything but a stepping stone towards fighting enemies.