Order of the End-Halters

Those who jump towards strife.

Divining Knights

Seers representing the Arbiters of the Everpool are an eclectic bunch. However, for all of their knowledge, political mastery, and scrying prowess the Arbiters are not warriors. Instead, the Arbiters entrust any and all matters of enforcing to an elite group of twelve battlemages: The Order of the End-Halters.
Divination was a magic discovered by the founding and study of the Everpool. The Order employs a very different sort of magic, hemocraft, blood magic. The life-essence of those involved in the Order of the End-Halters is honed to be magically charged. End-Halters grow more powerful from spilling their own blood. This makes them incredibly daring fighters. An Order member would rather take a knick of a sword to get a perfect counter than dodge and get a clean hit at a later point, not out of haste but to further perform as the fight goes on. 
Patient, empathetic, and cunning, End-Halters and their unique fighting styles are highly respected by those who know of their Order. Their presence is seen as an ill-omen, as an End-Halter only arrives in a location when tragedy looms.

Jumpers

While they may be a tightly structured Order, trained and disciplined, they are rarely ever in full attendance. Working with the Arbiters of the Everpool, End-Halters wait for ruinous prophecies. When an Arbiter gets a vision of a terrible future or imminent threat to the order of the world, the End-Halters are called.
An entire taskforce of Arbiters will focus their divination towards the foretold event, learning the year it will occur, the nature of the event, and the avenues to stop it. At times, they determine the best way to stop a calamity will be to prevent it from having the chance to occur, such as assassinating the father of a tyrant before they can be born. Other times, when the event cannot be so simply stopped, direct intervention is needed. In either case, an appropriate End-Halter is determined to take up the task. 
In one of the most sacred and secret rituals on Sonnerand, dozens of Arbiters collectively channel their magic. In doing so, they rip a temporal portal into existence. Only one End-Halter ever steps through a portal, for another tragedy may be divined at any given time.
Much like Arbiter Pilgrims, Halters are welcome in the government halls and palaces of many nations around the world. The arrival of a Halter is an unmistakable sign of troubles to come. However, Halters are often blessed when they arrive, as the historical accounts of their fellows serve as proof of their capability. 

Lycanthropy

Acceptance into the Order of the End-Halters is an excruciating process. However it is not the years of training, the history lessons, or even the act of hemocraft that makes membership horrendous. Instead, it is the passing-on of Dake Carmile's curse: Lycanthropy. 
Dake Carmile was an individual warped by the Dematalyst. The event triggered feral mutations in Dake's body and on nights of the full moon Dake transformed into one of the world's first werewolves. Disgusted by his curse and circumstance, Dake excluded himself from society to explore and reside within the dry mountains of western Vallis.   This, famously, led to the discovery of the Everpool; but before Dake's discovery he used his solitude to understand his curse. Working relentlessly, Dake honed his senses as a human and sharpened his mind as a beast. Following the discovery of the Everpool and divination magic, Dake furthered his training through the help of divine beings he could contact through newly invented spells. 
Dake's lycanthropy, and the lycanthropy of all other members of the Order of the End-Halters, is a finely sharpened weapon. A Halter can hear sounds from miles away, follow trails through scent, and augment their bodies to transform into a hybrid between man and werewolf. On the field, combined with their blood magic and weapons, Halters are incredibly dangerous and deadly.

Structure

The Grounded - Leader, Oldest Member by Age, Completed at Least Five Jumps Fatemaker - Group of Three, Oldest Members by Experience Halter - Remaining Eight Members, Small Internal Hierarchy Based on Experience

Culture

The Order of the End-Halters are a tight group. Only twelve End-Halters exist at any given time, and among the twelve some may be out of time for decades. Halters are lone wolves, though many form close bonds to lupine animals who and take them through jumps. Group interactions are structured, guarded, and ritualistic. The casting of the spell Zone of Truth is akin to a secondary greeting among members, who may go long stints without seeing each other. The Grounded keeps a close audience with the Fatemakers, who serve as advisors. These four members are closely tied to the Arbiters and interact with them regularly.

Public Agenda

The Order of the End-Halters are committed to ending tragedy and crisis before they can become world-threatening. Members are fiercly dedicated to this cause, leaving behind everything for potentially many years to face these calamities.

Assets

Each member of the Order of the End-Halters is issued an enchanted weapon to match their preferred fighting style. This enchantment allows members to channel their hemocratic magic into the weapon. Often, this channeling results in an effect akin to magical flames that bathe the business-end of the weapon. However, for specific missions a Halter may receive specialty enchantments. 
End-Halters are blessed to be welcome in nearly every culture on Sonnerand, and usually never want for food, money, or additional equipment.

History

After Dake Carmile meditated upon the waters of the Everpool, leading to the discovery of divination magic, he saw multiple visions of terrible futures. War, hellfire, and disease were all predicted to come to Sonnerand and the Arbiters at various points in the future. Armed with this knowledge, Dake Carmile became the first Grounded while his colleague, Elka Coose, became the first Projected Overseer. 
Dake was an explorer with a dark secret. Early after the Dematalyst, Dake was cursed with the disease of lycanthropy. Unlike others, Dake could control his lycanthropy to some degree of aptitude. Scholars still debate why exactly this is, many citing Dake's strong mind and body. Some argue that lycanthropy was directly related to the use and discovery of divination magic, yet no further links have ever been discovered.
Dake completed his first jump in 18 PD, going forward to 63 PD in order to kill Rallimortax, a young red dragon that Elka predicted would grow ancient and one day bathe entire nations in fire. Dake jumped four times after this event, eventually stopping at 94 PD. He was delighted to find the Arbiters active and well with each jump. Yet every jump brought him further from those he knew, and he missed Elka's death in the time between jumps.
Filled with regret over missing so much, but also filled with pride over potentially saving millions of lives, Dake decided to pass on his talents, principles, and curse to a new generation. Eleven young Arbiters were selected of sound mind and body. They all endured excruciating rituals, training, and tempering from Dake, taking on his curse, learning to control it, then jumping forward. 
Out of those initial twelve, nine still remain. This is seen as a testament to Dake's leadership, as the nine have endured for well over three-hundred years and most still have yet to enter their 40s.

Through Blood, We Secure The Future.

Founding Date

12 PD

Type

Military Order

Alternative Names

Hunters, Dawn-Jumpers

Demonym

Halter/Hunter

Leader

Sir Danis Gloam

Leader Title

The Grounded

Parent Organization

Arbiters of the Everpool

Location

The Everpool