Abyssal Knights
Abyssal Knights - known also as Order of Knights Beneath - are imperial order of knights dedicated to combating one of the gravest danger for the world as a whole - a domain of Pentagram in Abyss, on the lowest level of Labyrinth, massive underground system of caves, forged in antiquity by long extinct specie of Karathi.
They, together with their 'cousins' from Novemberists are best weapon of the Imperium of Karadia in its relentless war against beings of Pentagram or Beyond, malevolent beings that transcend human understanding, bringing madness and terror wherever they tread.
Structure
They do not have any sort of organization structure - they are less of a knight order and more a big group of knights-errant persecuting their endless war against Pentagram. All decision are done during their meetings every ten years, in their fabled headquarters in Blackspire Citadel on 5th Level of Labyrinth, nearly seven kilometres beneath the surface.
Apart of that, most knights work either completely alone, or only with trainees they train, or with small groups of non-members that for some have their own reasons to face forces of Pentagram. They sometimes assemble in a bigger groups where a particular powerful Aberrant attempts incursion into the civilized part of Labyrinth, working together until it is taken down only to split themselves again.
It is believed that they are internally differentiated into several layers - Trainees, Neophytes, Knights and Elder Knights. According to some sources reaching each new rank requires undertaking some secret 'exams' with extremely high level of difficulty - with failure meaning death. Or worse. You also have to wait for another meeting to attempt next rank up, meaning that all Elder Knights have at least thirty years of hunting beasts of Pandaemonium. No wonder why for most time there is not even one of them alive...
Public Agenda
Wiping out Pentagram from the face of the world (or, to be exact, from the Labyrinth) by any possible mean, while also simultaneously protecting innocents from its grasp. Nothing else matters - especially because they gave up all their belongings when becoming Trainees, never again having something besides their armour and weapons.
Assets
Blackspire Citadel is their capital, primordial fortress of unknown origin created in one of untold thousands of massive spires and columns that connect the Pentagram-infested Depths (levels 6th to 9th layers of Labyrinth) with the inhabited and relatively civilized Shallow (layers 1st to 4th of Labyrinth), known also as Oversee and Nearsuface. It is surrounded by the dark and mysterious waters of Blackwater Sea, an underground see that lies beneath most of Karadia.
Nobody knows who build it. According to some it was a creation of Imperial Gods, that personally formed it from rock and magic to serve as a headquarters of the Abyssal Knights. Other say it is some sort of weird creation of Karathis, or by some other unknown specie that inhabited the Labyrinth in past centuries. Nobody really knows.
Nobody also knows what happens inside the fortress. Between meetings of knights it is completely closed, with those who attempt to sneak inside never returning. Only during the meetings few outsiders are allowed to tread the halls of lowest level of the Citadel, mostly imperial representatives receiving reports about what transpired during ten long years. They speak of dark walls, halls filled with ancient looking crates and chests of unknown contents, and eerie, unnatural silence.
The Imperium - and states of Labyrinth - supply Knights with best possible weapons, armours and so on, forged by their greatest smiths and imbued with spells specifically tailored to counter powers of Pentagram.
Demography and Population
Becoming part of Abyssal Knights isn't easy, since the Order is very picky during its selection process. Not to mention that there nothing like an open recruitment. You can't simply apply to become one of them. It doesn't matter what skills you have - they couldn't care less, since being an Abyssal Knight isn't a matter of skills. It doesn't matter what sorts of connection you have - they even turned away few sons of Grand Emperors themselves, because being an Abyssal Knight isn't a matter of connection.
The only way to become an Abyssal Knight is to face being of Pentagram... and survive, while losing something precious to them. The only way to become a Knight Beneath is to not only see and understand what you are going to face... but to also truly feel what do they mean for the world and everything in it. To see your loved ones driven insane or killed by what can be described as the most primordial evil that exist in this world. To be ready to throw everything you had, have or will have for a sake of both revenge and purging evil from the world.
It doesn't matter how many years old you are. What species you are part of. What is your gender, sexual orientation, and whether you are capable of renumerating a list of your ancestors all the way back to Preimperial Era. It doesn't even matter what gods/God you worship, since they all wage war against the Pentagram.
It is believed that simultaneously there are no more than few thousands of them, mostly scattered around vast Labyrinth, meeting each other once every ten years. Those that really wish to find them, will find them. Teached for many years by one of their travelling knight-members to participate in dreaded 'exam' in their headquarters of Blackspire Citadel.
It is unknown what perspires during that exam - or during the consecutive ones, if Neophyte manages to survive long enough. But it is known, that those that survive the exam are filled with great power which makes them a dreaded enemies of the most dreadful creatures in the world - which speaks for itself. They are also rendered sterile and made practically immortal (which makes some suggest that they undergo a partial Ascendence, becoming half-daemons.
They are considered eerie and generally eccentric and silent fellows... which is probably understandable considering what they have to face.
Type
Military, Knightly Order
Alternative Names
Order of Knights Beneath, Labyrinthian Knights.
Demonym
Labyrinthians, Abyssal Knights, Knights Beneath.
Controlled Territories
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