Legion of Mykentos

When High Priest Mykentos was arrested by the Utrajalek on charges of heresy, Tycha, Neltak, and a group of loyal Knights fled to Entani. There they collected the weapons and equipment needed to launch a surprise raid to rescue Mykentos from the hands of the Inquisition. During the operation a number of additional Knights would defect and join them. On their return to Entani, Mykentos would formally swear them to the The Fourth Path before the Gateway to Heaven, before opening it to reveal the secrets inside. This group of Knights would go on to serve as his bodyguard for the rest of his life, as well as training and leading the new army of Entani. During this time they would be known as the Knights of the Path.   During the formation of the Triad, the Knights would protect the Capital building, while the Army of the Triad would defend the rest of the city. They oversaw the first “final” restoration of the building, as well as the sealing of the Gateway to Heaven behind secret passages and the removal or concealment of Utrajalek inscriptions and statuary. In essence they erased all traces of the early Kingdom of Entani as well as the Hudrajel Empire from the building and replaced it with the simple markings of the Fourth Path.   The Knights would continue defending the building under the provisional government that followed the declaration of cease fire. Following the cease fire and under the provisional government, they would be joined by guards of the Triad in a show of unity. Mykentos would be followed by three guards at all times, a Knight, and two guards supplied by Gal and Cen respectively. After the formation of the Republic, guarding Mykentos would again be the sole responsibility of the Knights. During this time they would be known alternatively as the Knights of Entani or the Sword of the Hilt. Privately, they would refer to themselves as the Knights of Mykentos.   When Mykentos collapsed on Republic Day of the year 5, the Knights carried him to the bedroom attached to the Office of the Hilt. The Assembly immediately declared a state of emergency to place all armed forces on alert. It was the Knights that carried Mykentos through the Gateway to Heaven and placed him in stasis under the direction of Tycha and Ecipsos, then Speaker of the Assembly.   Without Mykentos, the Heunos decided not to nominate a new Hilt, instead proclaiming Tycha Grand Knight of the Republic and granting her the military authority of the Hilt to maintain order and sustain the peace. The Knights refused to follow the orders of the Heunos and painting their armor black as a symbol of mourning, declared themselves the Legion of Mykentos. The Heunos, essentially held captive by the new Legion within the Capital, agreed to make them the sole defenders of the center of the Republic, if they would follow the orders of the Grand Knight.   The Legion, under Tycha’s direction launched what was technically the only war of conquest in the history of the Republic, taking Yerlaja in a surprise assault following discovery of the Utrajalek plot to assassinate Mykentos in circumstances very similar to the illness he finally suffered. They forced the Utrajalek leadership into exile and seized their Archives, bringing it to Entani to form the core of what became the Hall of Knowledge. During the search of the Yerlaja complex, the Legion discovered Neltak, who had been held and tortured by the Inquisition after he was captured during the declaration of cease fire. As the teacher of Mykentos and someone who had always been seen as his loyal second, it had been the Utrajalek intention to replace Mykentos with Neltak, and through him regain their place of power. Neltak was more than simply Mykentos’ teacher however, having developed the concepts of the Fourth Path that Mykentos would put into practice, and he refused to cooperate.   On his return to Entani, Neltak would take the remaining priests that had come with them in the exile and merge them into the Legion, and Tycha would place him in command. Neltak assumed the name of “The First of the Legion,” creating the tradition where all members of the Legion erased their identities when joining. No member of the Legion would ever reveal their face in public from this time onward, something Neltak would often use in the future to create a covert intelligence service. Neltak himself would never wear the armor of the Legion but would always cover his face both to conceal his identity and to cover the scars of his torture.   The Legion would remain in the Capital throughout the civil war, Neltak personally saving the Great Charter from the burning building following a nuclear strike on the city by Mon’so. Neltak would take the Great Charter to Ecipsos who, in spite of effectively being in exile, was still Speaker of the Assembly and therefore the highest ranking elected official not involved in the civil war. Neltak would give him the Great Charter and remind him that it was his duty to uphold it, prompting Ecipsos to summon the exiled Assembly to him. The Assembly would declare all other governments claiming to be the Republic illegitimate, since they alone possessed the Great Charter and had the support of the Legion. Marching to Entani, the army of the Assembly would be joined by Gal and Cen in again securing the Republic and defeating Mon’so.   Following Ecipsos’ election as Hilt, the Legion would be tasked with protecting the Republic from tyranny and granted the authority to overthrow the government if it violated the Great Charter.