Ordo Ajora

A portrait of Saint Ajora, drawn by a young
worshipper.

The Ordo Ajora, often colloquially called Cathars or Ajoran Knights, are a knightly order that worship Saint Ajora, twin demigodess(es) of townships, protection, sacrifice and the harvest. The Order is also one of Waking Materia's few paramilitaries advanced enough to operate on an interplanar scale. They are in league with the pantheon Victorious Noontide, and are therefore considered highly dangerous criminals on Daybreak Empyreal planes. That said, their numbers are few on this scale and are only minorly influential.

Typical Ordo concerns include anti-tyrrany, justice for the poor, monster slaying and the keeping & breeding of robust plant nurseries & seed banks to aid in disaster recovery efforts. They are considered highly competent, albeit slightly primitive, combatants. Overall, the volume of Daybreak propaganda against them suggests they are an outside threat, at least.

Ninalta & Saint Ajora

Of the minor diety's twin identities/manifestations, Saint Ajora is considered the strict, protective, "knightly" god of sacrifice and toil, Ninalta the sentimental, drunken, "kindly" god of appreciation and good weather. The Ordo considers itself the mortal face of the Knightly Sister, and are in neutral scholars' eyes regarded to be a dour but ultimately good-intentioned church (of course still couched in the language of "despite their ill-advised resistance to Empyreal authority..." in the case of Daybreak's myriad universities).

Valesyr "Syr" Berlevag, a Knight of the Hanging Vines,
a section of the Ordo Ajora.

Origins

The earliest records of the worship of Saint Ajora and her twin/counterpart Ninalta begin more or less simultaneously, some 6,500 years ago on the plane of Waking Materia's First Age of Man. This is alleged to be shortly after their ascension, playing a sorrowful, drunken tune on their flute so beautifully that it brought the Light God Aios back to the sky, thus ending the Darkest Decade, a period of great suffering. They are thus a popular god on the plane even to this day, and the various regional branches often hold powerful positions in Waking society, with deep roots in many city-states.

Their role as harvest deities is especially important as Waking Materia lost much of its arable land in a disaster known as The Deluge, wherein all but the barer uplands were drowned in haunted brine.