wynn: (Default)
ƜуηηєfαƖѕнσηɗ ([personal profile] wynn) wrote in [community profile] knightsoflegend2012-01-19 07:57 pm

prologue ♔ chances are more than expectations

WHO || Wynn and any characters newly joining the Knights
WHAT || Initial recruitment meetings with Wynn
WHERE || Knights Headquarters outside London, England
WHEN || Anytime before the 1st of each month
HOW || Prose OR Actionspam (I'll follow your lead!) Please make a new thread for your character's arrival below.

[When you see this note in a post or NPC tag, click for musical accompaniment!]

The paths to the Knighthood are as unique as the individuals who comprise its widespread organization. But all of their tales have one aspect in common: their first trip to the castle that serves as the primary headquarters for their operations occurs blindfolded, generally with the member who had recommended them for service as their escort.

Only when the car had pulled up to the front steps of the opulent building are they unmasked and allowed to follow inside.



Within the wide front hall is what looks like a receptionist desk to the left, manned by any one of a number of usually young Knights, who make the newly arrived sign into an ancient looking tome with hundreds of yellowed pages, along with today's date, usually accompanied by a look of curiosity from whoever's working the desk. Either way, they ask no questions.

They are then directed down the main ground floor hallway, which seems to stretch on for a great distance, passing tapestries of a mostly medieval flavor, suits of armor and weaponry lining the walls, and archways that open into opulent ballrooms, extra wings with numerous doors, poshly decorated parlors and more.

It's in front of an incredibly large painting that they come to a stop, drawing some kind of keycard out of their wallet or pockets and using it to open a small glass case containing a fire extinguisher to the right of the artwork. They pull the extinguisher upwards like a lever, making it clear it's just for show, and a loud mechanism creaks behind the wall, as the entire mural swings aside slowly to unveil a torch lit hallway. Escorts leave their charges to go on from here alone, usually with a nod or word of encouragement.

There's something solemn about the long stone corridor, made only more so by the fact that almost every inch of the walls on either side is covered in paintings, tapestries, rugs, artifacts, carvings, etc. that depict various images from the Knights' history, of those in armor battling against all manner of twisted and dangerous creatures. There's another constantly reoccurring image as well - of a gigantic silver dragon battling against armies of dark elves, or just one dark elf in particular, who is often depicted with a certain circular symbol somewhere on his wicked looking armor.

More prominent than this collection of madly arranged images is the incredibly large lettering inscribed over the large doors at the end of the hallway.

Thou Shalt Defend the Knighthood.
Thou Shalt respect all Weaknesses, and Shalt constitute thyself the Defender of them.
Thou Shalt not recoil before thine Enemy.
Thou Shalt make War against Injustice, without Cessation and without Mercy.
Thou Shalt never lie, and shall remain Faithful to thy pledged Word.
Thou Shalt be Generous, and listen to and Respect All.
Thou Shalt be Everywhere and Always the Champion of the Right and the Good against Injustice and Evil.


The room that stretches out beyond those doors, however, is enough to wrench the eyes off the inscription. It houses an incredibly large, thick, wooden table constructed in the round, surrounded by at least twenty five chairs. Rising from the center from the table is a massive statue that appears to be made of glass or crystal, depicting a dragon in flight. Suspended in the middle of the statue is a proud looking sword, that looks as if it's merely hovering there because of the statue's transparent nature. The statue rises up towards the vaulted ceilings as if it means to break free and soar out of the room, creating a very otherworldly aspect to the setting.

It may take a moment for those who enter to realize they are not fully alone, as Wynn waits on the exact opposite side of the table, facing a pair of incredibly tall sealed doors, that appear to be gilded in gold leaf. His hands are locked behind him, laced white cuffs falling over them, one ring visible on his left hand. His height is intimidating, at a full six foot seven, and his posture rigid and impeccable. He wears an old-fashioned tailored coat worked with silver and dark blues, over a silver and white doublet, framed with gleaming buttons that have tiny dragons worked onto them in brushed silver. He says nothing - doesn't even so much as turn, as if he doesn't even register that anyone has arrived.

Once inside, the doors fall shut with a ponderous thud, of what seems to be their own accord.
uponwildwaves: (oh?)

[personal profile] uponwildwaves 2012-04-08 06:33 am (UTC)(link)
You do?
uponwildwaves: (bitch please)

[personal profile] uponwildwaves 2012-04-09 07:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[He arches an eyebrow.]

Experience is a helluva word for it, but yes.
uponwildwaves: (kinda badass)

[personal profile] uponwildwaves 2012-04-09 08:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[Nod.] Of course.
uponwildwaves: (talking)

[personal profile] uponwildwaves 2012-04-10 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
Will that be all?
uponwildwaves: (oh?)

[personal profile] uponwildwaves 2012-04-11 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
So should I...?

[He leans back a bit and points to the door.]
uponwildwaves: (groggy)

[personal profile] uponwildwaves 2012-04-11 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
[He nods and... half... bows? Wtf should he do. Whatever. EXIT, STAGE... that-a-way!]
burnsbright: (🔪I am child of the heartless wind.)

[personal profile] burnsbright 2012-04-22 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
Scout traversed the corridor slowly. Not quite slowly enough to study everything that lined it, but enough to give it a good glance. She probed about and especially ahead with the Force, as best she could, but didn't pick up much. All the logic and first impressions on this planet couldn't quite squash the suspicion that she was walking into a trap. The quiet didn't help her nerves.

She didn't like this place. Or rather, she felt like she could like it, it reminded her of home more than any of the other places she could remember seeing in the past two years, and that... it wasn't good. In the end the Temple had not been safe. This wasn't either.

Not quite in the doorway yet, she looked through into the room beyond. The Force murmured like distant thunder, guiding her eyes first to Wynn. She studied him, every aspect she could see, tried to probe. He had a feel in the Force, stronger than that of most people. Not that she could pick up much. She could never pick up much.

But she was reasonably sure there wasn't anyone else in the room, which she felt confident in more because of her eyes than the Force, and if there were traps - maybe the statue, she was suspicious of that - what could she do but be ready to move?

Her nervous scanning gaze finally picked up on the door carvings, and keeping her ears open for movement she studied them. They weren't in Aurebesh, but she was already aware that the letters matched up to the ones she knew, it was just a cipher and one she understood. She exhaled in what was just short of a snort. Not in the same order, some of the phrasings were different, it was formal... but she had to admit. Very Jedi.

Whatever waited in there, she couldn't go in in this state. The man had waited this long without moving, he could wait a couple more minutes.

With the speed of long practice, Scout immersed herself in silent meditation. Her eyes slacked. Her tongue curled up so the tip just contacted the roof of her mouth. The Force flowing in a wheel from the crown of her head, down her spine, through the marrow of her bones, discharging out gradually from the pressure points in the soles of her feet, taking what it could of stress and that old welling pain. What would happen would happen, and she needed to be balanced to act properly.

Silent meditation had helped her many times in the past and it helped her now. When she stepped through the doors she was centered. She tensed again as they closed, quickly checked the parts of the room she hadn't been able to see through the doorway,

"I will respect the Order. I will protect the weak and defenseless from oppression and evil," she said, rearranging the tenants she had learned as a child, but leaving out Jedi. No one needed to know about that. "I will not fear dying for the cause. I will put the community's needs above my own and never abandon my duty. I will practice honesty and honor my promises. I will honor life and all lives. At all times I will act to represent the Order."

It hurt a little, saying these again after so long. Scout half-closed her eyes and swallowed, letting the Force wash her back to balance.

She paused, and more softly said, "I like your code."
burnsbright: (🔪Where they whisper always)

[personal profile] burnsbright 2012-04-24 11:55 am (UTC)(link)
Part of Scout wanted to cling to that suggestion of a smile. More of her was on the defensive, still waiting for snapped order, the shot to the back. She tried the middle path, struggling to be neutral and formally polite, but although she imitated his pose, putting her hands behind her back as if giving a report, she started to pace around her edge of the room.

"My Order's code of conduct is long and has had a lot of updates over our history. Any group dedicated to protecting and serving others is going to be similar, in - some ways."

It hurt. More than a little, now. Scout felt the tears rising in her and let them, her grief was part of her life, but she would not be pitied, she fought to keep them from flowing and her throat from constricting. She had trained her body to obey her. It did. Her eyes were overbright and her voice slightly roughened. That was all.

Scout took a deep steady breath and stopped pacing, turned back towards him. "Tallisibeth Enwandung-Esterhazy. Assuming you're not here to have me killed or locked up, pleasure to meet you."

Maybe this wasn't the best approach, but he was so serious, it reminded her of a few of her Masters. And if he did want her killed or locked up, better to have that out of the way quickly.
burnsbright: (🔪Come - stop - rest.)

[personal profile] burnsbright 2012-04-25 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
She kept her chin raised, defiant, and bit down on the part of herself that wanted to back down and dissemble. Her face flushed hot and red. "The Code doesn't bind," Scout got out. "Or it didn't bind him."

Him being the Traitor, of course. There was very little hatred in Scout. Hatred and bloody-minded determination were very different animals; one was familiar to her and easily kept checked, pulled back and stabled when she didn't need it. The other was small, planted with shock and pain in a bed of loss, wrapped up around the half-faded memory of someone she'd trusted.

With the quickness of long practice, Scout interrupted her own cycle of emotion. It was still there through a veil of the Force's calm. It was always there. But she could usually not let it affect her much. Clearly, pushing it away for the month or so she'd been on this planet had been a bad idea.

"Look," Scout said with a sigh. "If I'm nasty-minded and suspicious, it's because I have reason. I'm sorry if it's insulting." She didn't like apologizing for her own paranoia. Hadn't it kept her alive this long? "You seem like decent people. It's just some of the things that led up to this, they don't lead to anything good on the worlds I'm from."

The Knight who'd brought her here had had a lot of trouble getting her to be blindfolded.
burnsbright: (Default)

[personal profile] burnsbright 2012-04-26 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
Even across this distance Scout fought herself to hold his gaze, her eyes watering a little as she kept from blinking. For most of her life she'd deferred to the Masters who would sometimes have that look as they addressed her. It was ingrained. She'd learned to stand up for herself when they were wrong about something, to make her case without studying the floor, but it was still a relief when he looked away at the statue.

After a moment, she said, "I know. I can't live in the past." It was one of the tenants, actually. "If my only priority was staying alive, I'd stop being - what I am. And I haven't stopped." 'Jedi' was a greater part of her identity than human. It was no more negotiable than that was.

Scout came closer, up to her side of the table. She tasted the familiar-strange way the man felt in the Force, and wished she was one of those Jedi who could tell when someone was bending the truth or hiding something. Not that that had saved them... "Tell me. This is really the only star system your people can travel in? No contact with other planets?"

Her face tightened in anxiety as she took, figuratively, a big step - she reached up without looking and took a persistently wayward lock of her own short hair. Quickly, mostly one-handedly, she put it into a narrow braid. Though she didn't tie it off, it didn't immediately unravel, as if she usually kept it like that. "This doesn't have any great significance here?"
burnsbright: (☁But atop the mountain's crest)

[personal profile] burnsbright 2012-04-27 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
She flushed red again, but just nodded. "Good." There was always a part of Scout who wondered if she should even have the braid at all, with her second Master dead and burned.

But he was still with her. Even if she couldn't see him or hear his voice. He'd promised. Scout tightened and corrected the braid, and by the time her hands had lowered back down her eyes were clear and she was in a somewhat better mood.

"Worlds," she said, correcting him. "It was - the Order had a private launch bay, but I once had to go out undercover and take a commercial starship flight..." Despite how much of a hassle it had been at the time, and despite knowing how it had ended, she had to smile a little, remembering. "We're expected to be composed in public, but I think three hours in a line just to get to security would test anyone."

"I knew you've been to your moon, with the apollo project, but you're not going back there often, are you? So I guess you haven't invented spaceport security yet." That would be one positive about being stuck on one world...
burnsbright: (🔪I am child of the heartless wind.)

[personal profile] burnsbright 2012-04-27 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
She raised her eyebrows. Scout had had only a quick briefing on the Veil situation, but she's never been accused of being slow to catch on.

"All right. So 'aliens' are new. How recent is recent? And who are those others?" She'd have to be careful until she'd sounded them out.
burnsbright: (Default)

[personal profile] burnsbright 2012-04-27 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
Not names she knew. Scout decided to be relieved, and then sharply reminded herself that she didn't know every name ever. "So something's changed with this Veil, and now you have to try to figure out what that means and what it will mean." She said it rather quietly.

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