The Ashen Knights

The Hai-Kishi or Ashen Knights are a sect of the Arawn faithful unique to Mitzu. While their followers are dispatched across the land of Mitzu, they are based exclusively out of Zandaka Temple, located on the slope of a mountain on the island of Mul, one of that country’s many forested regions.

Structure

To an outsider, especially one not of Mitzu, the different distinctions and titles can be overwhelming. The above put another way denotes the following hierarchy within the Ashen Knights of Arawn:

1. The Grandmaster and Head of the Way of Soul. (Koketsunahai, secondary title Haiosentaku-Seishin)
2. The Heads of the Ways of Body and Mind. (Haiosentaku-Koi and Haionsentaku-Shisho)
3. The remaining select followers of the Way of Soul (Haiosentaku)
4. The select followers of the Way of Body and Mind (Haisoko and Hai-no-gakusha)
5. The ordained followers of the Way of Soul (Haishisai)
6. The ordained followers of the Way of Body and Mind (Haiokabutta and Hai-no-dokusha)
7. The lay followers of the Way of Body and Mind (Haimochi-te and Hai-no-hitomi)
8. New members (Nokoribi)
9. The lay followers of the Way of Soul (Hai-soji-hito)



There are three practices that make up the Order of Ashen Knights and are followed by all members to differing degrees: The Way of Body, The Way of Mind and The Way of Soul. It is the responsibility of all followers to find their path through these practices to find the balance that best suits them and allows them to best serve Arawn. It is not expected that someone will find a true balance between all three positions, and is not uncommon for someone’s balance to be an extreme of one of these Ways. As long as respect is afforded to all approaches, and the respective tenets followed, the Order as a whole will have balance. This approach ensures that the temple has access to a diverse array of talents, while the strict hierarchy of the monastery ensures order. Those that have newly joined the Order are given the title Nokoribi, the Mitzui word for ember, denoting their status as having ‘uncertain ash’.
These followers are trained in the three Ways of the temple to determine their own balance and at an early point in their development within the monastery are assigned a position based on that balance although are still considered to be lay followers until they have completed the Mie Saiban  (‘three-fold trial’) and become ordained followers.
In this trial, monks are lead to one of the deepest, darkest chambers of the charnel caverns and left with minimal food and water to survive, on their own for a month. Then when they are in a weakened state, physically and mentally, a psychotropic is administered that deepens their connection with the spiritual, causing vivid hallucinations. In this state, the follower inevitably faces a test of the soul. The details of this test differ from person, but as the effects of this state ebb and they are too weak to lie, a senior member of the Way of Souls will question the follower on their experiences and determine the results of their test, be it body, mind or soul.
Each of the three ways of the order are assigned a function, and each has three tiers within their function: the lay followers, the ordained followers and the select followers. This last group are the most senior in their function and comprise of the Head of that function and their closest followers.
While all followers at Zandanka Temple are ‘Ashen Knights’, those balanced to The Way of Body are those considered as soldiers. It is this group most often recognised outside of the temple and they commonly act as frontline troops in combatting the order’s enemies. Followers of this balance may take the form of Monks or Paladins and have the following titles:
10. Lay – Haimochi-te (Ash Bearer)
11. Ordained – Haiokabutta (Ash Clad)
12. Select – Haisoko (Ash Armoured)

Followers of the Way of Mind act as scholars and medics. When a body is interred at the great grave site, a scholar will sit with the family and accumulate a history of the deceased. This is then added to the archive. Others may tend to the injured or sickly with ministrations both divine and non-magical. These followers rarely fall into an adventurous class, but the Archive has in its time produced more than a few divinely focused mages.
13. Lay – Hai-no-hitomi (Pupil of Ash)
14. Ordained – Hai-no-dokusha (Reader of Ash)
15. Select – Hai-no-gakusha (Scholar of Ash)
Followers of the Way of Soul are the highest rank of the Ashen Knights and are formed predominantly of Clerics or those who have attained exemplary status within the other Ways while still maintaining a strong Way of Soul connection. Unlike the other groups, it is only possible to be an ordained member of this balance, and so the lay group under their responsibility is comprised of the caretakers and groundskeepers.
16. Lay – Hai-soji-hito (Ash Sweepers)
17. Ordained – Haishisai (Ash Priest)
18. Select – Haiosentaku (Chosen Ash)
The Heads of each Way are counted amongst the Haiosentaku, but are referred to additionally with the suffixes Koi, Shiso and Seishin or the Act, Thought and Spirit of the Order. For short they are commonly
As the Grandmaster of the Order, the Head of the Way of Soul also bears the title Koketsunahai (Virtuous Ash).

Culture

The signature weapon of the Ashen Knights is the scythe, and these are typically made of Szhengo steel. It is not however uncommon that a follower may utilise a different tool or weapon, especially where this is a related weapon, such as the Kusairgama or chain sickle. Over its long history, the monastery has collected and created a number of magical weapons and relics and these are typically reserved for those in the higher ranks of the order.

Divine Origins

For many centuries, the practitioners at Zandaka Temple were indistinguishable from their fellow faithful, and were well integrated with the local communities of their area. It was not until the second century of the Tito Dynasty that they took on their currently recognised and oft feared form. It was at this time that the surrounding area of the temple found itself beset by a terrible plague. Villagers and nobles alike developed agonizing boils that quickly spread across their bodies and uniformly lead to the same, tragic outcome. The afflicted, driven mad in their pain would reach a moment of silent calm, ceasing their wailing and would take themselves to a public space. There they would commit violent acts of suicide, infecting their brethren with their now tainted and necrotic blood.
For the terrified locals, Zandanka Temple was a natural place of refuge and healing and so many came seeking shelter or treatment and so the monks quickly learned of the nature of the affliction. This learning came at terrible cost to the Temple who had to sacrifice their own afflicted healers lest they spread the rot further.
Distraught, the Elder Priest of the Temple sought guidance from Arawn and was given three visions.
The first: a great fire, and in the embers the dead, and from the embers ash, collected in a bowl used for the body paints associated in the ceremonies of elemental balance. The second: a field of the dead, standing, moving as if walking or swaying like crop in some breeze and falling from the sky above them a great scythe. The third: a cave mouth, the inside carpeted with bones and running with thick diseased water that follows the tunnel running deeper and deeper until it reaches its end, where the liquid drips out slowly filling a sinister, hollow gemstone sinister.
Following these visions, the monks of Arawn would round up the dead and burn them in a great pyre, covering themselves in the ashes of the dead. Clad in ash they found themselves immune to the spread of the disease and its necrotic effects.
Wandering into the nearby villages they found the dead risen and roaming the land. There they used the scythes of the farmers left deserted nearby to cut down the undead forces.
Finally they followed the trail of these undead to a cave mouth and there followed it to a great underground cavern that housed the ruins of a fallen castle. Inside they discovered the source of the affliction, a necromancer attempting to attain lichdom through unholy alliance with some foul plague demon of the abyss.
While the monks were ultimately successful in removing the scourge from their lands, the affect of this incident scarred the area. Those of the population who survived could not bear to remain when so many of their fellows had died and either left or joined the monastery. Leaving the surrounding villages to fall into a state of abandonment and disrepair, becoming known as the haunted lands.
The remaining monks were left a darker version of themselves, adopting the tradition of covering themselves in ash and taking the scythe as their signature weapon they came to focus their efforts on combatting two perceived enemies:

1. Those who live with no respect for death
2. Those who kill with no respect for life

Sects

The Way of Body
The Way of Mind
The Way of Soul.

There are two great enemies:

1. Those who live with no respect for death
2. Those who kill with no respect for life

Type

Religious, Monastic Order

Alternative Names

Hai-Kishi

Demonym

Hai-Kishi

Leader Title

Koketsunahai

Parent Organization

Aran Polytheism

Deities

• Arawn

Location

Mitzuinia

Notable Residents and Alumni:

1. Koketsunahai Zandaka – Founder of the temple, female human
2. Koketsunahai Yogen-Sha – Creator of the Ashen Knights, male dwarf 
3. Koketsunahai Kagami – Current Grandmaster, a human male blessed with long life (Cleric)
4. Haiosentaku-Koi Kaze – Current Head of the Way of Body, male half-orc (Monk, Shadow) 
5. Haiosentaku-Shisho Go – Current Head of the Way of Mind, a female gnome (Wizard, Divination) 
6. Haiosentaku Mamoru – Female Aasimar and bodyguard to the current Grandmaster 
7. Haisoko Shikil – Human male and guardian of the gate 
8. Hai-no-gakusha Maru – The gravekeeper. A male oni who lives in the forest and guards the hallowed site that houses the graveyard. While not ordained, he is considered an honorary select member of the Way of Mind due to his role in funerary rites 
9. Haiosentaku Michibiku – Female human Paladin, now deceased. Member of the select followers of the Way of Mind and sponsor of Karu. 
10. Haisoko Kibishi – Half-orc male now deceased, former master of Karu and ancestor of Kaze. 
11.  Haiokabutta Karu  – A male wood elf and companion of the Thanes of Order