Prefecture of the Heralds of the Dawn

The Heralds of the Dawn are a Kassinite prefecture of the Holy Republic of Vaalus, with a specific role in international diplomacy and the propagation of Kassinite doctrine beyond the borders of Vaalus. Founded in 1216AK by Praefecte Cyrus Nikomachi, the Heralds initially consisted of a mixture of former members of the Proxenium (the diplomatic bureau of the pre-reformation Republic), Kassinite theologians, and preachers of the Light of Kassin.   The Heralds have a particular dispensation to collect and study religous texts which would otherwise be prohibited in Vaalus, officially for the purpose of understanding the ways in which the Deceiver has woven their lies into the minds of the world at large; as such, they are in possession of a large library of such texts, the Archives of Dusk and Dawn, located in a heavily-guarded monastery on a small island just off the coast at Rhamnassos. The existence of these archives is at times contraversial, with other Prefectures including the Quaestors of Truth and the Pure Mind having argued at various points in their history that the preservation of such texts is morally hazardous, if not blasphemous in and of itself; such rhetoric has rarely swayed the opinion of the authorities, though the Heralds did come under a great deal of scrutiny over their Archive following the downfall of the Sarian Sect.   The Heralds of the Dawn enjoy close relations with a number of the other Prefectures, particularly the Cartographer's Mantle and the Mourning Winds. Historically they have had bitter disagreements with the Watchful Blade over matters of foreign policy, and some with the Quaestors of Truth around the time of the Sarian Sect. More recently there have been several clashes with the ultra-militant Prefecture of the Midnight Pyre over a number of issues, including the existence of the Archives of Dusk and Dawn.  

Relation to the Sarian Sect

The infamous heretic Isabella Kruidenhandelaar is widely known to have been a member of the Heralds of the Dawn prior to the founding of her schismatic sect, and many of her early followers were members of the Heralds. They broke away from the Heralds in 1231AK, founding the organisation officially called the Provisional Prefecture of the Watchers of the Horizon, but best known as the Sarian Sect. Following the downfall of the Sarians, the remaining Heralds came under intense scrutiny by the wider Kassinite authorities, though an investigation spearheaded by the Prefecture of the Black Rose uncovered very few Sarian devotees that had remained within their ranks. The Black Rose is sometimes rumoured to have confiscated a large number of documents related to the Sarian Sect from the Archives of Dusk and Dawn, though the notoriously secretive organisation has neither confirmed nor denied this.