Roquen

A legendary and almost extinct group of Fey so scarcely seen or experienced in the current day and age of the Feywild that many children are raised believing they are just stories and fairytales, akin to the Material Plane knights in shining armour.
In truth, the Roquen are very real, they are a select and rare group of individuals who were believed born blessed by a Draconic Spirit. Their numbers have always been small, never reaching more than twenty at a time and due to the longevity of the Fey involved they have been long lasting save for disaster and war caused deaths.
Each Roquen is special, unique and blessed with a Dragon bonded to their very soul, known as a Soul-Sworn. These Dragons are part of them, as they are part of the Dragons, sharing emotions and thoughts and ideals. Together their souls are as one.

Structure

Tribunal of Scale:

A group of eight Roquen and Soul-Sworn who were among the first to awaken. They came together to form a sect of mentors to aid the awakening and training of those who came after.
They were figure-headed by Prince Mordred and Vortigern the Deathbringer, widely believed to have been the first of their kin to have awakened. After his disappearance towards the end of the Cataclysm, it is believed the leadership fell to Lord Morpheus and Dreamweaver instead.

Roquen:

The legendary race of Fey individuals who awoke over many centuries, and thanks to blessings from Draconic Spirits were instrinsically bound to their Soul-Sworn Dragons. There were twenty in total before the Cataclysm, seventeen at the end of the war, and only nine* at the end of the Purge.
*numbers could technically be closer to eleven due to there being a lone Soul-Sworn and a lone Roquen left alive without their counterpart.

New Age Roquen:

In very recent times, on the Material Plane, a new Roquen was born to a Nomadic Clan of Half-Elves. The first of his Material Plane kin Mourungar of the Adventurer's Guild has slowly started to discover what it means to be Roquen and has bonded with many of his Fey kindred spirits.
His awakening has brought hope to those left of the old order, that perhaps times are changing and the Draconic Spirits once scorned by their downfall has started to once again see a future for them.
Even more recently, at the end of the war with the Kasarian Conclave, another new Roquen awoke and one of the Roquen who had previously lost a Soul-Sworn was blessed with a new one signifying an entirely new generation of Scaled Riders.

Assets

The Original Twenty:

• Prince Mordred - Vortigern the Deathbringer

• Prince Melehan Morgaris - Kasaria the Winged Virtue

• Queen Aurelia Amberglee - Dawnmaiden

• Lady Liathra Certi and Lady Jenevelle Certi - Ever Ember

• Mhagven Shidari - Phlegathon the Silver Defender

• Dhorengar Ravan - Sorrowbane the Swift

• Vistari Flaegryth - Mabelyth the Queen's Gambit

• Lord Cassian Yamaris - Arbor'vilia the Wild One

• Taev'ilyn Voth - Scourge the Witherbreath

• Joryn Vin'arik - Calliope the Silent Song

• Lady Helyna Frostwave - Rimehorn the Bitter Winter

• Gandoryn Springfellow - Dhalia the Everbloom

• Lady Falarys Tearloch - Prismari

• Ghlyn'harren Viskaros - Drogoth Gloomstalker

• Lord Morpheus - Dreamweaver

• Nymthyr Faethborne - Ravathial the Just

• Justicia Khal - Sungrove the Everlight

• Xevran - Venathryn the Listener

• Lady Tissaia Wiccan - Mystralae the Weavesmith

• Lamryn Haavrast - Rythal the Wisen One

The New Age Roquen:

• Mourungar Caelyn and Yen'Zora Tarith - Xudrith

• Hestya Caelyn - Sepheron

• Lady Liathra Certi - Zapharax

History

The awakening of a Roquen is not something that usually happens from birth, it usually comes at the point of a life altering event, such as a life or death situation; a desperate desire to protect a loved one; a twisted or warped sense of zealot-like loyalty; a heartbreak almost irreparable or an act of a pure heart. Such an experience, which may have broken many, would only drive a Roquen deeper towards their destiny.
Almost all recorded cases of Roquen awakenings follow the same pattern. Intense life situations would be followed by a vision or a dream, sometimes guides or coaxed by a member of the Sylvan Pantheon, but very rarely done so.
These dreams would be lucid, interactable, as an awakening Roquen ventires into a demi-plane like location, at the heart of which they would be confronted by a lone Dragon egg before them. WIthin these dreams, a physical connection would be made, the act of a hand resting upon the shell was all it took. And a conversation would be had, some longer than others, with a sourceless voice of encouragement, scorn, guidance or affirmation of the awakening Roquen's desires and purpose. At the end of which, a name would be exchanged.
When the Roquen woke or was released from their visions, they would quickly be greated by the arrival of a Dragon, fully grown and in the colouration and type of the egg seen in their dreams; the Dragon would go by the name shared.
From this moment onwards, the Roquen and Dragon are Soul-Sworn, a bond so intrinsic and special that it goes beyond all explanation or comprehension. In the easiest of terms, they are soul mates, two entities becoming one, bound eternally by an unbreakable connection.
At first, only one or two Roquen emerged and they were a confusing anomaly; no one truly understood what they were or what their purpose was, though there was guidance from the Feywild Queens, as their divine statuses garnered them a better understanding than most, it was still a befuddling time with little solid understanding of the situation.
Over centuries, many centuries, more Roquen awoke and they began to gather together to understand for themselves, what they were. In the early days, noble status; Court affiliation; outside loyalty, no longer mattered as they began to realise they were more than strangers, more than former enemies, they were kin. For Roquen are not made, they are born, and in birth they are family; kin; one and the same.
The word Roquen is not a glorified titles, it is the name of their race. Still Fey at their core, they are also Dragon, also more. They have scents different to other Fey, different auras, different inherent abilities and magics, and appear to live longer. They are, by all accounts, able to identify one another by sight and smell, sometimes from many miles away, it seems an instrinsic part of their racial class is that they are meant to work together, meant to be side by side.
Those who had been awakened the longest formed a training grounds and took the roles of mentors, calling their collective ther Tribunal of Scale. When a new Roquen awoke they would be summoned for training to help them better understand themselves and their bonds. The location of the training groups has remained a secret through the centuries and even now is unknown to those who are not meant to bear witness.
For a long time, it functioned perfectly, they worked together for the betterment of the Feywild. They protected, served, helped and maintained peace without profit or reward, simply because it was their calling. A single Roquen arriving at the sight of a battle would sunder the opposing forces wills to fight. A single Roquen could change the fortune of a village or town for the year.
They were considered, by many, to be heroes. Gifts from the Gods.
But cracks began to form. Sometimes affiliations to Courts of opposing sides drew internal fights, and when the Roquen started being woven into Fey politics and were used by the Courts as chess pieces in a larger overarching conflict... Their inner familial ties began to crack.
Some fell to greed for money; power; influence. Some fell to deception and trickery. Some stayed true to their beliefs and goals but were driven to the Courts to protect the Feywild from the damage Roquen could cause if left unchecked.
Politics, jewels, power... It broke the once great group. And when the Cataclysm came, they were instruments of destruction used by both sides. Brothers and sisters and lovers were forced to go to war, killing and maiming despite knowing the agony it caused a Roquen and their Soul-Sworn.
A number of Roquen died in the Cataclysm, lives taken by each other or by circumstance. But more death awaited in the years after the civil war.

Disbandment

After the civil war of the Feywild, one Roquen in particular, Prince Melehan Morgaris and his Soul-Sworn Kasaria the Winged Virtue were irrevocably changed by the war. Melehan sought to rid the Feywild of the Roquen and their Dragons, having decided they were too dangerous to be left alive, the damage they could inflict upon the Plane and its people was too great, they were destroyers and killers and loose canons, with no one to control them and everyone to gain their influence, he decided the best way to the defend the Plane was to rid it of its biggest threat.
The Purge of the Roquen was a bloody affair, and he was quite successful in his attempt, killing six of his former kin, and almost the same number of Soul-Sworn as well.
His Purge was ended with a final confrontation which claimed his life and led Kasaria into her spiral of madness that culminated in her becoming Kasri the Winged Blight and besieging the Material Plane 800 years later. A bloody battle of the last remaining Roquen fighting for their survival, ended with Melehan's death and Kasaria fleeing the Feywild forever.
With Melehan's death, the remaining Roquen were at least to some extent... Safe. Though they all acknowledged in their own way that Melehan had been correct in his reason for the Purge. They were a danger to the Feywild, to the realm they loved, and everything they wanted to protect.
It was, perhaps, not a conscious choice, but in the aftermath of the Purge, the Roquen stopped meeting; they returned to their homes; their lands; their old duties, no longer holding meetings or spending time together. If they met it was as friends or Court officials, but the spark; the connection; the drive was gone. Damaged initially by greed, broken further by War, and shattered completely by loss.
It seemed a bitter thing that in the wake of the Cataclysm and Purge, whatever had formerly blessed them agreed with their corruption having gone too far, for no more Roquen awakened. There were no more visions or dreams, no more Dragon eggs, no more sacred bonds. It just ended.
The remaining Roquen returned to the lives they'd had previously, though their Soul-Sworn stayed with them, some went into self exile, disappearing from public view and retreating from all fame and glory until they became nothing but stories and fairytales.
The Tribunal of Scale ceased meeting, ceased training, and their hidden headquarters was lost to time to gather dust and rot.

DISBANDED/DISSOLVED

Pre-Cataclysm - Post-Purge

Type

Military Order

Alternative Names

Scaled Riders

Location

The Feywild