Songsworn

The Songsworn are a group of knights, handpicked from the Protectors of the Song, to guard the Whispered Twins. The Whispered Daughter and the Whispered Son both have a unit each made up of seven knights. Each Whispered Daughter and Whispered Son gets to pick and choose their knights - if they so wish, they can even pick a knight that served as a Songsworn to a previous Whispered Twin. They can also choose to remove a knight from their Songsworn whenever they wish and for any reason.

Though a Songsworn’s training varies little from that of a normal Protector of the Song, they do have a little bit of training that focuses on specifically protecting a Whispered Twin. The importance of such a role is drilled into them at this point.

Lorenzo stands in the doorway. Arms crossed, body tense, as he eyes his sister with a narrowed gaze. A warning, one that he doubts his sister will heed.

“What is it, brother dearest?” Catalyna asks, barely sparing her Lorenzo a glance in return. He glowers still. The two of them caught at an impasse, the sly smile pressed onto Catalyna’s lips a sure challenge, but Lorenzo refuses to rise to the bait. Eventually, Catalyna concedes with a pout and cumbersome sigh. “Becoming a Whispered Son has made you lose your sense of humour.”

“I don’t find giving the Songsworn the slip humorous. You could have been killed, Catalyna!”

She throws her head back and laughs. “Killed? By who? No assassin has ever penetrated the walls of the Vaultyn Palace and last I checked, our Yondarish enemies were still in Yondar.”

Point of Command

Songsworns need only heed the command of their Whispered Twin. So if a Songsworn is serving a Whispered Daughter, they must obey all of her orders without question, but they don’t need to listen to the orders given by a Whispered Son. This is obviously to avoid a Whispered Twin from ordering a Songsworn to kill the person they are protecting - not that this has ever happened in the entire history of the Whispered Twins.

When given conflicting orders by the Whispered Twin they are serving, a Songsworn is put into a difficult position - how best to carry out the will of their Whispered Twin? Usually, this comes down to two things:

• Are they being asked to carry out an order that will harm the Whispered Twin?
• Are they being asked to carry out an order that will cause themselves harm?

Officially, they are also not supposed to carry out any orders that would harm the Emperor or Empress of Valissa. In the history of the Songsworn, such an order has only ever been given and followed through once, which eventually led to the Emperor at the time increasing their hold over the Nightsingers.

After the first month on the job I already wish that Catalyna - uh, the Whispered Daughter, had not chosen me for this position. It was far easier being a regular Protector of the Song. Tending to Lords and Ladies, not having to worry about an elusive and chaotic Whispered Daughter running off without us knowing.

Curse me for having been friends with her long before she was chosen to succeed as the Whispered Daughter. Perhaps I can resign. Or beg the Whispered Daughter to find a replacement. Not that I think she would grant such a request - she has a terrible habit of torturing people for the fun of it.

Page torn from an unnamed Songsworn journal

Equipment and Weaponry

As protectors of some of the highest ranking officials in all of Valissa, they are afforded the best in terms of armour and their weapon of choice. Their equipment will be enhanced with arcane essence, usually lifeblood essence or mutation essence, in order to help them serve to the best of their abilities. Each piece of armour is measured and specially crafted to fit its intended wearer and each weapon is forged as a gift once they accept the position of Songsworn.

Type

Escort

Overall training Level

Elite

Assumed Veterancy

Experienced

Used by

• Nightsingers

Ranks & Titles

• Whispered Twins

Ever since their creation, the Songsworn have prevented a grand total of 556 attempts on the lives of the Whispered Twins. Most of these have come from assassination attempts during travel, but a rare few attempts have come from their enemies over in Yondar.

Notably, the Songsworn have only ever failed to protect their Whispered Twin on one occasion. That occasion being Catalyna, the Whispered Daughter, XXVIII who was executed in secret in the kingdom of Yondar. No one knows how this occurred on the Songsworn’s watch, but most who knew Catalyna could probably guess that she had slipped from beneath their watchful gaze and wound up in the hands of Yondarish knights.